Food

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.

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.

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:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva announced today the appointment of Ute Klamert of Germany as WFP Assistant Executive Director, Partnerships and Governance, at the Assistant Secretary-General level.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on World Food Day, observed on 16 October:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the World Food Programme (WFP) Global Management Meeting, held in Dubai from 20 to 22 January: