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

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the virtual meeting on the occasion of the International Day of Nowruz, held today:

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has received its first shipment of more than 130,000 doses from the global COVAX Facility — the first batch of a total of 480,000 doses to arrive in the country this year to vaccinate approximately 20 per cent of the population.

Noting with concern the situation regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID‑19) pandemic, the General Assembly adopted a decision today outlining protocols for delivering statements and presenting reports during plenary meetings in the remainder of its seventy-fifth session.

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

More than 3 billion people globally are at risk of disease because the quality of their rivers, lakes and groundwater is unknown due to a lack of data, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.  UNEP’s survey of over 75,000 bodies of water in 89 countries found more than 40 per cent severely polluted.

While COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated structural inequalities disproportionately affecting females, new approaches are turning the pandemic into an opportunity to boost their involvement in politics and public life, ministers told the Commission on the Status of Women today, as it continued its sixty-fifth session with a morning-long general discussion.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Water Day, observed on 22 March:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres remarks to the General Assembly’s observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, today:

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