• Supporting refugees is all of humanity’s ‘obligation’: UN chief 

• Afghanistan: instead of justice, women survivors of violence face prison: UNAMA

• Urgent help needed for millions of children affected by conflicts and disasters: UNICEF

• DR Congo mpox spread accelerating: WHO

• Gaza flooding latest disaster to hit desperate Palestinians
• Countries must stop e-cigarette boom among youth: WHO
• Decline in vaccine coverage prompts measles surge in Europe, Central Asia: UNICEF

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is poised for elections on 20 December, when votes will be cast for a new president and well as national and provincial legislatures.

In a historic move, this election marks the first time that local representatives will be on the ballot, a significant stride towards enhancing community participation in the whole electoral process.

“This is in my view, a very good step,” Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the DRC and head of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), told UN News, after briefing the Security Council earlier this week.

She described to Jerome Bernard how MONUSCO was supporting the authorities ahead of voting, in three key provinces where the mission is deployed. 

• Gaza ceasefire ‘in everybody’s interest’: UN humanitarian coordinator
• Fossil fuel phaseout ‘inevitable’: UN chief on COP28 outcome 
• Global Refugee Forum opportunity to bolster forced displacement response: Grandi

Sixteen year-olds in Gaza are now in the middle of the fourth war of their short lifetimes, a leading UN humanitarian has told UN News, pointing out that for the youngest, it’s causing unimaginable trauma.

Gemma Connell of UN humanitarian coordination office OCHA, is in Rafah, where she has spent the past week and says that for mothers, they’re also enduring terrible suffering and loss of dignity that is life-altering.

Abdelmonem Makki asked her what she had seen, as local health authorities report that more than 18,000 have now been killed amidst the battle between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces – mostly women and children.

Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has told UN News that the Security Council must insist on the release of all Hamas hostages in Gaza, and the unhindered and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

As part of an unofficial fact-finding trip organized by the United Arab Emirates, Ms. Frazier along with other UN ambassadors representing their countries on the Security Council, were taken on Monday close to the border between Egypt and Gaza to see for themselves the humanitarian efforts being made to bring in aid, and to care for those wounded during the ongoing Israeli military operation. 

Resolution 2712, a Security Council Resolution drafted and tabled by Malta, calling for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, was adopted on 15 November, succeeding where other resolutions calling for a ceasefire have so far failed. On Tuesday, after concluding the visit, Ms. Frazier spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News, who began by asking her to describe what they had seen.

• ‘Humanitarian disaster zone’: Gaza hospital capacity decimated – WHO 
• Invest in primary healthcare, save lives: Tedros
• Record hunger in West and Central Africa: UN humanitarians

• Gaza humanitarian crisis deepens as fighting rages on across the Strip 

• COP28: UN chief urges climate talks ambition as clock runs out

• Human rights at 75: Türk calls on countries to overcome divisions 

Clear and unequivocal language on the phasing out of fossil fuels is the only way forward to prevent the human rights crisis that is caused by climate change. 

This is the message from Benjamin Schachter, the UN human rights office Environment and Climate Change Team Leader, who is coordinating the OHCHR delegation at the COP28 climate conference, now underway in Dubai, UAE.

The climate summit is in its final stretch, coinciding with the annual observance of Human Rights Day on December 10, and the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), putting a spotlight on links between human rights and climate change.

Speaking to UN News, Mr. Schachter explained that a human rights-based approach and a participatory and inclusive process can lead to climate solutions and better outcomes.

As the focus at COP28 turns to food and agriculture, the spotlight is on smallholder farmers in developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, clinging on to their livelihoods amid drought and floods.

Bernhard Kowatsch, the head and founder of the UN World Food Programme’s Innovation Accelerator, told UN News’ Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer that innovation is the key to helping climate-proof their businesses – not just tomorrow, but right now. He called for more investments in small projects that can go big, ramping up funds for recovery but also anticipatory action before disaster strikes, and making more climate microfinance available to women food entrepreneurs.