This is the News in Brief from the United Nations. 

Ukraine and global security, tests for all of us, says UN rights chief

War in Ukraine continues to cause mayhem and “destroy the lives of many”, and it is everyone’s responsibility to limit the global food, fuel and financial crisis” that it has spawned, the UN’s top rights official told the Human Rights Council on Monday, in her last session as High Commissioner.

Nearly four months since the Russian invasion, Michelle Bachelet used her keynote address to the Council to urge Member States not to give up on the post-COVID-19 recovery plan, “to recover better”, and avoid the kind of global financial meltdown seen in 2008.

Failure to stick to what was agreed during the dark days of the pandemic, to ignore its lessons, and above all, to not put people first in this global recovery, threaten to leave people and economies even less able to resist new shocks than they are now, the UN rights chief insisted:

“Eager to avoid the devastating consequences of the austerity that followed the 2008 financial crisis, the international community agreed to change course: building – together - transformative societies and towards greener economies that will be more resilient to crises. We are now facing a vital test of that commitment. And we need to meet it.” 

Ms. Bachelet – who announced that she was stepping down as High Commissioner for Human Rights - highlighted the need for all countries to respect the climate commitments they’d made in 2015 in Paris, and also the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda – whose financing gap has now widened to some $4.3 trillion per year.

Afghanistan: $195 million lifesaving aid package for smallholder farmers

A critical $195 million dollar lifeline for rural families in Afghanistan has been pledged by the World Bank, it’s been announced.

Welcoming the development, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the funding would provide critical livelihood and life-saving assistance to the country’s most vulnerable populations.

The cash assistance will also help to boost food production and smallholder resilience, FAO said, warning that nearly 20 million people in Afghanistan are now unable to feed themselves every day.

Dangerously high levels of acute food insecurity persist across Afghanistan because of a combination of the collapsing economy and continuing drought.

Tasked with leading the response, UN agency FAO will focus on wheat production to support about 2.1 million people in coming planting seasons, and on supporting the nutritional needs of children, people with disabilities or chronic illness, and households headed by women.

This assistance includes providing seeds and basic tools for gardening, and technical training on improved nutrition and climate-smart production practices.

Almost one million people will benefit from this support, particularly rural women.

UN releases $1.7 million to support cholera epidemic response in Cameroon

Finally to Cameroon, where the UN has released $1.7 million from its emergency relief fund to help the authorities tackle a cholera epidemic.

Announcing the move on Monday, the Office of Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, noted that the assistance will be targeted in the southwest and coastal regions, in the form of case management, water, hygiene and sanitation to affected communities.

Latest data from the Cameroonian health authority indicates more than 8,200 cases of cholera and 154 deaths have been registered. Seven regions have been affected by the epidemic.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are tasked with rolling out the support, working with local authorities and non-governmental organizations.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.