Peace and Security

Two children walk on road in Gaza. (file photo)
World Bank/Natalia Cieslik

Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concludes amid calls to stem spread of misinformation

9 December 2020
Middle East

A UN International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded on Wednesday, with a vibrant online panel discussion exploring how the systematic spread of untruths has changed the way traditional news outlets cover the Israel-Palestine conflict, and created avenues for citizen journalists to quickly push out stories to express their lived realities. 

As part of the information campaign on COVID-19, the commander of the Bangladeshi medical contingent at the Security Council-mandated UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, encourages local contractors to wear protection masks.
MINUSCA

Fund COVAX to reduce COVID vaccination distribution inequity – UN chief

9 December 2020
Africa

With so-called vaccine nationalism spreading “with full speed”, the Secretary-General told a journalists, following the fourth annual African Union-UN conference, that the continent must be “effectively supported” to fight the pandemic everywhere. 

People are regularly displaced in north-east Cameroon due to conflict.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Widespread regional challenges pervasive in Central Africa

9 December 2020
Africa

Insecurity continues to plague Central Africa, the UN envoy for the region told the Security Council on Wednesday, highlighting concern for cross-border violence.  

Border crossing/Hamdayet Reception Center, 17 November 2020. In the first two weeks of conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia more than 30,000 people fled for safety across the Sudaneses border.
UNFPA/Sufian Abdul-Mouty

Ethiopia: UN concern mounts over shortages, child welfare, in ongoing Tigray crisis

8 December 2020
Africa

The dire shortage of food, water, fuel and cash in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia is seriously affecting people there, including aid workers, the United Nations reported on Tuesday, citing its humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.  

The African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) patrols Shangil Tobaya in North Darfur, Sudan.
UN Photo/Olivier Chassot

Sudan at critical juncture in path towards democratic transition, Security Council hears

8 December 2020
Africa

International support for Sudan is critical as the country continues on the path to democratic transition, amid challenges that include political disagreements, economic decline, and the COVID-19 pandemic, UN political affairs chief, Rosemary DiCarlo told a virtual meeting of the Security Council on Tuesday. 

A refugee from Tigray waits in line with her baby to receive food in the Um Rakuba refugee settlement in Sudan.
WFP/Arete/Joost Bastmeijer

‘Quickly restore the rule of law’ in Ethiopia’s Tigray, urges Guterres

7 December 2020

The UN Secretary-General said on Monday it was “essential to quickly restore the rule of law” in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, where Government forces and those loyal to the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) have been engaged in fighting for more than a month.

Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Leila Zerrougui visits Beni in North Kivu Province in November 2020.
MONUSCO/Michael Ali

DR Congo: Political tensions, armed attacks, displacement and COVID threats continue 

7 December 2020
Africa

There is a critical need for State institutions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to provide more stability and safety for citizens facing multiple threats, the head of the UN mission there told the Security Council on Monday. 

Peacekeepers from the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) provide protection to local women in Aurokuom village, Sudan.
UNAMID/Amin Ismail

Amidst positive steps, challenges in Africa ‘loom large’, UN chief tells Security Council 

4 December 2020
Africa

The United Nations-African Union (AU) partnership has yielded “significant results”, including at the country level, the UN chief told the Security Council on Friday. 

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres prepares to brief the media on the upcoming G20 Summit.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN pledges humanitarian support as Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiate ‘lasting, peaceful settlement’ over Nagorno-Karabakh

4 December 2020
Europe

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the continuing ceasefire in and around Nagorno-Karabakh on Friday, underlining that the Organization stands ready to provide humanitarian support to meet the needs of all civilians impacted by conflict.

Young girls in the Al Dhale'e camp for people displaced by the conflict in Yemen.
YPN for UNOCHA

Yemen: Unchecked violations ‘may amount to war crimes’, Security Council hears

3 December 2020
Middle East

UN experts called on the Security Council on Thursday, along with the international community at large, to put an end to the “surreal and absurd dimension” of human rights violations engulfing war-torn Yemen, where abuses continue unchecked.