Children

The Secretary-General will convene a high-level dialogue on energy on Friday, 24 September, under the auspices of the General Assembly.  The dialogue, which will be held virtually, is an opportunity to mobilize action and cooperation to ensure that all people can access clean, affordable energy by 2030.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are concerned about the impact on children of new cases of the bubonic plague in the eastern province of Ituri.  They say the plague has been reported in areas that had not seen a case in more than 15 years.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the first day of school has been indefinitely postponed for 140 million first-time students around the world, due to the pandemic.  The consequences of school closures – notably learning loss, heightened risk of dropping out and child labour – will be felt by the youngest learners.

Today marks three years since the death of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  As the current Secretary-General said, Kofi was one-of-a-kind, a man who embodied United Nations values.  Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that, on this day three years ago, the world lost one of its moral voices.

United Nations personnel in Lebanon are responding to a fuel tank explosion in the northern district of Akkar, which killed 28 people and injured over 80 others on 15 August.  The incident comes as the country grapples with a deepening crisis and electricity shortages have forced hospitals to operate at reduced capacity.

On 16 July 2021, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2140 (2014) was briefed by Special Representative of the Secretary‑General for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba on the situation of children and armed conflict in Yemen.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said today that, despite numerous challenges, it has delivered food to more than a million people in the north-western and parts of southern Tigray in June and July.  More than 175 trucks arrived in Tigray during the first week of August, and an additional 90 are expected in the coming days.

The World Health Organization reported that weekly deaths from COVID-19 in Africa reached a record peak in the week ending 1 August, with more than 6,400 deaths recorded — the highest seven-day toll since the onset of the pandemic in Africa.  South Africa and Tunisia accounted for more than 55 per cent of the fatalities.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say in a new report that conflict, coronavirus and the climate crisis are likely to increase hunger in 23 countries in the next four months.  Ethiopia and Madagascar are the world’s newest “highest alert” hunger hotspots, the report states.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that half a million people in parts of Balochistan province in Pakistan are facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity.  Another 100,000 people need immediate life-saving assistance due to severe drought-like conditions.