Disarmament

Millions of refugees across Eastern Africa who rely on the World Food Programme (WFP) to survive will face serious hunger and malnutrition, the agency warned today, citing reduced donor funding due to the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  WFP needs $323 million to assist refugees over the next six months.

Disarmament is at the heart of the collective security system set out in the United Nations Charter, with its goal to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.  In commemoration of the seventy-fifth anniversaries of the establishment of the United Nations and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Office for Disarmament Affairs is launching the “75 Words for Disarmament Youth Challenge”.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan reported today that its engineering troops, together with local youth, are repairing flood-damaged levees in Jonglei state, already saving Bor’s main market and hospital from being submerged by flooding, which has so far displaced an estimated 135,000 people in the area.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Izumi Nakamitsu, Under Secretary-General and United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, to the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, observed on 9 August:

In Somalia, more than 150,000 people have fled their homes since late June — including 230,000 in the last week alone — due to flooding in the south.  Some 650,000 people across the country having been displaced by heavy rains since January, with many now living in overcrowded, makeshift shelters.  Food is in short supply and many are going hungry.

A flight carrying ventilators, protective masks and other essential medical supplies landed in Papua New Guinea today, marking the start of the World Food Programme’s humanitarian air service for the Pacific, which aims to help the region’s countries and territories bolster the Covid-19 pandemic response.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, in Hiroshima, Japan, today:

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that it is providing tents, water, tanks and toilets to the more than 3,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo that arrived in north-western Uganda last week during a temporary opening of two border crossing points.

An estimated 4.1 million girls will be subjected to female genital mutilation this year and if programmes and services stay shut for six months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that figure will reach 6.1 million by 2030, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s “State of World Population 2020” report issued today.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is facing many challenges, including the United States withdrawal from the 2015 landmark agreement and possible Iranian breaches of the arms transfer provisions of Security Council resolution 2231 (2015), but it nevertheless remains the best way to ensure that Tehran’s nuclear programme is peaceful, Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, told a 30 June videoconference meeting of the 15-member organ.