Africa

United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Cristina Duarte of Cabo Verde as Special Adviser on Africa.

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.

The text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Group of Five for the Sahel Summit, held in Nouakchott today, is not available in English.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Giovanie Biha of Burundi as his new Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS).

In Nepal, the United Nations team is helping the Government cope with the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting the repatriation of Nepali migrants returning from the Gulf and Southeast Asia at entry and transit points, with quarantine sites and isolation centres.  Some 25,000 returnees are expected in this first phase.

Forced displacement is now affecting more than one percent of humanity, or 1 in 97 people, and fewer of those who flee are able to return home, according to a report issued today by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

A new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report finds that universal child benefits such as cash payments or tax transfers — crucial to fighting child poverty — are only available in 1 out of 10 countries.  Officials say that they are needed now more than ever amid the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the China‑Africa Summit on solidarity against COVID-19, in New York today:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched the ZODIAC project to strengthen global preparedness for future pandemics by establishing a network to help with monitoring, surveillance, early detection and control of animal and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, avian influenza and Zika.

Persistent terrorist attacks, maritime insecurity and rising political tension are just some of the backdrops against which countries of Central Africa are now battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the senior United Nations official in the region told the Security Council during a 12 June videoconference meeting, noting that 22,000 cases of the virus have already been confirmed across 11 countries.