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OCHA/Zinnia Bukhari
It’s ‘time to #EndTB’, says UN on World Tuberculosis Day
24 March 2019
Health
Tuberculosis, or TB, is not only the world's top infectious killer, it is also the leading cause of deaths among people with HIV and a major cause of antimicrobial resistance-related deaths, the United Nations health agency said on Sunday, World Tuberculosis Day.
MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko
UN condemns ‘unspeakable’ attack that leaves scores dead in central Mali
23 March 2019
Peace and Security
The United Nations has strongly condemned the armed attack on a village in restive central Mali which reportedly left at least 134 people dead and dozens wounded early on Saturday.
MINUSCA
UN chief welcomes establishment of inclusive government in Central African Republic
23 March 2019
Peace and Security
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the establishment in the Central African Republic (CAR) of a government in line with an early February peace deal struck with more than a dozen armed groups active in the country.
UNICEF/UN0291728/Prinsloo
Cyclone Idai: UNICEF warns of ‘race against time’ to protect children, prevent spread of disease in flood-ravaged Mozambique
23 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
A week after the flooded Mozambican port of Beira was hit by Cyclone Idai, “aid agencies are barely beginning to see the scale of the damage”, the head of UNICEFsaid on Saturday, as she called for more international support to help quickly get relief to more than a million people across the country and prevent the possible spread of waterborne diseases like cholera.
UN Women/Ryan Brown
UN commission agrees roadmap on ensuring women’s social protection, mobility, safety, and access to economic opportunities
23 March 2019
Women
The UN body exclusively dedicated to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment wrapped up its annual session on Friday evening with agreement on ways to safeguard and improve women’s and girls’ access to social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure.
WMO/Gyuho Shin
The sun’s impact on Earth and weather celebrated, as planet marks World Meteorological Day
23 March 2019
Climate Change
Against a background of serious warnings against the effects of climate change, World Meteorological Day this year celebrates the crucial role played by the sun in powering all life on Earth, and in driving the weather, ocean currents and the hydrological cycle.
Audio - 13'42" Playlist
UNICEF/Sari Omer
Gender equality, justice in law and practice: Essential for sustainable development
22 March 2019
Women
Fundamentally linked to human development, gender justice requires ending inequality and redressing existing disparities between women and men, according to a high-level United Nations forum on the situation in Arab States.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
‘Mosques should be safe havens, not sites of terror’, says Guterres announcing UN plan to help safeguard religious sites
22 March 2019
Peace and Security
In the wake of a horrific mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has announced his intention to launch a UN action plan for the safeguarding of religious sites, declaring that “mosques and all places of prayer and contemplation should be safe havens, not sites of terror.”
UNOSSC/Rodrigo Atanes
UN conference agrees better ways for Global South countries to work together on sustainable development
22 March 2019
Economic Development
The Second High-Level UN Conference on South-South Cooperation, known as BAPA+40, concluded on Friday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a political declaration agreed by more than 160 Member States renewing the global commitment in the promotion and investment in this type of collaboration between countries.
UN News
Short survey: UN News wants to know what you think
22 March 2019
UN Affairs
UN News, your one-stop shop for all global and UN-related news, would like to hear from you through a short survey.
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OCHA/Naomi Frerotte
Hunger, displacement and disease: 4.3 million people remain in dire need of aid in Chad
22 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
With Chad at a crossroads of life-threatening challenges ranging from violence to drought, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners appealed on Thursday for $476 million to support the most vulnerable of 4.3 million people relying on aid in the African country.
Audio - 9'12" Playlist
UNICEF/UN0290284/de Wet AFP-S
UN chief calls for ‘far greater support’ for Cyclone Idai response
22 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The world needs to step up support for the survivors of Tropical Cyclone Idai, the UN Secretary-General said on Friday, in a strong personal appeal as relief workers rush to provide aid to people stranded across the storm countries in southern Africa.
Audio - 5'19" Playlist
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Ferry capsizes near Mosul, UN chief offers solidarity, support ‘as needed’
22 March 2019
UN Affairs
As many Iraqis across the country celebrated Norwuz, the first day of spring, a passenger ferry in the Tigris River capsized on Thursday, prompting Secretary-General António Guterres to offer the United Nations’ support “as needed”.
UNICEF/Souleiman
More children killed by unsafe water, than bullets, says UNICEF chief
21 March 2019
Peace and Security
A lack of safe water, is far deadlier for children than war in more than a dozen conflict-affected countries, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday, in a report launched to coincide with World Water Day, marked on 22 March.
