United Nations Secretary General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Dereje Wordofa of Ethiopia as Deputy Executive Director (Programme) of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). 

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the Olympic Truce for the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games, in New York today:

Amid complex crises faced by peacekeepers, and ongoing strategic reviews of those operations, now was an ideal time to examine the Security Council’s working methods, delegates said today in an open debate focused on improving efficiency, transparency, inclusiveness and accountability.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Commission for Social Development’s side event on poverty eradication, in New York today:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Jamie McGoldrick of Ireland as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.  He succeeds Robert Piper of Australia, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his commitment and dedicated service.

On 26 January 2018, the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo held an open briefing on the midterm report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (S/2017/1091).  The meeting was held in pursuance of paragraph 31 of resolution 2360 (2017), by which the Security Council encouraged the Chair to hold regular briefings for all interested Member States.

Emergency fuel for critical facilities in Gaza will become exhausted within 10 days, the acting United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned today.  Currently, the nearly 2 million Palestinian residents there receive electricity for no more than eight hours a day.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks, as prepared for delivery, on the way forward for the United Nations development system on middle-income countries, in New York on 31 January:

On the seventh day of its 2018 regular session, the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations today took note of 394 quadrennial reports from various organizations, while postponing action on several other reports after members of the body requested additional information from their respective applicant groups.

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