News

Inflation fears are subsiding, the “net-zero transition” to a clean economy could spell good news with the right policies in place, and we are still dealing with a “COVID hangover”, according to the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

Gaza stands at “yet another precipice of further catastrophe” as the latest round of hostage negotiations in Cairo failed to reach an agreement, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday.

The UN is continuing to closely follow the deteriorating situation in Myanmar’s Rakhine state where intercommunal tensions are being stoked by the military.

Arrest warrants are being sought for the leaders of Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war in Gaza, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday.

At least 810,000 people have fled Rafah in just two weeks, UN humanitarians said on Monday, amid reports of ongoing Israeli military operations in the southern city and in the north of Gaza.

The fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) is heading to Antigua and Barbuda later this month with “human survivability and protecting our planet” topping the agenda when it comes to containing climate change, according to the Caribbean nation’s Prime Minister.

Roughly 800,000 people have been forced to flee Rafah since Israel launched a military operation in the area on 6 May, the head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA said on Saturday in a renewed appeal for greater protection of civilians in Gaza, safe humanitarian access and, ultimately, a ceasefire.

Trucks carrying desperately needed aid into Gaza have started moving ashore on the temporary floating dock built by the United States military, but this is not enough to meet the needs of civilians, UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Friday. 

Global efforts to prevent crimes against nature and bring offenders to justice are being hampered by glaring differences in environmental protection laws among countries and regions, UN crime prevention experts said on Friday.

The UN’s top human rights official has personally intervened to try to stop spiralling violence in Sudan that’s having a terrifying impact on millions of civilians, who humanitarians say are “staring famine in the face”.

The global economic picture has improved since January, but vulnerabilities remain, the mid-year update of the World Economic Situation and Prospects report published on Thursday has revealed.

The bi-annual UN forum on entrepreneurship and innovation wrapped up its work in Bahrain on Thursday focusing on women entrepreneurs from conflict zones, who stressed the importance of investing in their activities as a means of building peace, security, and stability in their communities.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine condemned air strikes in Kherson city on Thursday, which injured dozens of civilians, including two children, and damaged homes and an education facility. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres repeated his longstanding call for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held in the enclave, and unimpeded access for aid delivery, in remarks to the Summit of the League of Arab States in Bahrain on Thursday. 

Safe passage is needed urgently throughout Gaza for aid teams to replenish dangerously low stocks of lifesaving supplies throughout Gaza, humanitarians insisted on Thursday, as the UN’s top court prepared to hear a new request from South Africa to issue more constraints on Israeli military action in the enclave.

The international community must give greater attention and resources to war-ravaged Sudan, where millions are “trapped in an inferno of brutal violence”, the top UN aid official in the country said on Wednesday. 

The number of child migrants crossing the perilous Darién Gap has surged by 40 per cent so far this year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Wednesday, putting the route on track for a fifth consecutive year of record child migration levels.

UN agencies are reaching Haitians in the besieged capital and other areas amid ongoing gang violence that continues to ravage the Caribbean nation, UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists on Wednesday.

Delegates attending a UN forum in Bahrain endorsed on Wednesday a declaration calling on the international community to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a strong emphasis on including women, youth, persons with disabilities and productive families in these efforts. 

Amid some of the fiercest reported fighting in Gaza yet, UN humanitarians on Wednesday repeated warnings that famine is still an imminent threat because of aid restrictions and a lack of safe access.

Escalating Russian attacks in northeast Ukraine have killed civilians, sparked further displacement and caused massive destruction to railways and other infrastructure, a senior official with the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

A major UN forum opened on Tuesday in Bahrain. Its mission: to empower entrepreneurial leaders who can build a brighter future and achieve sustainable development for all.

UN Secretary-General António Guteres is appalled by the escalation of Israeli military activity in and around Rafah in southern Gaza, his spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.   

Large parts of the city of Rafah are now a “ghost town”, with UN humanitarians reporting on Tuesday that some 450,000 Gazans have been forcibly displaced from the southernmost city by Israeli evacuation orders in the last week.

Despite two decades of worldwide efforts, more than 4,000 precious wildlife species still fall prey to trafficking every year, a new report by the UN crime and drugs prevention office, UNODC, showed on Monday. 

Nearly 360,000 people have fled Rafah in the last week amid continuing Israeli bombardment that has crippled humanitarian aid deliveries and is believed to have killed another UN aid worker, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on Monday.

A senior official with the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, appealed on Monday for urgent action to support diplomatic and long-term solutions to address the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UN humanitarian teams scrambled to get lifesaving aid to communities devastated by deadly flash floods in northeastern Afghanistan over the weekend.

When asked what might be the most beautiful word in Shimamuni, the Indigenous language variety spoken on Okinoerabu Island in Kagoshima prefecture of southwestern Japan, Nami Sao pondered for a moment before replying “mihedirodoo.” Her husband, Tomoyuki Sao, is quick to elaborate that its utterance is always enlivened with a smile and tends to make fellow Shimamuni speakers noticeably more pleased than arigatou, the standard Japanese equivalent for saying thank you.

How can people be best supported during humanitarian crises with limited aid budgets and what can be done to help those same people break out of the cycle of dependency caused by multiple crises and move towards more sustainable development?