RER: Good afternoon. This has been a particularly grim week, but also eventful. There has been considerable loss of life in Syria, in Urum al-Kubra, in Khan Tuman and in Deir ez-Zor. Urum al-Kubra and Khan Tuman are particularly despicable acts. Many have died who have devoted themselves to help…

SdeM: Sorry for changing hours but you can imagine there have been a lot of internal discussions and there has been a lot verification with the field as well. So I will say a few words then as usual give the floor to Jan Egeland and we will be taking some questions. Let me start by saying that the…

Good afternoon. Let me first of all make some general comments then of course I will take questions. First of all, today, perhaps just now according to our timing, but you know they are referring to the Damascus timing, is almost and in fact beyond 24 hours from the 7:00 p.m. that marked…

SdeM: Good afternoon. Let me warmly welcome Stephen O’Brien, who is very well known to all of you, as you know he is the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and is our UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and is in fact representing the neutral, independent UN humanitarian actions in Syria…

SdeM: Good evening. We had a very intense and long meeting as you can see on humanitarian side, of the Humanitarian Task Force. There was a lot to be discussed and I think Jan will be able to elaborate further on that, particularly because developments in various locations inside Syria at the…

Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Organization for Migration, the World Health…

Last week, the Special Envoy for Syria appealed for a humanitarian pause of at least 48 hours to deliver United Nations humanitarian aid to Aleppo. He welcomed the response of the Russian Federation to support this proposal. Since then, the UN developed an Aleppo emergency response plan and…

Geneva, 26 August 2016 - The situation regarding Darayya is extremely grave. It is tragic that repeated appeals to lift the siege of Darayya, besieged since November 2012, and cease the fighting, have never been heeded. The Special Envoy has been made aware overnight of an agreement to evacuate…

Alessandra Vellucci, Director, United Nations Information Service, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons for the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Health Organization, the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, the United Nations…

Adopts Concluding Recommendations on Reports of Greece, United Kingdom, Paraguay, South Africa, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Pakistan The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination closed its ninetieth session this afternoon after adopting its concluding observations and…