United Nations in Ethiopia

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries – poor, rich and middle-income – to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognize that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection. These are the goals the UN is working on in Ethiopia:

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04 March 2023

Role models to break gender imbalance and cultural stereotype in the industrial sector

Compared to other sectors, the industrial sector is a sector with a low representation of women. This imbalance is attributed to different factors including assumptions of tough industrial jobs for men only and the overall stereotypes associated with male-dominated society. UNIDO promotes a just world where women and men equally lead, participate and benefit from industrial development. To reduce the gender gap and empower women, UNIDO advances gender equality and the empowerment of women through its projects and programmes. The UNIDO Medium-term Programme Framework 2022- 2025 commits to address gender inequalities in industrial development, and to harness women’s full potential as leaders and agents of change, thereby transforming economies and generating inclusive growth. For Hanna Nigusse, aged 26, situations were not easy when she joined Selam Technical and Vocational (STV) College to study commercial vehicle and heavy duty machinery maintenance training in 2017 as the first and only female trainee. “My family and friends advised me to attend a cooking and catering school instead of a technical college,” Hanna said. “The problem begins from childhood when girls are given special roles at home. The society I grew up strongly believes that girls’ and women’s jobs are mainly limited to household chores.” However, this did not deter Hanna from pursuing her childhood dream to be a vehicle maintenance mechanic. After 4 years of training, she concluded her study and started working in a local garage for seven months before she joined the same college to take a Trainer of Trainees course. She is currently a trainer at heavy duty machineries and commercial vehicles training academy, owned and managed by STV College. “Girls should have the commitment and determination to follow their dreams, break the barriers on their ways to achieve what they want,” she added. “Nothing is specifically difficult for girls and women.” Through gender-targeted actions and gender mainstreaming, UNIDO’s programmatic offer facilitates the transformation of social norms and power relations in industry by increasing the access of women to productive resources; creating enabling conditions for women’s entrepreneurship and job creation, education, vocational training and women’s leadership; promoting women’s agency in climate change adaptation and mitigation; and building the knowledge and capacity for gender-responsive industrial development. UNIDO and its partners support a specialized skills development through a private-public development partnership. Training institute for commercial vehicle drivers and mechanics in Ethiopia: a private-public partnership project to support specialized skills development. The project aims at creating productive employment opportunities for Ethiopian youth, both young women and men, in heavy duty machineries and commercial vehicle maintenance and driving and improve the shortage of skilled labor in transport enterprises. With the view of alleviating the gaps with skills development the project supported the establishment of a state-of-the-art and functional heavy duty equipment and commercial vehicle maintenance and drivers training academy in the premises of STV College in Addis Ababa. The training academy is equipped with various state-of-the-art training equipment and educational materials. At the training facility, trainees acquire the required knowledge, skills and attitude to become professionally trained heavy duty mechanics and commercial vehicle drivers and also driver trainers. The project also strives to increase women participation and ensuring gender balance through addressing gender inequality and creating better job opportunities. Since the project inception in 2017, a total of 361 (7% women) certified driver trainers successfully completed their training to become certified commercial driver trainers. Women participation is gradually growing but still more effort is needed to ensure the wide imbalance. With this regard, Hanna and other women participants can play a key role as agents of change. Hanna has a dream to start her own vehicle maintenance garage or vehicle mechanics training school in the future, which require significant financial investment that Hanna and many young people can’t afford. In response to this challenge Hanna commented that the government, the private sector and development organizations need to intervene with creating access to financial servcies. Gender equality and the empowerment of women lies at the heart of Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID). Guided by the motto “Progress by innovation” UNIDO is committed for industrial development to support sustainable supply chains, climate action and ending hunger so as to create decent jobs for everyone, especially for the young generations, women and vulnerable communities in developing countries.