Natalia Staroverova - International Forest Photo Contest
Education critical to ensure future of forests, and reverse their destruction
21 March 2019
Climate Change
The UN drew attention to the vital role that forests play in addressing some of the world’s greatest environmental challenges on Thursday, and the importance of tackling the issues that threaten them, such as deforestation, and land degradation.
UNIFIL
Service and Sacrifice: Malaysian peacekeepers in Lebanon proud to serve their homeland and the United Nations
21 March 2019
Peace and Security
Peacekeepers from Malaysia serving under the United Nations flag in Lebanon face a “a totally new experience” according to the commander of the Malaysian contingent in the country.
UNOCHA
‘Massive and protracted’ humanitarian crisis in DR Congo can be ‘beaten back’ if donors step up
21 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
“Urgent and sustained funding” for a Government-led response to what is now a “massive and protracted” humanitarian crisis across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is required, said the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN relief chief on Thursday.
UNICEF/Claudio Versiani
Marking international day, UN experts call for urgent action to end racial discrimination, in wake of New Zealand anti-Muslim attack
21 March 2019
Human Rights
States must take urgent action, to “stem the tide of hate and discrimination” and ramping up of “ethno-nationalist populism”, which helped fuel the deadly shootings in two New Zealand mosques last Friday by a self-declared white supremacist, several top UN officials and human rights experts have stressed, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Audio - 6'46" Playlist
WFP/Photo Library
Idai disaster: Stranded victims still need rescue from heavy rains as UN scales up response
21 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
Dire conditions persist in vast areas of southern Africa affected by Cyclone Idai as heavy rain continues to cause “massive destruction”, the UN said on Thursday, while aid teams scale up efforts to reach those most in need.
FAO/Lesotho/Lechoko Noko
‘Growing alarm’ over Fall Armyworm advance, with cash crops ‘under attack’ across Asia
20 March 2019
Economic Development
The Fall Armyworm pest is continuing to sweep across the globe, having moved eastwards from their native Americas, onto Africa, before arriving in Asia only last summer, where they now threaten to cost farmers from India to Thailand, billions of dollars in lost production.
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© UNHCR/Siegfried Modola
Venezuela: ‘A worrying destabilizing factor in the region’, Bachelet tells Human Rights Council
20 March 2019
Human Rights
Expressing deep concern at the “magnitude and gravity of the human rights impact” of Venezuela’s current crisis, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Wednesday that the country had become “a worrying destabilizing factor in the region.”
UN-IRMCT/Leslie Hondebrink-Hermer
UN court increases sentence of former Bosnian-Serb leader to life imprisonment
20 March 2019
Peace and Security
A United Nations appeals court on Wednesday increased the 40-year sentence initially imposed on Radovan Karadžić, former leader of the Republika Srpksa region of Bosnia and head of the Bosnian-Serb Army, to life imprisonment.
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke
Libya stands at a ‘critical juncture’, UN mission head tells Security Council
20 March 2019
Peace and Security
Predicting that the “days ahead will prove foundational to the years ahead for Libyans and the region”, the top United Nations official in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday, that it was no exaggeration to describe the oil-rich nation as having reached “a crucial juncture”.
UNIC Buenos Aires/Mariano Solier
Global South cooperation ‘vital’ to climate change fight, development, Guterres tells historic Buenos Aires summit
20 March 2019
Economic Development
South-South cooperation is key to the world’s sustainable development and the fight against global warming said the United Nations Secretary-General on Wednesday, as the opening session of the Second UN Conference on South-South Cooperation got underway in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.
WFP/Hugo du Plessis
UN allocates $20 million in emergency funding, as Cyclone Idai disaster unfolds
20 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
As the full scale of the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in southern Africa continues to be assessed, the UN and humanitarian partners are ramping up the provision of emergency food, shelter, water and health care supplies to hundreds-of-thousands who have been affected across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Laura Quinones/UN News
UN launches ‘South-South Galaxy’ knowledge-sharing platform in Buenos Aires
19 March 2019
Economic Development
When countries of the Global South forged an historic technical cooperation deal among themselves 40 years ago, digital technology was a thing of the future, but developing nations have come a long way since then.
Audio - 5'1" Playlist
UN Environment/ Hannah McNeish
Safe drinking water, sanitation, are ‘basic human rights’: new UN Water Development report
19 March 2019
SDGs
Safe water and access to proper sanitation are essential to eradicate poverty, build peaceful societies and ensure that no one is left behind on the path towards sustainable development, according to the 2019 UN World Water Development Report, launched on Tuesday in Geneva.
© UNHCR/Pumla Rulashe
First peaceful transfer of power in DR Congo ‘an extraordinary opportunity’ for advancing rights
19 March 2019
Human Rights
The election of President Felix Tshisekedi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), marks “an extraordinary opportunity” for the country to advance civil and political rights, said a senior UN official, on Tuesday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
WFP/Deborah Nguyen
Cyclone Idai: emergency getting ‘bigger by the hour’, warns UN food agency
19 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The full scale of the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Idai in south-west Africa is becoming clearer, the UN said on Tuesday, warning that the emergency “is getting bigger by the hour”.
©FAO/Wang Jinbiao
What is ‘South-South cooperation’ and why does it matter?
18 March 2019
Economic Development
This week in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, over one thousand people, including high level government delegations and representatives from the private sector and civil society, will gather for the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, or BAPA+40.
LATEST NEWS
UNifeed Video
Gaza investigators call on Israel to review ‘rules of engagement’ as Gaza protest anniversary looms
18 March 2019
Human Rights
Human Rights Council-appointed investigators urged Israel on Monday to revise its military rules of engagement, shortly before the one-year anniversary of the start of mass demonstrations at the country’s border fence with Gaza, that have left hundreds of Palestinians dead and thousands more injured.
UNICEF/VincentTremeau
UN will do ‘utmost to prevent and mitigate any risk of violence’ in DR Congo, pledges Mission chief
18 March 2019
Peace and Security
Despite the relatively peaceful passage of December’s presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Special Representative to the country told the Security Council she “remained concerned” over developments in the east, where dozens of armed groups continue to operate.
UN Photo/Hervé Serefio
Encouraging progress made in 2018, in ‘zero tolerance’ effort to end sexual exploitation and abuse across UN
18 March 2019
UN Affairs
The United Nations recorded a total of 259 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) during 2018, according to the latest report by Secretary-General António Guterres presented to the General Assembly. Although the figures rose compared with the previous two years, the report shows increased awareness among UN and UN-related staff, and improved and harmonized reporting tools across the Organization.
UN Global Compact/Chae Khin for Joel Sheakoski Photography
Despite progress, companies face gender equality ‘backlash’: UN business body
18 March 2019
Women
Although the drive to reach gender equality has picked up speed, and diversity initiatives have been put into place in companies and organizations, a significant level of resistance and backlash remains, according to a leading UN business group.
UN Mozambique
‘Break the cycle’ of disaster-response-recovery, urges top UN official, as death toll mounts from Cyclone Idai
18 March 2019
Climate Change
The destruction unleashed by Cyclone Idai on Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, continues to claim lives and displace thousands, in what the UN’s top disaster risk reduction official called on Monday “the worst extreme weather event to occur so far this year”.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
UN chief expresses solidarity with Indonesian authorities after flash floods kill dozens in Papua
17 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
More than 70 have died and dozens are missing in Indonesia’s eastern province of Papua, which was hit by flash floods and landslides on Sunday, and more than 4,000 have reportedly been displaced.
UNICEF/Juskauskas
UN standing with Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique as Southern Africa death toll from deadly cyclone mounts
17 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The UN chief has expressed his sadness at the loss of life and displacement across Zimbabwe, as a result of the deadly Tropical Cyclone Idai, which has pounded Southern Africa in recent days, leaving at least 150 dead in Malawi alone, according to latest news reports.
WFP/Wissam Nassar
UN Middle East Coordinator strongly condemns ‘arrests and violence’ by Hamas security forces during Gaza protests
17 March 2019
Peace and Security
The UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process has strongly condemned the violent response by security forces in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip during the past three days, towards Palestinian protests over the deteriorating economic situation there.
© UNHCR/Diego Ibarra Sánchez
‘Moral obligation and political imperative’ to support Syria on path to peace: Guterres
16 March 2019
Peace and Security
Governments across the world have a “moral obligation” to help Syrians “unite around a vision for their common future”, finally bringing an end to eight years of brutal conflict, said the UN Secretary-General on Friday.
UNHCR/Egor Dubrovsky
In tech-driven 21st century, achieving global development goals requires closing digital gender divide
15 March 2019
Women
Bridging the ‘gender digital divide’ is about more than ensuring that women and girls have basic access to the Internet and cell phones; it means providing training so they have the skills to use information and communications technologies (ICTs) to their benefit, and taking active measures to boost the numbers of women in ICT leadership positions, including in academia and entrepreneurship.
LATEST NEWS
UNFCCC
Voices of young climate action activists ‘give me hope’ says UN chief
15 March 2019
Climate Change
In the wake of Friday’s demonstrations by schoolchildren across the world against climate change inaction, the UN Secretary-General has said he understands their fears, but is hopeful for the future.
UN Photo/Manuel Elias
UN ‘comes together in sadness and solidarity’ to honour staff who died on board Ethiopian Airlines flight
15 March 2019
UN Affairs
Ceremonies were held at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva on Friday, to remember and honour the staff who died on board Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which crashed near Addis Ababa last Sunday, killing all 157 passengers and crew.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe
‘Stand united against anti-Muslim hatred’ urges Guterres, after mosque shootings in New Zealand leave 49 dead
15 March 2019
Peace and Security
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the international community to ‘stand united against anti-Muslim hatred’ following a mass shooting in New Zealand on Friday targeting two mosques, which has left at least 49 dead and many others wounded, some critically.
UNICEF/Juskauskas
Tropical Cyclone Idai affects 1.5 million across Mozambique and Malawi, as UN ramps up response
15 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
A major aid operation is under way in Mozambique and Malawi to help victims of Tropical Cyclone Idai, which has reached the densely-populated Mozambican port city of Beira, after registering maximum wind speeds of nearly 200 kilometres per hour, UN agencies said on Friday.
MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko
Service and Sacrifice: Guinean peacekeepers make their mark in Mali
14 March 2019
Peace and Security
As the sun rises over Mali’s vast desert, a group of 20 peacekeepers prepare their equipment and line up to receive instructions before heading out for their first patrol of the day on one of the most dangerous roads in the region.
© UNICEF/Roger LeMoyne
Drug laws must be amended to ‘combat racial discrimination’, UN experts say
14 March 2019
Human Rights
At every stage of the criminal justice system, people of African descent around the world are discriminated against, including death sentencing for drugs-related crimes, United Nations human rights experts said on Thursday, calling on Member States to do more to “combat racial discrimination”.
World Bank /Vincent Tremeau
DR Congo Ebola centre attacks could force retreat against the deadly disease, warns UN health chief
14 March 2019
Health
Attacks on Ebola treatment centres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), risk reversing the gains made during the current outbreak in the north-east of the country, the head of the UN health agency said on Thursday.
UNEP/Cyril Villemain
Make this the year of ‘transformative solutions’ to avert disastrous climate change: UN Deputy Chief
14 March 2019
Climate Change
It is within our power to make 2019 the “year of transformative solutions” and “avoid the disastrous effects of climate change“, which threaten ecosystems, the global economy, health and security, the UN Deputy Secretary-General told delegates gathered in Nairobi for the UN Environment Assembly, on Thursday.
UNICEF/Rajat Madhok
United States: UN human rights office welcomes California moratorium on death penalty
14 March 2019
Human Rights
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has welcomed the signing of an executive order by the Governor of California, in the United States, to impose a moratorium on carrying out the death penalty, which grants a reprieve to 737 inmates, up to end of his term in office.
UNHCR/Andrew McConnell
UN welcomes 'record' Brussels conference pledge of nearly $7 billion to support Syrians
14 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
Foreign ministers from more than 50 countries gathered on Thursday at a joint European Union-UN pledging conference, and pledged to provide a record $6.97 billion, to support millions of Syrians in need both inside the country, and sheltering in host communities beyond its borders.
LATEST NEWS
UNICEF/UNI177053/Palasi
99 per cent of intravenous drug users lack access to health, ‘social services with dignity’ says UNAIDS chief
13 March 2019
Health
Despite a decline in new HIV infections globally, a UN report launched on Wednesday highlights that nearly all people who inject drugs live in countries that do not provide suitable harm-reduction service coverage, meaning they are denied adequate access to essential health services.
World Bank
Humanity ‘at a crossroads’ as damage to planet poses growing risk to health, UN environment agency warns
13 March 2019
Health
Human activity is damaging the planet so badly, exacerbated by climate change, that it will increasingly put our health at risk, warns a major report from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released on Wednesday at the UN Environment Assembly, currently taking place in Nairobi.
UNICEF/Tremeau
Around 260,000 children in DR Congo’s Kasai region suffering severe acute malnutrition
13 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
More than a quarter of a million children in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – and thousands of others who have fled with their families to nearby provinces – are suffering severe and acute malnutrition, and need lifesaving treatment, said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday.
