Tag: Peace and security

UN envoy — Global Issues

It represents the highest number of fatalities since 2005 and reflects “concerning trends” seen in recent months throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory

“Palestinians and Israelis are killed and injured in near daily violence – including just hours before this briefing when another fatal shooting attack killed an Israeli in the West Bank,” he said, speaking from Jerusalem.

Extremists taking advantage

The violence is fuelled and exacerbated by a growing sense of despair about the future, said Mr. Wennesland, whose official title is UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

“The lack of progress towards a political horizon that addresses the core issues driving the conflict has left a dangerous and volatile vacuum, filled by extremists on both sides,” he told the Council.

“We are a long distance apart from the sentiments prevailing when the Oslo Accord was signed 30 years ago on 19 August.”

Although the parties have taken measures towards stabilizing the situation, “unilateral steps” continue, including Israeli settlement growth, demolitions, Palestinian militant activity, and settler violence.

Mr. Wennesland reiterated that all perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice. He also condemned violence against civilians, including acts of terror, and urged security forces to exercise maximum restraint and use of lethal force.

Gaza ceasefire holding

Meanwhile, a cessation of hostilities in Gaza continues to hold following the escalation in May. However, the humanitarian situation there remains dire.

Gazans have been facing higher-than-normal electricity shortages lasting up to 12 hours a day, amid lack of capacity to meet soaring summertime demands. Additional funding by Qatar has increased supply by nearly two hours a day.

The power cuts sparked mass protests against Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, under blockade now for over 17 years. Thousands took to the streets on 30 July, and videos showing Hamas security forces beating protestors were widely circulated. In response, Hamas led counter-protests against Israel.

Hamas also sentenced seven civilians in Gaza to death for collaborating with Israel. Mr. Wennesland underlined the UN’s strong opposition to the death penalty in any circumstances.

Turning to the wider region, he reported on incidents such as the deadly violence at the Ein el Hilweh Palestine refugee camp in southern Lebanon that erupted in late July. Clashes between Fatah and Islamist factions left 13 people dead and over 50 injured. He appealed for restraint and called for an end to any further violence.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Tor Wennesland (on screen), Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, addresses members of the UN Security Council.

Funding shortfalls affect millions

Mr. Wennesland also updated ambassadors on the dire fiscal state of the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank. It has a projected deficit of more than $370 million this year.

“Austerity measures have resulted in significant reductions to civil servant salaries and social assistance,” he said.

Humanitarians also need funding for their activities across the region.

The UN agency that assists Palestinians, UNRWA, urgently requires $35 million to provided food aid to 1.2 million people in Gaza, while the World Food Programme (WFP) needs $41 million to restore its operations across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Furthermore, an overall $502 million humanitarian plan is only around 30 per cent funded, and he called for increased international support.

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UN peacekeepers fight deadly disinformation — Global Issues

Designing ways to fight back against falsehoods that can trigger tensions, violence, or even death, the UN has been monitoring how mis- and disinformation and hate speech can attack health, security, stability as well as progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“It has become clear that business as usual is not an option,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a policy brief launched in June on information integrity on digital platforms.

“The ability to disseminate large-scale disinformation to undermine scientifically established facts poses an existential risk to humanity and endangers democratic institutions and fundamental human rights,” he wrote in the brief.

Countering deadly disinformation

Disinformation can be dangerous in other ways. Several UN missions have reported social media campaigns in recent years targeting their peacekeeping work.

In 2019, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known by its French acronym MONUSCO, raised grave concerns about social media disinformation campaigns calling for violence against peacekeepers during an Ebola epidemic and following a deadly attack by an armed group in the restive eastern region.

By 2022, the Security Council had adjusted the mandates of its four largest peacekeeping operations – DRC, Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and South Sudan – and added the task of preventing disinformation campaigns aimed at undermining a mission’s credibility

“This is a war that is going on through social media, the radio, and traditional news outlets,” said Bintou Keita, who heads MONUSCO. Fighting deadly disinformation has been a “painful curve” to learn of this new battlefield, but the mission has now become proactive on social and other media platforms, to help stop its spread, she added.

Digital army fights fake news

UN Photo/Martine Perret

Weapons and ammunition is collected during a demobilization process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

To fight back against disinformation, UN peacekeepers are putting new tools into the hands of civilians of all ages, including 15-year-old Blessing Kasasi in DRC.

An activist advocating for the rights of women and children, Ms. Kasasi readily joined a workshop in the capital city of Kinshasa, with 30 young people who learned about detecting “fake news” and countering it with the most effective weapon: the truth.

Guillaume Kingh-Farel, one of the workshop trainers, said disinformation is “used as a weapon of war to undermine MONUSCO’s peace efforts in the DRC”.

As such, the MONUSCO-supported workshop to train “a digital army capable of detecting false information” by producing content with the help of a smartphone and editing software and simultaneously spreading objective, credible information through “relay clubs” that disseminate these messages through their networks.

“From a smartphone, I will produce videos to echo good information,” Ms. Kasasi said after the workshop.

Setting the stage

For UN peace operations, some communities they engage are welcoming the new approaches this summer.

In Mali, where a transitional Government has been in power since a coup in 2021, the UN mission, MINUSMA, hosted the first of its kind blogger festival, attracting nearly 400 participants in Mopti in early June.

“With the advance of technology, digital media is increasingly being used to spread misinformation,” said a popular local blogger who attended the event. “A festival to combat misinformation is an innovative approach to overcome this challenge, a useful means for deconstructing hate speech and fake news.”

By the end of June, at the Malian Government’s request, the UN Security Council terminated the mission, which is slated for a complete withdrawal from the country by 1 January 2024.

Other efforts are unfolding elsewhere. In early August, in Abyei, a contested zone straddling Sudan and South Sudan, the UN mission there, UNISFA, launched Voice of Peace, an internet radio station aimed at countering hate speech, and fake news.

Meanwhile, in DR Congo, MONUSCO’s initiatives continue to reach communities plagued by disinformation-triggered tensions. This includes recruiting digital experts, building multimedia products, and reaching out to communities, especially social media savvy youth, mission chief Ms. Keita said.

With these tools, she said MONUSCO has been trying to “beef up our capacity to monitor and to be present on digital platforms in such a way that we are not going to always be in a reactive mode, but in an anticipatory mode”.

How can you spot and counter disinformation online?

The UN Verified initiative launched a free online course on how to stay safe from dangerous disinformation circulating on social media. Here are some of the lessons covered:

✔️ Recognize disinformation and why it spreads.

✔️ Recognize emotional, dramatic, and provocative content.

✔️ Understand the danger of fabricated claims and selective evidence.

✔️ Protect yourself from bots and trolls.

✔️ Spot hacked accounts and protect your own accounts.

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Guterres condemns assault against UN peacekeepers in Cyprus — Global Issues

Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement issued on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres that several members of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) had been injured while UN vehicles had also been damaged inside the buffer zone that divides the Turkish Cypriot north and Greek Cypriot south.

Security Council mandate

Mr. Dujarric said the peacekeepers had been preventing unauthorized construction work in the Pyla/Pile area, “in accordance with their mandate” provided by the UN Security Council.

According to news reports, Turkish Cypriot bulldozers moved in to clear UN vehicles, bollards and barbed wires placed in the buffer zone, and three UNFICYP personnel required hospital treatment following the assault, including one who had been kicked to the ground.

UNFICYP also condemned the attack saying in a statement that threats to the safety of UN peacekeepers and damage to UN property were “unacceptable and constitute a serious crime under international law, which will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The Secretary-General urged the Turkish Cypriot side “to respect the authority of UNFICYP as mandated by the Security Council and to withdraw all personnel and machinery from the UN buffer zone immediately.

‘Constructively re-engage’

He also called on the Turkish Cypriot side “to constructively re-engage with UNFICYP to find a mutually agreeable way forward in the Pyla/Pile area.”

The tensions result from a plan by Turkish Cypriot authorities to build a new road which includes an area under UN control, according to news reports.

Since a de facto ceasefire between the two sides on the island in August 1974, UNFICYP has supervised ceasefire lines provide humanitarian assistance and maintained the buffer zone between Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot forces.

The Secretary-General also reiterated his “long-standing call on the parties to refrain from taking any unilateral actions that may raise tensions and compromise finding a mutually acceptable way forward.”

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Iraqis ‘not abandoned’ after 2003 attack on UN Baghdad — Global Issues

The then New York-based Elpida Rouka had accompanied the Executive Director of the Office of the Iraq Programme on a mission to Baghdad and survived the deadly explosion which killed 22 of her UN colleagues.

The 19 August attack is commemorated annually by World Humanitarian Day.

“A young 25-year-old barely two years into the UN at the time, I was in equal measure bright-eyed and bushy tailed practically cajoling the Executive Director of the Iraq programme to take me along on that August mission to Baghdad. I was naive about the workings of the world, not always a pretty sight, and the organization’s role therein.

UN Photo/Violaine Martin

Elpida Rouka, survivor of the bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad on 19 August 2003 holds her damaged UN Laissez-Passer.

Other than the personal cost, I suffered latent PTSD that manifested years later, and the personal cost to so many, I had not yet realized the cost to the organization. Baghdad changed everything for the UN. How we do things. Who we are. What the world thinks of us. What we think of us.

I could not fathom why late Secretary-General Kofi Annan did not order the UN out of Iraq; years later, when I worked in his Cabinet, we made our peace. And yet I myself returned to Iraq four years on, not as an aid worker but as part of a political mission, a continuation of sorts of what Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN Special Representative in Iraq, who died in the attack, and his team had started that fateful summer. I had at last “consciously” embraced the UN blue.

UN terrorist target

Canal will always serve as a reminder, albeit a tragic one, of what the UN blue flag, for the first time a direct target of a terrorist attack, represents or must represent.

I am now about the age many of those we lost on that day would have been. They embodied the spirit of the UN flag, defying risk, rising above politics, speaking up for those whose voices were silenced, talking truth to power, challenging more powerful groups when those are wrong, pushing against all odds and going back.

They and everyone else we have lost and keep on losing since in too many conflicts where we have failed to bring about peace will continue to serve as a compass to course-correct, lest we forget that the oath of office encompassed the preamble of the UN Charter: “We, the peoples…”

Several missions – Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria – and physical and emotional scars later, I continue to carry my scorched and shrapnelled UN laissez-passer from that August 2003 to remind me exactly of that.

Changing nature of conflicts

MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is widely used by UN staff for example in Mali (pictured).

It is hard to tell whether 20 years on Canal has any meaning to the outside world or even to the younger generations of international civil servants, other than to the survivors. In many ways the nature of conflicts and UN engagement therein has changed significantly in two decades, with modern peace operations set in increasingly complex, constantly shifting, high-risk multipolar settings with involvement of non-State actors and violent extremists, asymmetry of use of force, spillover of conflict beyond borders, great power fallouts and ensuing deepening of global mistrust.

Operating behind T-walls [protective concrete barriers that surround UN compounds in conflict-affected countries], out of sandbagged fortified compounds, in armoured vehicles, clad in PPEs [personal protective equipment] and wary of extended exposure to the locals is often considered the norm.

© UNICEF/Diego Ibarra Sánchez

In Iraq, children run with kites in Domiz Camp in Dohuk.

At the same time, the organization is challenged to be accountable to its own and to those they serve. We still have many lessons to learn from Canal when it comes to the latter, for our missions to be fully prepared for the worst, for our staff to be conscious of the complexities of the places we are deployed in, and for our leadership to be able to clearly communicate what it is we are doing there.

