This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
UN chief urges debt relief extension for middle-income countries
Middle-income countries should have their debts suspended into 2022 to cope with the social and economic impact of COVID-19, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Mr. Guterres noted that many middle-income countries had been devastated by the pandemic – which along with disruptions in global trade – had “exposed” and worsened their vulnerabilities.
Many of these countries were also ineligible for international aid and debt relief, the UN chief explained, adding that even before the pandemic, middle-income nations were home to more than 62 per cent of the world’s poor.
In a call to build resilience for the future among these countries, the Secretary-General urged governments to mobilise domestic resources and reduce waste.
He also called for the creation of a new debt restructuring mechanism so that middle-income countries could boost foreign investment at home.
This would be in addition to agreement by the world’s 20 richest countries to extend debt relief to the world’s most vulnerable countries.
Since it took effect on 1 May 2020, the Debt Service Suspension Initiative has delivered more than $5 billion in relief to more than 40 countries, according to the World Bank.
Middle-income countries account for more than 100 UN Member States; they are also home to about 70 per cent of the global population.
Drought on verge of becoming ‘next pandemic’
Drought is on the verge of becoming the next pandemic, the UN’s top official for disaster reduction said on Thursday, in a call for new transboundary alliances to tackle the growing threat.
The appeal from Mami Mizutori – the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction – came as the UN agency she heads warned that drought affects more people than any other slow onset disaster.
Here’s Ms. Mizutori now:
“Within the next 80 years, 129 countries will experience increased exposure to drought due to climate change impact alone and an additional 23 countries due to population growth and another 38 due to the interaction of population growth and climate change impact. If you just look at these numbers, there’s a really big number of countries will be exposed to drought. So this is a global issue, something like we’re seeing as a pandemic.”
In a new report, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said that drought already affects millions of people – and not only in farming.
It also impacts public water supply, energy production, waterborne transportation, tourism, health and biodiversity, all of which contribute to food insecurity, poverty and inequality, it noted.
COVID-19 cases in Africa surge by over 20 per cent week-on-week
COVID-19 infections in Africa have surged by more than 20 per cent week-on-week as the continent's third wave gains pace, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
New data from the UN agency indicated that the tally is just short of the first wave peak of more than 120,000 weekly cases, which was recorded in July 2020.
It said that the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia and Uganda have reported their highest number of new weekly cases since the pandemic began.
To date, the continent has seen more than five million cases of new coronavirus.
Twenty-two African countries saw a surge in infections of over 20 per cent in in the week ending 13 June, when deaths also rose by nearly 15 per cent in 36 countries, to more than 2,200.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
