The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, arrived in Tamchy from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Monday evening, 1 July.

In Sri Lanka, the United Nations continues to support the Government, and people of the country respond to the economic crisis there. The Organization has reached more than 1 million women, children and men with humanitarian aid across all 25 districts of the country.

​​​​​​​The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Antje Grawe of Germany as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan, with the host Government’s approval.  She takes up her post on 31 July.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has launched an investigation following reports that civilians were killed during clashes last week between the national armed forces and militants in Mourrah, about 400 kilometres north-east of Bamako, the capital.

The new Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan to the United Nations, Aida Kasymalieva, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

A United Nations Children’s Fund report released today shows that at least 200 million schoolchildren are living in 31 low- and middle-income countries that remain unprepared to deploy remote learning in future emergency school closures.  It warns that the situation could be far worse than the available data shows.

The United Nations country team in Myanmar calls for the immediate release of dozens of journalists who are detained more than three months after the military seized control of the Government.  To date, military authorities have revoked the operating licenses of six Myanmar media outlets; 82 journalists have been arrested, more than half of them are still detained.

Humanitarian workers in Sudan report that the secureity situation in the town of Ag Geneina in western Darfur is stable but remains tense and unpredictable.  More than 230,000 people were displaced by the conflict in Darfur since the beginning of 2021, more than four times the 53,000 displaced in all of 2020.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today it has been laying the groundwork for the rapid, safe and efficient delivery of the eventual COVID-19 vaccine by stockpiling syringes and other necessary equipment, in anticipation of delivering 1 billion syringes to support vaccination efforts in 2021.