Today's news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Yemen, Sudan, Ukraine, Haiti by UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs   19 October 2026   YEMEN   Fighting drives displacement in Ta’iz amid worsening conditions   The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that hostilities in and around the governorate of Ta’iz in Yemen continue to drive families from their homes, and that Ta’iz city itself is now increasingly cut off.   More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced by the conflict since the beginning of August. More than 82,000 people have fled this month alone, with the majority from Ta’iz governorate.   The toll on civilians is mounting. As of yesterday, the UN Human Rights Office has verified 240 civilian casualties, half of whom were children.   Conditions inside Ta’iz city are deteriorating rapidly. Humanitarian partners distributed the last available food packages last week. Families now depend on markets, where prices have surged by at least 50 per cent. Water supplies have fallen by half, and cooking gas is very limited. Hospitals continue to report that medicines, oxygen and fuel are running out.   Despite these challenges, the UN and its partners have reached more than 163,000 displaced people across Yemen with emergency assistance since August. Partners have provided emergency cash to more than 92,000 people; food assistance to more than 88,000 people; clean water and sanitation to more than 65,000 people; and healthcare to more than 38,500 people. Teams have screened more than 67,000 children and pregnant and breastfeeding women for malnutrition.   However, needs continue to outpace the response, with four in 10 verified households still waiting for emergency food assistance. OCHA is concerned about the growing risk of cholera in overcrowded displacement sites.   OCHA also remains concerned over access constraints. Since 8 October, partners have not been able to move between Ta’iz city and districts to the south. Supplies in Aden and in warehouses in the Al-Turba area cannot reach the people who need them. Insecurity and road closures continue to delay assistance to newly displaced families.   Once again, OCHA calls on all parties to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, to respect international humanitarian law, and to allow the safe and sustained passage of humanitarian assistance and essential commercial goods into and within Ta’iz.   OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY   Gaza: strikes imperil civilians as underfunding, restrictions reverse humanitarian gains.   OCHA remains deeply concerned over continued strikes hitting populated areas and reportedly causing civilian casualties across Gaza.   Over the weekend, safety and security partners said that most reported air strikes, shelling, gunfire and naval fire were west of the so-called “Yellow Line.”   Meanwhile, humanitarian partners warn that funding shortfalls – combined with ongoing restrictions – have begun reversing gains achieved since the announcement of a ceasefire over a year ago.   Today, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced that funding shortages have forced it to reduce food assistance in Gaza by approximately one-third: half a million people will lose access to critical assistance.   From this month, WFP is supporting 1.1 million of the most vulnerable people in Gaza with food and cash assistance, down from 1.6 million last month. The agency has cut food rations by half. Families receiving food assistance will now receive only one food parcel instead of two, and a smaller bag of wheat flour.   The number of hot meals WFP provides has been reduced from 250,000 to 150,000 a day. Families living in hard-to-reach areas, including near the “Yellow Line,” will receive a hot meal every other day instead of daily, the agency’s statement said.   WFP has also reduced the value of cash assistance provided to 75,000 families.   For now, the agency is able to continue supporting bakeries that cover one-third of Gaza’s bread needs, provide nutrition assistance to 300,000 women and children, and deliver healthy school snacks to 200,000 children.   Shelter partners say that about 66 per cent of the funding they require to help families prepare for the cold and rainy season remains unmet – a gap of US$186 million out of the $283 million required.   Eleven partners working on water report that they might have to discontinue the trucking of drinking water in the coming months, which would affect about 360 out of 3,500 water distribution points.   Meanwhile, in recent weeks, funding shortages have led to the closure of at least 10 child protection service points and safe spaces, while another 57 are currently at risk of closure, partial suspension or reduced operations.   Seventeen dedicated spaces for women and girls remain closed due to funding and safety issues.   Overall, the Flash Appeal for 2026 covering all humanitarian sectors across the Occupied Palestinian Territory remains just over 40 per cent funded.   West Bank: settler attacks injure olive pickers, damage groves   Funding shortfalls are also affecting the humanitarian response in the West Bank, while settler attacks linked to the olive harvest are exceeding those seen in previous years, with the impact outpacing the capacity of humanitarian partners to fully respond.   Olive pickers are being injured every day, while families are losing the groves they depend on for their livelihoods. The loss of these vital sources of income risks deepening humanitarian needs in the months and years ahead.   Humanitarian partners say that since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces have uprooted or damaged more than 10,000 trees and saplings, predominantly olive trees, during land-clearing operations across the West Bank. Nearly half of the trees and saplings were recorded as affected in September alone.   It is critical that both funding shortfalls and persistent restrictions are urgently addressed. Civilians and their livelihoods must be protected.   UKRAINE   Weekend attacks kill, injure civilians   OCHA says that attacks and front-line hostilities in Ukraine caused hundreds of civilian casualties over the weekend – damaging homes, hospitals, schools and energy infrastructure.   According to the authorities, attacks between Friday and this morning killed at least 29 civilians and left more than 230 others injured, including 11 children. The front-line regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson were among the hardest hit, with 15 civilians killed and 135 injured. Among those killed was an ambulance driver on duty in Kherson.   Several other regions were also affected, including central and western Ukraine. Hospitals in the regions of Kyiv and Chernihiv, along with schools and other civilian infrastructure, were damaged. Authorities also reported strikes on energy facilities in 11 regions, causing power outages in parts of western and central Ukraine.   OCHA remains alarmed by the growing impact of attacks on humanitarian operations. On Sunday, an attack damaged the premises of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in Kherson.   Meanwhile, the deteriorating security situation continues to drive people from their homes in front-line areas. According to humanitarian partners, more than 120,000 people – including 8,200 people with disabilities – have been registered at humanitarian-supported transit and reception centres since January. Nearly half of those registered – about 56,000 people – were displaced from the Donetsk region.   The UN and its humanitarian partners continue to support evacuations and provide assistance to people fleeing hostilities, despite escalating security risks and continued attacks on civilian and humanitarian infrastructure.   SUDAN   Deadly drone strikes interrupt critical services   OCHA is alarmed by reports across Sudan of continued deadly drone strikes, which are killing civilians, including children, and disrupting essential services.   Today, drones reportedly struck locations in the capital Khartoum, including near the airport. A civilian was reportedly killed and some flights cancelled following the attacks.   In West Darfur State, a drone strike reportedly killed 11 people, including nine children, and injured others, in the Bir Saliba area on Saturday.   In South Darfur State, a drone strike reportedly hit Almawashi market in the state capital Nyala last Friday, killing at least four people, including a child.   In North Kordofan State, at least four civilians were reportedly killed and others injured in a drone strike in the locality of Abu Zabad on Saturday.   OCHA is also deeply saddened by the killing of a Sudanese Red Crescent volunteer while providing first aid at a health centre in the town of Um Darfa, in Blue Nile State, last week, following a drone attack on the facility. Since the conflict began in April 2023, 25 Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers have reportedly been killed while on duty.   OCHA reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities and humanitarian personnel, must be protected as required by international humanitarian law.   Meanwhile, rising food prices are putting further pressure on families already struggling to meet their basic needs. WFP reports that the cost of its local food basket rose by 24 per cent in September compared with August.   Currency depreciation, fuel shortages, and conflict-related disruptions to markets and supply routes are driving up costs.   Despite immense challenges, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to deliver life-saving assistance. In Central Darfur State, partners recently rehabilitated a water facility in the locality of Zalingei, restoring access to safe water for some 2,500 people. More than 2,000 families also received water, sanitation and hygiene assistance across several localities.   OCHA once again calls for increased funding to sustain life-saving operations.* With less than three months left in the year, Sudan's humanitarian response plan is just over 43 per cent funded, with $1.2 billion of the nearly $2.9 billion required received so far.   HAITI   Insecurity, underfunding disrupt children’s education   OCHA says that hundreds of thousands of children in Haiti are struggling to continue their educations under the shadow of violence and displacement.   With over 1,600 schools closed and 95 being used to shelter displaced families, UNICEF warns that funding shortfalls are also jeopardizing efforts to help children continue learning.   UNICEF also says that more than 300,000 displaced children are at heightened risk of dropping out of school as insecurity and displacement disrupt their educations.   Keeping children in school is also critical to protecting them from recruitment by armed groups. According to UNICEF, the number of children in Haiti recruited and used by armed groups surged by an estimated 200 per cent last year.   In September, the UN and its humanitarian partners helped nearly 3,000 children access alternative learning opportunities, including catch-up classes and non-formal education. They also distributed school backpacks containing notebooks and pens to more than 4,600 children, provided psychosocial support to 2,000 children, and helped over 175 displaced children return to the national education system. These efforts reached 10 municipalities across five departments: Grande-Anse, Centre, Ouest, Sud and Sud-Est.   OCHA warns that funding is not keeping pace with needs. The education response under the Humanitarian Response Plan has received only 30 per cent of the $61.7 million required this year. With less than three months left in the year, more funding is urgently needed to keep children learning safely and reach those who are still missing out.   http://www.unocha.org/news/todays-top-news-occupied-palestinian-territory-yemen-sudan-ukraine-haiti http://www.unocha.org/latest/news-and-stories Visit the related web page
	Everyone, everywhere must enjoy the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by UN Human Rights experts, Special Rapporteurs   Oct. 2026   Commemorating five years since the UN Human Rights Council expressly recognised that everyone, everywhere must enjoy the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, States, international entities and businesses must prioritise its implementation.   Implementing the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is an urgent priority, especially in light of the increasingly severe human rights impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss and toxic pollution.   As UN human rights experts, we urge all States, international entities and businesses to demonstrate leadership and advance practical solutions on the ground to address the triple planetary crisis, mainstreaming this right, instead of increasing resistance to its implementation.   Today, the universal recognition of this right is further reinforced by the legal certainty provided by international law. Effective implementation is therefore essential to ensure the protection and realization of all other human rights and must be achieved without further delay.   On 8 October 2021, the UN Human Rights Council expressly recognised in Resolution 48/13, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right. This historic resolution opened the way for the General Assembly to, accordingly, recognise the right in July 2022. However, recognition alone is not enough. The right must be translated from principle into practice, particularly for marginalised individuals and groups who are suffering the most from the negative impacts of environmental degradation and climate change, including women who experience particular and disproportionate effects of these crises, and should be integrated in all tiers of education.   As we mark the historic recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for everyone, everywhere, we stress the interdependence of this with all other rights, and how essential it is to advancing peace and sustainable development.   Human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent, and, as unanimously reaffirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and more recently, in the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, a healthy environment is essential to and a precondition for the enjoyment of all other human rights.   