The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its fifty-first session from 22 to 24 July 2020. Due to ongoing challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the meetings were held virtually. The session was presided over by the Chair, Janet St. Laurent. All the other members of the Committee — namely Richard Quartei Quartey (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko and Agus Pramono — were in attendance.
The General Assembly established the United Nations Board of Auditors in 1946 as an important mechanism to promote accountability and transparency in the Organization.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the annual memorial service for fallen staff, in New York today:
An estimated 4.1 million girls will be subjected to female genital mutilation this year and if programmes and services stay shut for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure will reach 6.1 million by 2030, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s “State of World Population 2020” report issued today.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, 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.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message on social media for the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations, in New York today:
For the first time since 2018, the World Food Programme has been able to send a humanitarian convoy from Kenya directly into South Sudan through the Nadapal Border crossing. The nine-truck convoy carried 280 metric tons of food, enough to feed 20,000 people for a month. The route’s reopening cuts travel times in half.
The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its fiftieth session 29 April-1 May. Due to the ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic (COVID-19), the meetings were held virtually.
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a meeting with the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the World Food Programme (WFP), in New York today:
United Nations humanitarian agencies and their partners are asking donors for an initial $350 million to rapidly scale up logistics services, aimed at supporting countries disproportionately affected by cancelled flights and disrupted supply routes to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is sending equipment to more than 40 countries to help them use nuclear-derived technology to rapidly detect COVID‑19. Dozens of labs will receive diagnostic machines to speed up national testing, biosafety supplies and personal protection equipment.
At least 28 United Nations personnel — 23 peacekeepers and 5 civilians — were killed in deliberate attacks in the line of duty in 2019, according to the United Nations Staff Union Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service. This brings the death toll to at least 424 United Nations and associated personnel who were killed in deliberate attacks in the last 10 years from improvised explosive devices, rocket and artillery fire, mortar rounds, landmines, grenades, suicide attacks, targeted assassinations and armed ambushes.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at a joint briefing to Member States on the Organization’s response to COVID-19, in New York today:
Solidarity is “the first line of defence” against the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to wipe out years of development gains and throw millions of people back into poverty, the highest-ranking United Nations officials warned today as they briefed Member States on the Organization’s response to the crisis.
The Secretary-General and top UN officials held a virtual briefing for Member States to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as his call for global ceasefires saw positive gains in Colombia, Syria and Yemen and UNICEF continued to procure and ship protective equipment and other vital supplies to affected countries.
The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its forty-ninth session from 19 to 21 February 2020 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The United Nations Intranet, “iSeek,” on 6 January received the “gold standard” recognition in Intranet Design, from industry leader Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g), as one of the world’s 10 best intranets in 2020.
The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its forty-eighth session from 10 to 13 December at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
The sixtieth meeting of the Panel of External Auditors, chaired by Gareth Davies, Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom, was held from 2‑3 December 2019 at the United Nations Campus in Bonn, Germany. The Panel consists of the Heads of 11 Supreme Audit Institutions who are either elected or selected to conduct the external audit of the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes and specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The meeting was attended by representatives from Canada, Chile, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ghana, Philippines, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United Republic of Tanzania as an observer.