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01 March 2023

Ending Fistula, Transforming Lives

Tirumaed Molla is currently a resident of the Desta Mender (Joy Village) – a rehabilitation center for fistula survivors set up by Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. She suffered obstetric fistula when she was just 17 years old trying to give birth to her first and only child. She was giving birth at home with the help of a traditional birth attendant. Tirumaed says delivering at a health center was unthinkable as the nearest health facility was 3 hours’ drive from where she lived. For that matter, the awareness on the importance of institutional delivery was low in her community at the time. She was in labor at home for a total of 8 days. She says her family took her to a small clinic in the district on the 5th day but they were told that her condition was beyond the clinic’s capacity. They were told to take her to Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara Region, for treatment and care. Fearing that she might die along the way, her family brought her back home and on the 8th day the labor ended up in stillbirth. The ordeal left Tirumaed with a condition of obstetric fistula. But this was just the beginning of Tirumaed’s suffering. Deserted by her partner, she stayed with her condition for 10 months at her parents’ place in a rural locality in the South Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region in Ethiopia isolated from social interactions due to her condition. Moreover, disabled on one of her legs from a very early age, Tirumaed’s other leg was also affected due to her fistula condition. This complicated matters for her and her care givers even more when she stayed at home during that time. She had to be helped by her family members as she could hardly make any movement without support. Tackling Obstetric Fistula: A Two-Pronged Approach Prevention of obstetric fistula through increasing the number of deliveries assisted by midwives as well as improving access to emergency obstetric care is the most tenable strategy to tackle this morbidity. Well-trained midwives, obstetricians and Integrated Emergency Obstetric Officers are essential for providing these services. UNFPA is actively working together with partners with the leadership of the Ministry of Health for the elimination of obstetric fistula from Ethiopia. The Strategic Plan which is currently being implemented aims at maintaining prevention strategies while accelerating treatment of the backlog of obstetric fistula cases. Since 2010 UNFPA has been partnering with the Ministry of Health and other partners to train integrated Emergency Obstetric Officers and midwives through supporting the Integrated Emergency Surgery and Obstetrics and Accelerated Midwifery Training Programs respectively. Community mobilization and awareness creation efforts through the engagement of community based structures has been very critical in the prevention effort. The second prong in tackling obstetric fistula is identifying, referring and treating women with obstetric fistula. With funding from the Government of Sweden and the Maternal Health Trust Fund, UNFPA has been supporting the fistula centers at Arsi, Gondar, Jimma Universities since 2010 and partnering with Hamlin Fistula Ethiopia to repair and treat women with obstetric fistula. Moreover, as part of the scale-up of the program funded by the Government of Canada, support has also been provided for the social reintegration of treated fistula patients in Addis Ababa and three regions – Amhara, Oromia and Tigray Regions. Embarking on a new life Luckily for Tirumaed, among the acquaintances of her parents’ who came to visit was a fistula survivor who had been treated from her condition at the Fistula Hospital. She told her parents that her condition looked like fistula advising them to take her for treatment. Tirumaed was brought to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital accompanied by her mother and brother 22 years ago. She remembers it was a long journey which took them three days on the road to get to the hospital. She says she was admitted to the hospital immediately and provided with the necessary care and support. Her medical treatment including the physiotherapy for her limbs took one year. She was cured from her fistula completely. But she had to stay at the hospital for three years for follow-up at the end of which she came to live in the Desta Mender. “Things have changed a lot for the better for me thank God,” says Tirumaed. After she came to Desta Mender, she got the chance to be trained in handicrafts such as knitting, sewing and embroidery. She also started school and reached the 7th grade. Tirumaed is currently working as a cashier for the café being operated at the Desta Mender.

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06 March 2023

Scaling up humanitarian support for children with disabilities and their families

Thousands of people have fled ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. Some of the displaced people have been settled in temporary camps in Debre Birhan that host more than 25,000 people. When we visited Woyinshet camp, over 6,800 people were living in difficult conditions. “We don’t have any hope to return to our homes” said one woman who has been living in the camp for nearly two years. Recent data shows that there are almost 300 people with disabilities in the camp. UNICEF is on the ground providing education, water, sanitation and hygiene, health and child protection services for children in the camps and in the host community. In Woyinshet camp for internally displaced persons, we joined a classroom in a tent where girls and boys sat attentively with their UNICEF backpacks and exercise books on the table. When introducing us and asking if the children know what UNICEF does, one boy proudly told us that UNICEF is an aid organization that provides school materials. When asked what their hopes are for the future, children chimed in that they want to be a teacher or a doctor to help the sick. One girl said she loves that she can learn in the camp. Another girl said she wants peace so she and her family can go home. To support children and their families to cope with the difficult situation they are in, UNICEF has deployed mobile teams to provide mental health and psychosocial support. The children told us they like to play football, skip rope, and play other games but space to play is limited in the camp. UNICEF is planning to use some of the empty tents as child-friendly spaces for children to play in a safe environment while their caregivers cook, collect firewood, or work. More funding is needed to provide services for the most marginalized in the camp. All the classes are at full capacity, and teachers have no training to provide adequate learning support for children with disabilities. We met a young boy of 10 with a physical disability who wishes he could go to school and become a teacher. “I am able to be educated.” There is also a need for cash top-ups for additional disability-related costs, social behaviour change interventions to address stigma against persons with disabilities, assistive devices, livelihoods programmes and data on the number and specific needs of persons with disabilities in the camps. A 17-year-old boy who is missing an arm faces difficulties washing his clothes. He told us he was only able to finish grade 4. “I wish I had some form of livelihood so that I can be productive.” A woman with a physical disability cannot rely on anyone else than her 12-year-old daughter for household chores like collecting water and firewood. She needs crutches to move around, but no assistive devices are provided in the camp. In addition to existing programming in the camps, UNICEF is working to collect data on the needs of persons with disabilities, piloting humanitarian cash assistance and providing livelihood programmes. In emergencies, persons with disabilities continue to be the last ones to receive humanitarian assistance. With the support of donors and partners, UNICEF’s mission is to ensure humanitarian assistance is inclusive of and accessible to children with disabilities and their families.

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03 March 2023

The condition making teen girls tired, faint and miss out on school

Anaemia can cause dizziness, fatigue and fainting. This is how UNICEF and partners are helping prevent it in adolescent girls living in Ethiopia’s Oromia region. “When I stood up to go home from school, I got vertigo and fell. I almost hit my head on the classroom table.” After fainting, 15-year-old Aynye Aman was diagnosed with anaemia, a condition caused by a lack of iron in the blood which affects 1 in 3 adolescent girls and women globally. Common symptoms include tiredness, dizziness, heart palpitations, shortness of breath and pale skin. Aynye attends Haile Aba Marsa, a brightly decorated school perched on top of a hill in Sire, Oromia. Her teacher, Etenesh Sime tells us that many girls used to pass out at school, that is until they started to receive a programme of weekly iron and folic acid supplements supported by UNICEF. “Before the programme, many students were sleepy, couldn’t concentrate and didn’t want to play outside as much. It was particularly problematic during exam time,” Etenesh says. “Now the supplements are helping improve their school performance and attendance. Their skin even looks brighter.” Etenesh, trained by UNICEF, is the driving force behind the project’s success. The science teacher, who radiates warmth and a genuine concern for her students' wellbeing, managed to increase uptake of the supplement by 25% between October and December 2022. Aynye had decided against taking the supplements when they first became available believing rumours that they caused infertility. Encouragement from Etenesh helped change her mind, who patiently explained the benefits, and took the tablets herself to show they were safe. “I wish I had taken them earlier now,” says Aynye. After taking the supplements, which are distributed intermittently for a period of three months at 12-week intervals, she felt much less tired and her menstrual cramps vanished. “I feel much better now and I’m looking forward to the next round.” Barriers to adolescent girl’s nutrition and health One of the challenges affecting the health of girls in this region is a lack of access to a diverse diet. “We are poor,” says Aynye. “We don’t get enough meat or milk, which is why the supplements are so useful.” Her classmate, 15-year-old Tsion Mengistu also faces issues. “We don’t always have money to buy fruit, meat and vegetables and even when we can, sometimes they aren’t available in the market.” In addition to the unavailability or affordability of nutritious food, patriarchal norms also disadvantage girls. “The males get fed first,” says Tsion. “By the time I finish my chores, there’s less food and sometimes no food at all.” With cards stacked against the health and nutrition of adolescent girls, iron and folic acid supplements provide a crucial bank of support which can improve school performance, future work opportunities and when older, the chances of a successful pregnancy. With funds from the Canadian government (Global Affairs Canada), UNICEF is supporting the Federal Ministry of Health in a pilot programme reaching over 60,000 adolescent girls in 52 woredas (districts) and 941 schools across the country. However, to scale up the project to benefit every young person in Ethiopia, additional funds are urgently needed. Aynye wants to be a psychologist when she’s older. “I want to help children express themselves and improve their mental health.” Investment in improving diets and micronutrient supplementation will help support her dreams, and millions of others.

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03 March 2023

Delivering health services to Ethiopia’s drought-affected populations

Prolonged drought in parts of the greater Horn of Africa region has devastated millions of lives. In South and south-eastern Ethiopia, around 24 million people are grappling with severe food insecurity, malnutrition and extreme deprivation as their livelihoods have been severely affected following five straight seasons of failed rains. Most of the drought-affected people are nomadic pastoralists who now require humanitarian assistance to survive. Since early 2022, the number of people earmarked for this assistance has almost tripled from 8.1 million. Deep in the remote drought-gripped areas of Ethiopia, mobile health and nutrition teams, with support from World Health Organization (WHO), are working to deliver critical health assistance and treat malnutrition to avert an extreme situation and curb potential loss of life, especially among children for whom the combination of malnutrition and disease can be fatal. Temira, mother to one-year-old Zahara, has brought her daughter to a mobile outreach health site near her home in Chifra, Afar, in north-eastern Ethiopia, for vaccination and a check-up. Health workers are busy setting up plastic tables under the shade of thorn trees and stocking them with medical supplies and equipment that will needed for the busy day ahead. Temira is happy that she does not have to travel far to seek health services. "This clinic is located near my home, so I can easily bring Zahara here," she says. "When I am not feeling well, I also receive health services here." Nurse Ahmed Amin attends to Zahara and measures her arm using a mid-upper arm circumference measuring tape, a critical tool used to screen children for acute malnutrition. “I observe children here up to the age of five years. I conduct nutrition screenings,” explains Ahmed. Every Wednesday, as part of their outreach efforts, Ahmed and his colleagues examine between 100 and 120 children. “Most of the children we treat come with malnutrition, diarrhoea or malaria,” he says. In Ethiopia, around 10.5% of the children who are admitted to hospital with severe acute malnutrition are further hospitalized for serious medical complications. Currently, there are multiple, simultaneous disease outbreaks in the country, including cholera, measles, suspected meningitis and malaria, which are most severe in the five drought-affected regions. Of the 8821 measles cases detected in the country between 1 January and 31 December 2022, 87% were in these regions. Inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities also contribute to the spread of water-borne diseases. Currently there is a cholera outbreak in the drought-stricken Oromia and Somali regions. They account for all 1127 of Ethiopia’s cumulative cholera cases counted between 27 August 2022 and 6 February 2023. Midwife Mimi Wasse, midwife Hallo Mohammod, health officer Jemal Endris and Ahmed are part of the Eltomale Site Mobile Health and Nutrition Team in Chifra. For the past three months the team has been providing health and nutrition services to the local communities. This team is one of five that WHO directly supports by covering operational expenses, providing medical supplies and training. “I am very happy to be part of this mobile health team because this location is quite remote. Were it not for this team, people would not have easy access to health care,” says Ahmed. With financial support from the Central Emergency Response Fund, the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund, the United States Agency for International Development and the European Union, WHO has provided 136 metric tons of essential medicines to facilitate the provision of essential health services in four of the five regions adversely affected by drought, including Afar. “While a lot is being done, there are still major challenges to mounting a robust response, due to a large funding gap,” says Dr Betty Lanyero, WHO’s Incident Manager for the drought response in Ethiopia. WHO works closely with partners to support national institutions such as the Ethiopia Public Health Institute, Ministry of Health and Regional Health Bureaus on active search and case-based surveillance, case management, immunization, community mobilization and mentoring health workers. “Currently, there are 73 WHO staff deployed to affected regions to support the drought response, including the measles and cholera outbreaks” says Dr Patrick Abok, WHO team lead for Emergency Preparedness and Response in Ethiopia. Part of WHO’s work to mitigate the impact of the floods is to monitor water quality, provide water purification tablets and conduct training to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene in collaboration with respective health bureaus in Ethiopia. “We need to strengthen access to essential health and nutrition services, especially for displaced people,” says Dr Nonhlanhla Rosemary Dlamini, WHO Representative a.i. in Ethiopia. “To do this, we need to build long-term, flexible funding and resilient and durable health systems.”

