The UN in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza is doing all it can to put supplies in place, including testing kits, in preparation for the expected rise in COVID-19 Coronavirus cases over the coming days.
Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, UN agencies have raced to ensure that millions of vulnerable people continue to receive the emergency support that they need.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Cécile Pouilly from the UN refugee agency UNHCR outlines some of the many challenges created by the virus – and why it’s crucial that refugees are involved in fighting the virus too.
The UN migration agency, IOM, is highly concerned about the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on migrants.
In an interview with UN News, spokesperson Joel Millman said that many migrants work in the food industry, highly affected by the closures of restaurants and cafes.
Mr. Millman started by insisting that the stigmatization of migrants must be avoided.
Shortly after the outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), UNICEF was among the first United Nations agencies to step up and deliver much-needed medical supplies including masks to China.
UN News spoke to Ms. Luwei Pearson, Acting Director of UNICEF’s Health Programme Division, about the agency’s quick response to the outbreak, and other issues including the possible physical and mental impact on millions of children faced with school closures.
UN News’s Maoqi Li spoke to Ms. Luwei Pearson, via skype.
A decline in COVID-19 cases in China demonstrates that containment efforts can help alter the course of the pandemic.
That’s the opinion of Dr. Gauden Galea, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in the country.
COVID-19 first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Last week, WHO announced it could be characterized as a pandemic.
The largest humanitarian agency on the planet, the UN World Food Programme, or WFP, has sent lifesaving medical equipment to China to help treat COVID-19 sufferers in the worst-hit area of the country.
WHO has shipped almost 1.5 million tests to 120 countries, which are working with companies to increase the availability of tests for those most in need.
In an interview with Daniel Johnson from UN News, WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs gives an update on key priorities.
The UN’s Victims’ Rights Advocate who champions the rights and dignity of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), has urged more women to come forward in Haiti, if they have paternity claims against UN personnel serving in former peacekeeping missions there.
In an interview with UN News, Jane Connors acknowledges that around 28 women already have outstanding claims, relating to 34 children.
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused unprecedented disruption in many areas of our lives, and that’s true of a key UN forum as well: the Human Rights Council.
On Thursday, it announced the suspension of its current inter-governmental session in Geneva, meaning that voting on Resolutions is on hold, until it can resume its work, promoting and protecting people’s human rights across the world.
Several climate records were broken in 2019 across the world, including unprecedented temperature highs and extreme weather events.
Ahead of the launch of the World Meteorological Organization’s flagship report –WMO’s Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2019 – the agency’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas sat down with Ben Malor from UN News, and started by outlining some of the main points from the study.
Children are born innocent, “regardless” of their relationship to extremist fighters from the terrorist group known as ISIL or Da’esh, “and they should be treated with kindness and love”.
That’s one of the key points emphasized by religious leaders in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Monday, in an unprecedented joint declaration, calling for justice on behalf of victims of the terrorist group, which once controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria.
