This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

7.7 million people displaced inside Ukraine, warns UN emergency relief chief

Humanitarian needs continue to rise in wartorn Ukraine where an estimated 7.7 million people are now internally displaced, UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday.

Mr. Griffiths was addressing the International Donor Conference for Ukraine in Warsaw.

Co-hosted by Poland and Sweden, the conference raised a reported $6.5 billion.

According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, more than 5.7 million people have now fled across Ukraine’s borders seeking shelter, in the two and a half months since the Russian invasion on 24 February.

Collective bargaining in workplace is essential for global recovery: ILO

In response to the fast-changing world of work, UN labour experts insisted on Thursday that dialogue between workers and management is key to our post-pandemic recovery – and to keeping people’s wages fair.

Guy Ryder, head of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that after two years of COVID-19 lockdowns and amid increasing pressures on the classic ‘9 to 5’ business model, voluntary negotiations - known as collective bargaining - had proved their worth.

“Workers want to keep their heads above the water, as prices rise, as they are right now, and they want to ensure workplace safety and secure the paid sick leave that has proven so critical over the last two years. Employers for their part have welcomed agreements that have allowed them to retain skilled and experienced workers, so that they could restart, recover and rebound.”

Mr. Ryder added that the higher the percentage of employees covered by collective agreements, the lower wage inequality is. And, the more equality and diversity there is likely to be in the workplace.

According to a new report by the UN agency, over one in three employees in 98 countries currently have their wages, working hours and other professional conditions, set by collective agreements.

But there is a considerable variation across countries, as over 75 per cent of workers have collective agreements in many European countries, and Uruguay, but only around 25 per cent do so in around half the countries where data was available.

Cameroon women’s activist scoops award for land rights fight

A Cameroonian activist who’s spent decades pushing for women’s rights to land and forests has scooped a global prize for her work under an initiative supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN agency said on Thursday.

Cécile Ndjebet was named the winner of the 2022 Wangari Maathai Forest Champions Award at the World Forestry Congress in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

For the last 30 years, “she has actively shown that women’s participation in forest governance and preservation is fundamental to achieving sustainable forest management”, said Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General.

Roughly 70 per cent of women in Cameroon live in rural areas and they are dependent at least in part on harvesting wild forest products for their livelihoods.

But FAO said that in some communities, women are denied the right to own forest land or to inherit it, if their husband dies; planting trees on degraded land is also not allowed.

As part of her efforts to address land rights inequality, in 2009, Ms. Ndjebet co-founded the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests, which now has 20 member countries across the continent.

“Men generally recognise the great role women play in improving families’ living standards,” Ms. Ndjebet said, adding that it was “important for them also to agree that for women to continue to play that role, and even improve in that role, they need secure access to land and forests”.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.