#COVID-19

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the opening of the Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development, held from 1 to 5 March:

The Secretary-General regrets the use of violence and the subsequent loss of life reported at the residence of the presidential candidate Yaya Dillo in N’Djamena, Chad.  He deplores the use of force in the context of the electoral process and urges the authorities to foster an inclusive political process.

The Security Council today announced the adoption of a resolution calling for strengthened international cooperation to facilitate equitable and affordable access to COVID-19 vaccines in armed conflict and post-conflict situations, and during complex humanitarian emergencies.

The United Nations team, led by Resident Coordinator Stefan Priesner, is helping authorities in Malaysia launch a national COVID-19 vaccination programme.  More than 500,000 people have registered to receive the vaccine, which aims to reach 80 per cent of the population, 24 million people, by March 2022.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration today began preparing asylum seekers in the Matamoros camp for entry to the United States as the country ends a policy that forced some 25,000 people to wait in Mexico for their immigration hearings.

The number of civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan rose following the start of peace negotiations in September, according to report released today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Organization’s human rights office.  The country remains among the deadliest for civilians.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message for the Global Citizen’s "Recover Better Together" campaign, today:

Ten years into Syria’s crisis, humanitarian needs are deepening, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says, with an estimated 13.4 million people requiring protection and assistance, up more than 2 million people from 2020.  Nearly 60 per cent of the population is food insecure.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, as delivered by Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, to the organizational meeting of the 2021 session of the Special Committee on Decolonization, today:

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the round table hosted by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development titled “Rebuild, Boost, and Transform:  Gender approaches for an inclusive COVID-19 recovery”, today: