State of Palestine

The twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will now take place from 1-12 November 2021, in Glasgow.  United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said that if done right, recovery from the COVID-19 crisis can foster a more inclusive climate path.

Global human development — which is the combined measure of the world’s education, health and living standards — is set to decline this year for the first time since 1990, when the concept was first developed, the United Nations Development Programme reported today, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a determining factor.

Israel’s stated intention to annex parts of the occupied West Bank will deal a devastating blow to the two-State solution and close the door to fresh negotiations with the Palestinians towards peace in the Middle East, the top United Nations official for the peace process said during a videoconference meeting of the Security Council on 20 May. 

Following is a statement by the General Assembly Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees welcomed today Somalia’s ratification of the Kampala Convention to protect internally displaced people in Africa as a “landmark achievement for the country and the African continent”.  Somalia became the thirtieth African Union member State to ratify it since 2009.

Today is World Mental Health Day.  This year’s theme focuses on preventing suicide, which claims the lives of nearly 800,000 people annually – or one every 40 seconds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is asking people to join in “40 seconds of action” to raise awareness about the problem and help prevent it.

Following a sea tragedy on Tuesday off Djibouti’s Red Sea coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that 16 survivors have been recovered, as well as the remains of 43 victims.  IOM staff have been helping the Djibouti authorities patrolling the shorelines in search of other survivors.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said global trade in creative goods and services, including the fashion, design, media and software industries, is expanding mostly because of China, doubling from $208 billion in 2002 to $509 billion in 2015.  India, Singapore, Turkey, Thailand and Mexico also stimulated that growth.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator today released $30 million from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund to urgently scale up relief efforts in the Sahel, where an acute drought, combined with exceptionally high food prices and worsening insecurity, has escalated humanitarian needs.

The following statement was issued today by UN Secretary‑General António Guterres: