The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today released a report which says that fewer victims of trafficking are being identified even as the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises are increasing vulnerabilities to exploitation.

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.

A report released today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) notes that children from the poorest households benefit the least from national public education funding. According to the report, children living in poverty are less likely to have access to school and drop out sooner.

The Secretary-General has extended the mandate of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon from 1 March until 31 December to complete non-judicial residual functions and ensure its orderly closure. Mandated to conduct the trials of those accused of carrying out the 14 February 2005 attacks in Beirut, its work is coming to an end.

In two separate reports released today, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation said that approximately 5 million children died before their fifth birthday and another 2.1 million children and youth lost their lives in 2021.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report that the ozone layer is on track to recover within four decades.

The United Nations country team in South Africa is working with authorities to respond to the recent measles outbreak, including 245 confirmed cases, almost 75 per cent of them children under the age of nine. With funding from Germany and Japan, UNICEF is procuring equipment that will benefit approximately 2,000 health facilities.

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the eighth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the seventh report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Sudan (document S/2022/627), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group:

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the fifth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Central African Republic (S/2021/882), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group: