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Virtual Briefing by Spokesperson for Secretary-General
This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, an online two-day meeting of ministers organized by Germany and chaired by the United Kingdom.
This morning, during a meeting organized by the European Commission with the G5 Sahel countries, the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that, as we face this global human crisis, keeping the Sahel high on the international agenda is of the utmost importance.
Following an initiative by Jordan, 167 Member States and Permanent Observers have issued a statement of solidarity and appreciation to the city of New York in the midst of COVID-19.
A new analysis issued today by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners pointed out that the economic and physical disruptions caused by COVID-19 could have vast consequences for the rights and health of women and girls.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights are extremely concerned that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people are being singled out, blamed, abused, incarcerated and stigmatized as vectors of disease during this pandemic.
Today is the World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
In Samoa, where there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19, the pandemic has already impacted the economy of the country, as well as others in the South Pacific.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where – just like everywhere else, ensuring that children continue to learn despite school closures is a challenge.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says that it documented a total of 533 civilians killed and 760 injured in Afghanistan during the first three months of this year.
In Myanmar, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that the continued conflict between the Myanmar Armed Forces and the Arakan Army in Rakhine State and in the south of Chin State have led to increased civilian casualties and forced people to flee their homes in recent weeks.
In Colombia the Secretary-General regrets the announcement made by the National Liberation Army (ELN), in Spanish, that it will not extend its unilateral ceasefire past the end of April, after several weeks in which it was having a positive effect.
The Secretary-General is following with concern the developments on the ground in southern Yemen. He urges all relevant stakeholders to exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any actions that would further escalate the situation.
I also want to clarify something that the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, said in his remarks to the Security Council members last week on the 23 April, when he said that “34 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C were demolished during the reporting period” (that is, from 21 March – 22 April). I want to specify that there were no structures demolished in East Jerusalem during the reporting period and, due to the COVID-19 crisis, Israeli authorities did not demolish any inhabited structures after 26 March.
This morning, the Security Council held an open videoconference on the UN peacekeeping mission in Abyei.
I am delighted to announce that our friends from Andorra have paid their balance in full for the 2020 regular budget, which takes us up to 86 fully paid-up Member States.
For further details please see SOURCE below.
Office of the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General
