UN News Today 22 December 2025 |

Syria: Illicit “captagon” manufacturing disrupted following regime change

In Syria, large-scale manufacturing of the illicit synthetic drug “captagon” has been disrupted following the fall of the Assad regime last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new research brief issued on Monday. 

It details preliminary findings of a wider report on the evolution of the synthetic drug market in Arab countries that will be released next year.

Since December 2024, Syria has dismantled 15 industrial-level laboratories and 13 smaller facilities for storage. Before then, millions of captagon tablets could have been produced daily.

However, manufacturing observed in the past outside of the country is likely continuing in the Middle East. 

Gulf countries continue to be the primary destination market for captagon, but there are signs of shortages of the drug in several destination markets.

UNODC said this might be a result of increased interdiction during the past year. 

While countries are still gathering and submitting data on seizures, the agency could verify data of a minimum of 177 million tablet – equivalent to 30 tonnes – that have been intercepted across the Arab region.

UN mission supports landmark elections in the Central African Republic

The UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, is supporting the preparations for the country’s first-ever combined presidential, legislative and local elections, scheduled for 28 December. 

The mission is providing logistical support for the deployment of ballots, electoral rolls, voter lists and other sensitive materials. 

That process has already begun, with the material being dispatched from the national capital, Bangui, to prefecture capitals and hard-to-reach localities.

MINUSCA is also supporting the election security mechanism, led by the national authorities. To this end, peacekeepers continue to support the extension of State authority throughout the country, known as the CAR.  

Beyond this, the peacekeeping mission, in coordination with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting the National Elections Authority, including through the training of electoral staff.  

Haiti: $880 million humanitarian appeal for 2026

Humanitarians are seeking $880 million for Haiti next year, with the goal of supporting 4.2 million people out of a total of 6.4 million who need aid and are bearing the brunt of violence at the hands of armed groups. 

The violence has triggered displacement which has doubled in a year, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reports. In September, nearly 1.4 million people were internally displaced, or some 12 per cent of the population.

Widespread insecurity in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has gradually spread to other areas, has caused displacement, stifled the economy, and limited people’s access to food.

OCHA said half of Haiti’s population, some 5.7 million people, are going hungry every day and that number is expected to rise to 5.9 million people during the lean season from March to June.

Dianne Penn, UN News