United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York on Thursday, 28 October, for Rome, where he arrived on Friday morning to attend the annual Group of Twenty (G20) Summit.

The new Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Maurizio Massari, paid a courtesy call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Hundreds of thousands of people in southern Madagascar continue to suffer one of the worst droughts the region has faced in more than 40 years.  Severe lack of rain and sandstorms have made it nearly impossible to grow food, and at least 1.31 million people in the Grand Sud are severely food insecure.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports significant job losses and deteriorated labour market conditions in Myanmar since the military takeover.  ILO says employment contracted by an estimated 6 per cent in the second quarter of 2021, compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, reflecting 1.2 million job losses.

The new Permanent Representative of Italy to the United Nations, Maurizio Massari, presented his credentials presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.

Schools for more than 168 million children around the world have been closed for an entire year due to lockdowns, a report from UNICEF says, noting that around 214 million children globally, or one in seven, have missed more than three quarters of their in-person learning.  The most vulnerable may never return, it warns.

United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres travelled from Geneva, Switzerland to Rome, Italy, on Tuesday evening, 17 December 2019.

In Syria, the World Food Programme is now bringing aid to 1 million people per month through cross-border mechanisms.  The situation in the north-west remains alarming, with families in Idlib burning tires and old clothes to stay warm, reports Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller.

The Qatar Fund for Development and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees signed an agreement yesterday under which Qatar will contribute $20.7 million to support Palestine refugees’ access to basic services in Syria.  This contribution brings the Qatar Fund’s total support to the Agency to $40 million.

An estimated 60,000 young refugees and migrants, who arrived in Italy between 2014 and 2018 as unaccompanied children, still require support to ensure their successful transition into adulthood, a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund and the High Commissioner for Refugees finds.