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The COVID-19 pandemic is “profoundly affecting” peace and security across the globe, the Secretary-General told the Security Council on Thursday, pressing the 15-member body to use its collective influence to protect the millions of people either trapped in, or fleeing conflict, and already facing acute vulnerabilities.

In Kuwait, the UN has played an important role in countering xenophobic rhetoric, falsely blaming the spread of COVID-19 on migrant workers. In this opinion piece, Tarek El Sheikh, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country, highlights the efforts being made to safeguard the rights of foreign residents. 

The UN is asking people to make the same judgement calls they’ve been applying to social distancing, to social media, and take extra care before sharing.

That’s the latest message from the United Nations’ Verified initiative, which wants people around the world to pause before sharing emotionally charged content on social media.    

Unless the world acts now, the COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying global recession, will trigger “years of depressed and disrupted economic growth”, the UN chief warned on Wednesday. 

The Security Council on Wednesday echoed the Secretary-General’s call for a worldwide ceasefire, to combat the coronavirus pandemic that has already claimed more than half a million lives. The UN chief welcomed the long-awaited move, calling for countries to "redouble their efforts for peace".

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on jobs has been much worse than expected initially, the head of the UN labour agency said on Tuesday, in an appeal to Governments, workers and employers, to agree on a sustainable economic recovery plan to reduce inequalities laid bare by the pandemic.

Under three possible scenarios for recovery in the next six months, “none” sees the global job situation in better shape than it was before lockdown measures began, the International Labour Organization (ILO) insisted.

The UN chief called on the world to step up “financial, humanitarian and political commitments”, to help end nearly a decade of brutal conflict and suffering across Syria, in a video message delivered to the fourth Brussels Donor Conference on Tuesday.

“After nearly a decade of war and economic hardship, the scale of suffering remains shocking”, said Secretary-General António Guterres.

Addressing poverty eradication on Tuesday in front of the General Assembly, UN chief António Guterres warned that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are falling “disproportionately on the most vulnerable: people living in poverty, the working poor, women and children, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups”.

With COVID-19 cases in Syria multiplying, its economy in freefall, and some households cooking weeds to eat in order to survive, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator is pressing the Security Council to extend its authorization for cross-border aid deliveries from Turkey.

Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that the Council’s green light for aid from Turkey into Syria – which is set to expire on 10 July - is a lifeline for millions of civilians in Syria’s northwest.

Urgent, and accelerated action is needed to end female genital mutilation, child marriage, and other “harmful practices” and abuses carried out against women and girls, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), said on Tuesday, in its latest major report on the state of the world’s population. 

Every year, millions of girls are subjected to practices that routinely harm them, both physically and emotionally, with the full knowledge and consent of their families, friends and communities, the report states.