UN Photo/UNHCR/Roger LeMoyne
UN must provide redress for minorities placed in toxic Kosovo camps, says rights expert
13 March 2019
Human Rights
An independent rights expert appointed by the Human Rights Council has called on the United Nations to “provide justice and remedies” to displaced people who suffered lead poisoning after being housed in UN camps on toxic wasteland in Kosovo.
UN Women/Amanda Voisard
‘Power is not given, power is taken’, UN chief tells women activists, urging push-back against status quo
13 March 2019
Women
After hearing from many of the world’s top women politicians on Tuesday in a session on “Women in Power”, Secretary-General António Guterres, held a Town Hall meeting for civil society activists where he underscored the importance of women seizing the initiative in the struggle for gender equality.
UNICEF/Grove Hermansen
Syrians still living on ‘razor edge’ as UN launches $8.8 billion dollar appeal
13 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
An $8.8 billion funding appeal has been issued by the UN to help millions of Syrians who live a “razor-edge existence” inside and outside the war-torn country, along with the communities struggling to host them.
Audio - 5'29" Playlist
UNMISS/Isaac Billy
In South Sudan, mothers teaching daughters ‘safer’ ways to survive rape
12 March 2019
Human Rights
Sexual attacks in South Sudan are so common that mothers now teach their daughters how to survive the ordeal of being raped, in such a way as to minimize the violence. That’s according to Yasmin Sooka, chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, who was speaking on Tuesday in front of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, during its latest session.
Audio Playlist
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Europe and UN form bulwark against ‘might makes right’ worldview, EU foreign affairs chief tells Security Council
12 March 2019
Peace and Security
“The concept of global governance risks being replaced by the old law that ‘might makes right’”, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, told the Security Council on Tuesday, during a meeting looking at on-going cooperation between the UN and the 28-member body.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
Political power of women suffering ‘serious regression’, General Assembly President warns
12 March 2019
Women
There has been a “serious regression” in the political power of women across the world in recent years, UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa told delegates to the annual summit of women activists at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
UNJHRO
DR Congo: ‘New waves of violence’ likely, UN warns, unless State acts to prevent intercommunal reprisals
12 March 2019
Human Rights
"New waves of violence” could erupt "at any time" in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN rights office warned on Tuesday, unless the Government acts to ease “tensions and resentment” between the two communities involved.
LATEST NEWS
WFP/Abeer Etefa
Dozens killed and injured by new attacks in western Yemen, UN coordinator condemns ‘outrageous’ toll
11 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
Reports from Yemen’s Hajjah Governorate indicate that scores of civilians have been killed following attacks on residential areas over the past two days. Medical sources suggest that at least 22 have died, with more than 30 injured during the bombardment.
UNHCR/Roger Arnold
UN rights expert calls for end to ‘purgatory’ of ‘international inaction’ facing Myanmar’s remaining Rohingya
11 March 2019
Human Rights
A humanitarian crisis fuelled by the suppression of basic human rights is continuing across Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert said on Monday, in an appeal for alleged atrocities there to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
EU/ECHO/Jacqueline Chinoera
UN chief sends condolences to families of Malawi flood victims
11 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has extended his condolences to the families of flood victims across Malawi, where at least 23 have died in recent days, and to the Government and citizens of the country.
UN Women/Ryan Brown
Annual UN women activists’ summit opens with focus on services, infrastructure
11 March 2019
Women
A wheelchair-bound Pakistani mother who yearned to visit a park without worrying about ramp access, and a young South Sudanese woman who dreams of having affordable health care, were among the speakers opening the United Nation’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s rights on Monday.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
UN unveils global influenza strategy to prevent ‘real’ threat of pandemic
11 March 2019
Health
A new UN-led plan has been unveiled to tackle the estimated one billion cases of influenza which occur each year, and protect against the “real” threat of a global pandemic, the head of the organization’s health agency said on Monday.
UNAMA / Mujeeb Rahman
Despite progress towards peace, Afghanistan facing ‘daunting challenges’ ahead of presidential vote
11 March 2019
Peace and Security
The UN Special Representative in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, hailed on-going efforts made towards peace and the engagement of women and youth across the country, but warned the Security Council on Monday that “daunting challenges” remain.
UN Nairobi/Tirus Wainaina
Let us keep ‘their spirit of service alive’: Guterres leads tributes to UN workers who died in Ethiopia crash
11 March 2019
UN Affairs
United Nations flags flew at half-mast around the world on Monday to honour the more than 150 people killed in Sunday’s Ethiopian Airlines crash, including at least 21 UN workers.
Audio - 3'45" Playlist
Alexandre Soares
‘A new chapter’ dawns for democracy in Guinea-Bissau: top UN official
10 March 2019
Peace and Security
The UN’s Deputy Special Representative in the West African state of Guinea-Bissau, has congratulated politicians, voters and officials across the country for the peaceful conduct of Sunday’s national assembly elections.
UN Photo/Mark Garten
UN chief ‘deeply saddened’ by Ethiopia plane crash which killed 157, including at least 21 UN workers
10 March 2019
UN Affairs
An Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after take off from the capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, killing more than 150 people on board. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened at the tragic loss of lives” , as reports emerged that UN staff were also among the dead.
MONUSCO/Michael Ali
DR Congo: Following second brutal assault on Ebola clinic, UN health chief vows to continue serving ‘most vulnerable’
9 March 2019
Peace and Security
Amidst a deadly Ebola outbreak, on Saturday morning armed militia members brutally attacked an Ebola clinic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) eastern city of Butembo, prompting a call from the UN's global health agency chief “to protect the treatment centres”.
LATEST NEWS
Alexandre Soares
Voters head to polls with expectation of ‘peaceful, free and fair' elections: UN News special report from Guinea-Bissau
9 March 2019
Peace and Security
After months of preparation by hundreds of national and international officials, including the United Nations, around 760,000 registered voters from Guinea-Bissau headed to the polls on Sunday to choose new members of the National Assembly.
UNDP Yemen
FROM THE FIELD: Rebuilding Yemen’s future from the ground up
8 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The ongoing conflict in Yemen has had a devastating impact on the Gulf country and while UN agencies continue to meet the immediate humanitarian needs of the Yemeni people, at least one UN agency has already begun planning for a future without war.
UNMISS
Peace deal holds in South Sudan, but humanitarian funding ‘ultimately unsustainable,’ says top UN envoy
8 March 2019
Peace and Security
September’s UN-backed South Sudan peace agreement is holding and has led to positive change, but tens of thousands of civilians in the war-weary nation are still reliant of life-saving humanitarian assistance, and time is running out. This was the message that David Shearer, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for South Sudan, relayed to the Security Council on Friday.
UNDP South Sudan
International Women's Day: Empowering more women decision-makers ‘essential’, says Guterres
8 March 2019
Women
Under the theme “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”, the United Nations hosted its flagship event celebrating International Women’s Day on Friday to recognize unsung women from across the world, and encourage innovation to transform lives.
Audio - 4'44" Playlist
© UNHCR/Siegfried Modola
UN rights team heading to Venezuela may pave way for official mission led by Bachelet
8 March 2019
Human Rights
A United Nations human rights team is to begin an official visit to Venezuela on Monday at the invitation of the Government, potentially paving the way for an official mission to Caracas by the UN’s top rights official, Michelle Bachelet.
© UNICEF/UN0150811/Gilbertson V
Joint UN, OSCE engagement can address crisis in Ukraine, other ‘dark spots of conflict’ in Europe
7 March 2019
Peace and Security
What is happening in and around Ukraine is “unacceptable, the Chairperson-in-Office for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday.
UN Photo/Jean Marc Ferre
Human rights ‘core to sustainable development’: deputy UN chief
7 March 2019
Human Rights
“Human rights are core to the 2030 Agenda, and sustainable development is a powerful vehicle for the realization of all human rights,” the UN’s Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, said in a speech to the Human Rights Council, on Thursday.
World Bank/Arne Hoel
Women’s empowerment ‘essential to global progress’ says Guterres, marking International Day
7 March 2019
Women
Women’s empowerment and gender equality are “essential to global progress”, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stressed in his message for International Women's Day which this year puts “innovation by women and girls, for women and girls”, at the heart of efforts to achieve gender equality.
Audio - 27'20" Playlist
UN Women/Joe Saade
Women still struggle to find a job, let alone reach the top: new UN report calls for 'quantum leap'
7 March 2019
Economic Development
Women’s job opportunities have barely improved since the early 1990s, UN labour experts said on Thursday, warning that female workers are still penalized for having children and looking after them.
Audio - 9'1" Playlist
UN Youth Envoy/Nikke Puskala
‘Global clarion call’ for youth to shape efforts to forge peace in the most dangerous combat zones
6 March 2019
Peace and Security
For the first time ever, youth from the frontlines of conflict have joined mediators, researchers and Government representatives at an international conference, to discuss new and innovative ways for young people to contribute to peace processes.
