Category: Development

In an open letter that appeared on Sunday in The Guardian (UK), the heads of UN agencies, including among others, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), along with the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affair (OCHA), said cancelled flights and disrupted supply routes have prompted the appeal to enable a rapid scale-up of staff and… Read More

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated the UN’s appreciation committing to further strengthen WHO’s mandate in coordinating the international fight, noting that “all of your countries have been affected, and you are all at different stages of the response.” I had three asks of @g20org health ministers today:1. Fight #COVID19 with determination, guided by science & evidence2. Continue to support the global response3.… Read More

Superstar Lady Gaga, promised and delivered a “love letter to the world”, featuring an extraordinary multi-generational line up of performers, including the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney, Beyoncé, John Legend, Lizzo, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift and dozens of others, that delivered eight hours of music interwoven with testimony from workers across the world, and the communities that… Read More

Dozens of the world’s top entertainers have signed up for the six-hour extravaganza that will livestream on social media platforms from 1800 GMT (UTC) on Saturday, to be followed by a two-hour telecast via traditional broadcasters. Produced by Global Citizen, with Lady Gaga curating, “One World: Together At Home” is aiming to raise funds for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund… Read More

“LGBTI people are among the most vulnerable and marginalised in many societies, and among those most at risk from COVID-19”, said Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “In countries where same-sex relations are criminalised or trans people targeted, they might not even seek treatment for fear of arrest or being subjected to violence.” Blaming and targeting LGBTI… Read More

In her appeal, UNICEF Executive-Director Henrietta Fore urged belligerents to consider that they would not be able to fight the disease while still fighting each other.  Waking nightmares  “To the children living through these waking nightmares, a ceasefire could mean the difference between life and death…while the fighting continues, so too does COVID-19’s silent march on vulnerable children and populations… Read More

“Yemen cannot face two fronts at the same time: a war and a pandemic. And the new battle that Yemen faces in confronting the virus will be all-consuming. We can do no less than stop this war and turn all our attention to this new threat”, he said. Yemeni Government forces, together with their allies, and rebels known as Houthis,… Read More

Orouba Amin has spent 11 years providing psychosocial care to survivors of trauma and violence, from refugees escaping the horrors of war to women and girls escaping sexual abuse and exploitation. Today, her work comes on top of a new threat: the coronavirus pandemic.  Around the world, as governments implement lockdowns and movement restrictions, women’s centres and safe spaces are… Read More

The United Nations and its partners are doing their utmost to support a comprehensive, multi-pronged effort to stem the impact of COVID-19 in Syria, where the viral disease has claimed the lives of two people, sickened 23 others and presented epic challenges for ensuring the smooth delivery of life-saving assistance. Read More