As the world marks the grim anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which Hutu and others who opposed the massacre were also killed, United Nations Secretary-General called for concerted efforts to defeat hate-driven movements to prevent history from repeating itself. Secretary-General António Guterres underlined that everyone must “take a hard look at today’s world and ensure that we heed the lessons of 27 years ago”. 

Women need to be “front and centre” of the pandemic recovery as a matter of economics, efficiency, effectiveness and social resilience, the UN chief told the women’s commission. “Male-dominated teams will come up with male-dominated solutions”, Secretary-General António Guterres warned a virtual town hall with women civil society during the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CWS). 

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on women and girls, and the fallout has shown how deeply gender inequality remains embedded in the world’s political, social and economic systems, UN chief António Guterres said in his address to the Commission on the Status of Women. This year’s Commission will focus on charting a global roadmap towards achieving full equality in public life but, as Mr. Guterres recalled in his speech, gender equality in all walks of life is a long way off and has been further undermined by the pandemic.

“Crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law have a key role in renewing the social contract between states and their populations,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his address, delivered live from New York. Highlighting the importance of the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in tackling challenges arising from the global pandemic, the UN chief said the forum’s agenda this year targets the responses needed to strengthen crime prevention and criminal justice in the current crisis.

 Secretary-General António Guterres received his second COVID-19 vaccine shot at the Morris Academy for Collaborative Studies in the Bronx, New York. He has repeatedly called for the vaccines to be "a global public good", accessible to all people, everywhere. UN staffers at UN Headquarters are waiting their turn for the vaccine based on the local rollout plan, and Mr. Guterres is among the first in the Big Apple-based UN family to receive a jab, based on his eligibility - he's over the standard UN retirement aged of 65.