Candelario migrated to Costa Rica at the age of 90, and Juan Carlos did the same when he was 10 years old. They both arrived looking for opportunities to fulfill their dream of starting a better life. With the support of the State, the community and the United Nations, today they are achieving it in their own terms.
Since COVID-19 changed our world forever, expressions of alarm and fear have comingled with optimism and hope. Across our planet, our global community has adapted to new social norms, suffered extreme losses and braces for the medium to long-term impacts of a drastic economic crisis.
UN teams continue to work with national and local authorities worldwide to ensure the safety and dignity of refugees and migrants, indigenous communities and children. Their efforts support the betterment of countries' health and socio-economic conditions, including better living conditions for those most at risk, lifesaving training, supplies and equipment, human rights protection and aid in ensuring no adult or child is left behind.
When Yemen’s unrelenting conflict arrived in Taizz City, Ashwaq saw her neighbourhood fall to pieces. Amid the bombardments, her house caught fire. She, her husband and their four children — including a son who is paralyzed — fled for their lives.
COVID-19 is like a rainstorm, a thunderous and powerful rainstorm all over the world. If we didn’t know before, we certainly know now just where the holes are in our roofs, or where there are no roofs. We see ever more clearly who is getting drenched and who is dying, and who remains dry.
Our world has reached a heart-wrenching milestone: the COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed two million lives. Behind this staggering number are names and faces: the smile now only a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one. In the memory of those two million souls, the world must act with far greater solidarity.
On 6 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Sara Beysolow Nyanti of Liberia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nepal, with the host Government’s approval.
By the end of 2020, COVID-19 had killed nearly 2 million people and left many millions more with lasting injury. It also led to larger crises in health, jobs, education, domestic violence, migration, and more. That’s a lot of fires to put out. But the United Nations is built to deal with many challenges at once.
