Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / 2021 TOP STORIES
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / 2021 TOP STORIES
TRT: 10:12
SOURCE: UNIFEED / UNSOM / UNICEF / WHO / WFP / UNMISS / OCHA / UNHCR / MINUSCA / MONUSCO / MINUSMA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT ON SCREEN AS INDICATED IN SHOTLIST
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / TURKISH / NATS
DATELINE: FILE
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNSOM - 08 AUGUST 2021, MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Wide shot, plane parked waiting to offload COVID-19 vaccines
2. Close up, COVAX label on crate
3. Med shot, a team offloading the vaccines
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNICEF - 23 FEBRUARY 2021, PUNE, INDIA
4. Med shot, worker packing vials into small box
5. Med shot, worker packing boxes of vials into large boxes
6. Close up, COVAX sticker on box
FILE - UNIFEED - 15 JANUARY 2021, NEW YORK CITY
7. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Governments have a responsibility to protect their populations, but vaccine nationalism is self-defeating and will delay a global recovery. COVID-19 cannot be beaten one country at a time.”
FILE - UNIFEED - 28 JANUARY 2021, NEW YORK CITY
8. Wide shot, Guterres and delegation walking
9. Close up, vial
10. Med shot, doctor administering vaccine to Guterres
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE - WHO - 04 AUGUST 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
11. Wide shot, press briefing room
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
"We cannot and we should not accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected."
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE - WHO - 18 MARCH 2021, CONCORDIA COMMUNITY, INÍRIDA, COLOMBIA
13. Pan right, 4x4 truck driving through a puddle on dirt road out of Inírida
14. Wide shot, health walking though the village
15. Close up, vaccinator showing the woman the dose she is about to receive
16. Close up, vaccinator inserting the needle into the dose flask and pulling the liquid into the syringe
17. Close up, vaccine being administered
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE - UNICEF- 23 JULY 2021, LUNANA, GASA DISTRICT, NORTH WEST BHUTAN
18. Wide shot, helicopter approaches village
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE - UNICEF- 20 JULY, MERAG, TRASHIGAN DISTRICT, EASTERN BHUTAN
19. Wide shot, health workers in PPE walk with a vaccine carrier and medical supplies
20. Various shots, health workers walk through the village road
21. Wide shot, residents queue to get their COVID-19 vaccine
22. Med shot, the health worker administers COVID-19 vaccine to a male resident
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 06 DECEMBER 2020, AMPAIPAIKE, AMBOVOMBE DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
23. Aerial shot, drought scourged land
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 25 FEBRUARY 2021, FORT-DAUPHIN, ANÒSY REGION, MADAGASCAR
24. Various shots, displaced people waiting for WFP food
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 29 FEBRUARY 2021, ANDRANOBE, AMBOASARY DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
25. Various shots, WFP staff testing children for malnutrition with MUACS test
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 06 DECEMBER 2020, AMPAIPAIKE, AMBOVOMBE DISTRICT, MADAGASCAR
26. Wide shot, dying tree in arid landscape
FILE – UNMISS - 11 FEBRUARY 2021, PANYAGOR, SOUTH SUDAN
27. Wide shot, flooded fields
28. Various shots, locals wading through flood
FILE – UNIFEED - 01 NOVEMBER 2021, GLASGOW, UNITED KINGDOM
29. Med shot, US President Joe Biden, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, Former US Vice President Al Gore chatting
30. Med shot, German Chancellor Angela Merkel seated in audience
31. Med shot, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnston greets Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
32. Wide shot, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arriving to plenary
33. Wide shot, plenary room
34. Wide shot, Secretary-General António Guterres stands and walks to podium
35. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General United Nations:
“Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink.”
36. Med shot, delegate
37. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, UN Secretary-General:
“Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.”
FILE – UNIFEED - 02 NOVEMBER 2021, GLASGOW, UNITED KINGDOM
38. Pan right, Secretary-General walks up to greet climate activists
39. Med shot, Secretary-General greeting climate activists
FILE – UNIFEED - 13 NOVEMBER 2021, GLASGOW, UNITED KINGDOM
40. SOUNDBITE (English) Alok Sharma, COP26 UK President:
“History has been made here in Glasgow.”