LATEST NEWS
UNICEF/Amer Al Shami
Security Council discusses chemical weapons use in Syria following latest global watchdog report
6 March 2019
Peace and Security
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors on Wednesday, to discuss the latest findings of the global chemical weapons watchdog in Syria, which concluded that there were “reasonable grounds” that a chemical attack took place during the crucial battle for control of Eastern Ghouta, last April.
UNICEFEthiopia/2018/Mersha
Education remains an impossible dream for many refugees and migrants
6 March 2019
Migrants and Refugees
The older refugee and migrant children get, the less likely it is that they will get a quality education: less than a quarter of the world’s refugees make it to secondary school, and just one per cent progress to higher education. Even for migrants who settle in wealthy, developed host countries, accessing university is an uphill struggle.
WFP/Silke Buhr
Nearly four million North Koreans in urgent need, as food production slumps by almost 10 per cent
6 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The UN is calling for some $120 million to provide life-saving humanitarian aid, desperately needed by 3.8 million North Koreans, as it releases its 2019 Needs and Priorities Plan for the country.
MONUSCO
Ramped-up emergency preparedness, part of ‘changing the DNA’ of the UN’s health agency
6 March 2019
Health
Better preparing itself to respond to emergency situations is just one of a sweeping range of changes the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Wednesday to further improve its role as the world’s leading authority on public health.
UN Photo/Violaine Martin
Without tackling ‘gross inequalities’ major issues will go unsolved, warns UN rights chief Bachelet
6 March 2019
Human Rights
Inequality continues to drive rights violations everywhere, but some countries have made significant progress in tackling the problem, not least in women’s rights, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Wednesday.
OCHA
Drastic deterioration in security across Burkina Faso as 70,000 flee their homes in past two months, UN warns
5 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso is facing “unprecedented” displacement, triggered by armed groups and intercommunal clashes, and exacerbated by long-term food insecurity, UN aid officials said on Tuesday.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Break taboo around menstruation, act to end ‘disempowering’ discrimination, say UN experts
5 March 2019
Women
A group of seven United Nations rights experts issued a clarion call on Tuesday to break the taboo around menstrual health for women and girls that persists in many parts of the world and take concrete action to end “disempowering” discrimination.
UN News/Reem Abaza
Israeli security forces’ response to Gaza protests ‘a recipe for more bloodshed’, says UN expert
5 March 2019
Human Rights
Since the beginning of the year, Israeli security forces have responded to protests along Gaza’s border fence with tear gas, rubber coated bullets and live ammunition that have caused death, injury and fear, which the UN’s independent human rights expert on the region described on Tuesday as “a recipe for more bloodshed”.
Donald Bliss/NLM/NIH
UN’s AIDS agency ‘greatly encouraged’ by latest scientific breakthrough showing cure is possible
5 March 2019
Health
The UN agency leading the global effort to end AIDS, said on Tuesday that a new case of a patient who has been “functionally cured” of HIV infection, is greatly encouraging, but there is still a long way to go before the illness can be eradicated.
Audio - 5'13" Playlist
UNHCR/Kate Holt (资料）
UN human rights chief regrets closure of Burundi office following Government pressure
5 March 2019
Peace and Security
In a statement released on Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, announced her regret at the closure of the UN Human Rights Office in Burundi – which was set up more than two decades ago – at the insistence of the country’s government.
LATEST NEWS
UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi
Recreational cannabis poses ‘significant’ health challenges to youth: drugs control body
5 March 2019
Health
The UN-backed International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned on Tuesdaythat poorly regulated medical cannabis programmes could step-up the “recreational” use of the drug while diminishing public concern over its harmful effects.
Audio - 7'27" Playlist
© UNHCR/Hereward Holland
‘Huge data gaps’ hampering ‘evidence-based’ national migration policies
4 March 2019
Migrants and Refugees
There are still “huge gaps at country level,” to be overcome in order to develop an effective global migration data programme, said the head of the Demographic and Social Statistics Branch of UN Statistics, on Monday.
IAEA/Kirstie Hansen
UN atomic watchdog chief updates governing body on key North Korean reactor
4 March 2019
Peace and Security
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said that the agency was continuing to monitor activities around North Korea’s Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, which according to news reports is believed to have supplied plutonium for DPRK’s nuclear weapons programme, and was a central issue in talks that broke up without agreement last week in Vietnam, between United States President, Donald Trump, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
© UNICEF/Mungunkhishig Batbaatar
Air pollution, the ‘silent killer’ that claims seven million lives a year: rights council hears
4 March 2019
Health
Shifting to renewable energy could save up to 150 million lives by the end of the century amid concerns that six billion people regularly inhale air “so polluted that it puts their life, health and well-being at risk”, a UN-appointed independent rights expert said on Monday.
