Malaysia


In Afghanistan, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed an agreement to provide funds for housing and infrastructure in Khost and Paktika Province.  The programme will assist families impacted by the earthquake there.

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) is deeply concerned about renewed violence in the south of the Area, which has led to deaths and the displacement of thousands, saying long-standing grievances and disputes between communities in Abyei and neighbouring areas have resulted in weeks of violence.

United Nations peacekeeping officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to sound alarms over deadly attacks perpetrated by fighters — presumed to be with the militant coalition known as CODECO — against displaced civilians in Ituri Province.  There are currently 1.7 million people displaced in Ituri.

Today marks three years since the death of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.  As the current Secretary-General said, Kofi was one-of-a-kind, a man who embodied United Nations values.  Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that, on this day three years ago, the world lost one of its moral voices.

In Myanmar, at least 930 people, many of them women and children, have been killed at the hands of security forces since 1 February, while thousands more have been injured, the United Nations team there reports.  At least 3,000 remain under detention, as the protracted crisis impacts humanitarian access to people in need.

The United Nations team, led by Resident Coordinator Stefan Priesner, is helping authorities in Malaysia launch a national COVID-19 vaccination programme.  More than 500,000 people have registered to receive the vaccine, which aims to reach 80 per cent of the population, 24 million people, by March 2022.

Mayerlín Vergara Pérez from Colombia is the 2020 laureate of the Nansen Refugee Award, the UN refugee agency announced today.  The Caribbean Regional Coordinator for the Renacer Foundation has spent more than two decades helping the non-profit pursue eradication of sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents.

The World Food Programme (WFP) announced today the launch of Stop the Waste, a global campaign to raise awareness about the 4 billion tons of edible food that is discarded daily, costing the global economy nearly $1 trillion annually.  Top restaurateurs and celebrity chefs can join the movement through #StopTheWaste.