"SOUTH AFRICA"

As World AIDS Day approaches, UNAIDS urges governments to empower grassroots communities worldwide to lead the fight to end AIDS. A new report by UNAIDS, Let Communities Lead, shows that AIDS can be ended as a public health threat by 2030, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they need from governments and donors. UNAIDS

The Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said, “Looking ahead, it would be impossible to envision free, fair, and credible elections in December 2024, unless all South Sudanese parties, leaders, and stakeholders grab the bull by the horns, and agree on a critical mass of decisions by the first quarter of 2024.” UNMISS

With merely 13 months remaining until its first post-independence elections in South Sudan, UNMISS and partners hosted a political parties' forum on federalism to galvanize momentum in ongoing peace processes. UMNISS

A once-daily dose of a widely available medicine taken over six months cut a child’s risk of developing the most dangerous and difficult form of tuberculosis (TB) by more than half, according to results from a major clinical trial funded by Unitaid and led by Stellenbosch University. UNITAID

Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu of Romania, Hilary Charlesworth of Australia, Sarah Hull Cleveland of the United States, Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco of Mexico, and Dire Tladi of South Africa were elected as members of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a term of office of nine years, beginning on 6 February 2024. UNIFEED

Security council media stakeout by Mr. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Deputy Permanent Representative of South Africa to the UN and Mr. Sidi M. Omar, Representative of Frente POLISARIO, on Western Sahara.

With a UN top political affairs official warning that “the stakes for preventive diplomacy and dialogue could not be higher”, the Security Council held today an open debate on the contribution of regional, sub-regional, and bilateral arrangements to the prevention and peaceful resolution of disputes. UNIFEED

Alice Jill Edwards, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, said that at least 335 companies in 54 countries around the world are manufacturing and promoting the items “that I consider are inherently cruel, inhuman or degrading by design or purpose.” UNIFEED

The UN General Assembly elected 15 new countries to serve on the Human Rights Council. UNIFEED

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is hosting a press briefing on the margins of the 78th UN General Assembly High-Level week to discuss the renewed concern around nuclear testing and the weapons it helps create.