• Guterres hails entry into force of treaty seeking nuclear weapons ban 
• Darfur’s health centres ‘unable to cope’ with intercommunal violence 
• Migrants need fair access to COVID-19 vaccine, say UN Special Rapporteurs 

In addition to the week’s main news headlines focusing on President Biden’s potentially massive boost to global cooperation, we’ll be hearing from Myanmar, where the UN is helping to tackle child labour.

Plus, insight from guests Solange Behoteguy-Cortes and Alpha Diallo…thanks for listening! 

• US commitment to rejoin key climate deal welcomed by UN’s Guterres
• US plans to re-engage with World Health Organization  
• Top US medical adviser announces intention to resume major role in global health

• Central Mediterranean: 43 die in first shipwreck for the year, IOM and UNHCR report
• Violence disrupting main supply chain in Central African Republic
• UN agencies concerned over worsening humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

• UN health agency underlines dangers of ‘vaccinationalism’ over COVID-19 
• Mass protest calls in Haiti, raise spectre of fresh rights violations 
• UN mourns peacekeepers killed in continuing Central African Republic violence 

The head of the UN migration agency, IOM, is strongly advocating for governments everywhere to respect the “fundamental right of healthcare” when it comes to ensuring vulnerable migrants and the displaced get equal access to COVID-19 vaccines.

In an interview for UN News, António Vitorino wants migrants to be included in all plans. The agency's Yasmina Guerda, began by asking the Director General to outline the overall impact of the pandemic on migrants and the displaced.

Nearly 60,000 people from Ethiopia’s volatile Tigray region have now crossed the border to remote southeastern Sudan, after more than two months of fighting, many with just the clothes on their backs. 

The emergency has created a massive protection challenge for the UN refugee agency in Sudan, UNHCR, which is doing everything it can to provide what they need, as spokesperson Axel Bisschop tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson. 

• UN chief urges restoration of law and order after Darfur killings 
• Libya talks in Geneva break deadlock with agreement on interim leadership deal 
• UN rights office calls for release of Russian dissident Navalny 

The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to hamper the efforts of developing countries to adapt to the climate crisis. This is the analysis of UN climate mitigation expert, Dr. Henry Neufeld.

Dr. Neufeld warns that, whilst the pandemic should have allowed governments to invest more use of green technologies, and bounce back stronger than before, there is little evidence so far that this is happening.
 

Migration is part of the modern world, and it is not going away despite a COVID slowdown, a UN official has told UN News.

Jorge Bravo from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), explained to Conor Lennon from UN News that the longer-term trend is showing an increase in the numbers of people leaving their countries of origin to live elsewhere.

This week’s show features the week’s news headlines, an interview with the World Food Programme (WFP) on the poorest of the poor in Madagascar, some of whom are eating mud and leaves to survive, and insight from regular guests from the UN Geneva team, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes and Alpha Diallo.

• Indonesia quake: eight confirmed dead, hundreds injured in Sulawesi emergency 
• Child labour scourge still affects one in 10 children, warns UN labour agency 
• CAR displacement reaches 120,000 after election violence: UNHCR 

• UN emergency relief chief warns over fallout of U.S. Yemen Houthi terror label
• Four UN peacekeepers killed, five wounded in attack in Mali
• Countries urged to speed up climate change preparation to protect against shocks

Compared to last year, everything is in place to successfully fight the devastating desert locust swarms that have been threatening food supplies and livelihoods across the Horn of Africa region, according to the senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official, in charge of forecasting the pest’s movements.

Charlotta Lomas spoke to Keith Cressman, who said that $80 million was still needed to control the scourge, through the coming months.

What progress is the world making in adapting to the changing climate? And can nature itself provide the answers? This is the focus of the first episode of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) State of the Planet podcast.

Valerie Kapos, from  the UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, discusses the findings of the latest UNEP Adaptation Gap report with host Tim Albone.

• Health agency calls for greater cooperation to identify COVID mutations 
• Lower wages and higher health risks: Reality of COVID homeworking 
• Prosecutors ‘lost case file’ of murdered activist, says UN rights panel 

After years of drought, and with what little the people of Madagascar have managed to grow, destroyed by flashflooding, more than 1.3 million are in crisis - and some are even eating ground-up clay just to survive.  

