Myanmar

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime today released its first-ever Global Report on Cocaine, noting that the global supply of cocaine has reached record levels, with coca cultivation soaring 35 per cent from 2020 to 2021. Demand for cocaine has also swelled with many regions showing a steady rise in cocaine users.

Following the earthquakes, as of today, 730 trucks carrying aid provided by seven United Nations agencies crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria using the three available border crossings.

On International Women’s Day, the Secretary-General, celebrating all women and girls around the world, called for gender equality in innovation and technology, as well as for the digital gender divide to be closed and women and girls’ representation in science and technology be increased.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reports that protection efforts by peacekeepers in Leourou in Ouham-Pende Prefecture resulted in the release of over 100 people who were being held by armed elements who had attacked their village.

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.

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

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today released its newest survey on opium cultivation. The agency estimates that poppy cultivation in Myanmar has increased by 33 per cent in the first season since the military takeover.

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.

In Colombia, the United Nations team has received over $17 million for the multi-donor fund aiding the country’s “Total Peace” initiative, securing 76 per cent of the Fund’s 2023 investment needs to support transitional justice, rural development, reintegration of ex-combatants and security.

The Security Council today called for the immediate end to all forms of violence in Myanmar and urged restraint, the de-escalation of tensions and the release of all prisoners.