41. Various shot, delegates applause
FILE – OCHA - 25 DECEMBER 2020, MARIB, YEMEN
42. Aerial shot, Al-Jufinah Camps for displaced people
FILE – OCHA - 16 DECEMBER 2020, TAIZ, YEMEN
43. Various shots, children standing in bombed-out buildings on residential area
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 09 MARCH 2021, SANA’A, YEMEN
44. Tilt up, mother with malnourished child at Al Sabeen Hospital
45. SOUNDBITE (English) David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP):
“About 400,000 children are at risk of dying right now. We need this war to end, and we need support financially, food, nutrition, medical supplies, and we need it now. It’s a horrible situation. It’s a disgrace on humanity what’s happening here.”
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNICEF - 07 AUGUST 2021, HAJI CAMP FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE, KANDAHAR, SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN
46. Wide shot, children siting outside at Haji camp
47. Close up, children outside at Haji camp
48. Close up, child crying
49. Wide shot, IDP queuing for water at Haji camp
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNICEF - 10 AUGUST 2021, HAJI CAMP FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE, KANDAHAR, SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN
50. Wide shot, pan through Haji camp
FILE – UNIFEED - 16 AUGUST 2021, NEW YORK CITY
51. Zoom in, Security Council in meeting
52. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations:
“Much lies in the balance. The progress. The hope. The dreams of a generation of young Afghan women and girls, boys, and men. At this grave hour, I urge all parties, especially the Taliban, to exercise utmost restraint to protect lives and to ensure that humanitarian needs can be met.”
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 6 OCTOBER 2020, ALEPPO, SYRIA
53. Various shots, general views of Aleppo which has suffered massive destruction, death, and displacement since the onset of the war
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 24 FEBRUARY 2021, ALEPPO, SYRIA
54. Various shots, marketplace, and street views
FILE – UNIFEED – 10 MARCH 2021, NEW YORK CITY
55. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“Ten years ago, the violent suppression of peaceful popular demonstrations in Syria set the country on the path to a horrific war. After a decade of conflict, in the middle of a global pandemic, and faced with a steady stream of new crises, Syria has fallen off the front page, and yet the situation remains a living nightmare.”
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WFP - 26 MAY 2021, ADI MILLEN, TIGRAY REGION, ETHIOPIA
56. Various shots, WFP food distribution to people in hard to access rural area
FILE – UNIFEED – 19 AUGUST 2021, NEW YORK CITY
57.Wide shot, Guterres walking to the podium
58. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“The Ethiopian people have suffered too much. Humanitarian conditions are hellish.”
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNHCR - 30 JANUARY 2021, MIA AINI CAMP – TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA
59. Various shots, refugees in camp
FILE – UNIFEED – 19 AUGUST 2021, NEW YORK CITY
60. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“It is time for all parties to recognize that there is no military solution, and it is vital to preserve the unity and stability of Ethiopia which is critical to the region and beyond.”
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNHCR - 03 FEBRUARY 2020, GOUDOUBO REFUGEE CAMP, BURKINA FASO
61. Aerial shot, camp
62. Various shots, bullet casings and bullet holes on-site and damage to building
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNHCR - 04 FEBRUARY 2020, KAYA, BURKINA FASO
63. Wide shot, internally displaced women and children filling and carrying water jugs
64. Close up, jug being filled with water
65. Med shot, young girl carrying two heavy jugs of water
66.Wide shot, woman with two boys on a cart pulled by a mule
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNHCR – ARCHIVE - BURIA, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
67. Aerial shot, village
68. Wide shot, people in market
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNHCR – 21 JANUARY 2021, NDU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
69. Wide shot, refugees standing in queue
70. Wide shot, people riding on canoe
71. Wide shot, women and children sitting together
72. Wide shot, woman holding baby
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – UNHCR – 23 MARCH 2021, KUTUPALONG REFUGEE SETTLEMENT, BANGLADESH
73. Various shots, raging fire
74. Traveling shot, refugees in line after fire
75. Pan right, burned down shelter
FILE – OCHA - 28 AUGUST 2021, LES CAYES, HAITI
76. Aerial shot, collapsed building
77. Various shots, debris removal
FILE – MONUSCO - 23 MAY 2021, GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
78. Wide shot, Smoke from lava and volcanos far in the background
79. Various shots, lava, and smoke from the lava
80. People walking on lava
FILE – MONUSCO - 19 SEPTEMBER 2021, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
81. Wide shot, MONUSCO helicopter ensuring the security escort from the air
82. Wide shot, looted and burned truck abandoned on the road
83. Wide shot, a civil truck and other vehicles attacked, looted, and burned by ADF rebels
FILE – MINUSMA - MARCH 2021, BETWEEN TASSIGA AND ANSONGO, MALI
84. Various shots, British contingent on patrol
FILE – MINUSCA - 13 JANUARY 2021, OUTSKIRTS OF BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
85. Wide shot, one of the rebels captured and lying on the ground surrounded by national and MINUSCA forces
86. Various shots, UN responding to the armed groups in nearby hills, shots are heard
87. Various shots, MINUSCA peacekeepers patrolling the streets of Bangui
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WHO – ARCHIVE - GHANA
88. Med shot, health worker loading syringe with vaccine
89. Med shot, child being vaccinated
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WHO – ARCHIVE - MOZAMBIQUE
90. Close up, writing on back of malaria prevention team member
CREDIT ON SCREEN - FILE – WHO – 15 FEBRUARY 2021, MATANDA HOSPITAL, BUTEMBO HEALTH ZONE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
91. Wide shot, vaccination site with vaccinators
92. Wide shot, health worker preparing the forms of a participant
93. Med shot, woman being vaccinated
FILE – UNIFEED - NEW YORK CITY
94. Wide shot, exterior UN Headquarters
FILE – UNIFEED -18 JUNE 2021, NEW YORK CITY
95. Wide shot, General Assembly Hall
96. Various shots, Guterres takes Oath of Office
FILE – UNIFEED - 21 SEPTEMBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY
97. Various shots, delegations arriving at UN Headquarters
98. Wide shot, Guterres walking to podium
4. SOUNDBITE (English) António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations:
“I am here to sound the alarm: The world must wake up. We are on the edge of an abyss — and moving in the wrong direction.”
99. Zoom in, GA Hall, Biden on rostrum and on screens
100. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden, President of the United States:
“Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future.”
101. Wide shot, President Recep Erdoğan walks up to General Assembly rostrum
102. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President, Turkey:
“For climate change we repeat our appeal with the motto that we continuously repeat. The world is bigger than five. Whoever has done the most damage to nature, to our atmosphere, our water, our soil, and the earth, and whoever has wildly exploited natural resources, should also make the greatest contribution to the fight against climate change."
103. Wide shot, Interspecies Assembly projections onto the UN Secretariat building
From peacekeeping, to the protection of refugees and providing life-saving humanitarian aid, the work of the United Nations remained vital in a year marked by multiple overlapping crises.
As vaccine distribution began in earnest at the start of the year, vaccine inequity soon became evident.
Vaccines donated through the COVAX Facility, a partnership between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), began reaching developing countries.
But while developed nations soon vaccinated a majority of their populations, low vaccination rates persisted throughout the developing world.
The COVAX Facility planned to deliver close to two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines this year.
In a video message on 15 January, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “governments have a responsibility to protect their populations, but vaccine nationalism is self-defeating and will delay a global recovery.”
The Secretary-General continued, “COVID-19 cannot be beaten one country at a time.”
On 28 January Guterres received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and urged everyone to get “vaccinated as soon as they can.”
In August, WHO's chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a moratorium on boosters to enable at least 10 percent of the population of every country to be vaccinated.
He said, "we cannot, and we should not accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world’s most vulnerable people remain unprotected."
In Colombia, vulnerable indigenous communities in the Amazon region are among the priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination. Near the city of Inírida, health teams set up a “pop-up” vaccination site in order to reach a large number of people quickly.
In a statement issued on 27 July, UNICEF hailed Bhutan’s successful completion of full COVID-19 vaccinations for 90 per cent of its eligible population.
A total of 2,401 health workers helped to vaccinate the eligible population with the second dose from 20 to 26 July across the country, arguably the fastest vaccination campaign to be executed during a pandemic.
Following consecutive years of drought, severe hunger hit southern Madagascar as communities witness an almost total disappearance of food sources, creating a full-blown nutrition emergency.
In May, 3,000 people left their homes and walked dozens of kilometers to reach Fort-Dauphin where nuns run a center that serves food supplied by WFP once a day.
In February, torrential rainfall resulted in large scale floods and consequent displacement across many parts of South Sudan. The overflowing waters of the Nile river have had a devastating impact on people’s lives in the Bor region, destroying homes, farmlands and paralyzing essential services such as schools, healthcare facilities and local markets.
Droughts and floods were on the world’s leaders’ minds as the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) got underway in Glasgow in November.
Secretary-General António Guterres took the podium with a blunt opening message, noting that the six years since the Paris Climate Agreement have been the six hottest years on record.
He said, “our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink, and added, “enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.”
The UN chief called for greater ambition on mitigation and immediate concrete action to reduce global emissions by 45 percent by 2030; an effort that should be led by developed countries.
In Glasgow, Guterres met with young climate activists Greta Thunberg (Sweden), Mitzi Jonelle Tan (Philippines) Vanessa Nakate (Uganda) Elizabeth Wathuti (Kenya) Eric Njuguna (Kenya) and Nicole Becker (Argentina), encouraging them to continue their activism and to speak loudly, and forge alliances as we all work towards the goal of keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
At the closing of COP26, Representatives of 197 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) pledged to double down on emissions reduction targets and double up on climate financing for adaptation to the crisis.
UK COP26 President Alok Sharma tearfully announced that history had been made in Glasgow.
In March, the United Nations together with the governments of Sweden and Switzerland convened a virtual pledging conference for Yemen, which remains the world's largest humanitarian crisis.
More than 20 million people need humanitarian assistance across the country, including more than 16 million who will go hungry this year. This year, relief agencies will require almost $4 billion to assist 19 million people in need.
The Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley issued an urgent plea for peace in Yemen and called for funding to help the most vulnerable hungry families as he wrapped up a two-day visit to the country where the worst famine the world has seen in modern history is now looming.
After visiting malnourished children at Al Sabeen Hospital in Sana’a, Beasley said, “about 400,000 children are at risk of dying right now. We need this war to end, and we need support financially, food, nutrition, medical supplies, and we need it now. It’s a horrible situation. It’s a disgrace on humanity what’s happening here.”
As fighting intensified in Afghanistan in July and Taliban fighters headed towards Kabul, the operating space for humanitarians providing life-saving assistance continued to shrink dramatically.
The conflict escalated rapidly and over 18 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance. Four million children were out of school. Around 400,000 people left their homes to seek refuge
After the Taliban’s takeover of the government in August, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefed an emergency session of the Security Council.
He said, “much lies in the balance. The progress. The hope. The dreams of a generation of young Afghan women and girls, boys, and men. At this grave hour, I urge all parties, especially the Taliban, to exercise utmost restraint to protect lives and to ensure that humanitarian needs can be met.”
Guterres appealed for the Council to stand as one, and ensure that human rights are upheld, humanitarian aid continues, and that the country does not again become a platform for terrorism.
After a decade of upheaval, conflict and displacement, Syrians are facing the worst humanitarian conditions since the start of the crisis, with millions of people sliding into hunger in the last year alone, according to the WFP.
WFP has provided monthly food assistance for nearly 5 million people inside Syria over the past ten years, using every means available to reach people in need. WFP is also providing assistance for more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. These five countries host more than 5.6 million Syrians, the biggest refugee group in the world.
The Secretary -General said, after a decade of conflict, in the middle of a global pandemic, and “faced with a steady stream of new crises, Syria has fallen off the front page, and yet the situation remains a living nightmare.”
Violence and conflict are allowing hunger to tighten its grip on millions of Tigrayans who have been forced to flee their homes.
Data from the WFP in June confirmed the magnitude of the hunger emergency gripping Tigray, where at least 4 million people face severe hunger, 350,000 of them facing famine.
The ability of people in Tigray to access vital services and for WFP to reach them with food assistance is essential to avoid a catastrophe, the Agency said.
Speaking to reporters in August in New York, Guterres said, “the Ethiopian people have suffered too much. Humanitarian conditions are hellish.”
He said, “it is time for all parties to recognize that there is no military solution, and it is vital to preserve the unity and stability of Ethiopia which is critical to the region and beyond.”
In January, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for an end to the unrelenting violence in Africa’s Sahel which has now displaced more than two million people within the borders of their countries for the first time ever.
The Sahel – which includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger — is home to some of the world’s least developed countries, and the communities hosting the displaced have reached a breaking point.
Already this year, violence in Niger and Burkina Faso has forced more than 21,000 people to flee their homes and seek refuge within their own countries.
In Burkina Faso, since 31 December, a series of armed attacks on the town of Koumbri and nearby villages in the North of the country have displaced more than 11,000 people. Most are women and children who fled at night after attackers began shooting at their homes.
Also, in January, UNHCR urgently appealed to the international community to mobilize funds, so humanitarian organizations can deliver life-saving assistance to the Central African refugees and their hosts.
Over 200,000 people were displaced in the Central African Republic in less than two months since election-related violence erupted in December 2020. according to figures compiled by the United Nations.
Refugee arrivals into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reached 92,000 according to local authorities and some 12,600 people have crossed into Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of Congo. Most refugees are living in remote, hard-to-reach areas close to the rivers in dire conditions without basic shelter and facing acute food shortages.
