Organization matters

For the first time since 2018, the World Food Programme has been able to send a humanitarian convoy from Kenya directly into South Sudan through the Nadapal Border crossing.  The nine-truck convoy carried 280 metric tons of food, enough to feed 20,000 people for a month.  The route’s reopening cuts travel times in half.

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its fiftieth session 29 April-1 May.  Due to the ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic (COVID-19), the meetings were held virtually.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at a meeting with the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the World Food Programme (WFP), in New York today:

United Nations humanitarian agencies and their partners are asking donors for an initial $350 million to rapidly scale up logistics services, aimed at supporting countries disproportionately affected by cancelled flights and disrupted supply routes to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is sending equipment to more than 40 countries to help them use nuclear-derived technology to rapidly detect COVID‑19.  Dozens of labs will receive diagnostic machines to speed up national testing, biosafety supplies and personal protection equipment.

At least 28 United Nations personnel — 23 peacekeepers and 5 civilians — were killed in deliberate attacks in the line of duty in 2019, according to the United Nations Staff Union Standing Committee on the Security and Independence of the International Civil Service.  This brings the death toll to at least 424 United Nations and associated personnel who were killed in deliberate attacks in the last 10 years from improvised explosive devices, rocket and artillery fire, mortar rounds, landmines, grenades, suicide attacks, targeted assassinations and armed ambushes.

Solidarity is “the first line of defence” against the COVID-19 pandemic threatening to wipe out years of development gains and throw millions of people back into poverty, the highest-ranking United Nations officials warned today as they briefed Member States on the Organization’s response to the crisis.

The Secretary-General and top UN officials held a virtual briefing for Member States to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as his call for global ceasefires saw positive gains in Colombia, Syria and Yemen and UNICEF continued to procure and ship protective equipment and other vital supplies to affected countries.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at a joint briefing to Member States on the Organization’s response to COVID-19, in New York today:

The Independent Audit Advisory Committee of the United Nations (IAAC) held its forty-ninth session from 19 to 21 February 2020 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.