The United Nations team in the Federated States of Micronesia has launched a new joint programme, financed by a $3.8 million grant from the UN Joint SDG Fund, to help small island developing States in the Pacific pool resources, expertise and networks, spur economic activities and strengthen climate change resilience.

The intercontinental ballistic missiles being developed by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “can reach most points on Earth”, a senior United Nations official warned today, urging Pyongyang to fully comply with its international obligations under all relevant resolutions adopted by the Security Council.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

On 29 June 2023, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) enacted the amendments, specified with strikethrough and/or underline, in the entries below on its Sanctions List of individuals and entities.

On 2 June 2023, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1718 (2006) approved updates to its seventh implementation assistance notice (IAN) entitled “Guidelines for Obtaining Exemptions to Deliver Humanitarian Assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, which was initially adopted by the Committee on 6 August 2018.

Following the recently failed launch of what the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has described as a military reconnaissance satellite, a senior United Nations official today stressed to the Security Council that diplomacy — and not isolation — is the only way forward, as she underlined that the 15-nation organ’s lack of unity and action does little to slow the Korean Peninsula’s negative trajectory.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today released its monthly Food Price Index for May, which said that world food commodity prices declined amid significant drops in quotations for most cereals, vegetable oils and dairy products.

Today, on World No Tobacco Day, under the theme “Grow food, not tobacco”, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging Governments to stop subsidizing tobacco farming and support more sustainable crops that could feed millions.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Volker Perthes, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, is still in Khartoum and is continuing to engage with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, and other key Member States on the ground in efforts to secure an immediate de-escalation and cessation of the fighting.