Zakia Khudadadi wins first-ever medal for refugee Paralympic team. Top stories of the day | Friday: Gaza, Emergency Funding, Timor-Leste, Paralympic Refugees UN
The main news of the day in the UN and in the world: 640 thousand children in Gaza will receive polio vaccines, the UN has allocated $100 million to respond to crises in 10 countries, the Secretary-General expressed solidarity with the people of Timor-Leste, the first medal for the Paralympic refugee team.
Vaccination in Gaza
UN humanitarian agencies have reached a preliminary agreement with the parties to the Gaza conflict to pause hostilities to vaccinate more than 640,000 children against polio, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories Rick Pieperkorn said the campaign was set to begin Sunday in central Gaza and last three days in the enclave, before moving on to the southern and northern areas. The second round of vaccinations would take place in four weeks. According to the WHO, another 400,000 doses of the vaccine would be delivered to the enclave soon.
Forgotten crises
The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has made available $100 million for humanitarian assistance in 10 countries facing so-called “forgotten crises” that are underfunded by donors. More than a third of the amount will go to Yemen and Ethiopia, with the rest going to Myanmar, Mali, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Cameroon, Mozambique, Burundi and Malawi. Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya said the use of the Fund’s resources was a last resort to prevent worse outcomes. She called on donors to pay more attention to crises that are chronically underfunded.
The UN and Timor-Leste
Speaking to the Timor-Leste parliament, the UN secretary-general said the world had much to learn from the country. On Friday, the UN chief also attended an official event to mark the 25th anniversary of the nationwide independence consultation, where he said he was proud that the United Nations had always stood by the Timorese people on their path to democracy. He assured the people of Timor-Leste that the UN will continue to stand in solidarity with them in their fight for development.
Paralympic Refugee Team
At a briefing for journalists at the UN headquarters in New York, the UN spokesman congratulated Zakia Khudadadi on behalf of the world organization, who won the first-ever medal for the Paralympic refugee team. She won bronze in Paralympic taekwondo on the first day of the Paralympic Games on Thursday. Khudadadi is a refugee from Afghanistan.