Russian Federation

The United Nations Resident Coordinator’s team in Brazil is supporting the state of Amazonas in tackling latest surge of COVID-19.  The United Nations Children’s Fund delivered 250 hygiene kits and food baskets, while the International Organization for Migration is working to mitigate transmission in indigenous and riverside communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line by 2021, reversing decades of progress to eradicate extreme poverty, according to new data released today by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern over death threats against Congolese rights defender and Nobel Prize Laureate Denis Mukwege, calling for a swift investigation and action to bring the perpetrators to justice.  The threats followed his condemnation of the killing of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

An Ebola outbreak has been identified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s western Equateur province.  The health ministry has identified six cases, including four people who have died.  The World Health Organization has staff in Mbandaka, the main city impacted by the outbreak, to support the response.

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.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have agreed to work together in implementing Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment — GLOBE.  UNEP and GLOBE will cooperate on citizen science and in collecting and distributing environmental data.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in the Russian Federation from New York on Thursday, 6 June, in order to participate in the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller, wrapping up a three-day visit to Madagascar, called for urgent action to tackle climate change, with increased investment to help address acute humanitarian needs, as well as their causes.  Some 1.3 million people in Madagascar are severely food insecure.