New York, 7 October 2020
Nine months since we first heard of COVID-19, the pandemic has claimed more than one million lives and infected more than 30 million people in 190 countries. Infections are rising and there are troubling signs of new waves.
Much about the virus remains unknown. But one basic fact is clear: the world was not prepared.
...The UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday that he was “closely monitoring” the situation in the Kyrgyz Republic, where protests erupted a day earlier in the aftermath of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Thousands of children continue to suffer grievously as unrelenting violence persists across eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, expressing deep concern.
The Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) inform with regret that it was not possible to hold the scheduled round of discussions on 6-7 October in Geneva as previously announced, since not all participants were able to attend.
We strongly believe that face-to-face meetings are critical to prevent security incidents and respond to humanitarian needs, especially at a time when there are worrying developments in the region and a surge of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.
We intend to continue virtual and, when possible, in-person consultations with all participants to prepare for the 51st round, which has now been re-scheduled for early December 2020.
In these consultations, we will reiterate our call on all participants to engage in constructive dialogue and to cooperate across the dividing lines, to provide safety and improve livelihoods, as part of the GID mandate.
We count on the commitment of all participants to the Geneva Discussions and urge all to start preparing as soon as possible so that it can take place.
We look forward to continuing the discussions with the participants in the coming weeks, with a view to organising the 51st GID round in Geneva in December 2020.
Read here the latest UNSOM Quarterly Newsletter
The United Nations Secretary-General has condemned the continuing escalation of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, reminding all sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Violent protests sparked by the murder of a high-profile legal scholar are threatening to push Haiti into a spiral of instability, Special Representative Helen La Lime told the Security Council on Monday, as she outlined UN efforts to help overcome the impasse engulfing the country.
A “rare opportunity” for peace in Libya should be seized by all those involved directly or indirectly in the conflict, António Guterres said on Monday, at a High-Level virtual meeting convened to end the fighting.
The United Nations has strongly condemned Saturday’s suicide attack on a government building in Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, and underlined that the perpetrators must be brought to justice.
New York, 5 October 2020
Each year World Habitat Day focuses attention on the state of the world’s towns and cities. This year’s observance highlights the centrality of housing as a driver for sustainable urban development.
Currently, 1 billion people live in overcrowded settlements with inadequate housing. By 2030, that number will rise to 1.6 billion. Action is needed now to...
This Week in DPPA is a brief roundup of political and peacebuilding events and developments at UNHQ and around the world.
Security CouncilMladenov: Settlement expansion and demolitions a continued threat to a two-State solution Central AfricaDebate on the challenge of poverty in Central Africa in a COVID-19 context
Côte d'IvoireSpecial Representative concludes pre-electoral visit to Côte d'Ivoire
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AfghanistanPanelists seek support of elders and Ulema in calling for violence reduction
IraqInternational Translation Day
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The elimination of nuclear weapons is vital to the “survival of life on this planet”, the UN chief told the final major event of the General Assembly’s high level week on Friday.
Thank you, Mister Chairman.
It is a pleasure and honor to be with you on the 20th anniversary of the landmark resolution on women, peace and security – Security Council resolution 1325 (2000).
Since its adoption, we have made significant progress in understanding and addressing the challenges women face in achieving full and equal participation in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacebuilding and sustaining peace.
We know that societies that give women the space to participate fully in political and socio-economic life are among the most resilient and most peaceful. We have mounting evidence that peacemaking and peacebuilding are more successful when women are involved. But there is still much room for improvement.
Women’s contributions to peace and security are still often outside the mainstream of formal efforts, and too frequently undervalued. I appreciate that the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) gives space to women making such contributions in challenging contexts.
I look forward today to hearing directly from civil society briefers who have joined us from Nigeria and Guatemala, as well as representatives from UN Women and the African Union.
Mr. Chairman.