© UNICEF/UN0280961/Vishwanathan
93 million children with disabilities ‘among the most likely to be left behind’: UN rights chief
4 March 2019
Human Rights
States should do more for an estimated 93 million children with disabilities who are “among the most likely to be left behind and the least likely to be heard”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Monday.
© UNICEF/UN0264260/Haro
‘Once lost, hearing doesn’t come back,’ World Health Organization warns on World Hearing Day
3 March 2019
Health
Many people live with unidentified hearing loss, often failing to realize that they are missing out on certain sounds and words. To address this problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging people on this year’s World Hearing Day, held on March 3, to check their hearing.
Audio - 5'11" Playlist
UNDP Yemen
Children are still dying in Yemen war, despite partial ceasefire, says UNICEF chief
2 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
Responding to the violent deaths of five children in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on Thursday, Henrietta Fore, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that Yemen’s civil war continues to take a “horrific toll” on children.
UNDP Thailand
Ocean life faces ‘onslaught of threats’ from human activity, but tools exist to save it
1 March 2019
Climate Change
Underwater life is severely impacted by an “onslaught of threats,” but we already have the tools to positively influence ocean conservation, the UN said in a statement marking 2019 World Wildlife Day which, this year, is celebrated under the theme “Life Below Water: for people and planet.”
Audio - 5'18" Playlist
UN Photo/Ilyas Ahmed
UN chief urges Somalis not to be ‘deterred’ by latest deadly terror attack
1 March 2019
Peace and Security
The Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday that he “strongly condemns the deadly terrorist attacks” that took place in the Somali capital Mogadishu late on Thursday local time, which reportedly killed more than 20 people, with scores injured.
UNMISS/JC McIlwaine
20 years on from landmark Mine Ban Treaty, dangers on the rise to life and limb
1 March 2019
Peace and Security
Twenty years after the Mine Ban Treaty was adopted, landmines continue to kill and injure on former battlefields, long after the guns have gone away. On Friday, the United Nations and partners commemorated the landmark treaty that has saved the lives of million and prevented millions more from suffering terrible injuries.
LATEST NEWS
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke
UN chief hails Libyan leaders’ agreement to hold general election
1 March 2019
Peace and Security
An agreement by Libya’s Prime Minister and a key rival military leader to improve political stability across the country through new general elections, has been welcomed by the UN Secretary-General.
© UNICEF/UN0277723/Souleiman
Syrians ‘exposed to brutality every day’ as thousands continue fleeing ISIL’s last stand
1 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
In eastern Syria, 13,000 people have arrived at a protection camp in just the last week, after fleeing fighting in the last ISIL extremist stronghold in Deir-Ez-Zor governorate, the UN’s emergency coordination office, OCHA, said on Friday.
UNAIDS/MUJAHID SAFODIEN
Laws must protect, ‘not reject’ says UNAIDS chief on Zero Discrimination Day
1 March 2019
Human Rights
Discriminatory laws and practices that bar access to health and other services must be changed, the United Nations agency leading the fight against HIV/AIDS said on Friday, Zero Discrimination Day.
© UNHCR/Xavier Bourgois
Trees in ‘green’ Cameroon refugee camp, bring shade and relief from ‘helter-skelter’ of life
1 March 2019
Humanitarian Aid
The land is sandy, dry and scorched by the searing sun of the African Sahel, but that has not stopped the planting of some 50,000 trees at a camp for Nigerian refugees in the far north-east corner of Cameroon.
Audio - 2'41" Playlist
© UNHCR/Siegfried Modola
Venezuela must guarantee judicial impartiality - UN human rights expert
1 March 2019
Human Rights
As political tensions continue to escalate in Venezuela, a United Nations independent human rights expert has called on the Government to “take all necessary measures to guarantee judicial independence,” following concerns that some pressure may have been placed on the country’s justice system “to act against the political opposition”.
© UNICEF/Guy Hubbard
DR Congo: Insecurity and attacks mean Ebola will keep spreading, warns world health agency
1 March 2019
Health
Worsening security in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo marked by attacks on Ebola clinics have made it a “given” that the deadly virus will spread further, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
