News

Four of the 10 countries most affected by climate change are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday, urging the ASEAN-UN Summit in Bangkok to “confront the world’s climate emergency”.

In Thailand for the ASEAN Summit, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited a climate mitigation project in Bangkok's new Centenary Park on Saturday where he told journalists that “coal addiction must be overcome”.

A recap of stories in brief this Friday: Societies 'pay a price' when journalists are killed; Guterres saddened by Cameroon landslide deaths; Senegalese woman officer receives top UN award; IOM urges release of volunteers held captive in South Sudan; 'All actors' must support Haiti amidst crisis; UN expert warning over health of Julian Assange.

The UN migration agency appealed on Friday for the immediate liberation of a volunteer and child who’ve been missing since a gun battle in South Sudan at the weekend that claimed the lives of three agency workers.

The UN’s weather watchdog and partners committed on Thursday to a new initiative to ramp up observation and prediction technology that will help address the challenges of climate change, melting snow and ice, and water-related hazards.

The Security Council highlighted the growing partnership on matters of peace and security between the United Nations and African Union (AU) on Wednesday amidst calls to bolster overall effectiveness.

A recap of Wednesday’s stories: new Syria talks begin in Geneva; Chile pulls out as host of major climate conference; UN calls for national talks to break cycle of violence in Iraq; UN chief voices ‘serious concern’ over Guinea-Bissau political crisis; IOM suspends South Sudan Ebola screening; UN atomic watchdog appoints new leader.  

If emissions from the maritime industry are not cut, we are headed for “an environmental disaster”, Isabelle Durant, the deputy head of the UN trade body, UNCTAD, told the Global Maritime Forum summit on Wednesday.

A recap of Tuesday’s top stories: ‘Real change’ too slow for women’s peace and security role; UN rights chief urges India to ‘unlock’ Kashmir restrictions; UN chief welcomes milestone Syria constitution meeting.

The world’s mountain and glacier regions are facing unprecedented challenges due to climate change, imposing a crippling effect on the people and economies that rely on them, the UN’s weather agency explained on Tuesday, ahead of a summit to address the world’s rapidly-changing water systems.  

A recap of Monday’s top stories: ‘Multi-generational tragedy’ in Israel and Palestine demands viable two-State solution; gender gap persists in Latin America’s workforce; Syria envoy urges prisoner release ahead of talks in Geneva; Egypt urged to end repression of protesters and rights defenders; future of digital communications discussed at  world conference. 

Protecting marine areas from over-exploitation and providing the people who have traditionally lived off the sea with a sustainable alternative livelihood does not come cheap, but in the Seychelles, a focus on financial instruments is making that task easier. 

Sunaina lives in Majhi, a village of 104 people in Nepal’s impoverished Terai region. Huts fashioned of mud, thatch and straw stand in a row along the shoulder of a dirt road that carves through rice fields, where Sunaina, and the majority of her neighbours earn their living.

The United Nations welcomes efforts to de-escalate the crisis in northeastern Syria in the wake of Turkey’s incursion, a senior official with responsibility for the region told the Security Council on Thursday.

Sudan and neighbouring South Sudan “have never been closer” to reaching a sustainable peace with each other, and their own internal armed opposition groups, the head of UN peacekeeping told the Security Council on Thursday.

A recap of Wednesday's top stories:  UN food agency partnership to feed millions of hungry children; Solidarity conference for 4.5 million Venezuelans on the move;  new panel to aid internally displaced persons; healthy working conditions still not universal - UN rights expert; Environment Programme to help endangered snow leopard.

“Substantial” shortfalls in humanitarian funding are placing the lives of millions of children in areas affected by conflict and disaster at risk, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.

For the seventh year in a row, fashion mogul and UN Goodwill Ambassador Michael Kors, launched his Watch Hunger Stop campaign on Monday - an initiative that supports the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in its work to feed schoolchildren around the world.  

A recap of Monday’s main stories: companies ‘failing’ to address offline harm incited by online hate; gender equality ‘precursor’ to sustaining peace; UN rights chief urges ‘immediate dialogue’ to resolve Chile crisis; African migrants would make perilous Europe journey again; Security Council visits South Sudan. 

Tensions around global trade and technology continue to rise and the international community needs to “do everything possible” to prevent the world being split into two competing spheres, led by the United States and China. 

A recap of Friday's main stories: Afghanistan mosque killings condemned by UN chief, Syrian civilians flee violence, thousands affected by flooding in South Sudan, UN migration agency warns of “pervasive” human trafficking in Ukraine, UN expert calls for better education to combat growing antisemitism.

Shelling and clashes in northern Syria on the border with Turkey continue to cause hundreds of people to flee, the UN said on Friday, despite a cessation of hostilities deal between Turkish forces and Syrian-backed Kurdish military. 

There are “small signs” of hope for Yemeni civilians caught up in fighting, following a reduction in violence, coupled with a 20 per cent increase in funding for the UN’s humanitarian response, the Security Council heard on Thursday.

A staggering 1.5 million people died from tuberculosis (TB) last year, the UN health agency said on Thursday, in an appeal for far greater funding and political support to eradicate the curable and preventable disease.

A sustainable future for all is unlikely unless globalization benefits all children, their families and communities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, on Thursday.

In a bid to scale up investment efforts to reach sustainable development targets, the Secretary-General on Wednesday convened the first meeting of a new UN-backed corporate alliance to discuss plans for spending on sustainability, likely to be in the trillions of dollars.  

A recap of Tuesday’s stories: Millions of children undernourished and overweight says landmark report; Security Council marks transition after 15 years of ‘blue helmets’ in Haiti; violence continues ‘on both sides’ of Syria-Turkey border; UN human rights office raises concerns over deportation of Haitian migrants from the Bahamas; UN migration agency helps migrants in Algeria return to Niger; rural women celebrated on International Day.

Amid ongoing fighting in northern Syria and disturbing reports that extrajudicial killings have been streamed online, the United Nations and their partners are continuing to deliver humanitarian supplies to tens of thousands of people displaced by the violence, UN agencies stressed on Tuesday.

The ongoing Turkish military incursion in northeast Syria could unintentionally lead to the release of scores of people associated with the terrorist group ISIL, the UN Secretary-General fears.

With one-third of food produced for human consumption lost or wasted, and millions still going hungry, the UN’s food-related agencies are shining a spotlight on the issue: on Monday, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published its annual State of Food and Agriculture report with findings that could lead to a reduction in food loss and waste, and, earlier in October, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched its awareness-raising #StopTheWaste campaign.