Let me begin by noting that the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) has been at the forefront of action across the UN system to strengthen gender-responsive peacemaking and peacebuilding. As a policy, we include women in peace negotiations led by the United Nations.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken steps to ensure that women’s voices are included and amplified in virtual conflict resolution and peacebuilding activities. The Special Envoy for Syria and the Special Representative for Colombia are using digital platforms to consult regularly with women’s groups, advisory boards and mediators’ networks.
In Yemen, the Special Envoy conducted large-scale virtual consultations with over 500 Yemenis, including many Yemeni women’s networks.
The restrictions on travel and in-person meetings have led us to realize the enormous potential to increase the transparency and inclusion of our peacemaking efforts through new technologies. We have been able to include more women and youth in our dialogues than ever before, thanks to digital tools.
Excellencies, last year, I issued a new Women, Peace and Security policy to ensure that we integrate women’s meaningful participation and gender-sensitive analysis in all our peace efforts. To this end, we are now training more women mediators and supporting women’s advisory groups.
With UN Women, the Peacebuilding Support Office is updating the Secretary-General’s Seven-Point Action Plan to further strengthen the framework guiding the UN system’s work on gender-responsive peacebuilding. The updated action plan includes improving the monitoring and accountability framework of UN gender-responsive peacebuilding interventions.
In this regard, I would like to commend the Peacebuilding Commission for its efforts to reduce the gap between the aspirations and the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda, including through the adoption of a gender strategy in 2016. I would like to convey appreciation to Ireland for its support to this year’s review of the strategy.
The report on the review of the strategy takes stock of the progress in ensuring a more systematic integration of gender perspectives across the work of the Peacebuilding Commission. It shows the expansion of gender considerations, particularly over the last two years.
And the report recommends strengthened gender references in the Commission’s advice to the Security Council and the inclusion of business leaders, ex-combatants and survivors of conflict-related sexual violence among the women peacebuilders who engage with the Commission.
Colleagues, we must recognize that COVID-19 is deepening and magnifying the challenges women face in their societies. Indeed, it has only highlighted how fragile the progress we have made really is.
The pandemic has exacerbated existing gender inequalities in conflict-affected countries, and because of its socio-economic impact, women and girls are at risk of further marginalization from education and economic and political life.
Women peacebuilders increasingly find themselves on the frontlines of efforts to protect and support women and girls, as well as other vulnerable segments of society.
Since the outset of the pandemic, the PBC has served as a platform to hear accounts of these efforts, including the role of women in facilitating access to healthcare, humanitarian aid, psycho-social support and social services as well as initiatives to address the pandemic’s devastating economic fallout by teaching women skills to make goods or provide services needed by their communities during this time.
But while women are mobilizing at local levels in response to the crisis, they continue to be largely marginalized from COVID-19 response planning and decision-making processes. This is particularly true in conflict settings.
In response to the pandemic, the Peacebuilding Fund made rapid adjustments to many of its gender programs. In Colombia, PBF funding has strengthened protection for women health care workers and human rights defenders who are now more vulnerable to sexual and domestic violence. In Guatemala, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has with PBF support conducted awareness-raising and protection activities for women at higher risk of domestic violence in the context of lockdown measures.
Excellencies,
The implementation of the women, peace and security agenda is only possible with dedicated and predictable capacity and financing. The Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) has allocated 40 percent of its total investments to gender-responsive peacebuilding every year in recognition of the vital role women can and should play in building and sustaining peace. The PBF has made more investments in spearheading women and youth engagement than any other pooled fund in the UN system.
Furthermore, DPPA has allocated 17% of its extra-budgetary funds from its Multi-Year Appeal to projects supporting women. To ensure we can monitor, report and hold ourselves accountable, we have developed a gender marker to track the mainstreaming of gender issues in all our initiatives.
We need the full support of Member States to continue and expand this work, and we look to the PBC as an important ally and advocate.