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, WFP’s regional director for southern Africa, Lola Castro, explains how the UN agency is helping by empowering communities to withstand future climate shocks

Homeworking has necessarily exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic took a grip on the world, from around 260 million people in 2019, to some 580 million in 2020.

A new ILO report, released on Wednesday, lays out the penalties paid by those now having to work from home, which include higher health risks, lower wages, and social isolation.

Sergei Soares, a labour economist at the ILO,  explained to Conor Lennon from UN News that the impetus behind the report was the fact that very few countries have ratified the ILO’s Home Work Convention.

• Health agency chief urges COVID-19 vaccinations for ‘high-risk’ populations 
• UN rights chief: Peru law enforcement used excessive force in mass demonstrations 
• Humanitarian crisis looms in Madagascar amid drought and pandemic 

• WHO’s Tedros welcomes China announcement on COVID-19 team visit 
• UNAIDS unveils new targets on HIV prevention amid rise in stigma  
• Rights expert calls for reversal of Israel’s eviction order against 16 Palestinian families 

This week’s show features the week’s news headlines, an interview on the first post-COVID global survey on people’s priorities with UN75 chief Fabrizio Hochschild, and a rendition of one of the longest words in the indigenous Aymara language from Latin America – tune in to find out more… 

• Rights chief Bachelet echoes condemnation of incitement in US Capitol chaos 
• Mass displacement amid Central African Republic election violence 
• Vietnam arrests of journalists ‘part of clampdown on freedom of expression’ 
• UN’s global post-COVID poll: The long and short of what 1.5 million people want 

The world’s first global poll conducted during the COVID-19 crisis to ask people what their biggest needs, hopes and fears are, 75 years after the UN was founded, has turned up some surprising findings.

One of them, perhaps, is the fact that more people in low and middle income countries, than in rich nations, called for greater global solidarity for communities badly hit by the pandemic. UN News’s Daniel Johnson, spoke to Under-Secretary-General Fabrizio Hochschild, about meeting the needs of millions in the years ahead.

• Top UN officials saddened by violent mob protests inside US Capitol 
• Hong Kong: UN human rights office urges immediate release of activists  
• Guterres ‘shocked’ at massacre of civilians in eastern DR Congo 

Well over 2,500 migrants and refugees have been forced to sleep rough in Bosnia-Herzegovina for several weeks – on the European Union’s doorstep – despite the fact that suitable sheltered accommodation is available. 

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Peter Auweraert, chief of mission in Bosnia for the UN Migration Agency IOM, describes the difficulties of trying to find a quick solution to the urgent problem. 

• ‘Conflict trap’ a growing obstacle to sustainable development - UN chief
• Declaration to fix ‘Gulf rift’ welcomed
• Rights expert welcomes court’s refusal to extradite Wikileaks' Assange

In this final special 75th anniversary podcast from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Andre Vornic looks at the continuing struggle to not just keep people alive, but help them thrive through access to healthy, nutritious food, on an equitable basis. 

The agency in 2021 is working on finally achieving food security for all – with nutrition, diplomacy, technological advances and environmental sustainability all in play. 

• UNHCR relocates first Ethiopian refugees to new site in Sudan
• UN appeals to spoilers in Central African Republic election to respect poll results
• Mounting concern for Bosnia’s migrants left in freezing conditions

In this second podcast from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) marking the agency’s 75th birthday, Andre Vornic tracks how FAO helped make the dream of a “world of plenty” more of a reality in the post-World War Two period, in the fight against hunger and inequality.  

• Attack on Niger villagers leaves 100 dead, UN chief urges justice for victims 
• Killing of Pakistan miners must be met with every effort to find perpetrators 
• Guterres leads tributes to ‘legendary’ UN official Sir Brian Urquhart 

• WHO urges greater COVID-19 surveillance
• Blackwater pardons an “affront to justice” – UN experts
• Refugee evacuations ‘crucial lifeline’

• US sanctions slowing Syria rebuilding: UN independent expert
• Netherlands violates nationality rights: UN rights committee
• Security Council condemns blue helmet killings in CAR

United Nations Secretary-General's New Year's Message

• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Migrant lives at ‘immediate risk’, warn UN agencies 
• UN peacekeepers patrol polling stations during CAR elections 
• World must prepare for the next pandemic, UN urges  

• Fears grow over pre-election violence close to Central African Republic capital 
• Press freedom more important than ever, says UN body, condemns killing of 59 media workers 
• Rights expert: Facebook’s ‘Supreme Court of appeals’ must consider minority rights  

The Security Council on Tuesday voted to end the hybrid UN-African Union civilian support operation for Darfur, UNAMID, beginning the drawdown on 1 January.

It marks the end of a force that can withdraw, knowing that government is now “in the right hands”, according to the UN Joint Special Representative, Jeremiah Mamabolo, although as he tells UN News in this exclusive interview it does not mean the UN is leaving.

Mr. Mamabolo begin by telling Abdelmonem Makki of our UN News Arabic team and a Darfuri himself, what UNAMID had achieved since 2007, beyond fulfilling its core mandate of keeping civilians safe.

• Tigray: Hundreds of civilians reported killed in artillery strikes 
• Urgent appeal launched for Tigray emergency  
• World will soon lose coral reefs without emission cuts, UN report warns 

Presidential elections are scheduled to take place in the Central African Republic this Sunday, despite violence that has threatened to disrupt the nationwide poll.

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, one of top UN officials there, Denise Brown, describes what’s at stake, in her capacity as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, and stressed that rumours of armed groups marching on the capital, were simply false.

• Voters in Central African Republic will have their say 
• Unitaid welcomes Norway’s $40 million donation for COVID-19 treatments, tests 
• UNESCO still awaiting Azerbaijan’s response over Nagorno-Karabakh mission 

In this week’s show, comedian AK Dans explains how he’s on a mission to challenge stereotypes about his fellow refugees. We’ll have news headlines and insight on migration in Latin America and West and Central Africa, from regular guests Solange Behoteguy-Cortes, and Alpha Diallo, of the Information Service at UN Geneva. 

• $254 million appeal launched for Mozambicans fleeing violent extremists in north 
• Vulnerable migrants still dying in their thousands on perilous journeys 
• UN rights office warns over arrest of demonstrators in Thailand on treason laws 

• COVID: end of year celebrations and ski advice from WHO
• Under 40s urged to make extra effort for vulnerable in Western Pacific
• UN Children’s Fund supports emergency food aid for hungry kids over holidays

• Desert Locust ‘re-invasion’ threatens millions across Horn of Africa 
• Independent expert decries shrinking space for China’s human rights lawyers  
• Bangladesh cartoonist must be released on medical grounds, urge rights experts 

• Rights chief Bachelet condemns deaths of 255 people in Colombia massacres 
• Four children among victims of shipwreck carrying Venezuelans to Caribbean 
• UN refugee agency condemns deadly attack on Niger town 

Irrepressible comedian AK Dans was born in the world’s largest refugee camp, Kakuma, in Kenya, after his mother fled South Sudan in the 1990s. 

He’s now a successful stand-up artist – or was - until the COVID-19 crisis put a temporary halt to his live shows. 

But you can’t keep a good man down for long, and now AK’s latest challenge is taking part in an online show with the support of UN refugee agency, UNHCR. 

• Discrimination among reasons why migrants earn 13 per cent less than locals: ILO 
• Alert for West and Central African migrant rescue as funding dries up: IOM
• Glimmer of hope for recovering Mediterranean fish stocks: FAO 

This week’s show hears from Liz Corbin from public service broadcaster the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) she gives us all sorts of insight into the difficulties of getting “life or death” news out to people everywhere in the age of COVID.

Plus, a quick round-up of the week’s other stories. 

• New Yemen food insecurity data shows ‘ticking timebomb’ of hunger 
• Liquid gold? Rights expert warns of speculation risks in new water futures index 
• Mountain folk ‘among world’s hungriest’ amid biodiversity, climate shocks 

• WFP chief laments preventable tragedy of child hunger
• $1.44 billion plan for Venezuela refugee and migrant aid response
• Rohingya island transfer untenable, says rights expert

How do you keep the cameras rolling as a member of one of the biggest TV broadcast organizations in the world, in the middle of a global health crisis?

