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A UN official warned on Wednesday that an increasing number of children in global conflict zones are being denied critical humanitarian assistance, with aid efforts facing attacks or government restrictions.
“Data gathered for our forthcoming 2024 report shows we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally,” Virginia Gamba, the Secretary General's special representative for children and armed conflict, told the UN Security Council.
She said that in 2022, the UN verified 3,941 cases of denial of humanitarian access worldwide, with the highest figures verified in the occupied Palestinian territories, Yemen, Afghanistan and Mali.
In last year's report, published prior to the October 7 Hamas attacks that led to the war, almost half of the verified incidents involved Israeli forces obstructing aid into Gaza.
“Globally, the situation is expected to worsen over time owing to the adoption of restrictive laws, administrative decrees and regulations, and increasing control over humanitarian work and workers,” Ms Gamba said.
Since 2019, the numbers have increased exponentially, she added.
Gaza's children face 'severe malnutrition with complications', WHO warns – video
“Cases of denial of humanitarian access are linked to the restriction of humanitarian activities and movements; interference with humanitarian operations and discrimination of aid recipients; direct and indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure; disinformation and detention, violence against, and killing of, humanitarian personnel; and looting.”
This year's report is scheduled for release this summer.
“As a result of these constraints, children cannot access age-appropriate nutritious food or medical services and have less than 2 to 3 litres of water per day,” Ted Chaiban, deputy executive director of the UN children's fund, told the council.
“The consequences have been clear.”
He noted that one in three children under two years old in northern Gaza is suffering from acute malnutrition, “a figure that has more than doubled in the last two months”.
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Seoul from Dh3,775 return, including taxes
The package
Ski Safari offers a seven-night ski package to Korea, including five nights at the Dragon Valley Hotel in Yongpyong and two nights at Seoul CenterMark hotel, from £720 (Dh3,488) per person, including transfers, based on two travelling in January
The info
Visit www.gokorea.co.uk
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Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
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