The Secretary-General’s Youth Envoy spoke to the Security Council today on the Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Security. She said the report points to two key issues needing attention: the growing mistrust from young generations towards formal political institutions, and the exclusion of young people from political, civic and economic life.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
Drought hits the Sahel region hard, with more than 10 million people expected to need emergency food assistance, up from 7.1 million currently, if adequate assistance is not provided in time. Poor rains in 2017 are now deeply affecting parts of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq commended Kurdistan Region political parties and blocs for signing the Electoral Charter of Honour on 18 April in Erbil. He said that the Charter is essential to conducting the elections in a free, fair, impartial, transparent and credible manner.
More than 200 children were released by armed groups in South Sudan, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today. They were among a series of arranged releases of almost 1,000 children over the coming months. About 19,000 children still serve in the ranks of armed forces and groups in the country.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced today that Chile had just acceded to the international conventions on statelessness. The Office commended the country’s commitment to promote the fundamental right to nationality.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today condemned the killing of three Ecuadorian newspaper staff workers: Javier Ortega, Paul Rivas and Efrain Segarra. The three workers, employed by the newspaper El Comercio, were kidnapped on 26 March, near the border between Ecuador and Colombia.
Donors in Geneva today pledged $528 million to support the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The announcements were made at a humanitarian conference in co‑chaired by the United Nations, the European Union and the Netherlands.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs launched its 2018 needs and priorities plan for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, seeking $111 million to assist 6 million of the most vulnerable people. Undernutrition, a serious concern, continues to stunt more than one quarter of children in the country.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, in the last 48 hours, the largest United Nations medical shipment to have entered Gaza since the beginning of 2018 has provided hospitals there with lifesaving drugs and other supplies to meet urgent medical needs. It will help respond to the needs of 100,000 children and mothers.
A new report by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in cooperation with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, warns that armed groups in that country, including those affiliated with the State, hold thousands of people in prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention, submitting them to torture and other rights violations.