The empowerment of indigenous women as powerful agents of change could only strengthen their communities and nations in the face of environmental and other challenges, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues heard today.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s remarks at the Global Migration Group principals’ meeting, in Geneva today:

UNICEF said today that it procured 2.5 billion doses of vaccines for children in nearly 100 countries in 2016, reaching almost half the world’s children under the age of 5.  The figures, released during World Immunization Week, make UNICEF the largest buyer of vaccines for children in the world.

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its thirty-eighth session from 19 to 21 April at the United Nations Office in Vienna (UNOV).  Presiding over the session was the Chair, Maria Gracia M. Pulido Tan.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the commemorative ceremony for the twentieth anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, at The Hague today:

Calls demanding respect for traditional lands, resources, knowledge and cultures rang through the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today, with participants from the North Pole to New Zealand pressing Governments to move beyond “paper promises” and uphold their rights.

Against a backdrop of spiking extremism, proliferating “fake news” and an increasingly fragmented global media space, the Department of Public Information must continue to disseminate factual, impartial information, in accordance with the United Nations Charter principles of sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of States, speakers stressed today, as the Committee on Public Information continued its annual session.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region in Geneva today:

Senior United Nations officials joined representatives of the world’s indigenous communities and Member States today as the General Assembly marked the tenth anniversary of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and explored ways to further its implementation.

While the political process in South Sudan was not dead, it would require “significant resuscitation”, the senior United Nations official in that country told the Security Council today, as it considered the recent security, humanitarian and political developments in the world’s youngest nation.