In a speech delivered during a debate on African development, Assembly President Philémon Yang addressed the continent’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s (AU) related framework, known as Agenda 2063. “There has never been a better time to accelerate progress towards peace, prosperity and sustainable...
In a flash update, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that since the intensification of aerial attacks on 29 December, approximately 3,000 families had seen their homes damaged across Ukraine. That day saw one of the deadliest attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February...
“Women and girls continue to be killed on the basis of their sex and gender, rendered more vulnerable to femicide when being women and girls intersect with other grounds or identities,” said Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on the issue – whose brief includes examining the causes and consequences of...
Twenty-two-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested and forced into a van by Iran’s so called “morality police” in the capital Tehran on 13 September last year. Authorities alleged she was not in conformity with the country’s strict laws on mandatory veiling. She died on 16 September reportedly after suffering a...
The partnership, called the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), was launched in 2020, to facilitate timely, equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 health products through public health oriented, transparent and non-exclusive licensing agreements. “COVID-19 is here to stay, and the world will continue to need tools to prevent it, test...
Agencies continue to reach people despite the challenges, including the ongoing rainy season, UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told journalists in New York on Monday. Roughly 4.3 million people in the West African country rely on humanitarian aid. Last week, 22,000 people in the Maradi region, located in the centre, received...
Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General António Guterres, was speaking at the regular press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York. The Danube port of Izmail, in the Odesa Region, was hit on 2 August. The attack damaged facilities storing thousands of tons of food grains. “The Secretary-General also condemned...
That was the message conveyed by the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief, Martin Griffiths, to a meeting held on Thursday in Istanbul, to discuss the future of the Initiative, with senior official from the signatories to the deal, Russia, and Ukraine, together with the UN and Türkiye, which also mediated the...
Briefing ambassadors, the new UN Special Representative in Afghanistan and UNAMA chief, Roza Otunbayeva, highlighted ongoing political and human rights concerns – as well as several positive developments – since the Taliban’s seizure of power in August 2021. “We do not see eye to eye with the Taliban on a...
Stéphane Dujarric reiterated that the UN welcomed the donation of 260,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer which has been stored in European ports and warehouses, “which will serve to alleviate humanitarian needs and prevent catastrophic crop loss in Africa, where it is currently planting season.” The first shipment of 20,000 tonnes...
Updating ambassadors on the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, as per Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, said she has been stressing each month “for many years now”, that continued unresolved inconsistencies meant Syria was out of compliance. Continued efforts, ‘unsuccessful’ Since her...
Overall, more than 14 million people in Syria require assistance amid a dire situation in which infrastructure has crumbled and economic activity halved due to conflict, regional financial crises, sanctions, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The international community has helped avoid a total collapse in Syria. But the only way to...