This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

UN’s Bachelet urges greater role for women in disarmament discussions 

Disarmament research agency UNIDIR called on Thursday for more women to take their rightful place in international security discussions – a move that’s been warmly welcomed by UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet. 

Ms. Bachelet said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “had created a new threat to the global peace and security that is the basis for sustainable development and all human rights”; and that the war had compounded the negative consequences around the world for everyone, but particularly for women and girls.  

The High Commissioner citied research that correlates high levels of military spending with poor women’s rights and noted that “none of the ceasefire agreements reached between 2018 and 2020” included any provision for people’s gender. 

This male-dominated trend has continued in the Ukraine conflict, where only two women have been involved in negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ms. Bachelet continued. 

South Sudan struggling 

UN humanitarians warned on Thursday of dire food insecurity in South Sudan, where the cost of wheat has been driven up by the Ukraine war, “putting these staples beyond the reach of many vulnerable South Sudanese at the peak of the lean season,” according to the World Food Programme. 

The UN agency said that more than 7.7 million food insecure people across the country will struggle to survive amidst record floods, displacement and ongoing conflict. 

In related coverage, the head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, briefed the Security Council on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Abyei, citing that violence had increased the need for aid assistance to a staggering 240,000 people. 

COVID-19: global infections and deaths continue downward trend 

The number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths has continued to fall since the end of March, the UN health agency has said.  

According to latest weekly data, over five million infections were reported to 17 April along with more than 18,000 deaths - decreases of 24 per cent and 12 per cent respectively, compared to the previous seven-day period. 

All regions reported decreasing infections and deaths, the World Health Organization said, in its latest epidemiological update.  

Globally, WHO’s coronavirus platform indicates more than 504 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, including more than 6.2 million deaths.  

More than 11.3 million vaccines have been administered.