Lebanon

There is a real danger that the global health crisis will create a COVID-19 generation who lose out on schooling and see their opportunities permanently damaged, warned Gordon Brown, Special Envoy on Global Education, noting that an estimated 30 million children may never return to school, according to UNESCO.

In a note issued on Friday, the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Bolivia, Jean Arnault, welcomed the agreement reached among the Executive Branch, the Plurinational Legislative Assembly and the Plurinational Electoral Organ regarding the 2020 general elections.

Following explosions in Beirut on 4 August, the United Nations is requesting $565 million to help Lebanon move towards recovery and reconstruction.  Peacekeepers with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) are also donating blood and have joined the “#UN4Beirut” initiative to clean up devastated city streets.

Thérèse Gastaut, a former Spokeswoman for the United Nations in Geneva, passed away last night.  She ably served the Organization for 37 years and held positions in the Department of Public Information in New York, Geneva and Brussels.  Thérèse had the United Nations in her blood and in her heart.

An inter-agency United Nations team arrived in Mauritius yesterday to support the Government-led response to the oil spill that is impacting the country, Christine Umutoni, Resident Coordinator in the island nation says.  They will also engage local communities and the private sector.

Polio immunization campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, months after COVID-19 left 50 million children without their polio vaccines, UNICEF said today.  There is concern that up to 1 million children in Afghanistan could miss out as door-to-door vaccinations are not possible in some areas.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to a briefing on the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, in New York today:

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan reported today that its engineering troops, together with local youth, are repairing flood-damaged levees in Jonglei state, already saving Bor’s main market and hospital from being submerged by flooding, which has so far displaced an estimated 135,000 people in the area.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s closing remarks to the International Conference on Assistance and Support to Beirut and the Lebanese People, held in Fort de Brégançon, France, today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s opening remarks to the International Conference on Assistance and Support to Beirut and the Lebanese People, held in Fort de Brégançon, France, today: