Haiti’s protracted political and humanitarian crisis – marked by spiking levels of gang-related violence and a badly struggling national police force – are reversing crucial security and development strides made since the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake, the senior UN representative in Port-au-Prince told the Security Council on Tuesday.
Ambassadors, UN officials and experts from the international community have been sharing ways to better prevent genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity, at a special meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on Tuesday.
New York, 24 January 2023
Education is a fundamental human right.
It’s the bedrock of societies, economies, and every person’s potential.
But without adequate investment, this potential will wither on the vine.
It has always been shocking to me that education has been given such a low priority in many government...
Amid worsening security, economic, and humanitarian crises, the third Lake Chad Basin High Level Conference has begun, aimed at addressing a range of long-standing issues and the needs of the population, including some 11 million people, who are in need of assistance.
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She Stands For Peace | Season 3-Episode 16 | Out Now! Click here to listen: https://unoau.unmissions.org/podcast-series-she-stands-peace
The first UN aid convoy to reach the vicinity of the battered eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar, since the Russian invasion began nearly a year ago, arrived on Friday morning, providing support for more than 800 civilians in need.
The MYA has been retooled to accompany the implementation of the new Strategic Plan and calls for $170 million in the next four years (2023-2026). DPPA relies on MYA funding to cover much of its operational work from mediation and electoral support, to its work on partnerships, on women, peace and security, as well as on innovation and climate security.
The United Kingdom’s plans to offer limited immunity from prosecution to those accused of crimes during Northern Ireland’s “Troubles” have been called into question by UN rights chief Volker Türk.
The UN on Wednesday said that it aims to increase the number of inter-agency convoys providing aid to parts of Ukraine “close to the frontlines”, in support of work being carried out by local organisations and volunteers.
The world’s collective priority for the Occupied Palestinian Territory must be reversing the negative trajectory that marked 2022 as one of the deadliest years in recent memory, the senior UN official in the region told the Security Council on Wednesday.
The UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday that he did not believe that there was an opportunity yet, to organise “a serious peace negotiation” between the warring parties in Ukraine, nearly a year on from Russia’s full-scale invasion.
In Our Common Agenda, the Secretary-General has called for enhanced investment in prevention and peacebuilding. This call reflects the recognition that investment in conflict resolution, prevention and peacebuilding is cost-effective.
Two billion people live in countries affected by conflict. Wars drive 80 per cent of all humanitarian needs. In 2021, the economic impact of armed conflict increased by 27 per cent, reaching $559.3 billion. It has been estimated that a scaled-up system for preventive action would save the world between $5 billion and $70 billion every year, which could be re-invested in reducing poverty and improving the wellbeing of populations. Investing in prevention is one of the most cost-effective ways to secure development gains and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The year 2023 marks a new beginning for the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA).
The Department is leading the development of a New Agenda for Peace. Our new Strategic Plan comes at a pivotal time and sets out a vision and priorities until 2026. It looks at how DPPA is contributing to lessen tensions and changing the trajectory of conflicts.
The Plan is ambitious yet realistic: we have refined our goals and strategic objectives while signaling continuity of focus and mandates. The Plan reflects the progress we have made in recent years to consolidate our structures, balancing crisis response and diplomacy with longer-term prevention and peacebuilding engagement. It also clearly sets out the need for prioritization and emphasis on impact where it matters: on the ground. The Strategic Plan further articulates our lead role in devising and coordinating political strategy across the UN system.
The achievement of the new Strategic Plan is dependent on the availability of sufficient, predictable and sustained resources.
In the next cycle, rising inflation will continue to affect the regular budget. ODA allocations will continue to drop with significant impact for peacebuilding, conflict prevention and resolution. Resources for conflict prevention are shrinking even as crises multiply.
In an environment characterized by crisis, demand for DPPA engagement is projected to increase. Global developments also force us to become more creative, flexible and dynamic in responding to incipient signs of violence and providing our expertise in mediation, peacemaking, electoral assistance, and other areas, as requested. Work in all of these areas is funded by the Multi-Year Appeal (MYA).
In the current financial context, the MYA, our main fundraising tool, is more important than ever. MYA funding supports both core and non-core capacities, making it indispensable to DPPA as it delivers on its mandate. It funds core support in the form of augmented capacities at Headquarters and in the field (e.g., staff, travel), while also allowing us to be more operational, facilitating deployments and activities around the world at short notice. On average, one-third of DPPA’s staffing capacities and more than 90 per cent of its travel needs are funded through the MYA.
Under its new Multi-Year Appeal, DPPA is requesting $170 million
to cover its needs and operations until 2026.
Highlights of activities and capacities funded by the MYA with $1 million:
The four thematic windows have dedicated earmarked funding to maximize efficiency and impact.
The booster effect of the MYA can be expressed in three ways:
Out of $170 million requested, 70 per cent of the MYA funding is unearmarked to grant DPPA the flexibility to deploy rapidly and in response to acute needs.
The MYA is also an INCUBATOR OF IDEAS and increasingly invests in new areas, such as
innovation and new technologies and expanding the interlinkages between climate change and
peace and security challenges.
An underfunded MYA could limit DPPA’s operational reach, translating into reduced capacity to deliver under the new Strategic Plan for 2023-2026.
The Multi-Year Appeal embodies our conviction that peace is priceless, and that peace is possible.
Addressing the Security Council on Tuesday, Ilze Brands Kehris, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, expressed concern about restrictions to freedom of religion in Ukraine, including territory under Russian control.
Some 50 women and girls in Burkina Faso who were abducted last week while looking for food must be released immediately, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Following the latest meeting of rival military leaders in Sirte, Libya, the head of the UN Mission in the country (UNSMIL) has called upon the national authorities to recommit to fully supporting the implementation of Libya’s 2020 ceasefire agreement.
More than a year after the military coup in Sudan, political parties began talks this month aimed at restoring a civilian-led transition, which the UN has hailed as an important step towards peace and democracy.
Warring parties in Yemen should take advantage of the current absence of major fighting and use it to advance their talks towards peace, the top UN official in the country said on Monday in his latest briefing to the Security Council.
The UN Secretary-General has strongly condemned Russia’s attack on a large residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro at the weekend that has left at least 40 civilians dead, including three children, and at least 75 injured, with those figures likely to rise, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country.
