The Commission for Social Development began its general discussion today, with speakers calling on the international community to build a global architecture to recover from the coronavirus pandemic and address the entrenched drivers of poverty and hunger.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the annual meeting of the International Gender Champions, in Vienna today:

Intensified efforts are urgently needed to resolve the Israel-Palestine situation with a view to reaching the overall goal of two States living side by side in peace and security, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said today at the first formal meeting of the Palestinian Rights Committee in 2022.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening meeting of the 2022 session of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, in New York today:

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, today urged the President of Tunisia, Kaïs Saïed, to restore the High Judicial Council, warning that its dissolution would seriously undermine the rule of law, the separation of powers and independence of the judiciary in the country.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video remarks to the sixtieth session of Commission for Social Development, in New York today:

With the pandemic worsening the plight of those already experiencing multidimensional poverty, and pushing many more people into food insecurity and immiseration, countries must urgently strengthen social protections to ensure an inclusive recovery, United Nations officials emphasized today, as the Commission for Social Development opened its sixtieth session.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, on “Transforming Education to Transform Our World by 2030” at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland Carmichael Lecture, in Dublin today:

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Economic and Social Council Partnership Forum on “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda”, held virtually, today:

At least 10 people have died and more than 43,000 are displaced across 180 displacement sites as a result of Tropical Cyclone Batsirai, which made landfall on the east coast of Madagascar on 5 February.  The first aerial assessment took place today with a United Nations Humanitarian Air Service flight.