Bosnia and Herzegovina

The global level of undernourishment increased sharply last year, under the shadow of the COVID‑19 pandemic, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual Statistical Yearbook, released today.  Nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population suffered from hunger in 2020, up from 8.4 per cent in 2019.

Meeting today amid heightened political tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Security Council extended the mandate of the European Union-led stabilization force in the Balkan country for another year, as members reviewed progress on implementation of the 26-year-old Dayton Peace Agreement.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says more children and women were abducted for ransom between January and August 2021 than during the entire 2020.  UNICEF estimates based on official sources say 71 women and 30 children were abducted in the first eight months of 2021, and 59 women and 37 children in 2020.

Global foreign direct investment flows in the first half of 2021 reached approximately $852 billion, showing stronger than expected rebound momentum, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said today (UNCTAD).  Developed economies saw the biggest rise at an estimated $424 billion, UNCTAD noted.

The Security Council today rejected a draft resolution that would end the powers and close the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, effective 31 July 2022, as progress had been achieved.

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat has a new draft Global Biodiversity Framework to guide actions worldwide through 2030 to preserve and protect nature, and its essential services to people.  It will serve as the basis for negotiations at the Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China, in October.

In Syria, United Nations agencies and aid partners are trucking in emergency water supplies and installing reverse osmosis pumps in Al-Hasakeh city amid reports of another disruption at Alouk water station,  which shut down on 23 June.  Up to 1 million people in the region are affected when the station ceases to operate.

Chronic divisive rhetoric and genocide denial in Bosnia and Herzegovina are contributing to polarization and hindering prospects for national and regional stability and prosperity, a senior peacekeeping official told the Security Council today during a briefing on recent developments.

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.

Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a de facto frozen conflict, where political leaders pursue wartime goals, generate divisions and push nationalistic agendas, the top United Nations official overseeing implementation of the 1995 Dayton Accords told the Security Council today, warning that hate speech and genocide denial risk eclipsing hard-won democratic gains.