Informal workers who live day to day urgently need cash support from their governments to survive the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the UN labour agency said on Friday.

Javier Pérez  de Cuéllar, the fifth United Nations Secretary-General, praised for his ability to foster dialogue and for leading the Organization through a turbulent decade, has passed away at the age of 100.  

Amid an era of rising geopolitical tensions and declining trust between nations, the United Nations Secretary-General has encouraged countries to “come home” to a defining document of the international community: the UN Charter. 

The teenage years of the Twenty-First Century are nearly over and, as we prepare to enter the 2020s, UN News takes a look back at some of the big stories on our global patch, that unfolded between 2010 and 2019: welcome to our three-part Decade in Review.

In part one, which takes in the period between 2010 and the end of 2013, we focus on the devastating Haiti earthquake, the beginning of the ongoing Syrian conflict, the inspiring work of Malala Yousafzai in favour of girls’ education, and the creation of what has now become “the world’s most dangerous UN mission”, in Mali.