Racial discrimination

Schools for more than 168 million children around the world have been closed for an entire year due to lockdowns, a report from UNICEF says, noting that around 214 million children globally, or one in seven, have missed more than three quarters of their in-person learning.  The most vulnerable may never return, it warns.

The United Nations will mark the 2021 International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 25 March under the theme “Ending Slavery’s Legacy of Racism:  A Global Imperative for Justice”.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Human Rights Council panel on “Fight against Racism and Discrimination 20 Years after the Adoption of the Durban Declaration and Plan of Action”, held today:

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the panel discussion:  a conversation on racism in the workplace, in New York today:

A new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report finds that universal child benefits such as cash payments or tax transfers — crucial to fighting child poverty — are only available in 1 out of 10 countries.  Officials say that they are needed now more than ever amid the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Human Rights Council, in Geneva today:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) launched the ZODIAC project to strengthen global preparedness for future pandemics by establishing a network to help with monitoring, surveillance, early detection and control of animal and zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, avian influenza and Zika.

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.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, observed on 25 March:

Speakers sounded the alarm over the rise of nationalist populism and supremacist ideologies around the world today as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as well as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.