Developing countries paid almost a trillion dollars in net interest on public debt last year, nearly three times what they paid in 2010, due to rising borrowing costs, leaving less for health, education and other priorities, UN Trade and Development warns.
Pursuant to its veto initiative, speakers in the General Assembly today weighed in on the vetoes recently cast by China and the Russian Federation concerning a Security Council resolution that would have extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts tasked with monitoring implementation of United Nations sanctions on Iran.
The Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have extended the mandate of the Panel of Experts tasked with monitoring implementation of United Nations sanctions on Iran, as Council members continued to be divided on whether those sanctions are in force at all.
With Security Council members locked into disagreement on whether sanctions concerning Iran’s nuclear programme have snapped back or not, some speakers stressed the need to appoint experts to support that sanctions committee even as others insisted that the Council stop considering this agenda item at all.
In Rwanda, the UN has trained nearly 200 community health officers on infection and prevention and control, early detection and risk communication to help the Government prepare for a potential Ebola outbreak. Rwanda is at high risk due to its proximity to heavily impacted areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Attacks across Ukraine in recent days have caused significant civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, including in Kyiv and Odesa. Humanitarian Coordinator Matthias Schmale cited a growing pattern of strikes on shopping malls, warehouses, railway and energy infrastructure, stressing that such attacks should never be normalized.
Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan has systematically dismantled the rights of women — half its population — making it a global outlier with no parallel in the modern world, UN-Women reports. Half of Afghan women interviewed leave home only once or twice a month due to severe restrictions.
In Yemen, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Indrika Ratwatt has allocated $10 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to respond to rapidly scale up emergency food and critical health, water and sanitation services. More than 18 million people, over half of the population, are facing acute food insecurity.
The Secretary-General's Peacebuilding Fund approved $2.4 million for a new programme to reduce insecurity across four regions of Mali, where communities and local institutions have come under sustained pressure and insecurity and violence. It aims to strengthen collaboration among local authorities, security forces and traditional leaders