That’s been the challenge for Liz Corbin, Head of News at the European Broadcasting Union, a public service provider, whose members' programmes reach more than a billion people in dozens of countries.

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva to coincide with the World Press Freedom Conference 2020, she explains how it became necessary to push back against efforts to politicise the pandemic, while also ensuring that “life or death” information reached all those anxiously looking for it.

• Ethiopia’s Tigray region still at war, warns UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet 
• Guterres: Ending corruption vital to world’s recovery after COVID-19 
• Number of displaced worldwide passes 80 million: UN refugee agency 

• Don't let your guard down during COVID vaccine drive: WHO
• IOM business support helps vulnerable women and children
• Release Julian Assange immediately UN rights expert urges

The death rate through hunger and starvation in World War Two, rivals the number of those killed in combat. By 1945, agriculture had effectively ground to a halt, leaving hundreds of millions to survive on the equivalent of two potatoes a day.  

It was against this desperate backdrop that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was born.  Marking the UN agency’s 75th anniversary, FAO’s Andre Vornic has produced a short podcast series on the founding of the key UN agency. In this first episode, ‘a hungry world rolls up its sleeves’. 

The first show spotlights the work of Radio Okapi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the voice of UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO in the African nation.

To help understand how the radio network's tackling the problem of rumours and misinformation – and how it’s going online more and more to keep people listening - Daniel Johnson in Geneva caught up with the station’s head of Strategic Communication & Public Information, Christophe Boulierac.

Plus, a look back at other stories. 

• $2.5 billion appeal for 39 million children in Middle East and North Africa 
• Self-immolation and suicide: Afghan law ‘still fails sex crime victims’ 
• Guterres spotlights ‘critical role’ of aviation in pandemic recovery 

• Bachelet says 'no improvement' in rights violations across Belarus
• UN working at 'full speed' to provide aid to Ethiopia's Tigray
• New Nigeria yellow fever outbreak causes 'many deaths'

• Inclusion for people with disabilities means education, health care access 
• Mooted Bangladesh island relocation of Rohingya refugees, must respect rights: UN 
• COVID crisis set to drag 32 million of world’s poorest back into extreme poverty: UNCTAD 

• Making peace with nature must be top priority for all: UN chief 
• Countries urged to reduce fossil fuel production to avoid ‘catastrophic’ temperature rise 
• Pandemic driving down wages, with women and low-paid workers hard hit: ILO report

UN chief António Guterres had a dire warning message for the world at Columbia University in New York on Wednesday, urging humanity to end the war against nature which has seen a collapse in biodiversity, record global warming and ocean temperature rises, and a global pandemic.

But he also said there was plenty of room for hope that a new, sustainable world can emerge from the pandemic, and an international coaltion of nations commited to net neutrality, by 2050. Here's his concluding remarks as he makes climate action the UN's top priority for the 21st Century.

In a world facing famine, major migration and conflict exacerbated by COVID-19, the UN, including its foundational body the Economic and Social Council, known as ECOSOC, is “vital” to promote global peace and cooperation. 

That’s according to Munir Akram, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, who was elected ECOSOC President in July.

• UN appeals for $35 billion to help world’s ‘most vulnerable and fragile’ 
• 1.3 billion children have no internet access at home 
• UNHCR appeals to Ethiopia to let it reach hungry Eritrean refugees 

• UNHCR appeals for $147 million for up to 100,000 Ethiopians fleeing to Sudan 
• COVID-19 threatens global progress against malaria, warns UN health agency 
• UN rights office spotlights killings in Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua 

• Africa ‘not ready’ for huge vaccine drive against COVID: WHO 
• First of four UN humanitarian airlifts for Ethiopia refugees lands in Khartoum 
• Food emergency forces Malagasy to forage for food 

- Nearly 150,000 more deaths from AIDS because of COVID-19
- WHO chief Tedros urges people to be more active “to add years to life and life to years”
- AI may increase bias in racial profiling by law enforcement officials

• UN given permission to assess stranded supertanker off Yemen coast 
• Alert over growing use of cluster munitions despite stockpile reduction successes 
• 16 days of action against gender-based violence launches on international day 

• End bloodshed now in Afghanistan, urges UN’s Guterres  
• Ethiopian military must be given ‘clear’ orders to protect civilians: Bachelet 
• Brazilian man’s killing at hands of security guards condemned 

• CO2 levels hit new high despite COVID lockdowns 
• Yemen inches towards famine: UNICEF 
• Do more to protect Afghan civilians, Bachelet tells armed actors 

Donating goods overseas after disasters can be unhelpful and even harmful, and with the Pacific Cyclone season now in full swing, the World Food Programme (WFP) has begun a campaign urging people to donate more responsibly.  

