News

The Commissioner-General of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) briefed the Security Council in New York on Wednesday as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, telling ambassadors that life-saving deliveries are being blocked by Israel as part of an "insidious campaign" to push it out of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

Despite important achievements over the past decade to improve the well-being of Indigenous Peoples, safeguard their cultures, and expand their participation at the UN, “deep chasms” endure between commitments made and reality on the ground, the President of the General Assembly said on Wednesday. 

Despite facing formidable challenges, women-owned and run businesses in Afghanistan continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience, serving as vital pillars of economic stability and hope amidst adversity, a new UN report has found.

The Commissioner-General of the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) is due to brief the Security Council at 3:00 PM in New York on Wednesday as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and Israeli demands to abolish the frontline agency, intensify.

Reducing the transport sector’s impact on the environment while improving access to service, especially in developing countries, topped the agenda of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. 

UN and partner agencies insisted on Wednesday that “critical changes” are needed to improve aid access into Gaza, as they launched a $2.8 billion appeal to provide urgent assistance for millions of people in the devastated enclave, but also in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been targeted by increasing settler violence.

The President of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday highlighted the urgent need to boost sustainable and resilient tourism practices to protect the environment while continuing to benefit local economies.

Dominica aims to become the world’s first “climate-resilient nation, and the indigenous Kalinago people are playing a leading role in developing the country and helping its people to thrive in the face of the climate emergency.

Scaling up assistance in Gaza remains a challenge in the face of continued access denials, delays and other impediments, the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories said on Tuesday. 

Ethiopia’s international partners convened in Geneva on Tuesday to address the urgent need for increased humanitarian funding for the crisis-hit country, pledging a total of almost $630 million.

Young leaders from around the world are sharing their visions and actions to advance sustainable development at a three-day meeting that opened on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York. 

Nearly 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza since war erupted six months ago and one child is injured or dies every 10 minutes, UN agencies warned on Tuesday, amid spiralling violence in the West Bank and concerns over a regional escalation of the conflict following Iran’s missile and drone strike on Israel. 

The Secretary-General and President of the General Assembly on Monday led the clarion call for urgent reform of the global financial system, notably how to approach debt relief on behalf of the billions of citizens living in the developing world.

“The world is forgetting about the people of Sudan” the UN chief warned on Monday, calling for a boost in humanitarian funding and a global push for peace to end a year of brutal fighting between rival militaries.

With the ‘promise of a better world’ in mind the UN Youth Office has launched an new advocacy campaign – “World Leaders: It’s Time to Let #YouthLead” – calling for greater youth representation in decision-making roles in both the public and private sector, civil society, academia, and the UN. 

As UN chief António Guterres on Monday reiterated his appeal for “maximum restraint” in the Middle East following Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel, independent human rights experts said that the alleged use of artificial intelligence on targets in Gaza by the Israeli military had taken an “unprecedented toll” on civilians, housing and services.

A full year of conflict in Sudan has already caused immense suffering and death but the situation could easily worsen with the news that the warring parties are arming civilians, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Monday.

Fishing communities in the south of Madagascar are facing sometimes deadly sea conditions due to climate change, but with the help of the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) are finding ways to adapt to the new circumstances they face.

Rape. Murder. Hunger. Corpses filling streets, making it impossible to walk. Sudan was plunged into an ongoing, devastating war one year ago on 15 April, leaving in its wake almost 15,000 dead, eight million civilians on the run, 25 million in dire need of assistance and warnings from humanitarians about famine, aid blockades and a growing list of atrocities on all sides.

Almost 55 million people are facing further food and nutrition insecurity in West and Central Africa during the region’s three-month lean season from June through August, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.

UN humanitarians in Sudan issued a fresh alert on Friday about pervasive food insecurity and looming famine.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has warned that poverty is surging and the middle class in Myanmar is “disappearing” amidst worsening insecurity and conflict. 

Russian attacks on cities and towns across Ukraine, including intense and systematic targeting of the energy infrastructure, “have become a daily destructive pattern” in recent weeks, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Thursday. 

People in Gaza are struggling to survive, said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, who was part of a team carrying out an assessment mission on Wednesday in the southern city of Khan Younis following the Israeli military withdrawal last week.

Financing for sustainable development is at a crossroads and without urgent investment, global efforts to achieve a more just and equitable world by 2030 will fail, the UN deputy chief warned on Tuesday. 

At least 38 migrants - including women and children – died when their overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the UN migration agency (IOM) reported on Tuesday.

UN-coordinated food convoys are three times more likely to be denied access to north Gaza than other aid convoys, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday. 

UN humanitarians on Monday made clear the emergency response in Haiti’s capital continues despite ongoing insecurity caused by months of gang-led violence there. 

The UN’s overriding mission in Gaza to ‘flood the place with food’ and avert famine, has moved forward this week thanks to Israel’s public pledge to increase the flow of aid, despite signs on Sunday that the feared invasion of Rafah is imminent.

Two aid convoys carrying lifesaving supplies have reached Sudan’s Darfurs for the first time in months, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, as humanitarians try to avert a “hunger catastrophe”, after nearly a year of heavy fighting.