Humanitarian issues

Jayathma Wickramanayake, the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, and The Body Shop, launched a campaign today that seeks to get young voices into the halls of power.  The campaign, “Be Seen, Be Heard”, seeks to create long-term structural changes that will make decision-making more inclusive of young people and ensure their participation in political life.

Despite an overall decrease in violence against civilians in South Sudan, cases of conflict-related sexual violence more than doubled between January and March, a new report issued by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).  It documented 63 cases during that period, up from 28 in the corresponding time period last year.

Senegal’s armed forces were approved today to receive funding from the Elsie Initiative Fund to assess barriers to the participation of women in United Nations peace operations.  Senegal is the sixteenth largest troop-contributing country and has 987 personnel deployed as of February 2022, of whom 38, or 3.8 per cent, are women.

Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said he is appalled by the terror attack in central Israel on Thursday, which killed 3 Israelis and injured several others. Such attacks hinder prospects for a peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis and must be condemned.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which chairs the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, presented this year’s Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award to activist Cécile Ndjebet of Cameroon.

The United Nations-Energy Plan of Action Towards 2025 was launched today, presenting collective action by 30 United Nations entities and international organizations aiming to enable 500 million more people to gain access to electricity, and to create 30 million jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency, among other targets.

In Haiti, clashes resumed between gangs in Port-au-Prince, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  In the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, violence has displaced more than 1,200 people.  Dozens of houses were burned and a hospital in Marin was looted.

Before leaving Kyiv today, the Secretary-General said that, while he would keep pushing for a full-scale ceasefire, the United Nations would also keep striving for immediate practical steps to save lives and reduce human suffering, including through local cessation of hostilities and safe passage for civilian and supply routes.

In Haiti, violent clashes between gangs in the capital have displaced several hundred people and preliminary data indicates at least 20 civilian deaths, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.  United Nations agencies are helping the Government to assess emergency needs in impacted areas.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks at the launch of the United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 — “Our Work at Risk:  Transforming Governance for a Resilient Future”, in New York today: