Six months on, the war continues unabated.  Declared one of the deadliest conflicts in centuries on civilians and infrastructure, the evidence keeps multiplying on numerous cases of international humanitarian law violations, including against humanitarians and volunteers.  

The diversity of cultures and identities is a stamp of the Latin America and Caribbean region. On United Nations Day, we recognize the efforts of the UN system, and the UN Volunteers who work therein, to implement solutions that are inclusive, innovative and respectful.

National UN Volunteer Iryna Koval has been supporting OCHA as a Humanitarian Affairs Specialist since March 2019. Soon, she will start her new position as a coordination and monitoring consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO), a key partner in addressing COVID-19. At the onset of the pandemic, OCHA and its partners re-oriented their work in eastern Ukraine to address the health emergency and the current need for humanitarian aid.

The COVID-19 pandemic will have devastating effects on UN programme countries, reversing many positive gains in sustainable development. The negative social and economic impact particularly affects people most often left behind; such as women, children and those with disabilities.  In support of countries and UN partners in the COVID-19 response, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is investing its own resources to immediately deploy 70 UN Volunteers to countries severely affected by the crisis.

Serving with OCHA, UN Volunteer Oladipo Akinpelumi responds to the demand for vital data to coordinate humanitarian response. He combines expertise gained from his previous work as a GIS analyst in Nigeria and his two master’s degrees: one in Geographic Information Systems, and another in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid.

A public affairs specialist, Tommaso was working with the UN Regional Information Centre (UNRIC) in Brussels – after stints in The Hague and Rome – when he decided to upload his profile into the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) database. One night, while walking home with a colleague, he received an email asking if he was interested in joining OCHA’s sub-office in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). "I wasn’t convinced I could make it to the end of the selection process," Tommaso shares.

"I was born in Gaza and I have always lived in the Strip," Alaa explains. "I was aware of the situation that civilians are facing here, as I have experienced it in my daily life. But through my volunteering experience with OCHA, I became acquainted with a large amount of data, statistics, and reports that have deepened my knowledge of the problems affecting the Strip: from unemployment to the shortage of electricity, water, drugs, and so on."

PREPARING CONTINGENCY PLANNING FOR DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS

Since cross-border operations started in July 2014, aid materials sent by UN organizations arrive at UN bases in Turkey, where materials are moved from Turkish international road transports (TIRs) to Syrian TIRs. Later, TIRs cross into Syria as aid convoys under the supervision of the UN. The aid is then distributed by the UN's local partners in Syria. The whole operation is coordinated by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA).

Thousands of UN Volunteers have been supporting global, regional and national humanitarian crisis over the last 5 years, including through the provision of life-saving assistance to the affected communities after Typhoon Haiyan hit Philippines in 2013, support and logistics for the Ebola response in West Africa in 2014, damage assessment and debris removal after a devastating earthquake in Nepal