The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today said that food commodity prices in the international market rose for the fourth consecutive month in November. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 134.4 points in the month, the highest level since June 2011 and 1.2 per cent higher than during October.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the situation in the northern part of Ethiopia is rapidly deteriorating, amid fighting in and around Dessie and Kombolcha in the Amhara region, which led to large-scale displacement and increasing humanitarian needs. The two towns were already hosting a large number of displaced people from nearby areas.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the presentation of the artwork “World in Progress II”, in New York today:
The United Nations and humanitarian partners today released a tri-national action plan seeking $10.4 million to support Government responses over the next year to urgent needs in the border area between Colombia, Peru and Brazil, which currently has the world’s highest COVID-19 mortality rates per 100,000 people.
In Yemen, the United Nations and its aid partners report they have distributed emergency food, hygiene kits and other essential items to over 7,600 families impacted by deadly floods and torrential rains that destroyed homes, crops and livestock in July and August. An estimated 62,000 families have been affected.
Millions of refugees across Eastern Africa who rely on the World Food Programme (WFP) to survive will face serious hunger and malnutrition, the agency warned today, citing reduced donor funding due to the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. WFP needs $323 million to assist refugees over the next six months.
An inter-agency United Nations team arrived in Mauritius yesterday to support the Government-led response to the oil spill that is impacting the country, Christine Umutoni, Resident Coordinator in the island nation says. They will also engage local communities and the private sector.
Polio immunization campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, months after COVID-19 left 50 million children without their polio vaccines, UNICEF said today. There is concern that up to 1 million children in Afghanistan could miss out as door-to-door vaccinations are not possible in some areas.
In Sudan’s Khartoum state — where food security has deteriorated due to inflation and economic decline — the World Food Programme (WFP) launched its first programme providing nutritional support to 175,000 pregnant and nursing women and children under five. Precautions are in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the annual memorial service for fallen staff, in New York today:
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in a new report that millions of children in Yemen could be pushed to the brink of starvation due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the COVID-19 response is only 10 per cent funded, as UNICEF appeals for $53 million.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has launched an $186 million appeal to provide lifesaving protection and assistance to refugees, internally displaced persons, returnees and host communities in the Central Sahel, The number of displaced in Burkina Faso has more than quadrupled in the past year.
More than one in six young people have stopped working since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said today. The latest ILO analysis of coronavirus’s impact on the labour market notes that those youth who remain employed have seen their working hours cut by 23 per cent.
Today on International Nurses Day, the World Health Organization remind us that as the world struggles to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic there is an urgent shortage of nurses worldwide. Almost 6 million more are needed, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees airlifted emergency relief items to Chad on 19 March, responding to the humanitarian needs of some 10,000 Sudanese refugees. Clashes in Sudan’s West Darfur region since late 2019 have forced more than 16,000 people, mostly women and children, to cross the border into Chad.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Staff Day opening ceremony and memorial wreath-laying, in New York today:
On 12 June 2019, Anne Frank would have turned 90, had she survived the Holocaust. The United Nations will honour her legacy by dedicating a sapling donated by the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect. The donated sapling is descended from the horse chestnut tree that grew outside the attic in which the Frank family hid for two years from the Nazis, before they were betrayed.
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the Joint Meeting of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UNICEF, UN-Women and WFP (United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund/United Nations Office of Partnership Services/United Nations Children’s Fund/United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and the World Food Programme), in New York today:
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Captain Diagne Medal ceremony, in New York today:
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal ceremony, in New York today:
