The Security Council will convene its signature event of the month on 20 May — an open high-level debate on maritime security, held under the overarching theme of maintaining international peace and security, the Council’s President for May announced today at a United Nations Headquarters press conference.
In Afghanistan, the United Nations today released a record $16.6 million to help vulnerable communities mitigate the effects of drought in the north and north-east of that country. This new financing includes $6.6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund and $10 million from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Hao Zhang of China as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the Maldives, with the host Government’s approval, on 1 May.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the Day of Vesak, observed on 12 May:
In the Central African Republic, the Special Representative there welcomed the decision by the leaders of the two armed groups, Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R) and UPC — Unité pour la Paix en Centrafrique — to rejoin the Political Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation, signed in 2019.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today that he has invited his Special Adviser on Reforms, Jens Wandel of Denmark, to also act as an Adviser on the UN80 Initiative, reporting through Under-Secretary-General for Policy, Guy Ryder, to the Secretary-General.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
At a time when it is engaged, with the UN80 Initiative, in a transformation aimed at making it more effective, the United Nations must more than ever demonstrate its relevance, an effort to which the Department of Global Communications is contributing by shaping a healthy “information ecosystem”, said Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for the Department, as she opened the forty-seventh session of the Committee on Information today.
Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s closing remarks at the 2025 Economic and Social Council Financing for Development Forum today:
Warning the Security Council today that the Russian Federation’s three-year “war of choice” continues to kill and injure Ukrainian civilians, a senior United Nations official called for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire despite offers of temporary truces.
