News

Six months after a devastating earthquake in south-west Haiti which caused the deaths of 2,200 people and injured 12,700 more, the international community is coming together with the Government of Haiti to raise up to $2 billion for the long-term recovery and reconstruction of the country. UN News explains why support is needed

Brazil must comply with its international obligations, and reinforce its national prevention mechanisms against torture, UN independent experts said on Friday, after concluding a visit to the country, which is home to the third largest prison population in the world.

Mozambique may have been spared by Tropical Cyclone Batsirai, but it is still reeling from the devastating impacts of Tropical Storm Ana. Humanitarians are continuing to support the country’s recovery, and the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA is focusing on fortifying their services to support women and girls. 

Authorities in Bangladesh have yet to conduct an investigation into the murder of prominent journalists Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi 10 years after they were killed, UN human rights experts said on Friday. 

The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Myanmar has doubled since February of last year, now crossing the 800,000 mark, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) announced on Friday. 

The planet is facing the triple crises of climate disruption, biodiversity loss and pollution, Secretary-General António Guterres told the One Ocean Summit on Friday, warning that “the ocean shoulders much of the burden”.

The many families on the island nation of Tonga who rely solely on the ocean for their food and income, are struggling to recover from last month’s volcanic eruption and tsunami.

Humanitarians are continuing to support Madagascar in the wake of Cyclone Batsirai which hammered the island nation this past weekend, the UN said on Thursday. 

Education needs to be one of the key pillars for action by countries across the world to better protect the seas and oceans from damaging climate change, said the head of the UN Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday.

The President of the UN General Assembly convened the first system-wide meeting on Thursday, dedicated to galvanizing action towards implementing the ground-breaking blueprint, known as Our Common Agenda, launched last year by the Secretary-General.

More than 30 years after the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) was created to ensure restitution for Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990, the reparations body announced on Wednesday that it had processed its final claim, amounting to $52.4 billion in total.

Uganda must pay the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) $325 million in reparations related to the brutal conflict between the two nations from 1998 to 2003, the UN’s highest court ruled on Wednesday. 

From survivors of rape to young women entrepreneurs, the UN Deputy Secretary-General has spent the week meeting some of those whose lives have been upended by conflict in Ethiopia, but also hearing stories of hope that point towards the “indispensable” value of a return to lasting peace across the African nation.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday that he is encouraged by the recent engagement between senior Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Conflict last year had forced more than 700,000 Afghans to leave their homes and added to the 5.5 million people already displaced over past years, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.

Dissolving the Tunisian body that deals with judicial independence, known as the High Judicial Council, is a “clear violation” of the country’s obligations under international human rights law, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet warned on Tuesday.

An estimated 13 million people are waking up severely hungry every day in the Horn of Africa, as the region grapples with a major drought caused by the driest conditions since 1981, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.

Following the death of a baby during an interception at sea off the southeast coast of the island of Trinidad on Sunday, UN agencies have expressed their deep sadness and called for stronger measures to protects refugees and migrants.

People’s sense of safety and security is at a low in almost every country, with six in seven worldwide plagued by feelings of insecurity, according to new data and analysis by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) published on Tuesday. 

The 60th session of the Commission for Social Development kicked off on Monday, in a virtual format, with appeals to make COVID-19 a turning point for humanity, and a focus on making social protection systems universally available. 

As the debris clears, the scale of destruction is laid bare. When Super Typhoon Rai - Odette as it’s known locally - barrelled down on the Philippines on 16 December, its 195km/h winds and torrential rain tore through hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and vital infrastructure, putting millions of lives in peril.

A young Haitian man is rebuilding his life, with the support of the UN, after being held in detention for three years, from the age of 15, when he was wrongfully accused of stealing from a local shopkeeper. Many others, like him, spend a prolonged period of time behind bars, before their case comes to trial.

Forty years ago, Martha Isabel Ruiz Corzo, known as Pati, left the Mexican city of Querétaro with her family in search of a simple rural life. Instead, she ended up leading and inspiring a group of some 17,000 local environmental activists, devoted to protecting the remote and beautiful Sierra Gorda.

To combat malnutrition and iron deficiency in Gaza and the West Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday, launched a campaign to provide support to hundreds of pregnant and nursing women.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and partners are rushing life-saving aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region, bordering Sudan and South Sudan.  

In Somalia, over 90 per cent or more of girls and women, have been subjected to female genital mutilation, or FGM. Despite the practice having devastating health ramifications for women and girls - including pain, bleeding, permanent disability and even death - discussion over how to end the harmful tradition, remains taboo.

Lives, livelihoods, and vital crops are at risk across Madagascar with Tropical Cyclone Batsirai expected to make landfall within hours. Meanwhile, the island nation off the coast of East Africa is still reeling from the impact of Storm Ana last month, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday. 

Peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have stepped up their presence in the area around a camp for displaced people in Ituri province following a deadly attack this week, the United Nations said on Thursday. 

The triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution is worsening, the deputy UN chief told a new coordination meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Thursday, reminding that the world has less than nine years left to reach the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Following an attack by United States Special Forces in northwestern Syria that culminated in the death of the leader of the ISIL terrorist network, the deputy UN Spokesperson on Thursday expressed concern over reported civilian casualties, but welcomed any move contributing to the group’s defeat.