The UN must present “a united front” in the fight for women’s rights in Afghanistan, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said after returning from a two-week country visit spanning several continents.
Almost twelve years into Syria’s devastating civil war, the country remains tattered and deeply divided, facing massive economic hardships, limited political progress and the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 70 per cent of the population now in need of humanitarian aid, senior UN officials told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Some 21.6 million people in Yemen – that’s two-thirds of the population – are going to need some kind of humanitarian assistance and protection services during the course of 2023, according to the UN’s Humanitarian Response plan published on Wednesday.
“Swift progress” has been made at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the trial against a former Janjaweed leader in Sudan’s Darfur region, but cooperation with the Government has deteriorated, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has warned that the fight against terrorism will never succeed if we perpetuate the “denial and destruction” of human rights.
The historic centre of the port city of Odesa, in Ukraine, has been inscribed on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List, 11 months since the full-scale Russian invasion.
The head of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Wednesday underlined the need to achieve gender equality globally and fight hate speech, particularly that which targets women and girls online.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a statement deploring the abduction of a doctor working for the UN health agency in the town of Menaka, in eastern Mali, by unknown assailants on Monday.
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 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.
