Peacebuilding

An inter-agency United Nations team arrived in Mauritius yesterday to support the Government-led response to the oil spill that is impacting the country, Christine Umutoni, Resident Coordinator in the island nation says.  They will also engage local communities and the private sector.

The COVID-19 pandemic — beyond having crippling effects on health systems — threatens to worsen current conflicts and foment new ones, Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on 12 August, as delegates echoed his call during a high-level videoconference meeting for comprehensive, integrated responses that will preserve hard-won development gains.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Security Council open videoconference on “Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace:  Pandemics and the Challenges of Sustaining Peace”, today:

Unwavering international support is crucial to maintain the fragile stability achieved in Guinea-Bissau, officials told the Security Council today, warning of escalating political tensions and a looming “financial cliff” after the United Nations longstanding peace operation departs on 31 December.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called on Guatemalan authorities to fully investigate the violent death of a transgender woman found dead at her home on Saturday in Guatemala City.  She had sought asylum in Guatemala after fleeing violence in El Salvador due to her gender identity.

The Security Council in a 22 June videoconference meeting extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) until 31 August.

In Nepal, the United Nations team is helping the Government cope with the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting the repatriation of Nepali migrants returning from the Gulf and Southeast Asia at entry and transit points, with quarantine sites and isolation centres.  Some 25,000 returnees are expected in this first phase.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed today the members of the sixth Advisory Group of the Peacebuilding Fund.

More than one in six young people have stopped working since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said today.  The latest ILO analysis of coronavirus’s impact on the labour market notes that those youth who remain employed have seen their working hours cut by 23 per cent.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the ministerial round table on “Transformative approaches:  State support to promote women’s participation in peacebuilding”, in New York today: