Friday’s Daily Brief: More climate action says Guterres, migrant children dangers, Ebola fight, record-setting weather

UNICEF/Pirozzi

An 11-year-old boy finds relief from the summer heat by playing in a fountain in a historic part of the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (file)


28 June 2019

Climate Change


This Friday, we cover: UN chief appeals for stronger climate action commitment; report on migrant children deaths and disappearances; Ebola fight in DR Congo as violence goes on; and global over-heating.

Amidst ‘high political tension’, UN chief appeals to G20 leaders for stronger commitment to climate action, economic cooperation


The annual G20 summit of leaders from the largest and fastest-growing economies, got underway on Friday in Osaka, Japan, against a backdrop of what UN Secretary-General António Guterres described as “a moment of high political tension”.

“We have global warming, but we have also global political warming, and this can be seen in relation to trade and technology conflicts, it can be seen in relation to situations in several parts of the world, namely the Gulf”, he told reporters before addressing the summit, referring to recent attacks on oil tankers around the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, which have heightened tensions between Iran and the United States.

Find our full story here - and play or download the Secretary-General's full remarks on SoundCloud:

One migrant child reported dead or missing every day, UN calls for more protection


Around 1,600 children were reported dead or missing between 2014 and 2018 – an average of almost one every day – but many more go unrecorded, a new UN reportrevealed on Friday.

“Fatal Journeys 4”, from the International Organization for Migration’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), in collaboration with the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, highlights the need for better data on migrant deaths and disappearances, particularly for children; one of the most vulnerable groups of migrants.

Read our complete story here.

Ebola fight ongoing, amid evidence of ‘several massacres’ in DR Congo


The vital work of tracing people infected with deadly Ebola virus disease in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is progressing, despite evidence of “several” massacres in the affected area earlier this month, the UN said on Friday.

In an update on the situation in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, nearly 11 months after the outbreak began, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 2,284 cases of infection so far, and 1,540 deaths.

At the same time, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, announced that a “robust” probe found that 117 people had been killed in “several massacres” involving multiple villages in gold-rich Ituri, between 10 and 13 June.

Full update on the situation in DRC here.

Listen to an interview with Dr. Ibrahima Soce Fall, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Emergency Response on SoundCloud:

Earth set to experience its five warmest years on record


While it’s perhaps no surprise to hear that the last five years may soon be announced as the warmest on record, UN experts have warned that higher concentrations of CO2 and other gases, will also fuel global over-heating for generations to come. The announcement by the World Meteorological Organization comes ahead of the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting this weekend.

Its objective is to take stock of progress made by countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and galvanize initiatives, in advance of September’s Climate Action Summit in New York, called by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. According to WMO, global temperatures have risen to close to 1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial period, and time is running out to keep it to well under 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Listen to or download our audio News In Brief for 28 June on SoundCloud:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1041561
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode