Children returning to schools, workplaces re-opening, and vaccines all seemed to point to a return to normal but like 2020, 2021 has been a year of hope, loss, and uncertainty for people around the world. Stories of innovative ways to connect, protect our planet from climate change, and ways we, as a society, have joined forces to protect each other from the pandemic that has ravaged all our lives.
Disabled people in Haiti who have been driven from one temporary shelter to another as result of an earthquake, fire and mounting gang violence have been finally able to find a safe home, just ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities marked annually on 3 December.
"After raping me, he told me that I was still a child, and he threw me outside. This is the first time I have told anyone because I was scared to say something before." And so, 12-year-old Elisabeth's childhood was forever changed.
Hunger rose more sharply than in any other region between 2019 and 2020, reaching 59,7 million people, its highest point since 2000. Food insecurity affects 267 million people and 106 million adults present obesity.
Maman Sylvie, who lives in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), believes that being diagnosed as HIV positive should not be the equivalent of a death sentence, and has dedicated her life to helping people with HIV in the Republic of Congo.
Three months after a devastating earthquake struck the south-west of Haiti, a hospital that was largely destroyed has continued to give mothers and their babies the care they need.
More than six years into Yemen’s war, migrants continue to arrive in the country. Most hope to continue north through Yemen seeking job opportunities for day labourers. But many of them are kidnapped and held for ransom. Migrants face hunger, theft, injury, or death along the way as they desperately seek refuge.
Young workers have limited job and career prospects. The causes are many. Years of conflict and instability. A private sector that is in its infancy. Lack of economic diversification. Prolonged underinvestment. These factors affect the whole population, but young people most of all.
SG, António Guterres is headed to Colombia this week to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the peace accords that ended 50 years of conflict in the country, and his activities will include travel to the village of Llano Grande, where the townspeople and former combatants are working together to secure a better future.
