Africa

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the virtual Boma of Africa, today:

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) today released a report on the human rights situation there over the 10 months since the Taliban takeover, citing 2,106 civilian casualties between mid-August 2021 and mid-June 2022 despite an overall notable reduction in armed violence.

The Special Representative for the Secretary-General in Colombia told the Security Council that, in a mostly peaceful election, Colombians elected their new President, Gustavo Petro. The electoral outcomes also included the largest ever share of women, close to 30 per cent of lawmakers.

Despite positive political developments in West Africa and the Sahel — including recent elections in the Gambia and Senegal — the Security Council heard today that a series of coups d’état requires strengthened State institutions and a return to constitutional order to consolidate democratic gains, as members also highlighted proliferating terrorist activity and urged increased support for regional security arrangements to address persistent insecurity.

In South Africa, Acting Resident Coordinator, Ayodele Odusola and her team are focused on rebuilding the KwaZulu-Natal province and, in response to the pandemic, providing more than $750,000 in assistance and technical support and working with authorities through the district development model to improve social services.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations today addressed the 2022 Ocean Conference opening ceremony, along with the leaders of the two co-hosting nations, Portugal and Kenya, warning that the world’s failure to care for the ocean will have ripple effects across the entire 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development.

The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs allocated $4 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to respond to the crisis in Mali’s Ménaka region, where armed clashes since March have killed hundreds of people and triggered the displacement of an estimated 56,000 people, nearly two‑thirds of them women and children.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development, in Aswan today:

A newly released World Health Organization report finds that nearly a billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder.  It identifies public health crises, inequality, war and climate change as major health threats, and shows that depression and anxiety spiked more than 25 per cent in 2020.