The same goes for the Member States which at times present us with impossible mandates. Yet the UN’s response to Canal was right in one major aspect: the UN did not abandon the Iraqis on that day, and in doing so it acknowledged the sacrifice of those who lost their lives in the pursuit of truth; those who remain a moral compass.”

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‘Immense psychological injuries’ following 2003 attack on UN Baghdad — Global Issues

Khaled Mansour, now a writer and journalist, was the WFP spokesperson in Iraq at the time and narrowly missed the massive explosion which killed 22 of his UN colleagues.

On World Humanitarian Day which was established to mark the 19 August attack, he reflects on his life since and what he has learnt.

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Former WFP staff member, Khaled Mansour, is a writer and journalist

“The terrorist attack against the UN headquarters in Baghdad devastated me on the one hand, but it also radically reconfigured the way I think of my life and of the humanitarian aid effort.

I was in my car, heading back to the office, and just a few hundred metres away from the building when it was bombed and quickly collapsed. I was not physically harmed, but the psychological injuries were immense.

Colleagues whom I worked with only a few hours earlier were either pulverized, or the remains of their bodies lay under sheets in the parking lot. I am still sometimes haunted by the blood and body parts I touched as I groped my way along darkened corridors shrouded in dust.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening driving with an Iraqi colleague around Baghdad to check on the wounded, put them in touch with their families and comfort them.

I was very angry at the UN, at the stupid, murderous terrorists, and probably ultimately at myself for having survived while 22 others did not. This is what I found out through months and years of psychotherapy and self-reflection.

Looking back at what happened, I still feel sad at the huge loss of lives and potential, but I have also learned a great deal, and I was able to go back to work in conflict areas and think more critically of why this happened and whether it could have been avoided at all.

Mourning loss

After taking several months off, mourning this huge loss, I slowly went back to work. Two years later I even served as the UN Spokesperson in Beirut, during the Israeli 33-day bombardment of Lebanon in 2006.

This does not mean I returned to what I was on the morning of 19 August 2003, before the attack took place. I like to think that I had become a more sensitive and considerate person, also more reflective about the limitations of humanitarian work and the need for massive reforms in the international system of governance.

I thought a lot about the politicization of humanitarian aid to the extent that, 10 years later, I developed a graduate course on this issue and taught it at the Department of Law at the American University in Cairo.

This politicization got more institutionalized in Afghanistan in 2001 and moved to deeper levels of integration in 2002 in the months of preparation for the war on Iraq. This has not changed, as we have seen in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, Myanmar and other catastrophes over the past 20 years.

It should have been no surprise to see public opinion in the Middle East and South Asia turning against the UN and other aid agencies, which stood accused of having become a partial tool of the West.

None of this is to excuse, much less justify, a vicious strategy by terrorist groups. It is to try to understand the environment in which these groups recruit and operate.

It is also to show the negative impact on the innocent people who are crushed between the political machinations of the international community on the one hand, and the armed groups (or States), which control their lives, on the other hand.

Idealists and realists

Aid workers are no idealists, and many of them understand how politicized their work and how instrumentalized their own lives have become. Still, many of the most realist among aid workers find their position in various conflict areas untenable.

UN Photo/Mark Garten

United Nations staff members march around the Secretariat in New York to express their distress over the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August. In the background are the flags of the United Nations members. (26 August 2003)

There is an urgent need to reinstate the humanitarian principles through practical measures to transform funding mechanisms and governance systems, and to work for more transparency in the aid industry.

We need to save this noble mission from becoming just a … [ceremonial] tool … because failing this, this tool will soon become useless, and the deaths of aid workers in Baghdad, and in many other places afterwards, will amount to nothing more than collateral damage.

We need to unshackle aid workers and aid agencies. This would truly honour the memory of my fallen colleagues, instead of all the ceremonies that will take place around the world to commemorate the passing of 20 years since this carnage.”

