United Nations

The international community must increase pressure on Myanmar ‘s military rulers in the wake of their decision to move ahead with death sentences against four individuals, including two prominent opponents of the regime, UN independent human rights experts said on Friday. 

Migrants who risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on flimsy boats often piloted by people-smugglers, are at greater risk of dying now than for years, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

To end AIDS, beat COVID-19 and “stop the pandemics of the future”, the world needs to ensure global access to lifesaving health technologies, the UN Chef de Cabinet has told a meeting of the General Assembly to review progress.

Authorities in Brazil must step up efforts to find a British journalist and an indigenous rights activist who disappeared nearly a week ago in a dangerous remote area of the Amazon, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday. 

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday condemned the death sentence handed down to three foreign fighters in Ukraine by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. “Such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime,” said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

It is essential to close the gap between the great potential of the Americas region and the daily struggles facing its people, UN Secretary-António Guterres told senior officials from across the hemisphere on Thursday. 

The UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed was in Kazakhstan on Thursday, where she spoke out against the “silent pandemic” of gender-based violence worldwide, saying that only collective action could end the scourge.

For the first time ever, 150 Ethiopian migrants are flying to Addis Ababa on a Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) flight from Yemen’s conflict-affected Ma’rib governarate, the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Thursday.

Five countries have been elected to serve as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council following a vote in the General Assembly on Thursday. 

Sri Lanka is experiencing a multidimensional economic crisis, which is compounded by food insecurity, rising protection concerns and shortages threatening lives and livelihoods, the UN said on Thursday, appealing for $47.2 million to provide life-saving assistance.

The war in Ukraine is not only a “horror unfolding before our eyes”, but also an “assault on some of the most vulnerable people and countries” across the world, said the UN chief on Wednesday, convening the first meeting of the steering committee which will guide the creation of a new UN crisis response group to help mitigate the worldwide impact of Russia’s invasion.

The UN General Assembly met on Wednesday for its second emergency session on the Ukraine crisis since Russia invaded the country on 24 February, with two similar but different resolutions placed before delegates, addressing the unfolding humanitarian crisis. 

World TB Day is marked on 24 March, and this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for urgent investment in the fight against tuberculosis, “to save millions more lives”.

Amid growing donor fatigue and a brutal war in Ukraine that has diverted the world’s attention, the world must not forget millions of people in need across the Middle East and North Africa, the UN chief told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Women across the world face unacceptable mistreatment during childbirth, according to a new study from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) launched on Wednesday.

In Kenya, a trailblazing sustainable agriculture project has helped hundreds of farmers move away from the harmful practice of growing tobacco, in favour of a healthier alternative, the UN said on Wednesday.

Following a U-turn over re-opening girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief shared her “profound frustration and disappointment” that six months after the Taliban seized power, high school girls have yet to return to the classroom.

The UN set an ambitious five year deadline on Wednesday for countries to ensure that citizens worldwide are protected by early warning systems against extreme weather and climate change, the UN chief announced, marking World Meteorological Day.

Jarno Habicht has worked with WHO for the last 19 years and served as WHO Representative in Ukraine since 2018. He explains how WHO prepared for armed conflict in the country, and how it has responded to health-related issues since the Russian invasion.

Violence against women and girls may be the world’s “longest, deadliest pandemic,” the UN chief said on Tuesday, during an event focused on the role boys and men need to play, to help eliminate gender-based violence.