The World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have launched a new project to improve emergency response to health crises. The project, called INITIATE², will develop solutions such as disease-specific field facilities and kits and train logistics and health responders on their use.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has launched a new Peace Fellows programme to increase participation in the country’s peace process. It brings together representatives from all 10 states and three administrative areas to share information about the 2018 Peace Agreement, with a focus on education.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) cited a tight window for farmers in hunger-stricken northern Ethiopia to get crops in the ground ahead of upcoming seasonal rains. It appealed for $30 million in urgent support, noting that farmers have seen seeds and animals looted and credit lines disappear.
The World Meteorological Organization and its partners today released the first Hydromet Gap report, which states that an estimated 23,000 lives could be saved annually and at least $162 billion per year in potential benefits could be realized by improving weather forecasts, early warning systems, and climate information.
Despite progress made towards accountability and political stability, the senior United Nations official in South Sudan told the Security Council today that significant security and humanitarian challenges remain, as members diverged on the utility of sanctions still imposed on the world’s youngest country.
The United Nations learned with deep sadness that Edward Mortimer, Head Speechwriter and Director of Communications for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, died at the weekend. During a tumultuous period in world affairs, Mr. Mortimer made an imprint on many of the Secretary-General’s signature achievements and initiatives.
Sudan must now fully seize its critical role in delivering long-awaited justice to victims by ending impunity for perpetrators of atrocity crimes committed in Darfur almost 20 years ago, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the Security Council today.
Democratic Republic of Congo authorities noted the end of the lava flow from the eruption of Nyiragongo, as well as a significant decrease in tremors in the area. Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde Kyenge announced yesterday that people could return to Goma and the territory around the volcano.
The Federal Government of Somalia, in consultation with the United Nations, declared a drought on 25 April, with moderate to severe drought conditions impacting 80 per cent of the country. Seasonal rains then began in late April and early May, triggering flash flooding that impacted 400,000 people, of whom 101,300 were displaced.
The Security Council, acting through its written silence procedure today, renewed the arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze imposed on South Sudan for another year and extended for 13 months the mandate of the panel of experts tasked with helping to oversee those measures, while expressing its readiness to adjust them in light of conditions on the ground.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo near Gomas has caused 13 deaths and destroyed the homes of 5,000 people, humanitarian colleagues report. The United Nations is assisting with water, shelter, health and family reunification, and peacekeepers are set to clear the main roads into Goma.
The World Health Organization today said that more than 1.2 million people urgently need health assistance in Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, where recent armed attacks sparked further population displacement and deepened a protracted humanitarian crisis.
The Secretary-General welcomed the beginning of consultations between Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville government, following a referendum on Bougainville’s political future held in 2019. The consultations mark an “important step” in the implementation of the 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement.
The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) until 15 November 2021, maintaining the current ceilings for troops and police.
The United Nations team in Madagascar is helping authorities to address record-high food insecurity and surging severe acute malnutrition caused by droughts, sandstorms and caterpillar plagues in the south of the island. Authorities and the United Nations launched a flash appeal in January for nearly $76 million.
Humanitarian workers in Sudan report that the security situation in the town of Ag Geneina in western Darfur is stable but remains tense and unpredictable. More than 230,000 people were displaced by the conflict in Darfur since the beginning of 2021, more than four times the 53,000 displaced in all of 2020.
The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the third report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in South Sudan (S/2020/1205), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group.
Progress in protecting the world’s forests — and the people who rely on them — is at risk due to the devastating impacts of the coronavirus and the escalating climate and biodiversity crises, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
The new rapprochement between Sudan and South Sudan has yet to translate into significant improvements on the ground in relation to their dispute over the Abyei region, the head of United Nations peacekeeping told the Security Council during a videoconference briefing today.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says 71 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar, with more than half of them still detained since the beginning of February. Some 24 people have been charged for allegedly spreading fake news.
