Today the World Food Programme announced that the United Arab Emirates will dedicate three aircraft until the end of 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic response, helping the World Health Organization and the global humanitarian community transport life-saving cargo and personnel to more than 100 countries in need.

The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund are urging Governments to prevent devastating nutrition and health consequences for the 370 million children missing out on school meals as a result of school closures.  The daily lunch at school is the only food for millions of children around the world.

The Security Council, recalling the link between armed conflict, violence and conflict-induced food insecurity and the threat of famine, called today on all parties to respect humanitarian principles and to comply with their international humanitarian law obligations regarding the production of, and access to, food.

Acute food insecurity — much of it resulting from conflict, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic — is on the rise in many parts of the world and threatens to reach “biblical proportions” without immediate, swift and coherent international action to address the outbreak’s root causes, senior United Nations officials dealing with food issues told the Security Council during a 21 April videoconference meeting.

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is warning of life-threatening consequences if annual monsoon preparations cannot be completed.  A lockdown is in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, making supply delivery more challenging.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released new guidance on COVID-19 and the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, stressing that they must not fear retribution for seeking health care amid the pandemic.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the virtual extraordinary high-level meeting of the Group of Friends on Food Security and Nutrition, in New York today:

The Secretary-General and top UN officials held a virtual briefing for Member States to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as his call for global ceasefires saw positive gains in Colombia, Syria and Yemen and UNICEF continued to procure and ship protective equipment and other vital supplies to affected countries.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said today that broad sectoral sanctions should urgently be re-evaluated in countries facing the COVID-19 pandemic.  Such measures could have a potentially debilitating impact on the health sector and human rights, she added. 

Following is the text of UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ video message to a high‑level event on “Food and Agriculture in Times of Crisis”, marking the launch of the Global Report on Food Crises in 2019, in Brussels today: