Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the launch of the policy brief “COVID-19 in an Urban World”, in New York today:
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message on the Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, in New York today:
The crisis in Yemen has never been worse, United Nations experts told the Security Council today, as delegates — meeting in person for the second time in four months — addressed the unrelenting violence, uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 and efforts to both right the peace process and pull the economy from the brink of collapse.
The Security Council today decided to extend its sanctions regime against the Central African Republic for one year, including an arms and ammunition embargo with some exemptions, while also renewing the mandate of its related Panel of Experts for 13 months.
A new United Nations report released today says that, despite a drop in civilian casualties in Afghanistan, it remains one of the deadliest conflicts in the world for civilians. Meanwhile, a deteriorating humanitarian situation persists amid rising cases of COVID-19, with more than 36,000 confirmed cases and 1,269 deaths.
The new Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations, Enrique A. Manalo, presented his credentials to the Secretariat today.
The top United Nations negotiator facilitating Syria’s peace process called on parties to unilaterally release the thousands of people who have been detained or abducted, and take action on the issue of missing persons at a level commensurate with the massive scope of the tragedy, as he briefed the Security Council on his recent diplomatic efforts during a 23 July videoconference meeting.
The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the murder of five aid workers in Borno State, Nigeria, on 22 July 2020. They expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Nigeria.
Exceptional and prolonged heat in Siberia has fuelled devastating Arctic fires, the World Meteorological Organization said today, noting that temperatures in Siberia again topped 30°C this week. The heat will influence weather and climate in lower latitudes, where hundreds of millions of people live, it warned.
The Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2127 (2013) concerning the Central African Republic has the honour to refer to the final report dated 8 July 2020 (document S/2020/662) of the Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic extended pursuant to resolution 2507 (2020), which is available on the Committee’s website: www.un.org/securitycouncil/sanctions/2127/panel-of-experts/reports.
