Brazil

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Brazilian Development Forum, today:

The World Food Programme (WFP) reached an agreement with Venezuela to begin operations to serve nutritious meals to the most vulnerable children, particularly in pre-primary and special education schools, reaching up to 185,000 children by year-end.  WFP aims to provide daily meals to 1.5 million students by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.

The United Nations Children’s Fund warned today that Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province is facing a large and likely long-lasting humanitarian situation.  The agency said it is concerned about the rising rate of malnutrition, and about cholera, which is not yet under control and is spreading to other provinces.

Acute hunger could soar in more than 20 countries over the coming months without urgent, scaled-up assistance, a report issued today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme warns.  Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria top the list, according to the “Hunger Hotspots” report.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba, raised concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic’s adverse impact on children in conflict zones.  In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, she urged States to incorporate child rights in virus containment plans and ensure that protection services continue to operate.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator’s team in Brazil is supporting the state of Amazonas in tackling latest surge of COVID-19.  The United Nations Children’s Fund delivered 250 hygiene kits and food baskets, while the International Organization for Migration is working to mitigate transmission in indigenous and riverside communities.

The Food and Agriculture Organization said it is working to bolster the global response to the Fall Armyworm, considered one of the top 10 devastating plant pests, which places at risk up to 80 million metric tons of maize worth $18 billion per year in Africa, Asia and the Near East.

The Mission in South Sudan deployed a Nepalese Quick Reaction Force Team to Cueibet to support local police protecting civilians from a potential conflict between armed groups, following the killing of a young man.  The peacekeepers intercepted the groups and remained in the area until the situation was stable. 

In Viet Nam, where Typhoon Molave made landfall this week, nearly 70 people have reportedly died or are still missing and some 375,000 are in evacuation centres, the United Nations reports.  With aid partners, it has distributed emergency relief kits and is developing a response plan to support Government-led efforts. 

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the webinar “Supreme courts, governance and democracy:  Contributions of civil society to the improvement of the governance of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil”, today: