A family of internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Top news of the day | Wednesday: Gaza, Ukraine, DRC, food waste problem UN
The main news of the day in the UN and the world: “direct attacks” on schools in Gaza; new shelling of Ukrainian cities; deterioration of the situation in the DRC; food waste problem.
“Direct attacks” on schools in Gaza
Intense Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, launched in response to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, included “direct attacks” on 212 schools in the enclave. This is evidenced by an analysis of the situation conducted with the participation of the UN. According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), at least 53 schools in Gaza have been completely destroyed since the conflict began on October 7 last year, and the number of attacks on school facilities has increased by almost nine percent since mid-February. The report’s authors note that the upward trend in attacks on schools has worsened the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza amid intense Israeli air, land and sea bombing across much of the Gaza Strip.
New attacks on Ukrainian cities
UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Denise Brun strongly condemned new attacks on densely populated Ukrainian cities. “I am shocked and appalled by horrifying reports that Russian military strikes on homes and hospitals in Kharkov and Nikolaev have killed and injured civilians, including small children,” she said. “Daily attacks on cities across Ukraine are taking lives and causing serious damage to critical services.” “International humanitarian law must be respected,” she added.
Deterioration of the situation in the DRC
The situation in the volatile eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has further deteriorated since the end of recent elections. UN Special Representative for the DRC Bintu Keita reported this to the Security Council on Wednesday. According to her, a humanitarian catastrophe is happening in this country. More than seven million people in the DRC are internally displaced; More than 23 million Congolese – one in four people in the country – face hunger and malnutrition. “Foreign forces illegally operating in the DRC must be withdrawn and national armed forces disarmed,” the UN special representative said.
The Food Waste Problem
While 783 million people went hungry in 2022, a third of humanity faced food shortages, households wasted more than one billion meals a day. Food waste continues to wreak havoc on the global economy and contributes to climate change, environmental destruction and pollution. These are the main conclusions of a report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). According to the report’s authors, more than a billion tons of food waste was produced in 2022 – 132 kilograms per capita, accounting for almost a fifth of all food available to consumers. In 2022, 60 percent of total food waste was generated by households.