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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Afghanistan’s farmers, herders desperate for seed, food and cash 

19 Nov 2021

“Catastrophic and famine-like conditions” hang over Afghanistan’s farmers and herders, whose needs continue to worsen with the onset of winter, UN humanitarians said on Friday. 

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Safe sanitation for all benefits people and the planet: UN chief

19 Nov 2021

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged countries to keep their promise to leave no one behind and deliver health and sanitation to all. 

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Interview: On brink of humanitarian crisis, there’s ‘no childhood’ in Afghanistan 

18 Nov 2021

For over 70 years, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has had a presence across Afghanistan – even as the Taliban secured power over the summer. 

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Madagascar: ‘World cannot look away’ as 1.3 million face severe hunger

18 Nov 2021

The international community must step up support to Madagascar, where more than one million people in the south are facing severe hunger, the top UN aid official there said on Thursday in a renewed appeal for solidarity and funding. 

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Don’t be afraid to be the change, fearless youngsters tell UN Youth Summit 

18 Nov 2021

Young entrepreneurs have been swapping inspiring stories at a UN-partnered youth summit on Thursday about how they’ve driven positive change for their communities and the environment – and how everyone can do the same. 

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Smart, sustainable maritime transport critical to global recovery: UNCTAD

18 Nov 2021

Although the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on maritime trade last year was less severe than expected, the knock-on effects will be far reaching and could transform the sector, the UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, said in its latest report, published on Thursday. 

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Youth embody ‘spirit’ of 21st century more than parents, new survey shows

17 Nov 2021

Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and other global challenges, children and youth are nearly 50 per cent more likely than older people to believe that the world is becoming a better place, according to the results of a landmark intergenerational poll published on Thursday. 

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Investing in UNRWA is ‘an investment in peace and hope’

16 Nov 2021

At a “critical conference” supporting the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Secretary-General António Guterres outlined on Tuesday, the “essential role” it continues to play in generations of lives.      

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Ethiopia: Mass arbitrary arrests target Tigrayans, says UN rights office

16 Nov 2021

Over the past week, mass arrests of people reportedly of Tigrayan origin have continued in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and elsewhere, the UN rights office said on Tuesday. 

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Ethiopia: $40 million in aid relief for victims ‘living on a knife-edge'

15 Nov 2021

As the humanitarian crisis grows in Ethiopia’s conflict-affected north, the UN announced on Monday that $40 million in funds have been made available to scale up emergency operations. 

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In post-quake Haiti, rebuilding lives and welcoming new ones

14 Nov 2021

Three months after a devastating earthquake struck the south-west of Haiti, a hospital that was largely destroyed has continued to give mothers and their babies the care they need. 

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COP26 closes with ‘compromise’ deal on climate, but it’s not enough, says UN chief

13 Nov 2021

After extending the COP26 climate negotiations an extra day, nearly 200 countries in Glasgow, Scotland, adopted on Saturday an outcome document that, according to the UN Secretary-General, reflects the interests, the contradictions, and the state of political will in the world today.

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Climate action can deliver a sustainable future for all: UN deputy chief

13 Nov 2021

Climate action can be the driver for a green and equitable future for all, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has said at the TED Countdown Summit, urging people everywhere to demand that leaders deliver on their promise to limit global warming. 

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Syria: Conflict, COVID and rising costs, ‘pushing people beyond their limits’

12 Nov 2021

World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director David Beasley concluded a three-day visit to Syria on Friday, warning that more people there are in the grips of hunger than at any time during their country’s decade-long conflict.

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Crunch-time talks continue as COP26 negotiators seek deal ahead of deadline

12 Nov 2021

With the clock ticking towards the end of the final day of COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow, leaders and negotiators are pushing to reach a deal that could spare the world from catastrophic global warming.

Security Council appeals for end to violence in Myanmar

11 Nov 2021

The UN Security Council has called for an immediate cessation of violence across Myanmar, and efforts to ensure the safety of civilians, following reports of more clashes between the armed forces and militant groups. 

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‘Dire’ economic and fiscal situation in Palestine requires integrated response

11 Nov 2021

A piecemeal approach to the current political, economic and security challenges in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) only risks perpetuating a continuing crisis, according to a new UN report published on Thursday.

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Violence, insecurity and climate change drive 84 million people from their homes

11 Nov 2021

As more people flee violence, insecurity and the effects of climate change, the number forcibly displaced now exceeds 84 million globally, according to new data released on Thursday by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.  

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COP26: Promises ‘ring hollow’ when fossil fuels still receive trillions in subsidies; UN chief calls on negotiators to pick up the pace

11 Nov 2021

Governments need to show the necessary ambition on mitigation, adaptation, and finance in a balanced way, and they can’t settle for the “lowest common denominator”, the UN Secretary-General has said in Glasgow, where crucial climate negotiations are in the final stretch. Meanwhile, 13 countries launched a new alliance to end gas and oil as 'cities' took centre stage today. 

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World food import bill to reach record high in 2021 

11 Nov 2021

The global food trade should hit an all-time record high in both volume and value terms, according to a new report released on Thursday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

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UN chief welcomes China-US climate deal

10 Nov 2021

Wednesday’s announcement that China and the United States have agreed to collaborate more closely on climate action was hailed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as an important step in the right direction.

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‘Wake-up call’ to assist DR Congo battle food insecurity 

10 Nov 2021

UN agencies raised the alarm on Wednesday over the growing food crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), calling for an urgent scaling-up of assistance. 

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Climate change increasing threats in southwest Pacific: WMO report

10 Nov 2021

From rising sea temperatures, to deadly and devastating storms and floods, climate change is increasing threats in the southwest Pacific, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a report published on Wednesday. 

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Era free of fossil-fuel powered vehicles comes into focus at COP26; draft outcome is met with calls for more ambition

10 Nov 2021

A world where every car, bus and truck sold is electric and affordable, where shipping vessels use only sustainable fuels, and where planes can run on green hydrogen may sound like sci-fi movie, but here, at COP26, many governments and businesses said they have started to work to make it a reality.

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Landmine casualties ‘exceptionally high’, Syria and Afghanistan worst-hit

10 Nov 2021

Global casualties from anti-personnel landmines were “exceptionally high” last year, with Syrians and Afghans worst-hit, a UN-backed civil society report said on Wednesday

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Salaries for Afghanistan health workers sends ‘message of hope’ to millions

10 Nov 2021

By the time the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August, at the main hospital in Maidan Shar, a city of 35,000 in the center of the country, many of the staff had been paid in months. Essential supplies such as medicine and food were scarce and disappearing fast.

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Women bear the brunt of the climate crisis, COP26 highlights

09 Nov 2021

Women took the global stage on Tuesday to show that climate change isn’t gender neutral, and that climate action needs them: investing in women and girls creates ripple effects felt throughout entire communities and the frontline knowledge they possess is needed now more than ever, especially as new analysis has revealed that the announcements by world leaders at COP26 still leave our planet on the path to catastrophic global warming. 

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Ethiopia: Future of Tigray and Horn of Africa ‘in grave uncertainty’

08 Nov 2021

A year-long conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia has reached “disastrous proportions”, the UN political chief told the Security Council on Monday, warning of “grave uncertainty” surrounding the future of the country and stability of the whole Horn of Africa region.  

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Myanmar: 3 million in need of humanitarian aid, ‘world is watching’ UN relief chief warns generals 

08 Nov 2021

Growing conflict, insecurity, COVID-19, and a failing economy, has rendered some three million Burmese in in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance across Myanmar, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said on Monday.    

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A matter of life or death: At COP26, vulnerable countries tell developed nations it’s time to keep their promise on climate finance

08 Nov 2021

Massive floods, devastating wildfires, and rising seas – along with the countless lives they take and livelihoods they upend – are realities many nations are already facing. Voices from the front lines of climate change and its impacts were center stage to start week two of COP26, which kicked off Monday in Glasgow with a focus on ‘adaptation, loss and damage’.