UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher (left) visits a hospital in South Sudan. Top news of the day | Tuesday: Ukraine, Somalia, South Sudan, Gaza UN
The main news of the day in the UN and the world: the adoption by the UN General Assembly of a resolution in support of peace in Ukraine, famine in Somalia, the completion of the visit of the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator to South Sudan, the UNICEF “Gaza We Want” initiative.
Resolution of the General Assembly in support of peace on the territory of Ukraine
On the fourth anniversary of the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in support of peace. 107 states were in favor of the document, 12 were against it, and 51 countries, including the USA and China, abstained. The text of the resolution expresses support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The United States proposed removing two paragraphs from the draft resolution that dealt specifically with sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the UN Charter. However, the countries refused to vote on the United States proposal, and the draft resolution was adopted as is.New research published on Tuesday shows food security in Somalia has sharply worsened due to a nationwide drought emergency that has led to severe water shortages, crop and livestock losses, and massive population displacement. By March, 6.5 million people in Somalia are expected to face hunger. Two million people are already experiencing acute hunger.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator’s visit to South Sudan
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher concluded his visit to South Sudan on Tuesday. He visited the city of Akobo in the east of the country, where he met people who had recently fled their homes due to violence. Among them were children who had lost their families, young mothers and people with disabilities. Many fled without anything with them. Tom Fletcher called for urgent support for the people of South Sudan, stressing that the UN and its humanitarian partners are ready to deliver aid to the country.
UNICEF’s “Gaza We Want” Initiative
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched the “Gaza We Want” initiative. Its goal is to bring the world’s attention to what has been most missing from conversations about the children of Gaza: their voices. For two years, the world heard about the death and suffering of children, but not about what they themselves thought about the future. The project collected the opinions of more than 1,600 young Gazans through surveys and about 11 thousand more through creative forms of participation: drawings, poems, stories and small performances. As it turned out, above all, the children of Gaza dream of sleeping at night without fear and going to school in safe conditions. UNICEF recalled that after the ceasefire, more than 135 children died in the sector.