News

With the COVID-19 pandemic precipitating one of the world’s worst health, socioeconomic and humanitarian crises in over a century, the UN chief told a high-level discussion on Tuesday to seize the opportunity “to make real, foundational, and necessary change”. 

The Desert Locust crisis, which struck the greater Horn of Africa region earlier this year, could re-escalate as recent strong winds carried small mature yellow swarmlets from southern Somalia into eastern and northeastern Kenya, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said. 

The UN on Monday said it was “extremely concerned” over the safety of civilians across Ethiopia’s Tigray region, as fighting between Government troops and those loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) reportedly continued, with the Ethiopian Prime Minister having called on opposition forces to surrender the capital Mekelle, by Wednesday.

COVID-19 is overshadowing what has become a “pandemic of femicide” and related gender-based violence against women and girls, said independent UN human rights expert Dubravka Šimonović on Monday, calling for the universal establishment of national initiatives to monitor and prevent such killings.  

Levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere hit a new record of 410.5 parts per million in 2019, and are expected to keep rising this year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin on Monday.  

Raising alarm over “an imminent catastrophe” in war-ravaged Yemen, the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reiterated the urgent need to stop fighting. 

In the West African country of Sierra Leone, the UN is supporting a government programme, training women and men to take on leadership roles in areas such as peacebuilding, with the aim of promoting peace and non-violence.

When he addresses leaders of the world’s richest countries at the G20 summit on Saturday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will deliver a simple message on the COVID-19 pandemic: “We need solidarity and cooperation. And we need concrete action now — especially for the most vulnerable.”  

The COVID-19 crisis was impacting Africa “well before the pandemic spread across the continent”, the UN chief said on Friday, marking Africa Industrialization Day, arriving at a point when many economies were expanding and “poverty was in decline”.   

Yemen is in “imminent danger of the worst famine the world has seen for decades”, the UN chief warned in a statement released on Friday, calling for urgent action on the part of the international community to “stave off catastrophe”.

The global community is marking World Children’s Day on Friday, calling for societies to “reimagine a better future” for every child, where each one has the opportunity to thrive. 

Engineer, nurse, breakdancer, shepherd, human rights lawyer, journalist, musician and president are just some of the future dreams harboured by young displaced people in the Sahel region of Africa.

Pointing to its “pioneering legislation and policies”, on Thursday the UN chief hailed the 27-member European Union (EU) as a “a leader on climate action”, that had shown that it was possible to cut emissions while achieving economic growth. 

Refugee resettlement numbers will be at a “record low” this year, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday, with only 15,425 people resettled in the first nine months of 2020, compared to more than 50,000 in 2019. 

Senior UN officials have conducted a two-day mission to southeastern Sudan, where some 30,000 Ethiopians have found refuge after fleeing ongoing fighting between national and regional forces in Tigray province, the world body reported on Wednesday. 

An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus disease in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is over, the government announced on Wednesday, after a five-month response supported by the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners.   

Asian and Pacific nations are increasingly leveraging space technology and geospatial information to respond to challenges on the ground, including in their efforts to contain the spread and mitigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new United Nations report. 

During her visit to Ghana on Monday, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed met with young people living with HIV and disabilities in the capital, Accra.   

The United Nations released $100 million of emergency funding on Tuesday to stave off the risk of famine in seven countries most at risk from a hunger epidemic fueled by conflict, economic decline, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

A “full-scale humanitarian crisis” is unfolding as thousands of refugees flee ongoing fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region each day to seek safety in eastern Sudan, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday. 

“Hunger is an outrage in a world of plenty”, the UN chief told the governing body of the Organization’s food agency on Monday, highlighting the important role of food security in cementing peace.   

As countries work to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, they also have the chance to “get it right” on climate change, the UN Secretary-General told a virtual gathering of influential leaders on Monday. 

A new trade bloc covering a huge swathe of the Asia-Pacific region will play an important role in developing poorer economies and in post-pandemic stimulus, according to a report published on Monday by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).  

If just two per cent of the Ocean were to be sustainably farmed, the world could easily be fed, according to experts. In the first story of a two-part series looking at the opportunities and challenges facing Ocean farming, we take a look at the huge potential role of seaweed in mitigating climate change, cutting marine pollution, and achieving the UN goal of Zero Hunger.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed on Friday has been strongly advocating for the greater participation of women and youth in Mali’s ongoing transition towards a durable peace, and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as she continues her solidarity visit to West Africa and the Sahel.

Disturbing reports of an alleged massacre have surfaced in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, amid fighting between national and regional forces that may become impossible to control, the UN human rights chief warned on Friday. 

With telephone lines still cut and transport links disrupted, it is impossible for humanitarians to get vital supplies into Ethiopia’s Tigray region or assess evolving humanitarian needs, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said. 

The global shipping industry has played a vital role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and demand for its services has limited the annual decline in maritime trade volumes to around 4.1 per cent in 2020, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said in its annual report on the shipping industry on Thursday. 

Those affected by the devastating explosions that tore through Beirut 100 days ago, killing more than 200 people, remain in need of crucial support, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday. 

The plight of Yemenis demands “nothing less than a firm bet on peace”, the UN Special Envoy told the Security Council on Wednesday.