Women and gender issues

In tsunami-hit Tonga, the United Nations continues to support the recovery, providing satellite phones for Government staff to communicate while the underground communications cable undergoes repairs.  On Tongatapu, the main island, 90 per cent of power has been restored and aid distribution continues.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed on 6 February:

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the closing of the Gender Welfare and Equity in Sports Conference, in Kwale, Kenya, today:

Briefing the Security Council today, the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the situation that now faces women human rights defenders, and prospects for women’s full participation in shaping and building peace, are vastly worse than they were before the pandemic got under way.

Despite best efforts to ensure that peace is built by and for women, the prospects for their participation in the very negotiations intended to secure their future are “vastly worse” than before the pandemic, the High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Security Council today, as she and other experts warned of an insidious uptick in a host of actions by spoilers aimed at silencing their voices.

Responding to urgent and growing humanitarian needs in northern Ethiopia, almost 40 trucks with food and other relief supplies from the United Nations and aid partners departed Monday for Tigray, the first convoy since mid-October, and the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service resumed flights to Mekelle.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, observed on 25 November:

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s opening remarks at the official launch of the African Women Leaders Network Mentoring Programme, in New York today:

UNICEF released a report today showing there are nearly 240 million children with disabilities around the world, a new global approximation higher than previous estimates which considers symptoms of anxiety and depression, among other difficulties across several domains of functioning.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Reykjavik Global Forum, today: