UN Photos/Cia Pak Transforming Education Summit was convened at the UN Headquarters in New York in 2022.
In a world battling ever-more complex crises, ranging from inequality and poverty to the global climate crisis and the climate crisis, the United Nations remains at the forefront of global responses and is determined to guide mankind on the path to prosperity and peace, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.
in his Annual Report of the activities of the Organization, which was released on Wednesday, just ahead of the meeting of world leaders at the UN Headquarters located in New York, Mr. Guterres pointed out his appreciation for the way in which the UN has been able to step up.
“Nowhere are the needs greater than in the midst of emergencies,” he declared.
“In 2022, together with our partners on the ground, we coordinated humanitarian response plans for 216 million people across 69 countries and territories and delivered life-saving assistance and protection to nearly 160 million people in urgent need.”
The UN also raised an unprecedented $30 billion in aid to the humanitarian sector from donors across the globe, enabling life-saving programs across Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia and many other areas of crisis.
UN Photos/Sourav Sarker UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets a family of internally displaced individuals at a refugee camp in Baidoa in the southwestern part of Somalia.
Peace: the beating heart of UN
Peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and defending vulnerable populations were at the heart of the organization’s mission.
“Peace is the heartbeat for the United Nations. Our teams have deployed a broad variety of tools that help prevent or mitigate, control, and settle conflicts, as well as protect those affected by these conflicts,” Mr. Guterres declared.
These efforts included the negotiation of truces within Yemen to managing 41 special missions, 12 peacekeeping missions and directing 231 million dollars of the Peacebuilding Fund to support efforts across 37 countries including a substantial part dedicated to supporting women and youth.
The UN continued to work in collaboration with regional organisations, which includes that of the African Union, to foster peace in nations that have been enduring conflicts.
Fighting hunger
Additionally, it played a key part in its participation in the Black Sea Initiative, which included Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine in a bid to reduce the global food shortage and maintain the food supply.
The Initiative, as well as the similar agreement between the UN and Russia, allowed the export of more than 32 million tonnes of grains, other food products, and fertilizers to international markets. The bulk of the exports were sent to developing nations.
It was reported that the Initiative was never renewed after the third year of its existence, which ended in July.
(c) UNOCHA/Saviano Abreu Water and food aid is delivered via dinghy to a tiny village located near Kherson, Ukraine, about 15 km away from the frontline
Promoting human rights
In the days after the COVID-19 lockdowns ceased as COVID-19 lockdowns eased, the UN aid human rights bodies to resume work in person, by facilitating periodic or extra sessions of the Human Rights Council as well as more than fifty country visits by experts in the field of human rights who are independent.
It also conducted training for security and police forces across more than a dozen countries and territories, encouraging respect for international human rights standards, and also deployed emergency response teams to seven locations around the world in order to anticipate and address crises.
The UN also facilitated assistance to 47,000 torture victims plus more than 13,000 people who are victims of modern forms of slavery.