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World Humanitarian Day highlights commitment to serve #NoMatterWhat — Global Issues

The grim forecast comes ahead of World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August.

Since the start of the year, 62 aid workers have been killed, 84 have been wounded and 34 kidnapped, the UN said, citing provisional data from the independent research organization Humanitarian Outcomes. Last year, the death toll reached 116.

Under attack

South Sudan remains the most dangerous place to be a humanitarian. Forty attacks and 22 fatalities have been reported there as of 16 August.

Sudan is a close second, with 17 attacks and 19 fatalities to date, surpassing numbers not seen since the height of the Darfur conflict between 2006 and 2009.

Other aid worker casualties have been recorded in the Central African Republic, Mali, Somalia and Ukraine. Last year, 444 aid workers were attacked while 460 were attacked in 2021, resulting in 141 deaths.

A sombre anniversary

This year’s commemoration of World Humanitarian Day also marks 20 years since the suicide bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.

Twenty-two staff were killed in the attack, among them Sérgio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and head of the UN Mission in the country. More than 150 local and international aid workers were injured.

“World Humanitarian Day and the Canal Hotel bombing will always be an occasion of mixed and still raw emotions for me and many others,” said the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths.

“Every year, nearly six times more aid workers are killed in the line of duty than were killed on that dark day in Baghdad, and they are overwhelmingly local aid workers. Impunity for these crimes is a scar on our collective conscience,” he added.

#NoMatterWhat campaign

The UN and its humanitarian partners aim to help almost 250 million people in crises around the world this year, or 10 times more than in 2003.

Efforts have grown but so have the dangers they face, including rising geopolitical tensions, blatant disregard of international humanitarian law, deliberate attacks and widespread disinformation.

Through the #NoMatterWhat campaign, humanitarians are underlining their commitment to deliver aid despite the challenges.

The campaign highlights how they will continue to support communities in need – no matter who, no matter where, and #NoMatterWhat.

It is being organized by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

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‘Increasing militarisation’ of DPR Korea fuelling rise in human rights violations — Global Issues

Briefing the UN Security Council, Volker Türk ran through a long list of rights abuses, saying that many “stem directly from, or support, the increasing militarisation of the DPRK.”

His argument was reinforced by the UN independent human rights expert Elizabeth Salmón who told ambassadors that leaders of the DPRK – more commonly known as North Korea – have repeatedly demanded citizens “tighten their belts” to the point of starvation in some cases, “so that the available resources could be used to fund the nuclear and missile programmes.”

Weapons over rights

High Commissioner Türk noted how the widespread use of forced labour, including in political prison camps, by children forced to collect harvests and the confiscation of overseas workers’ wages, all support Pyongyang’s imperative to “build weapons.”

The Council met just over a month ago to discuss the “alarming and unsustainable” situation across the Peninsula, which is also impacting nearby countries such as Japan, following what was DPRK’s fourth intercontinental ballistic missile launch of the year.

The UN rights chief began his briefing noting the dire state of human rights there, which underpin not only security, but humanitarian action and development.

Rarely has DPRK been more “painfully closed” to the outside world than it is today, triggered by border closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information gathered by his office, OHCHR, “including through interviews and from public information issued by the Government itself, indicates increasing repression of the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and movement; the persistence of widespread forced labour practices; and a worsening situation for economic and social rights due to the closure of markets and other forms of income generation.”

Since the shutdown, “only a handful” have managed to leave the North, he said.

Help ‘rebuffed’

Although DPRK has said it is open to international cooperation to help end a food supply and nutrition crisis, offers of humanitarian support “have been largely rebuffed” said Mr. Türk.

The UN Country Team remains barred amid the border closures, along with almost all other foreign nationals. He said the return of the Country Team and new partnership framework, “would be crucial to advancing coordinated work to address the suffering of the people”.

