This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Difficult winter weather conditions, road congestion and military manoeuvres are restricting humanitarian aid delivery to desperate civilians in the Syrian province of Idlib, where a Government operation to weed out extremists has uprooted nearly one million people since December. Women and children account for more than 80 per cent of the displaced, who are running out of safe places to […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Human rights defenders working in conflict and post-conflict situations need to be given greater recognition, protection and support, an independent UN expert said on Wednesday, in his latest report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “Defenders in conflict settings are courageous men and […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The organizing committee of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a major UN conference scheduled to take place in March, has decided to cut the event down to a one-day meeting, citing current concerns surrounding the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Positive developments in South Sudan have “moved the country further along the road to sustainable peace”, the top UN official there told Security Council members on Wednesday. The world’s youngest nation has been mired in instability and conflict for nearly all the eight years […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The extent of the damage to the global economy caused by novel coronavirus COVID-19 moved further into focus on Wednesday as UN economists announced a likely $50 billion drop in worldwide manufacturing exports in February alone. In remarks made at a joint press conference […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Twenty-five years after the historic Beijing women’s conference in China – a milestone in advancing equal rights – violence against women and girls is not only common, but widely accepted, a new UN report revealed on Wednesday. While there have been remarkable gains for […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. A shortage of protective equipment is endangering health workers worldwide, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday, citing “severe and mounting disruption to the global supply” caused by “rising demand, panic buying, hoarding and misuse”. Speaking to the media in Geneva, WHO chief […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Political leaders in Iraq will have to “step up to the plate” and prioritize national interests if the country is to realize a more just and prosperous future, the top UN official there said in the Security Council on Tuesday. Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert updated ambassadors on the ongoing […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. After more than a year of battling an Ebola virus outbreak that killed more than 2,200 people, UN officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the epidemic in the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will soon be history as the country gears up to face the emerging threat of coronavirus disease […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. UN agencies together with the Bangladesh authorities have appealed for $877 million to support hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, where conditions are still not conducive for their safe return, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said on Tuesday. Speaking on the […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. People everywhere need to remember that we depend on Mother Earth to survive, the UN chief said in his message for World Wildlife Day marked on Tuesday, advocating for “a more caring, thoughtful and sustainable relationship with nature”. Humanity is weaved into “the rich […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Many parts of the world can expect above average temperatures in the coming months even without the presence of an El Niño event to drive warming, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday. The UN agency published its latest update on El Niño/Southern […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. After serving more than two years as the UN’s Special Representative in charge of finding a way to a lasting peace in war-torn Libya, Ghassan Salamé – who also heads up the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) – handed in his resignation on Monday, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Containing the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic should still be everyone’s “top priority”, UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. In total, 61 countries outside China have reported 8,739 cases of infection with 127 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General said. Of […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Humanitarian assistance needs to be scaled up significantly to more than a million people displaced by fighting in northwest Syria, a senior UN aid official said on Monday, amid reports that children are freezing to death on the Turkish border. “People are traumatized and […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. From developed to developing countries, no nation is immune from financial “gaps and vulnerabilities”, the President of the UN General Assembly said on Monday. Speaking at the High-level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI) for Achieving the 2030 Agenda, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande warned that […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The “strength, leadership and invaluable contributions in peacekeeping settings” made by women across the world is being highlighted by the United Nations as part of the organization’s ongoing commitment to building global peace. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The number of new COVID-19, or coronavirus, infections outside China has outpaced those inside the country for the first time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “The sudden increases of cases in Italy, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The United Kingdom (UK) risks losing up to 14 per cent of its exports to the European Union (EU) in a so-called “no-deal” Brexit, according to a new study by the UN Conference on Trade, Investment and Development (UNCTAD). Brexit Beyond Tariffs: The role […]

  This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Many women running small businesses in emerging markets in developing countries have to juggle their business objectives with family obligations and personal savings goals. By supporting a women-focused bond providing loans to microfinance institutions and impact enterprises, the UN is helping women entrepreneurs […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. The United Nations and the African Union (AU) should do more to ensure all Africans see their futures in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)and the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Tuesday in Zimbabwe. “Since no country is […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. For an Organization that is seen as all too ready to give advice, the United Nations welcomed a major role reversal on Tuesday: young people from all over the world were gathered in Switzerland to voice their concerns, outline their vision for a better […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Hyperinflation in Venezuela means that roughly one-third of the population – more than nine million people – do not get enough to eat and are in need of assistance, according to estimates published on Tuesday by the World Food Programme (WFP). The finding is based on a Food Security Assessment conducted by the […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Along with climate shocks, conflict and acute food insecurity, the East Africa region now faces a hunger threat from desert locusts, top UN relief officials warned on Tuesday, saying action now, will avert a major food crisis later. The locust upsurge is “a graphic […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Singapore and Fiji have become the first countries to ratify a UN treaty that promotes mediation as an alternative and effective method for resolving trade disputes, thus marking an important step towards its entry into force. During a ceremony at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, Singapore Senior Minister of State […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has warned against complacency on women’s rights at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, a landmark agenda for the empowerment of women. Ms. Bachelet, taking part in a panel discussion, held […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Forty-one million people around the world are internally displaced – and hundreds of thousands more have been forced from their homes since the beginning of the year – an “unacceptable” situation for which solutions can be found, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a delegation […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. While a sudden increase in new cases of COVID-19 is of concern, the spread of coronavirus is not yet a pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. “Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely, it has. Are we there […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Because the production of everything we eat transforms the environment, the United Nations agriculture chief told a high-level UN meeting on biodiversity that careful discussions are needed to decide on the scale of acceptable transformations. Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told negotiators on Monday that as agriculture and food systems are “at the heart of the concept of sustainable development”, they are central […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. It is no longer enough to reaffirm past agreements on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a senior UN envoy, who said on Monday that it is time to “find our way back to a mutually agreed mediation framework” to resume meaningful negotiations towards a two-State solution. “While there may be different interpretations and proposals how, this remains our shared objective”, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. People’s basic human rights – their birth-right – are “under assault”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, as he launched a Call to Action aimed at boosting equality and reducing suffering everywhere. People’s basic human rights – their birth-right – are “under assault”, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. Alongside the human population, Africa’s animals are suffering greatly from the effects of climate change, which United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mahommed saw first-hand on Sunday in Zimbabwe. As global temperatures continue to rise and the world seeks solutions to stem the tide, […]

This article is brought to you in association with the United Nations. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed on Saturday the establishment of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) in South Sudan. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, the UN chief commended the parties for the “significant achievement in the implementation of the Revitalized […]