United Kingdom

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.

The United Nations and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research hosted an online discussion on how to prioritize actions to recover more equitably from the COVID-19 pandemic.  More than 100 participants from 60 countries attended, including those responsible for $100 billion annually in global research investments.

On Sunday, 10 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres began his first virtual official visit to the United Kingdom to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which took place in London’s Central Hall, in Westminster.

Despite a significant drop in violations against children since the 2018 peace agreement was signed in South Sudan, continuing grave violations are mostly attributed to opposition and Government troops, including the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces, the latest report on children and armed conflict says.

In Afghanistan, the United Nations and humanitarian partners report that they will seek $1.3 billion this year to assist almost 16 million people with life-saving aid, up from 2.3 million people in 2017, as ongoing conflict, natural disasters, chronic poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic continue to devastate the population.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Price Index averaged 107.5 points in December 2020, 2.2 per cent higher than in November 2020, FAO said today.  World food prices rose for the seventh consecutive month last month, an increase led by high demand for dairy products.

The new Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, paid a courtesy call on UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

More than 47,000 Ethiopians have arrived in Sudan seeking safety, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.  A small number of Eritrean refugees also arrived from Tigray.  UNHCR and Sudanese authorities have now moved more than 11,000 refugees 70 kilometres from the Ethiopian border.

The new Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Barbara Woodward, presented her credentials to the Secretariat today.

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed today that a 71-year-old Rohingya man is the first refugee in the Cox’s Bazar camp to die from COVID-19 and some 30 other people have tested positive so far, yet the numbers are likely higher as testing is ramping up.