He called for accountability for victims of rights abuses, both via the International Criminal Court and via “truth-telling, the recovery of remains and reparations programmes.

Thousands of North Koreans remain at risk of being repatriated involuntarily, he said, where they may face torture and arbitrary detention. He urged all States not to send citizens home, “and to provide them with the required protections and humanitarian support.”

“Sustainable peace can only be built by advancing human rights, and its corollaries: reconciliation, inclusion and justice”, he concluded.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Crucial role of women for peace

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in DPRK, Ms. Salmón, highlighted the precarious situation of women and girls there, beginning with vulnerability to starvation, disease, and lack of available healthcare.

“Women are detained in inhuman conditions and are subjected to torture and ill-treatment, forced labour and gender-based violence by State officials”, she told ambassadors in the Council.

She said they needed to consider peacemaking “beyond the absence of violence or fear of violence.”

“The preparation for any possible peacemaking process needs to include women as decisionmakers and this process needs to start now.”

She said “clear benchmarks” on human rights were an essential element of any negotiations.

“I call upon the Security Council to place the protection of human rights at the centre of a reinvigorated peace and security agenda.”

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Rape by Sudan’s RSF militia used to ‘punish and terrorise’ warn rights experts — Global Issues

Sudan’s military leadership plunged into protracted conflict for control of Sudan with former partner turned rival, the Rapid Support Forces, four months ago, leaving thousands dead and millions forcibly displaced, the group of more than 30 rights experts said.

Around 700,000 refugees and asylum seekers have been forced to flee across Sudan’s many borders into neighbouring countries, destabilizing the entire region.

Tool for punishment

“It is alleged that men identified as members of the RSF are using rape and sexual violence” against women and girls “as tools to punish and terrorise communities. Some of the reported rapes appear to be ethnically and racially motivated,” the experts said.

While calling on both parties to the conflict to end violations of humanitarian and human rights law, the experts expressed specific concern at consistent reports of widespread violations by the RSF.

Hundreds of women have been detained by militia members, held in inhuman or degrading conditions, subjected to sexual assault, and are vulnerable to sexual slavery, the experts warned.

“Sudanese women and girls in urban centers as well as in Darfur have been particularly vulnerable to violence.

“The lives and safety of migrant and refugee women and girls, primarily from Eritrea and South Sudan, have also been seriously affected,” they said.

Hard to reach

The capacity to support victims of violence has been severely limited due to the fighting which has been hampered access to all areas impacted by the war. There is also evidence that local women human rights defenders have been deliberately targeted.

The experts noted that despite the RSF’s declared zero-tolerance policy for sexual and gender-based violence, the commission of these alleged crimes, among others, have repeatedly been attributed to the RSF.

End the abuses

“The RSF must demonstrate its commitment to upholding humanitarian and human rights obligations, including preventing sexual and gender-based violence and trafficking in persons, facilitating humanitarian access and holding perpetrators accountable”, the independent experts said.

“Assistance and protection to victims and access to effective remedies must be provided to women and girls.”

The Special Rapporteurs and other rights experts reminded all parties to the conflict that fighters must strictly follow applicable international humanitarian and human rights law, calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

They also called on the international community to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary, and they are not paid for their work.

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What next for Liberia after 20 years of peace? A UN Resident Coordinator blog — Global Issues

“After the civil war, which claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, a comprehensive peace agreement was signed in August 2003 in Accra, Ghana. Since then, Liberia has sustained a period of uninterrupted stability; transforming from one of the most volatile to one of the most peaceful nations in West Africa.

Over the years, this country, where I am proud to serve as UN Resident Coordinator, has made significant strides in its socio-economic development journey. Liberians have demonstrated tremendous resilience, battling the devastating impacts of Ebola and COVID-19, contending with growing inflation, mobilizing grassroots leadership, and making slow but sure dents in tackling infant mortality.

Yet to reap the full economic and social benefits of this hard-fought peace a lot more needs to be done.

