News

Our news page provides you with a round up of UN news related to economic development, humanitarian aid, climate change, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). You will find the summary of news articles together with a link to the news source.

News
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Climate change: educating students to fight the crisis

11 Mar 2020

With the latest UN climate report containing worrying evidence that climate change is having a major effect on all aspects of the environment, how can teachers help children and adults to sort through the growing mass of information, avoid being overwhelmed, and come to an understanding of the challenges, and potential solutions, to what the UN Secretary-General has called “an existential crisis”?

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Flagship UN study shows accelerating climate change on land, sea and in the atmosphere

10 Mar 2020

A wide-ranging UN climate report, released on Tuesday, shows that climate change is having a major effect on all aspects of the environment, as well as on the health and wellbeing of the global population.

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Coronavirus update: COVID-19 likely to cost economy $1 trillion during 2020, says UN trade agency

09 Mar 2020

Apart from the tragic human consequences of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic, the economic uncertainty it has sparked will likely cost the global economy $1 trillion in 2020, the UN’s trade and development agency, UNCTAD, said on Monday.

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COVID-19: countries, businesses must safeguard human rights as virus spreads: Bachelet 

06 Mar 2020

As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to spread globally, the UN’s top human rights official appealed on Friday to put rights “front and centre” when implementing preventative measures. 

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International Women’s Day: Gender equality benefits everyone

06 Mar 2020

The benefits of gender equality are not just for women and girls, but “for everyone whose lives will be changed by a fairer world”, the chief of UN Women said in her message for International Women’s Day (IWD) at UN Headquarters on Friday, being celebrated in New York, ahead of the official day.

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International Women's Day: progress on gender equality remains slow

05 Mar 2020

Women's Rights in Review, 25 years after Beijing takes stock of how the landmark gender equality plan, the Beijing Platform for Action, is being implemented and calls for greater parity and justice.

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Guterres calls for ‘immediate and lasting’ end to Syria fighting as Turkey and Russia agree ceasefire

05 Mar 2020

The UN Secretary-General said on Thursday that he hoped the latest ceasefire agreement between Russia and Turkey to end fighting across Syria’s stricken Idlib region, would finally lead to “an immediate and lasting cessation”, that would protect civilian lives.

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New UN report reveals nearly 90 per cent have ‘a deeply ingrained bias’ against women

05 Mar 2020

Despite decades of progress in closing the gender equality gap, close to nine out of 10 men and women around the world, hold some sort of bias against women, according to new findings published on Thursday from the UN Development Programmme (UNDP).

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Syria: UN food relief agency ‘doing everything we can’ to reach Idlib civilians

04 Mar 2020

Difficult winter weather conditions, road congestion and military manoeuvres are restricting humanitarian aid delivery to desperate civilians in the Syrian province of Idlib, where a Government operation to weed out extremists has uprooted nearly one million people since December. 

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Coronavirus COVID-19 wipes $50 billion off global exports in February alone

04 Mar 2020

The extent of the damage to the global economy caused by novel coronavirus COVID-19 moved further into focus on Wednesday as UN economists announced a likely $50 billion drop in worldwide manufacturing exports in February alone.

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World Bank Group Announces Up to $12 Billion Immediate Support for COVID-19 Country Response

04 Mar 2020

As COVID-19 reaches more than 60 countries, the World Bank Group is making available an initial package of up to $12 billion in immediate support to assist countries coping with the health and economic impacts of the global outbreak. This financing is designed to help member countries take effective action to respond to and, where possible, lessen the tragic impacts posed by the COVID-19 (coronavirus).

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Yemen: UN Population Fund stresses women’s needs, amidst world’s worst humanitarian crisis 

04 Mar 2020

Intense clashes in Yemen’s Al Hazam City, this month have caused massive displacement with an estimated 1,800 families forced to flee their homes, according to a flash update from UN humanitarian coordination office, OCHA.  

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UN ‘determined to stand by the people of Syria’ says Lowcock, as grave humanitarian crisis intensifies around Idlib

03 Mar 2020

The United Nations is “determined to stand by” civilians across Syria’s war-torn northwest, as “a grave humanitarian crisis” continues, the UN emergency relief chief said on Tuesday.

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World Wildlife Day: UN chief urges ‘more caring’ relationship with nature

02 Mar 2020

People everywhere need to remember that we depend on Mother Earth to survive, the UN chief said in his message for World Wildlife Day marked on Tuesday, advocating for “a more caring, thoughtful and sustainable relationship with nature”.

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Warmer months ahead for many parts of the planet: UN weather agency

02 Mar 2020

Many parts of the world can expect above average temperatures in the coming months even without the presence of an El Niño event to drive warming, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday. 

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As children freeze to death in Syria, aid officials call for major cross-border delivery boost

02 Mar 2020

Humanitarian assistance needs to be scaled up significantly to more than a million people displaced by fighting in northwest Syria, a senior UN aid official said on Monday, amid reports that children are freezing to death on the Turkish border.

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Syria: UN urges Russia and Turkey to secure ‘fresh ceasefire’ as risk of military escalation grows

28 Feb 2020

With the Security Council meeting in emergency session on Syria following the death on the battlefield of dozens of Turkish troops, the UN strongly urged Russia and Turkey on Friday “to build on previous agreements to secure a fresh ceasefire” across the war-torn northwest.

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‘Mayhem’ in Syria’s Idlib amid ongoing violence pushing displaced towards Turkish border

28 Feb 2020

Rapidly escalating conflict in northwest Syria has created health care “mayhem”, amid reports of displaced people moving closer to the Turkish border in search of shelter, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

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Cross-border aid delivery in northwest Syria ‘absolutely essential’, Security Council hears

27 Feb 2020

Cross-border humanitarian deliveries from Turkey last month reached more people in northwest Syria than at any time since operations began more than five years ago, the UN’s Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Thursday. 

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‘Africa has both the energy and the determination’ to make sustainable development happen, says UN deputy chief

26 Feb 2020

The United Nations and the African Union (AU) should do more to ensure all Africans see their futures in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)and the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Tuesday in Zimbabwe.

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UN study projects $32 billion loss for UK post no-deal Brexit

26 Feb 2020

The United Kingdom (UK) risks losing up to 14 per cent of its exports to the European Union (EU) in a so-called “no-deal” Brexit, according to a new study by the UN Conference on Trade, Investment and Development (UNCTAD).

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A UN-backed boost for women-run businesses in the developing world

26 Feb 2020

Many women running small businesses in emerging markets have to juggle their business objectives with family obligations and personal savings goals. By supporting Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)’s Women’s Livelihood Bond Series (WLB Series), a women-focused bond providing loans to microfinance institutions and impact enterprises, the UN is helping women entrepreneurs facing similar challenges, to succeed in their professional and private lives.

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‘It’s your future to define’, says UN deputy chief, urging young African leaders to push for Global Goals

25 Feb 2020

Meeting in Zimbabwe with young leaders from across the African continent,UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Monday encouraged the lively gathering to “use your youth power, for it’s your future to define”, telling them to use technology effectively to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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One in three Venezuelans not getting enough to eat, UN study finds

25 Feb 2020

Hyperinflation in Venezuela means that roughly one-third of the population – more than nine million people – do not get enough to eat and are in need of assistance, according to estimates published on Tuesday by the World Food Programme (WFP). 

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More funding needed to combat locust swarms ‘unprecedented in modern times’

25 Feb 2020

Along with climate shocks, conflict and acute food insecurity, the East Africa region now faces a hunger threat from desert locusts, top UN relief officials warned on Tuesday, saying action now, will avert a major food crisis later.  

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Biodiversity ‘fundamental’ for global food systems, at “heart’ of development – UN agriculture chief  

24 Feb 2020

Because the production of everything we eat transforms the environment, the United Nations agriculture chief told a high-level UN meeting on biodiversity that careful discussions are needed to decide on the scale of acceptable transformations. 

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Ten new migratory species protected under global wildlife agreement

22 Feb 2020

Asian elephants, jaguars and great Indian bustards were among 10 new species added to a global wildlife agreement on Saturday. 

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UN chief appeals for end to Syria’s ‘man-made humanitarian nightmare’

21 Feb 2020

In a tersely delivered statement on Friday, the UN Secretary-General appealed for an end to the “man-made humanitarian nightmare” currently unfolding in Syria, where ongoing military operations in the north-west have displaced hundreds of thousands amid bitter winter temperatures. 

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On World Social Justice Day, the UN labour agency  says ‘put people and planet first'

20 Feb 2020

Reduce inequality around the world, the United Nations labour agency urged on Thursday, World Social Justice Day.

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More than $1 billion pledged for post-earthquake recovery in Albania

20 Feb 2020

The international community has pledged $1.25 billion to help Albania recover from a devastating earthquake during a European Union-led donors’ conference in Brussels.