UN Weekly Roundup: July 22-28, 2023

Editor’s note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Military ousts Niger’s president

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Thursday for the “immediate and unconditional release” of Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, after soldiers from the presidential guard detained him Wednesday at the presidential palace and announced his ouster on state television. The apparent coup was quickly condemned by the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, the African Union, the U.N. chief, and many world leaders. ECOWAS will meet in an urgent session Sunday. The U.N. Security Council met Friday. Read the latest on the evolving situation here:

General Tchiani: Shadowy Army Veteran Who Seized Power in Niger

IAEA sees mines at Ukrainian nuclear plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its staff saw directional anti-personnel mines located on the perimeter of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. In a statement, the nuclear watchdog agency said the mines were seen Sunday “in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers.” The agency said no mines were seen “within the inner site perimeter.” Russia controls the facility, which is staffed with Ukrainian and IAEA experts.

Latest in Ukraine: IAEA Says Mines Found at Nuclear Plant Site

U.S. marks its return to UNESCO

First lady Jill Biden marked the United States’ return to the United Nations’ cultural organization Tuesday after five years away, amid concerns its absence has let China take a lead in key areas like artificial intelligence and technology education. Biden raised the U.S. flag outside UNESCO’s Paris headquarters Wednesday. Watch this report from VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell.

US Rejoins UN Cultural and Educational Organization

It really is hot out there

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that it is not too late to “stop the worst” of the climate crisis, but only with “dramatic, immediate” action. He spoke as the World Meteorological Organization and the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service released new data confirming July is set to be the hottest month ever recorded. He said the rising temperatures are consistent with all the scientific predictions; the only surprise is how fast it is happening.

UN Chief: Planet Is Boiling; Time Running Out to Stop Climate Crisis

UN calls on Uganda to repeal anti-homosexuality law

A U.N. watchdog committee condemned Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act on Wednesday and called on the government to repeal what it calls a harmful, discriminatory law, which criminalizes consenting sexual relations between adults of the same sex. The 18-member U.N. Human Rights Committee expressed “deep concern about discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” including the enactment of the anti-homosexuality act in May.

UN Condemns, Demands Repeal of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act

Good news

The United Nations said Tuesday that a long-awaited operation had begun to remove more than a million barrels of oil from an aging supertanker off Yemen’s Red Sea coast, averting a potential environmental disaster. Pumping the oil out of containers on the FSO Safer and onto the replacement tanker Yemen should take about 19 days. Then the Safer will be towed, environmentally cleaned and taken to a green scrap yard for recycling.

UN Begins Operation to Unload Oil From Yemen Tanker

In brief

— Secretary-General Guterres said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pledge to ship free grain to at least six African countries will not reverse the impact of Moscow’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Putin made the pledge Thursday during a summit with African leaders in St. Petersburg. Moscow withdrew on July 17 from the year-old deal that saw nearly 33 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs exported from Ukraine via the Black Sea, helping to bring down global food prices, which spiked after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia was also receiving help in facilitating its own grain and fertilizer exports.

— Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the U.N. Food Systems Summit Stocktaking in Rome that as the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda approaches, the Sustainable Development Goals are in deep trouble, with hunger at levels not seen since 2005. She said if current trends continue, by 2030, 575 million people will still live in extreme poverty and nearly 670 million will suffer from hunger. She said transforming our food systems is vital to getting the world back on track and reversing these trends.

— The U.N. children’s agency says at least 435 children have been reported killed in Sudan and more than 2,000 others injured since fighting broke out on April 15 between rival military factions. UNICEF says 1.7 million children also have been displaced by the conflict, and many are on the move across borders, making them vulnerable to hunger, disease, violence and separation from their families.

— Humanitarians need urgent funding to transport people fleeing the fighting in Sudan to South Sudan, the vast majority being South Sudanese who want to return home. Until now, South Sudanese authorities and aid workers have been able to provide transportation by river, air and road. Without $26.4 million to finance the operation through the end of this year, aid agencies say they will run out of money in two weeks’ time and be forced to suspend assistance.

Next week

The United States takes over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council on August 1 and plans to focus its signature events on global food insecurity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on August 3 will chair a high-level open debate on famine and conflict-induced global food insecurity. The U.N. estimates 345 million people worldwide are food insecure.
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