National poverty levels remain high. Gender and income inequalities are still pronounced, and it is estimated that 57 per cent of school-aged children remain outside the classroom.

On top of this, rising costs of commodities following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have added to Liberia’s economic challenges.

Now more than ever, a long-term vision and coordinated plan to forge lasting, sustainable development is needed and the UN Country Team is working to support the government together with our partners.

Data-driven decision making

In the digital age, data is an indispensable tool for decision-making and is the baseline for effective development planning. At the end of 2022, our UN country team supported the Government to conduct the first national census in 14 years.

This included vital data on the most disadvantaged communities and the factors such as a lack of access to quality healthcare and education, which are leaving them behind.

As the co-chair of the National Steering Committee on National Population and Housing Census, the UN facilitated the entire census exercise from beginning to the end.

Along with the ECOWAS Ambassador, in my capacity as the RC, we helped bring together political parties and national statistic institutions to build consensus on the importance of the census for national development planning.

Led by UNFPA, our Country Team provided the needed technical expertise in this endeavour. Our Data Management Officer, in particular, played a vital role in facilitating national efforts in the collection, analysis, and utilization of the census data.

UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein

In August 2023, Liberians are celebrating 20 years of peace. (file)

The robust data systems which we helped establish are already enabling policymakers and development partners make informed choices, monitor progress, and adapt interventions in real-time.

This is also forming the basis of Liberia’s new national development plan and an upcoming study on the ‘drivers of inclusive and sustainable development’ led by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and supported by other UN agencies as well as our development partners. The study will provide a common blueprint for Liberia to cross the finish line towards 2030 agenda.

Community led; youth centred

From tackling poverty, addressing youth unemployment, and strengthening rural agriculture, effective development policy can’t be outsourced – it must come from the bottom up. This is why our interventions are designed and implemented in a way to encourage local ownership and empower communities as agents of their own change.

As the census indicates, youth make up 79 per cent of the population. Two of our initiatives – the “Youth Rising” project and “Youth at Risk” programme – are helping tackle youth unemployment and vulnerability, and empowering the next generation with skills, vocational training and practical jobs in sectors such as agriculture, construction, timber and mining.

Such training is helping stimulate local rural economies, improve social cohesion, and counter the huge migration of young people to the city, where work is often difficult to find.

Realizing this demographic dividend is crucial for Liberia’s development journey, which is why our UN team is committed to supporting the Government broaden its investments in youth empowerment, expand opportunities for decent work, and revisit national education plans from last year’s Transforming Education Summit.

Partnering to end violence against women

Gender inequity and violence against women continues to be widespread in many parts of the country. In 2020, it was estimated that 49 per cent of women aged 15-49 years who had been in relationships experience intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.

In fact, this type of data collected by UN-Women has helped paint a vivid picture of just how serious the problem is and helped bring this to the attention of policy makers at the national level.

In February 2022, through the support of a dedicated UN programme, ground-breaking progress was made with the signing of a three-year moratorium suspending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), between the Government of Liberia and traditional practitioners.

Key to this success was the acceptance and buy in from traditional leaders, achieved in part through our targeted advocacy efforts to these leaders and the wider community.

© UN Women Liberia

Traditional FGM practitioners from the town of Sonkay learn alternative livelihood practices following a ban on the procedure.

Beyond legislative progress, the UN’s partnership with the European Union and the Liberian government through the Spotlight Initiative has also resulted in the establishment of dedicated learning centers, which offered traditional FGM practitioners and young women an opportunity to learn new livelihood skills, contributing to the broader goal of eradicating FGM in Liberia.

Towards the next chapter

The people and communities I have met in my first five months as Resident Coordinator reflect Liberia’s immense potential for the future and the significant strides it has made towards sustainable development.

What comes next for Liberia will depend on continued efforts to build the economy through domestic resources and harness the power and voices of young people. As the UN, we remain steadfast in our support and investment in the country’s inclusive development journey in the coming years.

