Regional dynamics remained favorable to the peace process in Darfur, the Chair of the Security Council’s Sudan sanctions committee said during a videoconference meeting on 11 December, underscoring that such sanctions were not in place to punish the country, but to support its attainment of sustainable peace.

Syria’s initial declaration of chemical weapons on its territory cannot be considered accurate and complete, the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said during a Security Council videoconference meeting on 11 December, while Damascus and its allies insisted that those stockpiles had been confirmed all destroyed by 2014.

The resumed in‑person plenary meeting of the thirtieth Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was held at United Nations Headquarters on 9 December 2020, concluding all the items on the agenda of the thirtieth Meeting.  The background press release can be found here:  www.un.org/press/en/2020/sea2128.doc.htm.

Children make up nearly half the people who have fled Ethiopia’s Tigray region for Sudan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports.  Their most urgent needs are clean water and sanitation, as well as child-protection and gender-based violence services for the most vulnerable and at-risk refugees, the agency says.

The new permanent representative of Bolivia to the United Nations, Diego Pary Rodríguez, presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Pacific Islands Forum High-Level Round Table on Urgent Climate Change Action, today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, held today:

Following is UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ message to the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on the Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context – also called the Espoo Convention - on its thirtieth anniversary, today:

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message on the occasion of the ninth annual High‑level Dialogue on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance, on the theme “Silencing the Guns through Building Resilient Democracies”, today:

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message of solidarity and a call to action in the framework of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender‑Based Violence, today: