“2020 was an exceptionally challenging year for Lebanon, and the people are still feeling the shocks of it,” says Najat Rochdi, UN Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon.
In Chinese art, pine, bamboo and plum blossom symbolise fortitude, modesty and endurance – traits that help us through dark days. These traits have helped us through the pandemic as we emerge into a hopeful spring
As a 42-year-old man, who has worked for almost three decades in local construction, Jonathan acknowledges that it wasn't strange that women that walk passed a construction job site were victims of all kinds of personal attacks - insults, hisses, catcalling – and other forms of harassment.
Yemenis currently live through the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, a disaster compounded by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and severe economic crisis. Two thirds of Yemenis need humanitarian assistance to survive. More than 16 million people will face hunger this year.
Asia and the Pacific is a dynamic and prosperous region. How is it possible that nearly two billion people experience such food insecurity? This figure is just one of the findings of the latest annual report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition.
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.
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.
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.