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Press Release

19 August 2022

Message from UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ethiopia on World Humanitarian Day

We mark World Humanitarian Day every year on 19 August to express solidarity with the millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world and pay tribute to the humanitarian workers who help them. Today is a day we reflect on our accomplishments and commit to redouble our efforts to respond and reach the millions in need. 2022 continues to be a challenging year with multiple and simultaneous crises demanding our attention. Conflict and violence in several pockets of the country, drought in eastern and southern Ethiopia and floods in parts of the country are causing loss, displacement and suffering to millions of Ethiopians. Today, Ethiopia hosts one of the largest number of people requiring humanitarian assistance. In the face of this enormous challenge, we remain committed to reaching all people in need and to carry our work upholding the principles we so cherish, the principle of impartiality, the principle of neutrality and the principle of operational independence. At the center of it all are aid workers and front-line responders who selflessly put their lives at risk and sacrifice their comfort and their time with family to help those in need. Thank you for your passion, your selflessness and your sacrifice! I would also like to thank our government and donor partners for their generous support to the people in need in Ethiopia given the ever-limited resources available. I count on your continued support to ensure that the people in need in Ethiopia receive the critical assistance they require, the dignity they deserve and the resilience to withstand future shocks. This year’s World Humanitarian Day theme is: It Takes a Village. Let us be that village to bring the assistance and hope to the millions of people in need in the country. Together, we can. Dr. Catherine Sozi, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Ethiopia

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Press Release

08 June 2022

United Nations Report launched in Ethiopia, urges cooperation between Volunteers and States in Africa

Despite the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, interest in volunteering has not waned in Africa and across the world. Volunteering in communities has endured despite limited mobility and resources. While Covid-19 restrictions have prevented many people from volunteering in person, many have switched to volunteering online. The fourth State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR 2022) ‘Building Equal and Inclusive Societies’ was launched today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by H.E Dr. Ergoge Tesfaye, Minister, Ministry of Women and Social Affairs for Ethiopia at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. The launch was also attended by His Excellency Ambassador Mohamed Lamine Thiaw, Permanent Representative of Senegal to Ethiopia and the African Union, His Excellency Ambassador Hans Lundquist, Ambassador of Sweden to Ethiopia, Mr. Cleophas Torori, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative among other representatives from UN Member States, United Nations (UN) entities, the African Union Commission (AUC), diplomatic community, volunteer community and the private sector. The SWVR 2022 Report findings provide an interesting and timely opportunity to analyze the strategic role of volunteering for peace and development in the African continent. The SWVR 2022 Africa regional launch provided key stakeholders with an opportunity to shine the spotlight on transformative volunteering models that have emerged across different countries in Africa around service delivery, policymaking and participation, governance, decision-making and social innovation. The launch took the global discussions on the Report to the regional level to initiate and generate momentum for a sustained regional conversation on SWVR 2022 findings and raise awareness among stakeholders, policymakers, and institutions in Africa. Speaking during the launch, H.E Ergoge Tesfaye noted that through volunteerism, more people participate in development at all levels of society empowering them to fully engage in their development priorities. “Volunteering represents essential capacities for communities and nations to pursue social, economic and environmental goals,” - H.E Ergoge Tesfaye, Minister, Ministry of Women and Social Affairs of Ethiopia said while launching the Report. The Report draws on case study research in Africa, Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Latin America and the Caribbean. Among the five regions, Africa demonstrated the highest volunteer rates – the share of the total working-age population (15 years and over) who volunteer. While other regions display monthly volunteer rates of 9 to 10.6 percent, Africa far exceeds this with monthly volunteer rates of 17.5 percent. Additionally, two African countries - Senegal and Kenya – were selected for a 2021 global multi-country survey by UNV and Gallup that informed the SWVR 2022 findings on the contribution of volunteers to COVID-19 response in the global south. The survey found relatively high levels of volunteer participation in COVID-19 response in Senegal and Kenya, with volunteer action rates of 98% and 92% respectively –the highest among eight other countries that participated in the survey. Speaking during the launch of the Report, Mr. Cleophas Torori, Deputy Resident Representative for UNDP Ethiopia noted that volunteerism provides an important opportunity for everybody, including marginalized groups, to have their voices heard and their actions recognized. “Engaging and integrating volunteers will help us move forward together, allowing us to mitigate future challenges and sustain our resilience as a human collective,” he said. “The findings of the report provide critical information for policy makers to ensure we ‘leave no one behind’ in our quest for development, particularly following the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inequalities in the region and the world,” said Ms. Lucy Ndungu, Regional Manager for UNV East and Southern Africa Regional Office also said during the launch event. The SWVR 2022 comes at a crucial moment as countries start to build forward from the pandemic and institutions need to engage volunteers as key partners. “To build forward better, it will be very important for volunteers to be regarded as essential partners in development,” said Mr. Benjamin Mirichi, an International UN Volunteer from Kenya serving with UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Report identifies three models to highlight volunteer-state relationships – the deliberative governance, the co-production of services and the social innovation – and offers policy recommendations. Decision makers are encouraged to: Promote volunteering beyond service delivery to include social innovation and inclusiveness. Strengthen public social recognition of volunteers especially as they are not financially rewarded. Create space where both volunteers and state authorities can share their experiences and establish common ground. Invest in measurement and data on volunteers and support research on volunteerism. As part of the SWVR preparation, UNV and Gallup conducted research to study the patterns of volunteerism during COVID-19. The multi-country primary data collection was conducted in March-April 2021, including a survey of eight thousand people in eight countries – Bolivia, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, Thailand, Turkey and Uzbekistan. -------------------------------------------------- Notes to Editors: For more information and to schedule interviews please contact: Kevin Ochieng kevin.ochieng@unv.org Getachew Dibaba Ayanee getachew.dibaba@un.org For the full Report and other resources go to: Full Report: https://swvr2022.unv.org/ SWVR Key Messages and Policy Recommendations: https://swvr2022.unv.org/key-messages-and-policy-recommendations/ SWVR Trello Board: https://trello.com/b/MXkphT2K/state-of-the-worlds-volunteerism-report-2022 About the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tacking development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

