​​​​​​​Calling attention to widening inequality gaps and crises in the labour market exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, both United Nations senior officials and speakers alike stressed in an interactive dialogue that urgent action was needed to generate decent work and support recovery and social protection programmes, as the Commission for Social Development’s sixty-first session continued today.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that Africa is witnessing an exponential rise in cholera cases amid a global surge. They note that cases recorded on the continent in the first month of 2023 alone have already risen by more than 30 per cent of the total caseload that we witnessed in 2022.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks to the special high-level event of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council titled “Doha Programme of Action as an Accelerator of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda”, in New York today:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s virtual remarks to the European Committee of the Regions, in Geneva today:

According to a new report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP), one in three schools in the world still lack access to drinking water and basic sanitation facilities.

The Security Council today heard urgent calls, from within and outside the United Nations, for de-escalation of the conflict in Ukraine as delegates weighed the multifarious risks posed by arms flows against the need to assist that country defend itself.

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

​​​​​​​To fully realize the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, the international community must intensify and strengthen its commitments to the well-being and rights of older persons, a senior United Nations official told the Commission for Social Development today during its high-level panel discussion on the Plan’s fourth review and appraisal.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today released a report which says that to reduce superbugs, the world must cut down on pollution created by the pharmaceutical, agricultural and health-care sectors.

There are reasonable grounds to believe that the Syrian Government is responsible for the use of weaponized chlorine gas against residents of the city of Douma in April 2018, the head of the international body responsible for overseeing the global endeavour to eliminate chemical weapons told the Security Council today, as members split on the validity of the investigation on which that conclusion was based.