The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its sixty-second session from 15-17 May 2023 at the United Nations Office in Beirut at the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The session was presided over by the Chair, Imran Vanker. All the other members of the Committee, namely: Janet St. Laurent (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko, and Suresh Sharma, were in attendance.

In Peru, the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration are concerned about the situation in Tacna, in the southern part of the country, where refugees and migrants have been stranded, in many cases without food, without water, without shelter or health care for three months now.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members, observed on 25 March:

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations held its sixty-first session from 15 to 17 February, via hybrid format.

At least 32 United Nations peacekeeping personnel — 28 military and four police, including one woman police officer — were killed in deliberate attacks in 2022, the United Nations Staff Union said today.

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its sixtieth session from 6-9 December.  Meetings were held via the hybrid mode.  The session was presided over by the Chair, Janet St. Laurent.  All the other members of the Committee, namely:  Agus Pramono (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Bradley, Anton Kosyanenko, and Imran Vanker, were in attendance.

The Panel of External Auditors’ sixty-second meeting, chaired by Jorge Bermúdez, Comptroller General of Chile, was held from 28 to 29 November as a hybrid session hosted from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), at Santiago, Chile. The Panel consists of the Heads of 13 Supreme Audit Institutions who are either elected or selected to conduct the external audit of the United Nations Secretariat, funds and programmes and specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The meeting was attended by representatives of Supreme Audit Institutions, which constitute the Panel Membership from Chile, China, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Philippines, Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

As new and existing conflicts have had far-reaching security and humanitarian consequences across the world, the need for the Organization to respond simultaneously to multiple crises has led to a sharp rise in demand for security support, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a report released today.

In Lebanon, the World Health Organization, UN Refugee Agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund are coordinating efforts, and the United Nations is seeking $43 million more over the next three months to address the cholera outbreak. As of 22 October, there have been a reported 239 confirmed cases and 10 deaths.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message marking five years of the United Nations System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity, in New York today: