News

Thousands of people in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado are on the move in search of safety, as the security situation remains volatile, after last week’s brutal attacks by armed groups in Palma district, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

Ten days after armed groups carried out a deadly attack on three villages near the western Niger town of Tillia, UN humanitarians have repeated their call for greater protection of civilians and all those displaced by violence in the Sahel.

Around one in eight nations spends more on debt than on social services, according to a new report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched on Thursday, calling for debt service relief and restructuring to enable countries to bounce back from the pandemic.

Climate change and loss of biodiversity is seen as the most pressing challenge over the decade, according to the World in 2030 Survey report published on Wednesday by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

The world needs “a major breakthrough” to slow the pace of climate change and build resilience to protect the most vulnerable from increasingly severe and frequent climate impacts, the deputy UN chief told a crucial high-level meeting on Wednesday, looking ahead to November’s COP26. 

United Nations agencies have stepped up their efforts to assist thousands of Rohingya refugee families left homeless after last week’s devastating fire at the Kutupalong refugee camp in southern Bangladesh. 

Vulnerable communities disproportionately bear the brunt of environmental degradation caused by plastics pollution, and action is urgently needed to address the issue and restore access to human rights, health and well-being, according to a new UN report published on Tuesday.  

Ending the 10-year conflict in Syria is the collective responsibility of the international community, Secretary-General António Guterres reaffirmed during a major pledging event on Tuesday co-chaired by the UN and the European Union. 

Disturbing reports of targeted attacks against civilians have continued to emerge from the northern Mozambique town of Palma, marking a serious escalation of violence and volatility in the Cabo Delgado region.

A new report on pandemics and cities from UN-Habitat, points the way to how hard-hit urban centres can reduce the impact of future outbreaks and become more equitable, healthy and environmentally friendly.

The Secretary-General welcomed a recommitted and re-engaged United States administration to United Nations Headquarters on Monday, albeit virtually, calling on it to play a leadership role in drawing up a global vaccination plan to beat COVID-19, and make the upcoming COP26 a watershed moment for climate action.

Though significant steps have been taken to prevent a debt crisis on nations hit hard by impact of the coronavirus pandemic, they have not been sufficient to restore economic health, according to a policy brief issued by the UN Secretary-General on Monday. 

Senior United Nations officials have called on the international community to set up funding for relief programmes supporting millions of people in Syria and the region, who depend on the life-saving assistance and livelihood support after a decade of brutal conflict. 

The world began to ripple to darkness on Saturday as countries globally dimmed their lights at 8:30 pm local time for Earth Hour – an event that, according to the UN, encourages individuals, communities, and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights, for one hour.

The UN  is scaling up its efforts to help Nepal, which faces numerous natural threats, to become more resilient, minimize human casualties and preserve livelihoods.

In Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region there’s deep concern for thousands of Eritrean refugees whose camps have been found burned to the ground, confirming satellite imagery and testimony from those who have fled attacks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed development gains for millions in poor countries, creating an even more sharply unequal world, according to a new UN report released on Thursday.  

Alleged serious abuses and rights violations in Ethiopia’s Tigray region are to be investigated by the UN, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Thursday.

The United Nations’ top relief official on Wednesday released $14 million in emergency funding to provide life-saving assistance to thousands of Rohingya refugee families, after a massive fire ripped through the Kutupalong camp in southern Bangladesh, earlier this week. 

As the living tissue of the earth, biodiversity is “intimately linked to human health” the head of the UN’s scientific agency told a global forum on Wednesday, noting that “we are part of that living tissue”. 

The United Nations Secretary-General on Tuesday urged all countries, companies and financial institutions to commit to net zero or carbon neutrality, with “clear and credible” plans to achieve the target, starting immediately. 

Famine is already on the doorstep of millions of families in 20 countries, two UN agencies warned on Tuesday in a report that calls for urgent action to avert rising hunger due to factors such as conflict, climate extremes and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Confronting major setbacks due to the coronavirus pandemic, countries in Asia and the Pacific “must now seize the moment” to rebuild and recover better together, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General said on Tuesday. 

Rapid growth in innovations that are designed to help people overcome their disabilities could soon offer a fix to all manner of mobility, sight and other difficulties, UN patent experts WIPO said on Tuesday.

Senior leaders with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Monday of the urgent need  to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, where an ongoing deadly insurgency has uprooted  hundreds of thousands of people.  

Climate change has hit the world’s oceans hard, UN weather experts said on Monday, in a call for lifesaving monitoring and early warning services that were interrupted by COVID-19 to be ramped up again, to protect shipping and coastal communities at risk. 

The UN is marking World Water Day on Monday with a global conversation on how people value the lifegiving resource in different parts of the world, according to local needs.

Local communities in Costa Rica are working together to fight the challenging combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, thanks to support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Millions of people around the world are affected by Down syndrome, a chromosome disorder. Each year, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 children are born with the condition which commonly affects, to varying degrees, an individual’s learning styles, physical characteristics and health. 

What can African countries learn from China’s success in lifting millions out of poverty? Senior UN official Siddharth Chatterjee, formerly the Resident Coordinator in Kenya, now in the same post in China, thinks many aspects of the country’s economic success can provide useful lessons for developing countries looking to provide improved livelihoods for their citizens.