In March, a massive fire ravaged the world’s largest refugee settlement, home to nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees, and took at least 15 lives.
More than 560 have been were injured and scores were missing.
UNHCR, in support of the ongoing response led by the Bangladeshi authorities and in coordination with UN organizations and NGO partners as well as refugee volunteers, rushed to provide critical support and protection to some 45,000 Rohingya refugees who lost their shelters and belongings in the devastating blaze.
Camps at Cox’s Bazar shelter over 870,000 Rohingya refugees. The vast majority, some 720,000, arrived in 2017, fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners provided aid in Les Cayes, Haiti after the 14 August 7.2-magnitude earthquake which struck south-west Haiti, destroying homes and infrastructure, and killing and injuring thousands of people.
The death toll was over 2,200 people. More than 12,200 people were injured and over 340 went missing.
Some 4.4 million people, or nearly 40 percent of the population, faced acute food insecurity, including 1.1 million people who needed emergency assistance and 3.1 million people at crisis levels and requiring aid.
Nyiragongo, a volcano towering over the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, suddenly erupted on 22 May, sending people fleeing their homes.
The lava from the volcano cut the road linking Goma to Rutshuru and the far north of the province, after Kibati village, some 20 km from Goma.
The lava has also reached Munigi, one of the outskirts of Goma and destroyed many houses.
In September, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) conducted a joint escort with the national army of the DRC (FARDC), from Komanda, a city of Ituri province, to the North Kivu province.
This joint escort was initiated due to numerous attacks by ADF rebels on that road. On first September 2021 for instance, an attack happened, almost twenty vehicles were looted and burned by the attackers.
On the road, there were many vehicles looted and burned. Almost all the villages were looted, burned, and were empty because the habitants had fled towards other safe locations.
In Mali, the Long-Range Reconnaissance Task Group of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) British contingent carried out a continuous physical presence for 28 days from Gao to Tassiga, on a mission to protect civilians in this area, which has seen numerous security incidents.
The deployed British contingent peacekeepers spoke to communities in these villages to learn more about their concerns.
Following a January attack, United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reinforced their posture in Bangui and in areas surrounding the capital, in coordination with Central African defense and security forces, as well as other security partners.
This aimed to prevent further infiltrations towards the capital of armed groups aiming to destabilize national institutions. The security of UN personnel and premises have also been reinforced.
In October, WHO announced its recommendation for the broad use of the world’s first malaria vaccine, calling it “a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control.”
The recommendation is based on results from an ongoing pilot programme in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi that has reached more than 800,000 children since 2019.
Malaria remains a primary cause of childhood illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 260,000 African children under the age of five die from malaria annually.
WHO launched an Ebola ring vaccination in the DRC in February following the Ministry of Health declaration of a new Ebola outbreak, after a case was identified near the city of Butembo in North Kivu Province.
More than 50 high-risk contacts were vaccinated in Biena Health Zone, where the first case was detected and as of 15 February, vaccination efforts had also begun in Katwa Health Zone.
Back in New York, in June Guterres was re-appointed to a second term as UN Secretary-General, pledging as his priority, to continue helping the world chart a course out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking the oath of office in the General Assembly Hall, Guterres said he was aware of the immense responsibilities bestowed on him at this critical moment in history.
Guterres was the sole candidate from the UN’s 193 Member States to vie for its top job. His first five-year term began in January 2017.
He was nominated by his homeland, Portugal, and appointed by acclamation by the General Assembly, following prior endorsement by the UN Security Council, for a second term that runs from January 2022 to December 2026.
World leaders arrived in New York on 21 September at United Nations Headquarters to take part in the 76th annual General Assembly’s General Debate.
This year, against a backdrop of covid-19 pandemic, some heads of state delivered their speeches in person. In 2020, the General Assembly session was mostly virtual due to the pandemic.
At the opening of the General Debate, the Secretary-General sounded the alarm as the world is “on the edge of an abyss and moving in the wrong direction.”
United States President Joe Biden told world leaders that the US is focused on the future and “instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future.”
For his part, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the General Assembly's General Debate that climate change cannot be stopped with a vaccine.
Referring to the permanent members of the Security Council, he said, “the world is bigger than five. Whoever has done the most damage to nature, to our atmosphere, our water, our soil, and the earth, and whoever has wildly exploited natural resources, should also make the greatest contribution to the fight against climate change."
During the week of the General Debate, SUPERFLEX and ART 2030 presented Interspecies Assembly, a project that included a largescale film work projected onto United Nations Headquarters, inviting the first non-human delegation directly to the United Nations.