Let me end by stressing that we all have a role to play to fulfil the Women, Peace and Security agenda: Member States, the UN system and women’s organizations at the regional, national and local levels. And we all continue to look to the Peace Building Commission and its unique convening and advisory role in furthering this collective endeavor.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The UN Secretary-General repeated his call for a global ceasefire on Friday, commemorating the International Day of Non Violence, which is taking place this year in the shadow of the devastating human and socio-economic impacts resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
The UN Secretary-General has called for parties in the Central African Republic (CAR) to prioritize national dialogue and consensus-building ahead of elections scheduled to begin in December.
New-York, 2 October 2020
In marking the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, this International Day highlights the remarkable power of non-violence and peaceful protest. It also a timely reminder to strive to uphold values that Gandhi lived by: the promotion of dignity, equal protection for all, and communities living together in peace.
On this year’s observance, we have a special duty: stop the fighting to focus on our common enemy: COVID-19...
Delegations from Libya’s warring sides meeting in Egypt have concluded two days of security and military talks in efforts towards a lasting ceasefire, the UN political mission for the country, UNSMIL, has reported.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and their international partners, must urgently resume peace efforts “before it is too late”, UN Middle East envoy Nikolay Mladenov told the Security Council on Tuesday, echoing the Secretary-General.
New York, 29 September 2020
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, good morning, good afternoon, good evening.
Four months ago, Prime Ministers Trudeau and Holness and myself, together with over 50 Heads of State and Government called for a large-scale response to the economic devastation brought about by COVID-19.
Since then, the...
New York, 29 September 2020
Food loss and waste is an ethical outrage. In a world with enough food to feed all people, everywhere, 690 million people continue to go hungry and 3 billion cannot afford a healthy diet.
Food loss and waste also squanders natural resources – water, soil and energy, not to mention human labour and time. It worsens climate change, given the significant...
The UN chief is “extremely concerned” over renewed hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that erupted on Sunday.
The UN chief is “extremely concerned” over renewed hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that erupted on Sunday.
At the end of a week-long meeting in Switzerland, the parties to the conflict in Yemen reached what the UN envoy there called “a very important milestone”, in agreeing to release a first group of detainees.
On the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons marked on Saturday, the UN chief has underscored the need to “reverse course and return to a common path to nuclear disarmament”.
This Week in DPPA is a brief roundup of political and peacebuilding events and developments at UNHQ and around the world.
The Work of PeaceNew virtual exhibit launchedOn the International Day of Peace on 21 September, DPPA launched a new mini-website/virtual exhibit entitled The Work of Peace. The website highlights the work of the UN in preventive diplomacy, good offices, mediation and elections over the past 75 years, and looks ahead at what the future may hold for this work. The virtual exhibit aims to bring to life the enduring ability of the UN to innovate, adapt and evolve while staying true to the core principles and values of the Charter and the laws and standards forged by its membership over the last three quarters of a century. In that time, the UN has become ever more inclusive and representative, always striving to reflect the full diversity of our world, as evident through the organization’s work in decolonization, which gave a seat at the table to previously disenfranchised parts of the world; progress on the women, peace and security agenda, which aims to ensure that women have their rightful place in making and building peace; youth, peace and security; and efforts to engage civil society and marginalized groups, including through the use of technology and innovative methods. Check out the exhibit here Security CouncilDiCarlo reiterates full UN support for Sudan's transition
AfghanistanPeace official joined by youth and women from provinces around Kabul to discuss Doha negotiations The future we want is peace, equality and opportunities for all
Asia-PacificYoung peacebuilders share their experiences and what YPS means to them
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Iraq“Islamic Day to Counter the Violence against Women” Meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert on 19 September was received in Baghdad by Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi. They discussed cooperation on early elections as well as the file of the internally displaced persons.
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New York, 26 September 2020
Almost 75 years since the adoption of the first General Assembly resolution in 1946 committed the United Nations to the goal of nuclear disarmament, our world continues to live in the shadow of nuclear catastrophe.
Relationships between States possessing nuclear weapons are characterized by division, distrust and an absence of dialogue. As they...
