Lebanon

Costa Rica will be the first country in Latin America to have a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy, having concluded a Government agreement with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on an ethical approach supportive of human rights.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in China today said he is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of lives and destruction caused by the 5 September earthquake in Sichuan Province. He said the Organization stands ready to assist and support the Government of China’s valiant rescue efforts.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Niger for the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Government of Niger. As Africa Regional Coordination Platform Chair, she will also meet with United Nations regional directors and coordinators.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), together with 41 international and national partners, launched today the 2023 funding appeal for over $500 million to provide life-saving assistance to more than 900,000 refugees in Sudan, the second-largest asylum country in Africa.

Marking peacekeeping’s seventy-fifth anniversary, the Peacekeeping Department is launching a campaign, Peace Begins with Me, which promotes understanding of challenges faced by communities in conflict, demonstrates peacekeeping’s impact and calls for a global movement for peace.

In Lebanon, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) donated 1,000 cholera testing kits, administered over 900,000 oral cholera vaccines and provided refrigerators and solar panels to ensure continuous access to electricity in support of the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to combat the cholera outbreak which began in October.

In Madagascar, the United Nations team led by Resident Coordinator Issa Sanogo reports it has aided 53,000 households and farmers impacted by ongoing drought in the south by providing over 30 water tanks and constructing irrigation channels. The World Food Programme is distributing food and cash to over one million people.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General has extended the mandate of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon from 1 March until 31 December to complete non-judicial residual functions and ensure its orderly closure. Mandated to conduct the trials of those accused of carrying out the 14 February 2005 attacks in Beirut, its work is coming to an end.

On 31 December 2022, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Maritime Task Force assisted the Lebanese Armed Forces-Navy with a search-and-rescue operation relating to a boat in distress off the northern coast, between Beirut and Tripoli.