Iraq

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s 2020 Multidimensional Poverty Index reveals progress in tackling poverty before the onset of COVID-19, with 65 out of 75 countries showing significant reductions.  However, experts warn the pandemic now threatens to set back development gains by up to 10 years.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Irena Vojáčková-Sollorano of Germany as his new Deputy Special Representative for Iraq in the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and Resident Coordinator.  Ms. Vojáčková-Sollorano will also serve as Humanitarian Coordinator.

In Kenya, the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched cash transfers and nutrition support for nearly 280,000 people struggling to survive from the impact of the virus on informal settlements in Nairobi.

The United Nations team that is assisting Iraq to investigate atrocities committed by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) is making “significant progress” in gathering evidence with the potential of marking a paradigm shift in the prosecution of members of the terrorist group, its chief told a Security Council videoconference meeting on 15 June.

The Security Council decided unanimously to extend the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) until 31 May 2021, during a 29 May videoconference meeting.

The 2020 World Health Statistics, published today by the World Health Organization (WHO), show that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods and threatening recent development gains, underlining the urgent need for all nations to invest in strong health systems.

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Sven Jürgenson (Estonia):

Today on International Nurses Day, the World Health Organization remind us that as the world struggles to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic there is an urgent shortage of nurses worldwide. Almost 6 million more are needed, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

With Iraq’s deep political and security challenges compounded by the onset of COVID-19 and plummeting oil prices, the newly formed Government must rise to meet people’s legitimate aspirations for a stable, more inclusive future, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council in a 12 May videoconference meeting.

The World Health Organization (WHO) marked the fortieth anniversary of the eradication of smallpox — the first and only human disease eliminated globally through international collaboration — which killed 300 million people in the twentieth century.  Many of the tools used against smallpox are now combating COVID-19.