This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The UN Secretary-General appealed on Sunday for “maximum restraint” following a wave of drone attacks claimed by Houthi rebels in Yemen, against a huge Saudi Arabian State-owned Armco petroleum processing facility, which threatens to disrupt global oil supplies. Yemen-based rebels who have been fighting a Saudi led […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. On the International Day of Democracy, the United Nations chief urged each Government to respect its citizens’ right to “meaningful participation” in the political process. “At heart, democracy is about people”, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for Sunday.  “It is built on inclusion, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The UN chief saw for himself the deadly power of Hurricane Dorian on the shattered islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama on Saturday, describing it as more like a “Category Hell” disaster, than the official Category 5 designation used by meteorologists. Dorian was “Category Hell”, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. World leaders attending the upcoming UN Climate Action Summit are being urged to show up armed not with speeches but with plans to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce emissions and improve adaptation. UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued the charge on Friday during a visit to […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Strengthening cultural heritage and culture-related food practices boosts social inclusion, economic development and well-being, the UN’s deputy culture chief told participants at the UNESCO agency’s World Forum on the matter, on Friday. “Cultural policies today provide innovative responses in areas such as inclusion, technical […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Just as the greatest global challenges cannot be solved by a single country, peace cannot be pursued in isolation, outgoing UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa said on Friday. Ms. Espinosa was speaking at a high-level forum to mark the 20th anniversary of […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. A major UN conference on fighting desertification agreed on Friday to make the Sustainable Development Goal target of achieving “land degradation neutrality” (LDN), a national target for action. The Governments which are party to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), met in the […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Back in June, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, was elected by acclamation to preside over the 74th session of the General Assembly, which kicks off in New York in just over a week. In his first major interview with UN […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Amidst a global call by Secretary-General António Guterres to “reaffirm the sanctity” of religious sites and keep worshippers safe, the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) on Thursday launched a new plan of action to “counter hate and violence around the globe”. “Religious sites are powerful symbols […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Israel’s intention to annex the Jordan Valley is illegal and threatens chances for a meaningful two-State solution with the Palestinians, a UN independent human rights expert has said. Michael Lynk issued a statement on Thursday denouncing comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. This week, just in time for #UNGA74, UN News is launching a brand-new podcast which grew out of a conversation in a coffee shop, between our hosts, Sinduja Srinivasan, and Jason DeWall. Here’s how it went down: Jason: “What do you do at the […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Collaboration among countries of the global south offers a “unique pathway” that accelerates us towards the key 2030 sustainable development targets, UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, told a commemorative event for South-South Cooperation (SSC) on Thursday. This year’s United Nations Day dedicated to the initiative, annually observed on 12 September, is […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Climate change poses an “existential threat to commodity-dependent developing countries”, the United Nation’s trade chief said on Wednesday, pointing to a newly released report highlighting the need to diversify economies and exports. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Commodities and Development Report 2019, maintains […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The current worldwide sustainable development model is threatening to reverse years of progress, if strategies don’t drastically change, an independent group of scientists has concluded in a major new report launched on Wednesday. The UN report will be at the centre of discussions during the UN […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. As the people of north-west Syria face intensifying violence, tens of thousands of women and children continue to be kept in “inhumane conditions” in a remote camp on the other side of the country, UN-appointed independent investigators said on Wednesday. Describing the situation at […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. As the United Nations gears up for the September Climate Action Summit in New York, one of its most high-profile climate conferences in recent times, what progress is the world making in tackling the climate crisis, and how is that progress being measured? Around […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Progress on equal access to a healthy life for all, is at a standstill across Europe, a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Tuesday, despite their being a clear path to close gaps in national care. In the first-ever report of its kind, The […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Since the inauguration of Guinea-Bissau’s new Government in July, the political arena has been dominated by preparation for presidential elections, the assistant chief for UN peacekeeping operations in Africa told the Security Council on Tuesday, briefing members on the state of the nation, and […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Ethiopia is beset by “persistent and multi-faceted humanitarian problems”, the United Nations relief chief said on Tuesday, calling for more international funding as well as support for the Government-led response to the country’s displacement crisis. More than eight million people in Ethiopia need food, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The long Afghan conflict can only be resolved by “direct talks” between its own people, the chief of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) told the Security Council on Tuesday, underscoring that they must be inclusive and represent “the whole spectrum of Afghan […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Nicaragua’s on-going human rights crisis can be resolved peacefully through dialogue, the UN’s top rights official said on Tuesday, before expressing concern about allegations of torture and murder of protesters involved in last year’s anti-Government demonstrations. In her address to the Human Rights Council, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Incidents of modern-day slavery are “only likely to increase” as a result of some of biggest challenges facing the world today, a UN expert outlined in a report for the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday. The Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Urmila […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Events commemorating the recent International Day against Nuclear Tests serve as an “important and stark reminder…of the disastrous consequences of nuclear testing on human health and the environment”, a top UN official told the General Assembly on Monday. Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. While peacekeeping is an “essential tool” for preventing conflict and reducing the risk of relapse, “political solutions are a prerequisite to sustainable peace”, the United Nations peacekeeping chief told the Security Council on Monday. UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched the Action for Peacekeeping (A4P) […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Despite progress in national prevention strategies, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General lamented on Monday, highlighting key findings of the agency’s latest report on global suicide estimates. Speaking in Geneva ahead of World Suicide Prevention day, recognized on 10 September, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The Human Rights Council opened in Geneva on Monday with a warning from the UN’s top rights official that, with forest fires raging in the Amazon, “we are burning up our future, literally”. In a direct appeal to the forum’s 47 Member States to […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. On International Literacy Day, Sunday, the chief of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) maintained that “engaging with both head and mind is a key for effective learning”. In her message for the day, Audrey Azoulay pointed out that there are […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed on Sunday, yesterday’s exchange of prisoners and detainees between Russia and Ukraine. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, Mr. Guterres commended “all those who brought this to fruition, including President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Vladimir […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. As children in many parts of the world return to school, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a haunting installation on Sunday that displays 3,758 school backpacks as headstones to illustrate the grave scale of child deaths in conflict in 2018 and call for greater […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. “The clock is ticking” for Hurricane Dorian survivors in the Bahamas to receive humanitarian assistance, the top United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official in the region said on Sunday. “Children and their families who survived the hurricane have lost their homes, their livelihoods, their […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Investing in land restoration could not only help keep our planet healthy, but also be the starting point for resolving some of the biggest issues of our time, the head of the UN entity tackling desertification told journalists on Friday via video conference, from the ongoing global […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The urgent need to move towards a low carbon economy and build resilience, would not only mitigate the worst impacts of climate change in the Asia-Pacific, but also lift the region economically, according to the body overseeing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. When terrorists attacked and ransacked 30-year old Mamma Hamidou’s village in the Far North region of Cameroon four years ago, she faced an impossible choice. Hand over her young daughter or risk that her husband be executed on the spot. “The men came at […]