Julia Dean from the UN Country Team in Australia spoke to Jo Pilgrim, Director of WFP’s Pacific Multi-Country office in Fiji, and started by asking her what the most donated items were.  

• WHO advises against remdesivir use
• Humanitarian fallout continues in Ethiopia's Tigray
• Unlawful killings in Syria's Idlib

Following a decade of political instability and conflict, Libyans are on the path to peace and the international community “needs to do its part”, which includes respecting an arms embargo, the top UN official there has said, in an exclusive interview with our UN News Arabic team.

Stephanie Williams, Acting UN Special Representative, spoke to May Yaacoub about ongoing developments in Libya since the signing of a historic ceasefire agreed last month under the auspices of the UN mission in the country, UNSMIL, which she heads.

• Refugee resettlement numbers are lowest in two decades: UNHCR 
• Whole generation of children at risk from impact of COVID, says UNICEF  
• Probe call for ‘excessive’ violence used against Belarus demonstrators 

All around the world, people, plants and animals are dying from infections that cannot be treated – even with the best medicines available. 

That is because of the rise in antimicrobial resistance - the increasing failure of antibiotics and other life-saving drugs to treat diseases. 

It is a global problem that threatens to be the cause of the next pandemic, as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Chief Veterinary Officer Keith Sumption explains to FAO’s Charlotta Lomas.  

The Asia-Pacific region is home to some of the most advanced space-faring nations on the planet; but at the same time, many countries there are lagging behind when it comes to developing space technology. 

UN News’ Vibhu Mishra spoke with Keran Wang, head of the Space Applications Section at ESCAP, for the latest on how space technology can help boost development.

• Cold chain Ebola vaccine expertise will help Africa beat COVID: WHO 
• Ethiopians affected by Tigray crisis need access to clean water, food: UN 
• Iraq urged to halt new executions of terror suspects, compounding injustice: Bachelet

The Black Lives Matter movement that is sweeping the world, has its origins in the transatlantic slave trade of the 16th century, and new impetus today, to honour and preserve the resting places of those who were enslaved, and their descendants.  

Back in the 1990s, Peggy King Jorde was working as a designer in the New York City mayor’s office when she heard that a building slated for construction was due to be built on top of an African-American burial ground in lower Manhattan. 

• ‘Potentially catastrophic’ impact in Central America from new hurricane: UN 
•  ‘Full-scale crisis’ unfolding on Ethiopia’s border with Sudan: UNHCR 
• Civilians Continue to Flee Insecurity in Cabo Delgado Mozambique 

Empowering girls in Africa can put them on the fast track to achieve their aspirations and basic rights to which they’re entitled, but too often denied.  

That’s according to the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, who is on a two-week solidarity visit to West Africa and the Sahel to underscore the United Nations’ support for the region, during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.  

• Israel should reverse new West Bank settlement expansion plans: UN’s Mladenov 
• Defending people’s rights in Cambodia is not a crime, says UN Special Rapporteur 
• ‘World’s biggest trading bloc’ will create a manufacturing powerhouse: UN trade agency 

As the UN’s first-ever Victims’ Rights Advocate, Jane Connors has to confront an uncomfortable reality: sexual abuse and exploitation – or SEA for short - carried out by UN personnel.

UN News’s Conor Lennon, spoke to Ms. Connors who said that, since then, it has become more apparent that the on-going issue of sexual abuse and exploitation goes well beyond the peacekeeping sector.

