Queen Elizabeth II, Ukraine & other topics - Daily…

In a statement, the Secretary-General said: “I am deeply saddened at the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland…”
 
The Secretary-General will be landing in Pakistan in just the coming hours, on a visit of solidarity following the floods in that country.
  
Turning to Ukraine, the Humanitarian Coordinator, Denise Brown, and the Emergency Coordinator for the World Food Programme in Ukraine, Matthew Hollingworth, today condemned an attack that took place yesterday and killed and injured civilians who were queuing up to receive aid in the small village of Mala Tokmachka, in the Zaporizka oblast.

The World Food Programme’s (WFP) first humanitarian shipment of grain from Ukraine that was delivered under the Black Sea Grain Initiative has started to arrive in Ethiopia. Also on Ethiopia, fighting in the north of the country continues to impact vulnerable people and the delivery of aid.

Hans Grundberg, the Special Envoy for Yemen, briefed Security Council members in closed consultations by videoconference this morning. Also briefing was General Michael Beary, who briefed on the UN Mission in Hudaydah.
 
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the head of the peacekeeping department, is in Peru, where he is attending – alongside the Military Adviser, General Birame Diop -- the first Latin American and Caribbean Conference on UN Peacekeeping Operations. It was held in Lima on Tuesday and Wednesday.
 
In a video message marking today’s launch of the 2022 Human Development Report, the Secretary-General warned that, for the first time ever, the world’s total human development has declined for two years in a row.

The Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations, hosted by UN Women, announced funding for Uruguay for their project to increase the participation of women in UN peace operations. 
  
The Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance is appealing to Member States to donate an additional $4 million by 2024 to the Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
 
Our friends in Geneva at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) today released a report which says that African communities, economies and ecosystems are being hit hard by water stress and hazards like droughts and devastating floods.

A new report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that women and girls make up the majority of migrants in the East and Horn of Africa.
 
Today is International Literacy Day, and this year’s theme is Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces. 

The guest at the Noon Briefing was Raffi Gregorian, the Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General and the Director of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism. He briefed journalists on the first United Nations Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism.