Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, due to lack of funds, the World Food Programme (WFP) today said that it has been forced to drastically reduce critical lifesaving assistance in March to millions of vulnerable Afghanis. In March, at least 4 million people will receive just half of what they need to get by.

The Security Council today adopted two resolutions concerning Afghanistan, both unanimously, one of which extended the mandate of the United Nations special political mission for one year, while the other requested an independent assessment of — and recommendations for — efforts to address that country’s challenges.

Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world for women’s rights, the senior United Nations official in Afghanistan told the Security Council today, spotlighting numerous restrictions imposed on women’s right to travel, study, and work freely, including for non-governmental organizations, making the response to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis even more challenging.

On International Women’s Day, the Secretary-General, celebrating all women and girls around the world, called for gender equality in innovation and technology, as well as for the digital gender divide to be closed and women and girls’ representation in science and technology be increased.

In Mongolia, the United Nations and humanitarian partners are appealing for an additional $3.5 million for a humanitarian response plan to reach 53,000 people in communities affected by Dzud — a severe winter weather event that follows a summer drought, freezing or starving large numbers of livestock to death.

In the Central African Republic, the United Nations peacekeeping mission there began an electoral awareness campaign in Obo and in Bria to encourage strong participation in the local elections.

With the United Nations Team’s support, the Chadian Government adopted its first-ever action plan to implement Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, with authorities also pledging to strengthen women’s participation in the political transition, including a revision of the Constitution.

Marking peacekeeping’s seventy-fifth anniversary, the Peacekeeping Department is launching a campaign, Peace Begins with Me, which promotes understanding of challenges faced by communities in conflict, demonstrates peacekeeping’s impact and calls for a global movement for peace.

On behalf of the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed; the Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), Sima Bahous; and the Assistant Secretary-General of the Department of Political, Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, Khaled Khiari, completed a four-day visit to Afghanistan to appraise the situation, engage de facto authorities and underscore United Nations solidarity with the Afghan people.

In Lebanon, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) donated 1,000 cholera testing kits, administered over 900,000 oral cholera vaccines and provided refrigerators and solar panels to ensure continuous access to electricity in support of the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to combat the cholera outbreak which began in October.