The United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts “near-normal hurricane activity” in the Atlantic this coming storm season, said the UN weather agency on Friday, forecasting between five and nine major storms that could become hurricanes.
The UN convened the first ever global meeting with education ministers from around the world to explore risks and rewards of using chatbots in classrooms, announcing on Friday a new roadmap to chart a safer digital path for all.
The UN political affairs chief on Thursday appealed for the Security Council to ensure reliable funding for African Union (AU) efforts towards greater peace and security on the continent.
The UN and humanitarian partners are mobilizing to reach as many people as possible while the stuttering ceasefire between warring military factions is being respected, said the UN Spokesperson on Thursday.
The UN’s 87,000-plus peacekeepers worldwide are “a beacon of hope and protection” for vulnerable civilians, in an increasingly dangerous and uncertain world, the UN chief said on Thursday, recognizing that last year, another 102 ‘blue helmets’ fell in the line of duty.
One of the world’s most wanted genocide fugitives has been arrested after being on the run for more than two decades, the UN tribunal prosecuting war crimes committed in Rwanda announced on Thursday.
UN Special Representative, Pramila Patten, expressed her ‘deep concern’ on Thursday over increasing allegations of sexual violence against women and girls being carried out in camps for the internally displaced (IDPs) around Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL ROSEMARY A. DICARLO’S
REMARKS TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON
PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA
[PREDICTABLE, SUSTAINABLE, AND FLEXIBLE RESOURCES]
New York, 25 May 2023
Thank you, Madam President,
I am grateful for the opportunity to brief the Security Council on United Nations support for African Union (AU) peace operations.
And I am very pleased to speak to you on Africa Day, alongside Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African UnionCommission, Mr. Bankole. Today we mark the signing sixty years ago of the charter of the Organization of African Unity, the precursor of the AU. I salute the countries of Africa today for their growing unity and solidarity.
Madam President,
Cooperation between the African Union and the United Nations has grown significantly since the signing of the 2017 Joint UN-AU Framework for Enhanced Partnership in Peace and Security. We have joined efforts and worked closely including in the Central African Republic, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
We have addressed a range of peace and security issues: conflict prevention and conflict resolution initiatives, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, the climate emergency, and women,peace and security among others.
Recently, for example, the UN and the AU supported ECOWAS efforts to restore constitutional order in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. Today, the UN, AU and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) are supporting efforts to bring peace and a civilian-led order to the Sudan.
Over the last twenty years, the AU has shown its readiness to speedily deploy peace support operations in response to armed conflicts on the continent. With its missions in Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Comoros, Mali, Somalia, and the Sudan, the AU contributed to the maintenance of continental peace and security, in line with Chapter VIII of the UN Charter.
Those missions demonstrated significant political will and commitment, but they also faced some recurrent problems. Challenges included funding shortfalls and the absence of requisite operational and logistical capabilities, as well as force enablers and multipliers.
While the support the UN and other partners have provided has been useful and appreciated, it has also often been unpredictable.
Perhaps the most novel form of cooperation between our two organizations has been UN support to AU peace enforcement missions in Somalia. In 2007 the UN Security Council approved the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). In 2009 this Council mandated partial support from assessed contributions to ensure that AMISOM had sustainable and predictable support to carry out its mandate.
AMISOM was instrumental in supporting Somali forces in their efforts to stabilize the country, and I would like to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers in AMISOM and in Somalia. Last year, AMISOM became the AU Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS), with the objective of handing over security responsibilities to Somali Security Forces by the end of December 2024.
Madam President,
As we look at different parts of the continent, it is obvious that the need to put AU peace operations on solid footing is increasingly pressing.
The AU and the Regional Economic Communities and Mechanisms have in recent years scrambled to respond to the changing nature of conflict in Africa—from the Sahel to Somalia, from Mozambique to Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, among other situations.
Armed violence invariably and significantly harms civilian populations and often spills over across borders. In Africa and elsewhere, risinginsecurity is characterized by an increasing use of asymmetric tactics and sophistication of armed extremist groups and expanding influence of transnational organized crime. These connected phenomena require commensurate global approaches and responses.
The Sahel is particularly affected. This is why, the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the AU Commission jointly invited the former President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, to lead an independent panel to assess the situation in the Sahel. We anticipate its recommendations on responses to the region’s complex challenges this fall.
Madam President,
The imperative of providing predictable, flexible and sustainable financing for AU-ledpeace support operations is well known to this Council. In 2015, for example, the report of the Independent High-level Panel on Peace Operations, concluded that the lack of sustained, predictable and flexible funding mechanisms to support AU peace operations undermines their sustainability and effectiveness.
Recognizing this common challenge, theSecurity Council expressed, in resolution 2378 (2017), its intention to further consider practical steps to establish a mechanism through which AUpeace operations could be partly financed through UN assessed contributions on a case-by-case basis.
The Council has before it today a report of the Secretary-General with recommendations on securing such support for AU-led operationsmandated by the Security Council and an update on progress made since 2017. The report was prepared in collaboration with the AU, Member States and partners.
We are pleased to note that the AU, in close cooperation with the UN and other partners, has made significant progress to fulfil the commitments set out in Council resolutions 2320 (2016) and 2378 (2017).
Most notably, the AU has worked to address the financial challenge of its operations, including by committing to increase its own financial contributions by revitalizing its AU Peace Fund.
The AU, in cooperation with the UN and the European Union, also moved to develop and operationalize a compliance framework to meet international human rights and humanitarian law obligations as well as conduct and disciplinestandards.
Madam President
AU peace operations should be considered as part of the range of responses to crises in Africa, alongside established UN mechanisms.
The report in front of you outlines a standardized consultative planning and mandating process, through which the UN, the AU and subregional configurations can assess together the required response to an emerging crisis.
This process would reassure the Council that a given situation has been systematically assessed by all the relevant entities. It would thus help the Council decide whether assessed contributions can be accessed.
The report presents the joint mission model and the support packages delivered by the UN as the two most practical options for ensuring the funding AU-led operations need, authorized on a case-by-case basis.
Madam President,
The case for adequately financing AU-ledpeace support operations is beyond solid. We are therefore hopeful that the Security Council will agree to provide its backing, including allowing access to UN assessed contributions.
As the Secretary-General has stated, concrete action on this longstanding issue will address a critical gap in the international peace and security architecture and bolster the efforts of the African Union to tackle peace and security challenges on the continent.
Thank you, Madam President.
The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has endorsed the addition of 18 new sites from around the world to its network of outstanding Geoparks, showcasing some of the most beautiful sites of natural beauty around the globe.
The robust growth that many African countries experienced before COVID-19 was lost to the pandemic, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday, highlighting the need to scale up efforts towards a single trade market on the continent.
The UN’s top advocate on ending violence against children, joined UN agencies on Wednesday in highlighting the urgent need to protect the rights of young people on the move, amid spiralling crises worldwide.
Swift action is needed to prevent flare ups of Israeli-Palestinian violence and avert a looming food crisis, the top UN official in the Middle East told the Security Council on Wednesday.
A hundred and ninety-three countries have unanimously approved the creation of a global greenhouse gas monitoring mechanism, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced on Wednesday.
The “senseless” fighting in Sudan must stop now, and the warring generals have to insist on zero tolerance for sexual violence among their troops, the UN rights chief said on Wednesday.
New ideas must open fresh pathways towards finally ending the era of colonialism and to help advance sustainable development in the world’s 17 remaining colonies, the UN chief said in a video message to the Organization’s decolonization seminar in Bali, Indonesia
With “crisis atop of crisis” threatening millions in the Horn of Africa, the international community cannot afford to stand idly by, Secretary-General António Guterres said at a pledging event to raise $7 billion for the region, held at UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
The world is failing to live up to its commitment to protect civilians during wartime, Secretary-General António Guterres told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, urging greater respect for international humanitarian law.
Civilians continue to bear the brunt of conflict-related violence and destruction, and during the Protection of Civilians (PoC) Week 2023, observed from 22 to 25 May, the UN and partners are working towards finding the best ways to protect them.
As a clearer picture emerges of the trail of destruction left by Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar and Bangladesh, humanitarians are continuing to provide life-saving assistance, and the need for an urgent increase in funding.
More than one in four patients screened in violence-afflicted Gaza at UN-run health centres, require mental health and psychosocial support, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday, publishing its annual overview.
Despite going into reverse on more than 30 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it’s not too late to “turn the tide” said the Secretary-General on Tuesday, who told Member States that the UN was “determined to do just that.”
Following widespread diversion of lifesaving food aid in Ethiopia last month, the World Food Programme (WFP) has strengthened safeguards and controls in a bid to prevent further misuse, the UN agency said on Tuesday.
The decision by El Salvador to extend a state of emergency aimed at cracking down on gangs undermines the right to fair trial, three experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Monday.
A Ghanaian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) will receive the 2022 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, it was announced on Monday.
A crucial ceasefire poised to enter into force in restive Sudan on Monday evening should “pave the way” for peace talks to end the month-old conflict, the top UN official in the country has said.
The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine lost all external power for several hours on Monday morning, highlighting the urgent need to protect the facility and prevent an accident, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
Children in the Horn of Africa are living through an unprecedented large-scale crisis of hunger, displacement, water scarcity, and insecurity, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.
Although COVID-19 may no longer be a global public health emergency, countries must still strengthen response to the disease and prepare for future pandemics and other threats, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday in Geneva.
The theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity, observed on Monday, centres on moving from talk to action: build back biodiversity.
Over two million deaths and $4.3 trillion in economic losses; that’s the impact of a half-century of extreme weather events turbo-charged by man-made global warming, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday.
New York, 22 May 2023
On the International Day for Biological Diversity, we reflect on our relationship with humanity’s life-support system.
From the air we breathe and the food we eat, to the energy that fuels us and the medicines that heal us, our lives are wholly dependent on healthy ecosystems.
...The world is counting on the G7 bloc of industrialized democracies to demonstrate global leadership and solidarity, said the UN chief on Sunday, speaking to journalists in Hiroshima, Japan, which he described as a “global symbol of the tragic consequences when nations fail to work together”, and abandon multilateralism.
Global life expectancy has grown by 50 per cent since the birth of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) 75 years ago, the UN chief said on Sunday, but in the wake of COVID, climate change, and other challenges, “progress is in peril”.
The water challenges confronting the western United States as a result of climate change and declining water supply, are similar to those of other countries, and if the international community takes urgent action on the outcomes of the recent UN Water Conference, there could be a big payoff.
