In progress at UNHQ

Fighting Modern Servitude, Exploitation Promotes Justice, Deputy Secretary-General Tells ‘Still We Rise’ Event to Mark International Day of Remembrance

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Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to “Still We Rise”, the cultural event to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, held today:

Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to join you as we mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Delegates Stress Need for Reckoning with Slavery’s Role in Perpetuating Bias, Inequality, as General Assembly Marks International Day to Remember Victims

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Delegates urged a reckoning today with how the past injustices of the transatlantic slave trade perpetuate present racial discrimination and inequality around the world, as the General Assembly held a meeting to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Pandemics, Conflict, Budget Shortfalls Must Not Stop Pursuit of Gender Equality, Speakers Stress, as Women’s Commission Continues Sixty-Fifth Session

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Pursuing gender equality cannot, and will not, be stopped by pandemics, sanctions, conflict, budget shortfalls or the perpetuation of conservative traditions, ministers and other Government representatives told the Commission on the Status of Women during a videoconference meeting on the penultimate day of its sixty-fifth session.

As Clashes in Darfur Drop, Sudan Peace Process Enters ‘Significant New Stage’, Committee Chair Tells Security Council

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The first months of 2021 have seen the peace process in Sudan reach a “significant new stage”, with notable reductions in clashes between Government forces and rebel factions in Darfur, the head of that country’s sanctions committee told the Security Council in a videoconference meeting today.

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, today released $14 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to provide shelter and emergency services to over 45,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh displaced by a devastating fire which destroyed critical infrastructure in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.

Middle East Coordinator Encouraged by Steady Advance towards Holding Palestinian Elections, Urges Parties Continue Dialogue, in Briefing to Security Council

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The year 2021 began with “a degree of guarded optimism” for progress towards the settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the United Nations mediator for the Middle East peace told the Security Council today, citing renewed international efforts to broker direct peace negotiations and cooperation between the two sides, including in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.