News

Twenty-two percent of households in Ukraine are spending over a quarter of their monthly income on healthcare, according to a report issued on Monday by 12 UN agencies in the country. 

A senior United Nations relief official said on Sunday that Russia has so far declined requests to help residents of Russian-controlled areas of southern Ukraine impacted by the breach of the Kakhovka dam. 

Just before noon in Satara, a remote village in Niger’s southwestern Tillaberi region, the thermometer is already hovering near 40°C.

From institutionalized racism to genocide, the roots are the same, according to people on the frontlines of change who shared their stories with UN News ahead of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, observed on Sunday.

Women’s land rights are in the spotlight ahead of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, observed on 17 June, at events around the world, from Kenya to Viet Nam, including a high-level event at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday.

Sea ice is reducing at an unprecedented rate, prompting polar scientists to call for an urgent increase in research and observation, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Friday. 

With the conflict between rival militaries in Sudan entering its third month, the people of Darfur are “trapped in a living nightmare”, the UN’s top aid official has said.

Words are not enough to alleviate the multiple crises afflicting Haiti, said the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Friday, in an appeal for urgent international action.

UN humanitarians continue bringing life-saving aid to survivors of the flooding from the Kakhovka Dam, but they’ve warned that hundreds of thousands more people in the country’s south face severe water shortages. 

As donors gathered in Brussels at an international pledging conference for Syria organized by the European Union on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres highlighted the immense suffering of the Syrian people, which he said “defies description”.

Countries must phase out coal and other fossil fuels to avert climate “catastrophe”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Thursday in New York.    

As donors gathered in Brussels at an international pledging conference for Syria organized by the European Union on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres highlighted the immense suffering of the Syrian people, which he said “defies description”.

Nearly three million children, the highest number on record, need humanitarian support in Haiti, where they face staggering levels of violence that have exacerbated hunger and malnutrition in a country already mired in poverty and a resurgence of deadly cholera. 

Social justice must underpin the global transition to more just and sustainable jobs for all, UN Secretary-Antonio Guterres said in a video message to the opening of the World of Work Summit in Geneva on Wednesday. 

With an estimated 3.5 billion people living in “climate hot spots”, related peace and security risks are only set to heighten, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix told the Security Council on Tuesday, warning that action must be taken to avert ever-worsening effects.

Disease outbreaks, a mental health crisis and lack of access to care are among the devastating health impacts of the destruction of the Kahkovka dam in southern Ukraine a week ago, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

An unprecedented funding crisis in Syria has forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to announce cuts to aid being provided for 2.5 million of the 5.5 million people who rely on the agency for basic food needs.

Around the world, some 160 million children work to earn a living, instead of going to school. That’s almost one in every 10 children.

A new UN report launched on Monday revealed no improvement in the level of prejudice shown against women over the past decade, with almost nine out of 10 men and women worldwide, still holding such biases.

Countries must address the “grave global harm” caused by the proliferation of hate and lies online, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, launching a key report designed to shore up information integrity on digital platforms.  

Heavy rains and thunderstorms in the area of the Kakhovka dam disaster in southern Ukraine aggravated the humanitarian situation there on Monday, making evacuations and aid distribution harder.

Amid media reports of widespread theft of aid deliveries in Ethiopia, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Friday the immediate temporary suspension of food assistance to the country.

Plans to help the people of Ukraine following the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam are centred on saving people “right now”, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told UN News in an interview on Friday.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the annual World Oceans Day Photo Competition, a new exhibit is making a splash now through 14 July at UN Headquarters to promote a better understanding of Earth’s invaluable bodies of water.

The UN’s top official in Ukraine reassured the country’s Foreign Minister on Thursday that the Organization has been working to provide support and aid to civilians affected by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam since the first hours of the disaster.

The magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, is becoming clearer as UN humanitarians redoubled efforts to reach affected civilians with aid on Wednesday.

Over a third of global fish stocks are being harvested at unsustainable levels – just one example of how human activity is harming oceans, which cover more than 70 per cent of the Earth’s surface.

Thousands of civilians in Ukraine are in danger on the frontline, after the apparent destruction of a huge dam whose reservoir is used to cool the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (ZNPP), UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

The world is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 7, designed to ensure access to affordable, reliable energy for all, a new report from the UN and partners revealed on Monday.

The UN expressed deep sadness as another deadly earthquake claimed the lives of at least three people near the Haitian city of Jerémie in the early hours of Tuesday, compounding an already life-threatening situation in recent days caused by flooding and landslides.