Cuba

In Cuba, the United Nations took part in the consultation process to make reforms to the country’s Family Code. Almost 75 per cent of Cubans voted on 25 September in a referendum on the diversity of families, affection and solidarity as key social values and strengthening the protection of a host of vulnerable groups.

Today marks five years since the Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force. The Convention protects human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) administers the agreement, which has 137 parties.

A United Nations-chartered vessel carrying the first shipment of humanitarian food under the Black Sea Grain Initiative is expected to berth soon at Ukraine’s Yuzhny (Pivdennyi) port to collect Ukrainian wheat purchased by the World Food Programme in support of the drought-stricken Horn of Africa where there is risk of famine.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic deployed a rapid reaction force near Ndélé, Bamingui-Bangoran Prefecture, to protect civilians amid reports of possible attacks by armed groups. The Mission continues to reinforce community protection, including in Ouadda-Djallé, Vakaga Prefecture, through early warning training.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today launched an appeal for $10.7 million to deliver life-saving health care in the next six months to over 2 million women and girls in Sri Lanka, where the health system risks collapsing amid debilitating power shortages and a lack of critical supplies and equipment.

The General Assembly today adopted a decision on the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

In Yemen, the United Nations and partners continue to provide life-saving aid to thousands of civilians on both sides of the front lines in Ma’rib, Al Bayda and Shabwah since fighting escalated in these governorates in September, amid calls by the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, for de-escalation.

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution addressing the decades-long United States embargo against Cuba, as delegates called for an immediate end to the sanctions, particularly amid global efforts to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clashes in northern Mozambique are driving one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement crises, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), says with the number of people who have fled their homes in Cabo Delgado having surged by nearly 650 per cent in 2020, and more than 732,000 people currently displaced.

The United Nations and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research hosted an online discussion on how to prioritize actions to recover more equitably from the COVID-19 pandemic.  More than 100 participants from 60 countries attended, including those responsible for $100 billion annually in global research investments.