Week in Review

The UN chief told the Security Council on Friday that “we need peace” in Ukraine, calling for urgent action on multiple fronts.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday called for ending the war in Ukraine and demanded Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the country, in line with the UN Charter.

The people of Ukraine remain resilient a year since Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion but “humanitarian aid is as necessary as ever,” according to the UN’s most senior official in the country.

As the international community prepared to mark one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UN rights investigators on Tuesday relayed disturbing testimonies about the high number of civilians killed to date. 

The Security Council on Tuesday heatedly debated Russia’s request for a UN-led inquiry into the September explosions along the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

Three Senegalese peacekeepers serving in Mali were killed, and five others seriously injured, when their vehicle hit an explosive device, the UN Mission in the country, MINUSMA, reported on Tuesday.

Despite many challenges, Somalia has made significant progress in advancing key national priorities, but enhancing women’s political participation remains critical, UN Deputy Special Representative in the country, Anita Kiki Gbeho, told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

Top UN officials have called for halting escalating cycles of violence following Israeli-Palestinian clashes and airstrikes on Wednesday that left 11 dead and more than 100 injured.

As the death toll from the 6 February earthquake disaster topped 41,000 in Türkiye, UN development experts said on Tuesday that 1.5 million people have been made homeless in the south of the country, where at least 500,000 new homes will need to be built. 

The UN chief on Sunday strongly condemned the launch of yet another ballistic missile of intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as news reports said two more missiles had been launched on Monday.

Developing economies could secure up to $148 billion in savings if the international community restructures their existing debt and expands access to future affordable finance, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a policy brief published on Wednesday.

The first-ever conference to discuss draft global guidelines for regulating digital platforms ended on Thursday in Paris with a call to uphold the right to seek and receive information in the face of rising disinformation online.

Dreams thrive, even in crisis, with a new UN-led campaign spotlighting the next generation and their ambitions, urgently scrawled to the world on postcards from some of the most crisis-ravaged parts of the world.

As humanitarian needs spiral across the world, political will and funding are required to address war, climate change and other drivers, the UN relief chief said on Monday.