Syria

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the first day of school has been indefinitely postponed for 140 million first-time students around the world, due to the pandemic.  The consequences of school closures – notably learning loss, heightened risk of dropping out and child labour – will be felt by the youngest learners.

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) reports that it has facilitated discussions between the Hema and Bira communities in Irumu territory in Ituri.  As a result, the rival groups signed a protocol of non-aggression and cessation of violence.

A United Nations report details today the worsening human rights situation in the Central African Republic in the past year, attributing responsibility for 54 per cent of the documented incidents to armed groups, and the remainder to national defence and security forces, bilateral personnel and private military contractors.

Nearly eight years after its adoption, much work remains to be done before Security Council resolution 2118 (2013) on Syria’s chemical weapons programme can be considered fully implemented, a senior United Nations disarmament official told the 15-member organ today during its monthly meeting on that issue.

In Myanmar, at least 930 people, many of them women and children, have been killed at the hands of security forces since 1 February, while thousands more have been injured, the United Nations team there reports.  At least 3,000 remain under detention, as the protracted crisis impacts humanitarian access to people in need.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say in a new report that conflict, coronavirus and the climate crisis are likely to increase hunger in 23 countries in the next four months.  Ethiopia and Madagascar are the world’s newest “highest alert” hunger hotspots, the report states.

Today at the G20 environment and energy ministers meeting in Naples, Italy, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, called upon countries to provide the leadership needed to hold the global average temperature rise as close to 1.5°C as possible.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have launched a new project to improve emergency response to health crises.   The project, called INITIATE², will develop solutions such as disease-specific field facilities and kits and train logistics and health responders on their use.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon expressed deep regret over the inability of Lebanon’s leaders to reach agreement on the formation of a new Government that is urgently needed to address the country’s numerous challenges.

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