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Press Release

26 May 2022

UN Headquarters Observes International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on 26 May

UN Headquarters will observe the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on Thursday, 26 May 2022. Secretary-General António Guterres will lay a wreath to honour the nearly 4,200 UN peacekeepers who have lost their lives since 1948 and will preside over a ceremony at which the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal will be awarded posthumously to 117 military, police, and civilian peacekeepers, who lost their life serving under the UN flag last year. Among the peacekeepers to be honooured posthumously are three Ethiopian peacekeepers who served with United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA): Cpl Solomon Ayalew Gared, Sgt Abebe Tesfaye Masiresha, and Sgt Tekelargay Tinikshu Haile. During a special ceremony, the Secretary-General will award the “Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage” posthumously to Captain Abdelrazakh Hamit Bahar of Chad, who served with the United Nations Integrated Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). The medal is named for a Senegalese peacekeeper who was killed in Rwanda in 1994 after saving countless civilian lives. This is the second time the medal has been awarded since the inaugural medal was presented to Captain Diagne's family in his honour in 2016. The Secretary-General will also award the ‘2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award’ to Major Winnet Zharare, a Zimbabwean military observer, who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan. Created in 2016, the Award “recognises the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles of UN Security Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.” In his message, the Secretary-General said: “Today, we honour the more than one million women and men who have served as UN peacekeepers since 1948. We pay tribute to the nearly 4,200 heroes and heroines who sacrificed their lives in the cause of peace. And we are reminded an age-old truth: peace can never be taken for granted. Peace is the prize. We are deeply grateful to the 87,000 civilian, police and military personnel now serving under the UN flag who are helping to realize the prize of peace worldwide.”
The theme for this year’s observance is “People. Peace. Progress. The Power of Partnerships.” According to the Secretary-General, “Around the globe, UN peacekeepers work with Member States, civil society, humanitarians, the media, the communities they serve and many others, to foster peace, protect civilians, promote human rights and the rule of law and improve the lives of millions of people.”
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, said: “Every day, UN peacekeepers work to protect vulnerable people in the world’s most fragile political and security situations. The dangers they face are greater than ever, with increasing global tensions, ever-more complex threats from terrorist attacks to organized crime and the use of Improvised Explosive Devices as well as a surge in mis and disinformation targeting our missions and the communities we serve. Despite these challenges, peacekeepers persevere alongside our many partners in the collective pursuit of peace. Today, we thank them for their tremendous contribution and remember with great sorrow our colleagues who have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving the cause of peace.” The International Day of UN Peacekeepers was established by the General Assembly in 2002, to pay tribute to all men and women serving in peacekeeping, and to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the cause of peace. The General Assembly designated 29 May as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers in commemoration of the day in 1948 when the UN’s first peacekeeping mission, the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), began operations in Palestine. Since then, more than 1 million women and men have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations.
Schedule of Events at Headquarters on 26 May 09:30 a.m.: The Secretary-General will lay a wreath in honour of fallen peacekeepers at the Peacekeepers Memorial Site on the North Lawn. (If inclement weather, the ceremony will be held near the Chagall window in the Visitors’ Lobby). Only UN Photo and UN TV will cover the ceremony. It will not be webcast live, but will be available on demand soon after the event: https://media.un.org/ 10:00 a.m.: The Dag Hammarskjöld Medal, Military Gender Advocate of the Year, and Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage ceremonies will be held in the Trusteeship Council and shown live on UN Webcast: https://media.un.org/ 12:00 p.m.: Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix will be the guest at the noon briefing. It will be webcast live at https://media.un.org/ # # # # # Media Contacts: Douglas Coffman, Department of Global Communications -+1 (917) 361-9923, e-mail: coffmand@un.org; or Hector Calderon, Department of Peace Operations +1 (917) 226 5219 e-mail: hector.calderon@un.org For more information, please visit the Peacekeepers Day websites here: https://www.un.org/en/observances/peacekeepers-day; or https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/international-day-of-peacekeepers-2022

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Press Release

12 April 2022

UNHCR seeks US$205 million to deliver life-saving assistance to over 1.6 million people affected by the northern Ethiopia conflict

Sixteen months of conflict in northern Ethiopia has created a humanitarian crisis. Civilians, including refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) have been displaced, amid widespread reports of gender-based violence, human rights abuses, loss of shelter and access to basic services, and critical levels of food insecurity. More than 2 million Ethiopians have fled in search of safety within the country, and almost 60,000 across the border into Sudan. Several camps and settlements hosting Eritrean refugees have been attacked or destroyed, further displacing tens of thousands within Ethiopia. Funds raised will help us to provide essential protection and humanitarian assistance to those impacted by the violence. At least 60,000 IDP households will be assisted with shelter and emergency relief items. We will establish additional protection desks –adding to the more than 60 already set up – to identify people with specific needs and to refer survivors of gender-based violence to services, and we will support the reintegration of 75,000 IDP families, who wish to return to their homes. We welcome the quick response of the Ethiopian government to identify new sites to settle the displaced refugees, which requires resources. UNHCR will support the government’s Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS) and partners to complete the Alemwach site, in the Amhara region, so that Eritrean refugees can be relocated as soon as it is possible to do so, and to ensure essential services. A new temporary site for Eritrean refugees caught up in the fighting in Afar region is similarly in need of urgent investment. Together with RRS and partners, we are aiming to get 20,000 refugee children back into school. In eastern Sudan, UNHCR will provide critical protection and assistance to Ethiopian refugees, including by building shelters that are more durable, and strengthening health care and education. Activities to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and to provide psychosocial and mental health support will be scaled up. UNHCR will also boost preparedness for flooding and extreme weather ahead of the upcoming rainy season. Opportunities to earn an income will be enhanced both for refugees and the communities that host them. Of the US$205 million, US$117 million will support the needs of Ethiopian IDPs and Eritrean refugees in the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia, while US$72 million will help us support Ethiopian refugees in Sudan. Some US$16 million will be used for preparedness as part of contingency measures for any potential influx into neighbouring countries (Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan). While UNHCR continues to reinforce its protection and humanitarian assistance, we reiterate our call to all parties of the conflict to protect civilians in line with their obligations under international humanitarian law and to provide safe and unhindered access to all those in need.

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