At the end of a nine-day conference in New York, States failed to reach an agreement on an Arms Trade Treaty. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) deeply regrets that States were unable to adopt an Arms Trade Treaty at the diplomatic conference that ended yesterday in New York.
Hospitals in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic are overwhelmed with injured following the intense fighting of recent days. More than 200 people were admitted following the violence and 40 patients are still waiting urgent operations.
The conflict in Syria began two years ago and has caused immense suffering, for which no end is in sight yet. There is no let up in the fighting, which remains intense, and living conditions are deteriorating by the second; millions of people have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere within Syria or in neighbouring countries. Many of these people are living in exceedingly grim conditions. Tens of thousands are unaccounted for or have been detained. Families have been dispersed: people are searching desperately for their relatives, about whose whereabouts they often have no information at all. Standards of health have declined sharply, medical facilities have been targeted and health-care workers have been killed.
While the humanitarian situation in Somalia has improved slightly, there remain significant humanitarian concerns across the country. After two decades of fighting, tens of thousands of people have been separated from their families. The whereabouts of at least 12,000 people are unknown. Despite the passing of time, some Somalis are as determined as ever to find their loved ones.
Female detainees are often the sole providers for their families so their detention results in great hardship for their loved ones. However in Paraguay an innovative income generating project is helping the detainees and their families better cope mentally, economically and socially.
Less than one month on from signing a peace accord (the Libreville agreement), thousands are living with uncertainty in the Central African Republic. There is a risk of fighting breaking out and many remain displaced, unsure whether to return home.
One year on, the conflict in Mali continues. The result, an unsettled life for much of the civilian population. More than two hundred and fifty thousand have been internally displaced and almost as many have become refugees in neighbouring countries, since last year. Many fled their homes with only the clothes they were wearing, leaving their lives behind.
As the crisis persists in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in partnership with the Red Cross Society of the DRC, has since 19 November registered more than 300 unaccompanied children. They became separated from their families during the fighting that has rocked the area since mid-November. Very young children have been found next to their parents'' lifeless bodies or wandering alone by the side of the road. To date, around 150 children have been reunited with their families. Efforts are under way to reunite others with their loved ones before the holiday season.
As the violence intensifies and spreads in Syria, some 250,000 people have fled into Jordan, according to Jordanian official sources. About 45,000 Syrians have found shelter in Al Zaatari refugee camp, 15 km from the Syrian border.
Life for refugees in camps in South Sudan is precarious as they face serious shortages of clean drinkable water. These camps close to the Sudanese border are home to thousands of families sheltering from the ongoing fighting in Sudan.
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