Senegal

Senegal’s armed forces were approved today to receive funding from the Elsie Initiative Fund to assess barriers to the participation of women in United Nations peace operations.  Senegal is the sixteenth largest troop-contributing country and has 987 personnel deployed as of February 2022, of whom 38, or 3.8 per cent, are women.

The global level of undernourishment increased sharply last year, under the shadow of the COVID‑19 pandemic, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual Statistical Yearbook, released today.  Nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population suffered from hunger in 2020, up from 8.4 per cent in 2019.

More than 3 billion people globally are at risk of disease because the quality of their rivers, lakes and groundwater is unknown due to a lack of data, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.  UNEP’s survey of over 75,000 bodies of water in 89 countries found more than 40 per cent severely polluted.

Food systems caused more than one third of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new Food and Agriculture Organization/European Commission study, which says food system emissions are estimated at 34 per cent of the total.  Top emitters are China, Indonesia, United States, Brazil, European Union and India.

On International Women’s Day, peacekeeping colleagues report that Bangladesh, for the first time, is deploying four justice government-provided personnel, all women, to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), later this month.

In Mozambique, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today launched a $12 million humanitarian appeal to urgently provide life-saving sexual and reproductive health and protection services to 330,000 women, girls, and youth who have been impacted by the humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado and COVID-19.

The United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan for Niger, launched on 5 February, seeks $523.2 million in 2021 to assist 2.1 million people.  The combined effects of conflict, chronic food insecurity and health emergencies, including COVID-19, have severely impacted the economy, as well as access to basic services, such as health and education.

Marking the twentieth anniversary of resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, the Secretary-General told the Security Council today that the world has a choice: continue down the path of increasing militarization, conflict and inter-generational losses or work towards greater inclusion and gender equality.

On 2 October, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Coulibaly Siaka of Côte d’Ivoire as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Senegal, with the host Government’s approval.

Some 3.3 billion people employed globally in 2018 had inadequate working conditions, the International Labour Organization’s report “World Employment and Social Outlook” states.  Released today, it found that despite progress in reducing unemployment, work quality is not improving in many parts of the world.