News in Brief 30 January 2024 |

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations. 

Hungry Gazans empty UN aid agency trucks 

As the UN chief prepares to meet late on Tuesday with representatives from countries who donate to the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, following allegations of collusion with Hamas, the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated that now was not the time to abandon the people of Gaza.

Here’s WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier, speaking to journalists in Geneva.

“Criminal activity can never go unpunished, but the discussion right now is much of a distraction from what’s really going on every day, every hour, every minute in Gaza. It’s a distraction from close to 27,000 deaths by now, out of which 70 per cent are women and children.” 

Amid ongoing Israeli bombardment prompted by Hamas-led attacks on 7 October,  UNRWA continues to provide lifesaving aid to more than two million people in Gaza, while over one million are sheltering in its facilities.

Despite the efforts of the UN agency and other humanitarian partners, many Gazans are on the verge of famine after nearly four months of war. 

Some have resorted to scouring aid convoys for food and supplies, including one on Tuesday morning in the southern city of Khan Younis.  Once again, here’s Christian Lindmeier from UN health agency WHO.

“We had a convoy just this morning trying to reach Nasser hospital with patients, healthcare staff everybody there needing food, but the very needy population already before basically took the supplies.

He said the incident – far from a rare occurrence – “shows how dire the needs are”, before warning that disease among Gaza’s malnourished population “can just spread like wildfire”.

Myanmar spiralling, three years after military coup 

Three years after a military coup deposed the elected Government, Myanmar’s ever deteriorating human rights crisis is in freefall and lacking the international attention it deserves.

That warning from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, comes just ahead of the anniversary of the coup on 1 February.

He explained that conflict between the military and armed opposition groups has resulted in mass displacement and civilian casualties, with the regime “launching waves of indiscriminate aerial bombardments and artillery strikes”.

Here’s UN rights office, OHCHR, Spokesperson, Jeremy Laurence, at a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

“Amid all of the crises around the world, it is important that no one is forgotten. The people of Myanmar have been suffering for too long. Since the end of October last year, their situation has deteriorated even further as a result of the long-established tactics of the military to target them”.

Sources have verified that at least 554 people have been killed since October.

The number of civilians reportedly killed by the military in 2023 rose to over 1,600, some 300 more than a year before. Nearly 26,000 people are reported to have been arrested on political grounds – of whom almost 20,000 remain in detention, some allegedly subjected to torture.

Mr. Türk urged the international community to redouble efforts to hold the military accountable, and to consider imposing further targeted sanctions on the military – by limiting access to weapons, jet fuel, and foreign currency.

WMO confirms new heat record for Europe

Finally, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has officially confirmed a new record temperature for continental Europe of 48.8°C – that’s nearly 120°F.

The searing temperature was recorded in Syracuse on the Italian island of Sicily on 11 August 2021 and verified by an international panel of atmospheric scientists.

The previous record – 48.0 °C– had been held by the Greek cities of Athens and Elefsina since July 1977. However, it was based on government sources and not independently verified by WMO, the UN’s weather agency.

Spokesperson Clare Nullis explains:

“It is important that we have confidence – the world has confidence – that our global records are properly measured, that they are verified… The extremes that we are monitoring, verifying, they’re snapshots of our changing climate”.

WMO said the investigation also demonstrates the alarming tendency for continuing high temperature records to be set, warning that greater extremes will occur across Europe in the future.

Dianne Penn, UN News.