The World Food Programme (WFP) reached an agreement with Venezuela to begin operations to serve nutritious meals to the most vulnerable children, particularly in pre-primary and special education schools, reaching up to 185,000 children by year-end. WFP aims to provide daily meals to 1.5 million students by the end of the 2022-2023 school year.
Indigenous peoples’ lands are increasingly occupied by terrorists and extremists, threatening their lives and often their ability to partner with Governments in the establishment of institutions to protect their rights, a renowned international human rights expert told the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today.
The largest global gathering on indigenous issues, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, will run in a mostly virtual format from 19 to 30 April.
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the twentieth session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues today:
Indigenous peoples have time and again shown themselves to be constructive partners with Member States and enrich the work of the United Nations, the Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues stressed today, as she opened the body’s 2021 session.
The United Nations team in Timor-Leste, led by Roy Trivedy, the Resident Coordinator, is supporting local authorities following floods that have impacted Díli and other parts of the country. The Government says there have been more than 30 deaths and over 13,500 people are living in evacuation sites.
After La Soufriere volcano erupted today in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the United Nations Emergency Technical Team for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries met to discuss the pre-positioning of relief items. The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund are also readying supplies.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said today that, due to significant funding gaps, it is cutting food rations for refugees and internally displaced people in South Sudan. The cuts will affect nearly 700,000 of them and they will now receive 50 per cent of a full ration, down from 70 per cent.
In Timor-Leste, the United Nations is helping the Government amid the worst flash flooding and landslides in recent years that have damaged homes, road and bridges, affecting at least 10,000 people in eight municipalities. The Organization has delivered sanitary and dignity kits, plastic mats and blankets to those in need.
The United Nations Human Rights Office in South-East Asia reports that 500 peaceful protesters have been killed and 2,600 others detained by security forces in Myanmar since 1 February. It is asking States in the region to protect people fleeing violence and ensure that refugees and migrants are not forcibly returned.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message to the International Romani Union, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its first Congress, on 8 April:
A report released today by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan says that community-based militias in the country were responsible for 78 per cent of the 2,421 civilians killed in 2020, more than double than in 2019, as well as for abductions, which tripled in 2020, and conflict-related sexual violence.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, observed on 7 April:
Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the Brussels V Conference “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”, in Brussels today:
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ briefing to the General Assembly on the situation in Syria, today:
In Zimbabwe, 2.4 million people are struggling to meet their basic food needs due to the impact of COVID-19, the World Food Programme reports. It is delivering monthly cash transfers to 326,000 people across 32 urban areas, and aims to reach 550,000 people in the 28 worst-affected, food-insecure urban areas in the country.
Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico today:
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the General Assembly meeting marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, today:
The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, today released $14 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to provide shelter and emergency services to over 45,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh displaced by a devastating fire which destroyed critical infrastructure in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.
