Ocean Conference, Jason Momoa, Criminal Tribunals…

This morning, in Lisbon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Guterres, addressed the opening ceremony of the 2022 Ocean Conference, along with the leaders of the two co-hosting nations – Portugal and Kenya. 

Movie star and activist Jason Momoa, who is in Portugal for the conference, was designated as the UN Environment Programme’s Advocate for Life Below Water. 

The Secretary-General appointed today Judge Graciela Susana Gatti Santana of Uruguay as President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for a term commencing on 1 July 2022.  

The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed is now in Paris, in France, where she will attend the pre-Summit of the Transforming Education Summit, which is a precursor to the meetings that will take place in September in New York.  

In Afghanistan, the UN team in the country today launched an emergency appeal following last week’s earthquake. The appeal calls for $110 million to urgently help 362,000 people for the next three months in the hardest-hit areas in the provinces of Paktika and Khost. 

The Sahel crisis remains critically underfunded when compared to the needs of the people there. In the Sahel, the UN has called for $3.8 billion to respond to the needs of people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. Mid-way through the year, the appeal is only 15 per cent funded. 

The Peacekeeping Mission in Mali is taking steps to improve security in two key locations that have come under attack recently from armed terrorist groups.  On Saturday, the Mission deployed a human rights team and set up a temporary peacekeeping base in Diallassagou, in the Bandiagara region, to help deter violence against communities.  

The Food and Agriculture Organization is appealing for $172 million to help avert a famine in the Horn of Africa. 

In Sudan, conflict has driven more than 67,000 people from their homes this month alone. 

In Ukraine, there have been disturbing reports of a new wave of airstrikes and shelling over the weekend and again today, with civilians having been killed or injured. Homes, health facilities and other civilian infrastructure were reportedly damaged. 

Tor Wennesland, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed the Security Council by video conference from Jerusalem.  He expressed his alarm at the levels of violence seen in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel over the past months.  
 
This afternoon, the Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, will brief the Security Council on the situation in Libya. 
  
The head of the UN office for West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamet Saleh Annadif, arrived yesterday in Nigeria for a two-day visit during which he is scheduled to meet Nigerian authorities, civil society, the diplomatic community as well as our colleagues there.  
 
An update from Pakistan, to date, more than 250 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered, with nearly half of them coming through COVAX.  

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime today released its World Drug report, which says that the legalization of cannabis in many parts of the world appears to have accelerated its daily use.

Today is the International Day for Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represent around 90 per cent of global businesses and half of GDP worldwide.  
 
Peru is the 108th Member State to have paid its budget dues in full.