What's New

The 77th session of the UN General Assembly opened on Tuesday with its new president urging world leaders to respond to humanity’s most pressing challenges, including the war in Ukraine, by working together and building bridges across what are “deep divides”.

Acknowledging that the world faces uncertainty and widening geopolitical fissures, Csaba Kőrösi reminded delegates that the United Nations was created out of the ashes of war and destruction, with the intention of being “a well of solutions”.

The official declaration of a cholera outbreak in the Aleppo region of Syria at the weekend, represents “a serious threat to people in Syria”, and the whole Middle East region, said the UN humanitarian relief coordinator for the country on Tuesday.

As pressure continues to mount on affected people in Lebanon and vulnerabilities continue to deepen day after day, the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i, Mr. Edouard Beigbeder, announces that the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) has allocated US$8 million to meet urgent needs and enhance preparedness ahead of the fast-approaching winter.

2022 marks the tenth anniversary of the UN-run Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. It is the largest in the Middle East – and one of the largest in the world – and home to some 80,000 Syrians. UN News spoke to some of the refugees about life at the camp, and their hopes for the future.

At the request of the Government of Lebanon, the Security Council extended UNIFIL’s mandate for another year today, with the adoption of Resolution 2650 (2022).

The new resolution reaffirms UNIFIL’s mandate under Resolution 1701 (2006) and subsequent resolutions.

Last year, in Resolution 2591 (2021), the Security Council requested UNIFIL to take “temporary and special measures” to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) with food, fuel, medicine, and logistical support. This support has been extended for a further six months in Resolution 2650.

The Government of Japan and the United Nations Human Settlements programme (UN-Habitat) marked today the completion of the rehabilitation of residential buildings of heritage value in the Rmeil Cluster, which were heavily affected by the Beirut port explosion. The ceremony took place inside the cluster, and was attended by Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon, H.E. Mr. Takeshi Okubo, Minister of Information Ziad Makary, Governor of Beirut, Judge Marwan Abboud, Mayor of Beirut Eng.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Imran Riza of Pakistan as his Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon, in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), and Resident Coordinator for Lebanon.  Mr. Riza will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator. 

“Maha, our country is still beautiful. I know there is still a lot of work to be done but it's still beautiful, right?” asks Mazen. Maha replies with a direct confirmation “Absolutely!”

UN-Habitat, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the Ministry of Social Affairs held a kick-off workshop on improving planning capacities for social and economic local development, with ten unions of municipalities from across Lebanon to relaunch the activities of the UN-Habitat-led project, funded by AICS, entitled, “Support to local communities in Lebanon: Improving local socioeconomic development planning through strengthened local planning capacities at the unions/clusters of municipalities level.”

On the occasion of International Youth Day 2022, the United Nations in Lebanon urged youths to counter all forms of hate speech by promoting fact-checking and accurate information and encouraged them to advocate for a future that recognizes their political participation as a driving force for positive change.