Dr. Jillann Farmer, the UN medical director for more than seven years, has returned to Australia to work for the Department of Health in Queensland. She led the UN’s internal health care system through such crises as the Ebola outbreak in 2014, but the coronavirus pandemic required the UN’s biggest medical-emergency response yet when it hit New York City in March.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, prepping for a virtual press briefing with him, April 30, 2020, UN headquarters. The secretary-general had asked the current UN medical director, Dr. Jillann Farmer, to extend her term a few months during the coronavirus crisis. But now she is returning to her home country, Australia. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
Samantha Buonvino, above, is a civilian peacekeeper working for the UN in Mali. Her job is to get to know the community of Gao, where she is based, but the UN is under lockdown there, presenting not more “suffering,” she said, but just an “extra challenge.”
Secretary-General António Guterres holds a virtual press conference to promote a report on his call for a global cease-fire during the Covid-19 outbreak, April 3, 2020. A Security Council draft resolution supporting his call was knocked down by the US on May 8, facing a low chance for revival. LOEY FELIPE/UN PHOTO
Michael Edeh, a peacekeeping officer enhancing his skills working for the UN-African Union mission in Darfur, Sudan, through an e-learning program. Demand for virtual training has become suddenly more critical as Covid-19 keeps spreading and national training centers are being shut down.
The Estonian delegation reacting to their country’s election to the Security Council for a two-year term, a first for the young Baltic country. In New York, above, President Kersti Kaljulaid being hugged by Sven Jurgenson, the ambassador to the United Nations, June 7, 2019. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
Estonia assumed its first two-year term on the United Nations Security Council in January, and it will hold the presidency in May. It’s a tough time for international diplomacy, in light of the pandemic.
Secretary-General António Guterres recording a video message in the UNTV studio, in New York, on the pandemic’s effects on children, April 16, 2020. Soon after Guterres recently announced the resignation of the head of the UN staff pension fund, worth $63 billion, he reaffirmed his commitment to its “well-being.” ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
The head of the UN Environment Program, Inger Andersen, at the agency’s Champions of the Earth Awards, Sept. 26, 2019, in Cipriani, New York City. With the pandemic now upending agendas, Andersen hopes something positive will emerge eventually, such as “keeping wildlife wild,” she said. UNEP
The UNTV studio in New York, as Martin Griffiths, UN envoy for Yemen, left, briefs the Security Council by videoconference, April 16, 2020. The UN’s 75th birthday this year is a crucial chance, the authors argue, for the Council to recommit to the vision of the Charter. ESKINDER DEBEBE/UN PHOTO
The United Nations is turning 75 this year.
Several top UN officials and other leaders have called for easing of certain sanctions imposed on such countries as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. In the US, some Democrats have rallied behind the call to specifically help Iran during the pandemic as well. But the Trump administration has refused to go along with those recommendations. CREATIVE COMMONS