• Reported Ethiopia massacre: UN rights chief warns of spiralling situation 
• Aid response ramps up for hurricane Eta victims in Central America 
• Mozambique Cabo Delgado situation is ‘desperate’, warns Bachelet 

• Neglected tropical diseases: Countries endorse new targets to eradicate 20 killers 
• Landmine toll still high amid concerns over COVID-19 impact 
• Philippines hit by sixth major storm in five weeks 

The southeast Asian nation of the Philippines has been pummeled by the third major storm in three weeks, adding to the pain and suffering of thousands of families. 

Typhoon Vamco (locally known as Ulysses) made landfall on Wednesday night and although it is much weaker than Super Typhoon Goni, it brought catastrophic flooding across the capital Manila, a sprawling and densely populated city.  

• Social media firms urged to help end trafficking amid pandemic 
• More support needed for stateless, powerless against COVID
• Brutal Mozambique killings must be investigated: Guterres
• Deputy UN chief visits displaced in wartorn NE Nigeria

• UN rights chief Bachelet condemns Tanzania election violence  
• COVID will likely make millions more food insecure 
• UNHCR expands aid as Ivorian refugee numbers top 8,000 

The opening of two provincial offices for UN agencies operating in Papua New Guinea, reaffirms the Organization’s commitment to sustainable peace and development.  

Gianluca Rampolla, the UN Resident Coordinator for the country, spoke to Julia Dean at the UN Information Centre in Australia about the new investment.  

• Success of Libya talks dependent on compromise, says UN chief Guterres 
• Lifesaving $45 million appeal for Philippines communities hit by super typhoon 
• WHO’s Tedros says it is time for the world to heal after years of division 

• Aid agencies call for urgent action to prevent emergency in hunger hotspots 
• UN chief calls for peaceful elections in Myanmar 
• Top emergency relief official condemns killing of six humanitarian workers  

• 1 in 3 students being bullied at school: UNESCO
• UN aid coordinator slams school attacks in Cameroon
• Experts call for immediate release of Saudi women's rights defender on hunger strike

• Libya’s warring parties meet to discuss practical measures for ceasefire 
• UN brings Cyprus leaders together, mull future talks on divided island 
• UN chief urges inclusive dialogue in Ethiopia amid ethnic attacks 

• UN stands with Austria over deadly shootings
• "Super typhoon" Goni leaves towns cut off
• Côte d’Ivoire election violence sees thousands flee

• Aid agencies rush to help Philippines avoid catastrophic tropical storm 
• Guterres appeals for protection of media on day to end impunity for crimes against Journalists 
• Belarus rights record under spotlight at UN forum 

• Women the ‘driving force’ for peacebuilding in Colombia: Deputy UN chief 
• Israel: Accountability call as illegal settlement approvals reach highest rate 
• Kenya relief bid begins to avert hunger crisis among poor workers hit by COVID 

The COVID-19 pandemic could threaten food security across the entire world, if urgent action is not taken.  

That’s prompted the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to launch a new COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme, which aims to mitigate the immediate impacts of the pandemic while also strengthening food systems and livelihoods in the long-term.  

In this interview, FAO’s Charlotta Lomas speaks to the agency’s Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, who describes what the plan entails, and why a global response is badly needed. 

• Tax unsustainable activities to reduce pandemic risks, experts urge 
• Typhoon strikes central Viet Nam, aid agencies rush in emergency relief 
• After nearly a decade away, La Niña weather system is back 

• UN chief hails Republic of Korea’s vow to achieve carbon neutrality 
• Rights experts decry Poland’s anti-abortion reform 
• UN builds momentum for restoring forests in key decade for ecosystems 

• Yemen’s children in desperate need: new food security assessment  
• Health centres hit amid ongoing fighting in southern Afghanistan 
• Open science up for all, urge UN agency chiefs, in call for common good 

• Climate action: UN chief encouraged by Japan’s 2050 net zero pledge 
• Libya: inclusive political forum relaunches, amid growing ‘sense of hope’ 
• UN shocked and outraged over horrific attack on school in Cameroon 

UN Secretary-General's press encounter on Libya, in New York, on 23 October 2020.

• Historic Libya ceasefire agreement
• UN Day highlights need for COVID-19 ceasefire
• Secretary-General condemns election-related violence in Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire

• Pandemic highlights education as ‘public good and essential public service’ 
• UN experts urge Thai government to allow peaceful protests 
• WHO and Wikimedia Foundation expand access to trusted COVID information