United Nations

The land flattens on the approach to Birao, a cut-off town ringed by savannah in the far north of the Central African Republic, where roads dissolve into dust and motorcycles vastly outnumber cars. Less than two hours’ drive from the Sudanese border, this is the edge of a fractured country still piecing itself back together, while absorbing the shockwaves of a neighbouring conflict.

The world has moved beyond a water crisis and into a state of global water bankruptcy, says a new flagship report released on Tuesday by UN researchers.

The United Nations continues to monitor developments in northeast Syria following clashes between government troops and the Kurdish-led SDF militia during which scores of detained ISIL militants reportedly escaped from prison. 

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have cut heat, electricity and water to hundreds of thousands of civilians in freezing winter conditions, prompting the UN human rights chief to denounce the strikes as “cruel” and a clear violation of international law.

In 2011, a trafficker in Chile was convicted for recruiting economically vulnerable Peruvian citizens and arranging for them to be brought into the country – destined to become victims of sexual exploitation. 

Catastrophic flooding across Mozambique is devastating lives and livelihoods, sharply increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and malnutrition, while also forcing dangerous wildlife – including crocodiles – into flooded urban areas, the UN warned on Tuesday.

The reported demolition underway early Tuesday of the headquarters of UN agency UNRWA by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem - reportedly “under the watch of lawmakers and a member of the Government” - has prompted swift condemnation from the global body. 

As global leaders gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, UN agencies are warning that rising hunger and displacement are not only humanitarian emergencies but growing threats to global economic stability.

Despite a downward trend in the use of the death penalty globally, 2025 saw an ‘alarming’ increase in the number of executions in a small number of retentionist countries, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) warned on Monday.

Atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region are spreading from town to town in an organized campaign of violence that includes mass executions, rape and ethnic targeting, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council on Monday.

Since 2026, nearly 17 percent of Lebanon’s population has been living in a state of major food insecurity – a situation that is likely to worsen in the coming year.

In Yemen, renewed political instability and economic woes linked to the war threaten to complicate the already difficult task of helping vulnerable people suffering from deepening hunger, illness and displacement, the UN’s top aid official there said on Monday. 

Nearly three years of war have plunged Sudan “into an abyss of unimaginable dimensions” and human rights must be at the centre of efforts to end the fighting and build lasting peace, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Sunday in Nairobi.

Three months into the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the UN and partners have delivered tonnes of assistance items and carried out critical repairs, but this is only a temporary “Band-Aid” solution, a veteran aid worker has warned.

Powerful forces are lining up to undermine global cooperation, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned at a landmark event in London on Saturday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the General Assembly, but he urged that “humanity is strongest when we stand as one”. 

The rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence worldwide is putting electrical grids under huge pressure and many believe that, to meet that need without contributing to the climate crisis, a full-scale expansion of nuclear energy is essential.

Myanmar on Friday rejected allegations of genocide against the Rohingya minority, telling the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the Gambia’s case rests on “unsubstantiated allegations,” as public hearings continued in a landmark case on the application of the Genocide Convention.

More children in war-ravaged Gaza are now back in the classroom, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday. 

Peacekeeping operations in the Middle East are facing mounting security risks, funding pressures and political uncertainty, the head of UN peacekeeping warned on Friday.

In war-torn Sudan, local communities say they don’t have enough settlements for the internally displaced, few solutions for women who have suffered sexual violence – and there’s a lack of aid available for people with disabilities.