News

COVID-19 lockdowns brought rapid and “unprecedented” improvements in air quality in some parts of the world - but not enough to halt climate change caused by global warming, UN weather experts said on Friday.

The UN human rights office called on Thursday for the new Taliban-led authorities of Afghanistan to uphold “the international obligations of the State”, particularly in complying with all provisions of the Convention against Torture, outlawing the practice “in any circumstances”.

With environmental events becoming increasingly interconnected, a new global report on air pollution published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday underscores that improved air quality is “key to tackling the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste”.

The aid crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region is worsening, the UN said on Thursday, with stocks of relief aid, cash and fuel “running very low or depleted”. 

Food stocks in Afghanistan could run out as soon as this month, a senior UN official warned on Wednesday, urging the international community to step up support for the country. 

More than four billion people live without any welfare protection today to cushion them from crisis, the UN International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday, while highlighting how the COVID-19 crisis has pushed up government spending by some 30 per cent.

Over the past five decades, disasters related to weather, climate or water hazards, have become a regular occurrence, responsible for the deaths of at least 115 people, and causing $202 million in economic loses every day, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), launched on Wednesday.

UN humanitarians have reiterated that they fully intend to stay and deliver to those in need in Afghanistan, as mostly western governments completed their pull-out from the country.

The global phase-out of leaded fuel represents a “milestone for multilateralism”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, marking the end of a 20-year campaign to eliminate a major threat to the health of people and the planet.

With one million species at risk of extinction, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday called for greater leadership and political will to end the biodiversity crisis.

Lifesaving medical supplies reached Afghanistan by air on Monday, the first UN shipment to arrive since the Taliban takeover more than a week ago, as UN human rights experts called on the country's new rulers to live up to their promise to fully protect the rights of women and girls in the country.

With the needs of Afghan children greater than ever before, the world “cannot abandon them now”, a senior official with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed on Sunday after concluding a visit to the country.

For millions of villagers in Indonesia’s remote areas, a 12-hour-per-day erratic electricity supply is the norm. With students studying by candlelight at night and health centres not running at full capacity, these communities face an uphill struggle to improve their well-being. 

Innovators are joining Paralympians to discuss how sport can help to build a more inclusive society in a series of online discussions organized by the UN to coincide with the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, which continues until 5 September.

The global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is progressing at “two alarmingly different speeds”, UN agency leaders said in a statement on Friday, noting that less than two per cent of adults are fully vaccinated in most low-income countries compared to almost 50 per cent in high-‑income nations.   

A military confrontation that started 10 months ago in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is spreading, with serious political, economic and humanitarian implications for the country and the broader region, the Secretary-General warned the Security Council on Thursday.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is stepping up ongoing support to Haitians who are now facing destroyed homes, lost livelihoods and little or no access to food in the wake of the 14 August earthquake, the UN agency reported on Thursday.   

In response to the growing humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Thursday launched a $24 million urgent appeal to assist hundreds of thousands of people displaced within the country over the past two months.

The UN launches No Denying It, a new 10-part climate action podcast, on Thursday, featuring interviews with inspiring young activists, and the voices of internationally renowned celebrities, such as actors Ed Norton and Michelle Yeoh.

The UN and partners on Wednesday launched a $187.3 million appeal to support half a million people affected by the deadly earthquake in southwestern Haiti nearly two weeks ago.

The convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic with natural hazards, made worse by climate change, has reshaped and expanded the disaster “riskscape” in Asia and the Pacific, according to a new report published on Wednesday by the UN’s regional commission there.

Progress towards resolving Syria’s decade-long conflict has reached an impasse, the chief United Nations mediator told the Security Council on Tuesday, as an uptick in fighting throughout the country led to some of the largest civilian displacements in a year.

Humanitarian needs, including a lack of shelter, are soaring among displaced communities, as fighting continues in Yemen’s Marib governorate, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.

An Afghan doctor has told UN News that he is committed to providing essential healthcare services to people who have fled their homes due to conflict in Afghanistan, but safety fears mean that his future and that of his colleagues, particularly women health workers, is uncertain.

UN humanitarian agencies are warning that they are unable to bring urgently needed emergency supplies into Afghanistan, and are calling for a “humanitarian airbridge” to be set up immediately, to allow the unimpeded delivery of medicines and other aid supplies to the country.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Monday launched a $15 million appeal to support some 137,000 families affected by the deadly earthquake that rocked southern Haiti just over a week ago. 

In the south of Madagascar, known as the Grand Sud, hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from one of the worst droughts in the region in 40 years, the most senior UN official in the country has said, warning that the population is facing a severe humanitarian crisis.

On a two-day mission to Haiti, the UN deputy chief said on Friday that relief teams are “working day and night”, and that she was struck by the resilience of the Haitian people, who had mobilized quickly to support their neighbours in the aftermath of last week’s massive earthquake and subsequent tropical storm.  

Despite a prevailing “sense of fear” among vulnerable citizens, UN humanitarian agencies and their partners reiterated their commitment to the people of Afghanistan on Friday, informing that they are still accessing those in need throughout the country. 

Speaking outside the Security Council chamber on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres told journalists that he is gravely concerned about the situation in Ethiopia, particularly the “unspeakable violence” against women and others in Tigray.