UN Resident Coordinator

  • The UN Resident Coordinator, sometimes called the RC, is the highest-ranking representative of the UN development system at the country level.
  • In this occasional series, UN News is inviting RCs to blog on issues important to the UN and the country where they serve.
  • Learn more about the work of the UN in Liberia here.
  • Find out more about the UN Development Coordination Office here.

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Warring parties must take concrete steps towards an inclusive peace — Global Issues

UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg provided an update on his mediation efforts, both in the country and abroad, while Edem Wosornu of the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on access impediments and funding gaps affecting aid delivery to millions.

Yemen continues to face a protracted political, humanitarian and developmental crisis after more than eight years of fighting between pro-Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels.

An initial two-month truce signed in April 2022 expired that October after two extensions.

Translate willingness into action

Mr. Grundberg has continued engagements with the parties and with Saudi Arabia and Oman.

“The sides continue to display general willingness to seek solutions, but this still needs to translate into concrete steps, in particular, a clear agreement on the way forward that includes restarting an inclusive Yemeni political process,” he said.

He added that hostilities have not returned to pre-truce levels despite its expiration, and civilian casualties have significantly declined. However, sporadic fighting and exchanges of gunfire continue on some fronts, particularly in the governorates of Taiz, Marib, Dhale, Hodeida, Shabwa, and Sa’ada.

“Against this backdrop, there have been public threats to return to war. This rhetoric is not conducive to maintaining a fruitful mediation environment.” he said, calling for restraint and dialogue.

Economic woes, power cuts

The envoy also addressed the dire economic situation in Yemen, where the warring parties “continue to resort to antagonistic economic measures” which are hurting civilians and fuelling mistrust.

He said the Yemeni Government is still being prevented from exporting petroleum products, its main revenue source, while trade remains curtailed due to restrictions, exorbitant fees and taxes.

Meanwhile, provision of basic services is deteriorating, with citizens facing electricity cuts lasting up to 18 hours in the summer heat. He welcomed a $1.2 billion Saudi pledge which will help to keep the power on and pay some public salaries.

‘Fertile grounds’ for violent extremism

Mr. Grundberg warned that “political and economic instability are fertile grounds for violent extremist groups.”

He expressed concern over reports of the recent increase in activities of violent extremists in Abyan and Shabwa governorates, saying “this is yet another reminder of the consequences of the long-term absence of a political settlement to the conflict.”

The UN envoy appealed for the continued unity and support of the Security Council and the international community for his mediation efforts.

“The fragility of the situation and its impact on Yemeni women and men highlight the urgent need to reach a consensus on the way forward,” he said.

“My Office is working to convene the parties to address some of their immediate priorities to build confidence and move toward an inclusive and sustainable political settlement.”

Aid access and funding

On the humanitarian front, both officials condemned the murder of World Food Programme (WFP) staff member Moayad Hameidi in Taiz governorate on 21 July.

“This attack, and others like it, show just how real the threats to the safety and security of aid workers are – from violence to kidnapping, harassment, misinformation and disinformation,” said Ms. Wosornu, OCHA’s Director of Operations and Advocacy.

She added that access and funding are two of the most pressing issues facing humanitarians in Yemen, amid rising misinformation and disinformation. As a result, operations are becoming even more difficult and dangerous.

“Aid workers continue to experience attempted interference in all stages of humanitarian activities, as well as extensive movement restrictions—which particularly impact our women national staff and all those they serve,” she said.

The UN and partners are aiming to reach more than 17 million people across Yemen this year. However, a $4.3 billion plan is only around 30 per cent funded, and she urged greater support from the international community.

Ms. Wosornu stressed that while a political resolution to the conflict is vital, it alone will not solve the humanitarian crisis.

“Only when such progress is pursued together with improved economic conditions and the re-establishment of essential services will we see humanitarian needs begin to decrease,” she said.

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