The recognition of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right marks a milestone achieved through the collective efforts and collaboration of many actors from around the world.   This historic recognition was supported by States –with a vast majority voting in favour and none voting against these resolutions. It was achieved after five decades of efforts from Indigenous Peoples, human rights defenders, social movements, people of African descent, peasants and campesinos, civil society organizations, United Nations entities, Special Procedures and many others.   It therefore stands as a testament to what international cooperation and participatory processes can achieve for the benefit of present and future generations.   The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment includes clean air, a safe climate, safe and sustainably produced food, safe and sufficient water, healthy biodiversity and ecosystems, and non-toxic environments.   Industrial food systems impact healthy ecosystems and biodiversity and other elements of the right, therefore, agroecological transformation pathways of industrial food systems must be advanced to safeguard ecosystems and food for future generations.   A healthy environment also includes access to information, meaningful public participation and access to justice and effective remedies.   The recognition of this right by the UN Human Rights Council, followed by the UN General Assembly, inspired an increasing number of States to recognise it in their constitutions or legislation. To date 166 have done so.   The African and the Inter-American human rights systems were the first to recognise this right. It is also included in the Arab Charter of Human Rights and by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which recently adopted a declaration on the right to safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment, with a regional action plan currently under development. The Council of Europe has been discussing this recognition for several years, and UN human rights experts have urged member States to begin negotiations on a legally binding instrument recognising the right to a healthy environment.   The legal recognition is strengthened by recent advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, which confirm that a healthy environment is both a human right, and essential to advancing urgent and systemic transformative changes needed to achieve a healthy planet to all.   We also emphasise the importance and the obligation of States to effectively protect environmental human rights defenders, civil society organizations and movements, including women human rights defenders, independent media and those working to protect the environment, the climate system, lands, the ocean and their territories.   Implementing the right to a healthy environment also requires ensuring that they are highly supported, recognised, and protected, reflecting the crucial importance of their work for all communities, societies and the planet.   Instead, today they increasingly face serious threats attacks and even enforced disapperances and killings, as well as shrinking civic spaces in which to carry out their work.   We note with concern that the recognition of the right to a healthy environment contrasts with the worrying situation faced by environmental human rights defenders, particularly women and girls, Indigenous Peoples, people of African descent, campesinos and peasants, and fisherfolk, independent environmental scientists, independent media, and civil society organizations and movements.   We therefore reaffirm the obligation of States and the responsibility of international entities and business to respect this right and to guarantee a safe space for those who work to defend it.   States must also investigate all enforced disapperances and killings of environmental human rights defenders in line with international standards including the Minnesota Protocol on the investigation of potentially unlawful death (2016) with a view to ensuring truth, justice, accountability, preventing impunity and drawing lessons to avoid repeated violations.   We welcome the positive inclusion of the right to a healthy environment in multilateral decisions, such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and emphasize the importance of continuing with this inclusion and implementation. We stress that States, businesses and international entities must work in a coordinated manner to ensure its effective implementation.   We are also concerned by legislative and policy setbacks as well as the increasing prevalence of war, conflict, occupation and genocide, all of which have direct and profound impacts on the right to a healthy environment. A healthy environment both catalyzes and sustains a healthy and peaceful planet.   Thus, rather than pursuing deregulation, and escalating conflicts, militarization and financing of war, efforts should be shifted towards strengthening the rule of law and increasing investment in environmental protection, climate action, and ecosystem restoration, in accordance with international law obligations.   Recent challenges to explicitly include the right to a healthy environment in international negotiations and agreements underscore the need to renew the collaboration and commitment in advancing this right.   It is vital that States and businesses, as well as all international entities, mainstream the right to a healthy environment; as happened when the recognition of the right was achieved, by closely collaborating for its implementation.   We stress that the inclusion of the right to a healthy environment and a human rights-based approach is fundamental to addressing root causes, preventing and solving the serious impacts of the planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and toxic pollution, with their severe environmental, economic, social, cultural and developmental consequences.   We reiterate that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is essential for the enjoyment of all human rights and that those in the most marginalised and discriminatory situations are suffering the most from the negative impacts of the triple planetary crisis.   We therefore highlight the importance of ensuring that all actions and initiatives prioritise addressing these impacts and developing intersectional solutions, informed by science as well as by good practices– including Indigenous knowledge, local knowledge, and the meaningful participation of children, youth, women and persons with disabilities–and supported with adequate budgets so that measures are implemented as a matter of priority to support and benefit, in particular, those who have contributed the least to these crises yet suffer the most from their impact.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/10/five-years-recognition-right-healthy-environment-un-experts-urge http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/07/un-experts-welcome-recognition-international-court-justice-all-states-must
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