News

The UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has endorsed the addition of 18 new sites from around the world to its network of outstanding Geoparks, showcasing some of the most beautiful sites of natural beauty around the globe.

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of conflict-related violence and destruction, and during the Protection of Civilians (PoC) Week 2023, observed from 22 to 25 May, the UN and partners are working towards finding the best ways to protect them.

More than one in four patients screened in violence-afflicted Gaza at UN-run health centres, require mental health and psychosocial support, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday, publishing its annual overview.

As a clearer picture emerges of the trail of destruction left by Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar and Bangladesh, humanitarians are continuing to provide life-saving assistance, and the need for an urgent increase in funding.

The world is failing to live up to its commitment to protect civilians during wartime, Secretary-General António Guterres told the UN Security Council on Tuesday, urging greater respect for international humanitarian law. 

Following widespread diversion of lifesaving food aid in Ethiopia last month, the World Food Programme (WFP) has strengthened safeguards and controls in a bid to prevent further misuse, the UN agency said on Tuesday.

Despite going into reverse on more than 30 per cent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it’s not too late to “turn the tide” said the Secretary-General on Tuesday, who told Member States that the UN was “determined to do just that.” 

A Ghanaian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNISFA) will receive the 2022 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, it was announced on Monday.

Although COVID-19 may no longer be a global public health emergency, countries must still strengthen response to the disease and prepare for future pandemics and other threats, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday in Geneva. 

A crucial ceasefire poised to enter into force in restive Sudan on Monday evening should “pave the way” for peace talks to end the month-old conflict, the top UN official in the country has said.

The decision by El Salvador to extend a state of emergency aimed at cracking down on gangs undermines the right to fair trial, three experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Monday. 

The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine lost all external power for several hours on Monday morning, highlighting the urgent need to protect the facility and prevent an accident, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement. 

The theme of the International Day for Biological Diversity, observed on Monday, centres on moving from talk to action: build back biodiversity.

Over two million deaths and $4.3 trillion in economic losses; that’s the impact of a half-century of extreme weather events turbo-charged by man-made global warming, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday. 

Children in the Horn of Africa are living through an unprecedented large-scale crisis of hunger, displacement, water scarcity, and insecurity, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

Global life expectancy has grown by 50 per cent since the birth of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) 75 years ago, the UN chief said on Sunday, but in the wake of COVID, climate change, and other challenges, “progress is in peril”.

The world is counting on the G7 bloc of industrialized democracies to demonstrate global leadership and solidarity, said the UN chief on Sunday, speaking to journalists in Hiroshima, Japan, which he described as a “global symbol of the tragic consequences when nations fail to work together”, and abandon multilateralism.

The water challenges confronting the western United States as a result of climate change and declining water supply, are similar to those of other countries, and if the international community takes urgent action on the outcomes of the recent UN Water Conference, there could be a big payoff. 

Beekeepers around the world earn their livelihoods from the golden honey their bees produce, but they also play a critical role in pollinating 87 of 115 leading food crops worldwide. World Bee Day, observed on Saturday, is abuzz with promoting their sustainable agricultural practices and respecting the role these pollinators play in nature.

Chili peppers, fake medicine, fuel, gold, guns, humans, and more are being trafficked via millennia-old trade routes crisscrossing the Sahel, and the UN and partners are trying out new, collaborative ways to thwart those attempting the illegal practice, a growing problem in this fragile African region.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to warn of the potential nuclear threat in the Ukraine conflict amid rising tensions surrounding the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). 

The UN Human Rights Council-appointed panel of independent experts examining the Iranian Government’s response to protests that erupted there last November, has said that it’s “deeply alarmed” at continuing executions of demonstrators, ahead of pending reviews.

More than 60 per cent of Ukrainian refugee mothers in Poland are experiencing high or severe levels of distress, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, Mental Health Action Day, highlighting the psychological impact of the war in their homeland. 

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is seeking nearly $88 million to assist 6.5 million people in Malawi, including at least 573,000 boys and girls who are at risk of malnutrition. 

Disasters can reverse hard-won development gains by decades and leave the most vulnerable populations more exposed to deadly risks. As nations gathered this week to take stock of how the world is better preparing for disasters in line with the Sendai Framework, Raul Salazar shared a view for UN News, from the Americas, a region that accounts for 53 per cent of global hazard-related economic losses, alongside high mortality rates.

Roughly 90 per cent of the population in Afghanistan is on the brink of poverty “and children bear the brunt of it,” the Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the country, Fran Equiza, told journalists in New York on Thursday. 

The UN Children’s Fund is calling for an urgent increase in funding to help tackle an escalating number of cases of sexual violence against children and women in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu province, where armed groups proliferate amidst heavy fighting in recent months.

Global progress towards disaster risk management has been weak and insufficient, putting at risk the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the  General Assembly on Thursday. 

More than six million boys and girls in Türkiye and Syria are still struggling to cope 100 days after the deadly earthquakes that hit both countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday. 

Warring parties continue to make progress in efforts towards ending the nearly decade-long conflict in Yemen, though outstanding issues remain, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday.