Political affairs

In Côte d’Ivoire, the United Nations continues to support authorities to improve the well-being and livelihoods of communities in the country’s northern region. Since the end of May, Côte d’Ivoire has registered around 4,000 refugees fleeing from neighbouring Burkina Faso, including 2,200 children.

In Argentina, the United Nations joined many in the country and across the region to mourn the passing of Hebe de Bonafini, a human rights activist who co-founded the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo movement to search for missing people, including children, during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.

Acting without a vote, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) approved today a draft resolution on the United Nations’ special political missions as it held its general debate on that topic, with several speakers calling for them to be accorded their own budget.

Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks at the Security Council open debate on integrating effective resilience-building in peace operations for sustainable development, today in New York:

In Syria, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator there expressed serious concern yesterday over the ongoing cholera outbreak in the country. The number of confirmed cholera cases so far is 20 in Aleppo, 4 in Lattakia and 2 in Damascus.

On Saturday, accompanied by Pakistan’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, the Secretary-General travelled to Balochistan, Larkana and Sukkur, in Sindh Province, and met with a group of women and men who abandoned everything to help their neighbours reach safety as their houses flooded. He said he had never seen climate carnage on this scale.

The World Food Programme’s first humanitarian shipment of grain from Ukraine, delivered under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, has arrived in Ethiopia and will be distributed in the coming weeks. The shipment will support one month of assistance to over 1.5 million people who have been displaced by drought and conflict.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered on his behalf by Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, to the United Nations Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism, in New York today:

The first United Nations Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism, organized by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, will be held on 8 and 9 September at the United Nations Headquarters in New York under the theme of “Advancing the Rights and Needs of Victims of Terrorism”.

Today is the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. This year’s theme is “The Air We Share” and focuses on the transboundary nature of air pollution, stressing the need for collective accountability and action.