Ukraine-Russia: Extension of grain export deals vital to global food security

Ukraine-Russia: Extension of grain export deals vital to global food security

Martin Griffths, the UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed ambassadors on the eve of the expiration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has allowed nearly 25 million metric tonnes of foodstuff from Ukraine to reach global markets.  The accord was signed in Türkiye in July 2022, in parallel with a Memorandum of…

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Security Council: Despite progress on reforming global security, ‘our work is not done’

Security Council: Despite progress on reforming global security, ‘our work is not done’

“Our work is not done,” said Aleksander Zouev, Assistant-Secretary-General in the Department of Peace Operations told the UN Security Council. Providing members with a progress report, he cited gains made on implementing the UN Secretary-General’s bold vision for security sector reform outlined in his inaugural report on the issue, published in 2022. New plan and…

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Guterres bids to ‘breathe new life’ into our global future

Guterres bids to ‘breathe new life’ into our global future

These forward-looking policy briefs are designed to feed into UN Member States’ consultations analysing how the multilateral system can be strengthened for tomorrow’s world, said UN chief António Guterres, unveiling the latest strategy documents, at UN Headquarters in New York. “The goal is simple”, he said, “to breathe new life into the multilateral system so that it can deliver on…

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UN rights chief calls for fresh thinking to tackle global challenges

UN rights chief calls for fresh thinking to tackle global challenges

The current human rights landscape is compounded by conflict, discrimination, poverty, shrinking civic spaces, and the emergence of new human rights challenges such as the rise of artificial intelligence and surveillance, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk noted. “Fresh thinking, political leadership, renewed commitments, and dramatically scaled-up financing, with the centrality of human…

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WHO: Nations step closer to global guides on pandemics, disease outbreaks

WHO: Nations step closer to global guides on pandemics, disease outbreaks

The two processes are complementary, guided by the imperative of making the world safer from communicable diseases and ensuring equitable responses to public health threats, said Ashley Bloomfield, former Director-General of Health of New Zealand, who co-chairs the working group on updating the 2005 WHO International Health Regulations, which concluded its latest round of discussions…

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UN ‘blueprint’ to protect least developed nations amid global slowdown

UN ‘blueprint’ to protect least developed nations amid global slowdown

The Doha Programme of Action, as it’s formally known, has been designed as a roadmap up to 2031, to foster strengthened commitments between the least developed countries and their development partners. “The world is reeling under the cascading impacts of complex, interlocking challenges and structural limitations and constrained fiscal capabilities make least developed countries the…

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