This week marks two years since the escalation of the conflict in Yemen, United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien said last night. Yemen is now on the brink of famine, with nearly 19 million people — more than two thirds of the population — in need humanitarian aid.
As the United Nations marked the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff on 25 March, United Nations personnel continued to be arrested and detained by the authorities, at times without any reason given for their detention. At the same time, they continued to be abducted by armed groups seeking to assert their power or to exert pressure.
Nothing would be more noble than honouring victims of slavery — and recognizing the remarkable contributions of their descendants over the centuries — in the lands to which they were transported, the General Assembly heard today as it commemorated the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The Security Council deplored today the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage, religious sites and artefacts, and the smuggling of cultural property by terrorist groups during armed conflict, affirming that such attacks might constitute a war crime and must be brought to justice.
The Commission on the Status of Women concluded its sixty-first session today, approving a sweeping set of Agreed Conclusions, which the top-ranking United Nations gender official said would help ensure that “work works for women”.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the General Assembly commemorative meeting for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in New York today:
The last three months had seen a high rate of Israeli settlement plans and construction in the Occupied Palestinian Territory increased notably in the last three months, as did provocations from both sides, despite a call from the Security Council in late December 2016 to cease such activity, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said this afternoon.
Today is World Tuberculosis Day, and UNAIDS is urging countries to do much more to reduce the number of tuberculosis (TB) deaths among people living with HIV. The most common cause of death among people living with HIV, TB caused the deaths of 400,000 of the 1.1 million people who died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2015.
Expressing its deep alarm at the situation in South Sudan, the Security Council today renewed its condemnation of fighting in that country, stressing that there was no military solution to the conflict.
Equity, innovation and investment must steer the global drive to build climate-resilient societies and economies powered by clean engines of growth, speakers today told the General Assembly’s high-level Sustainable Development Goal action event.
