United Nations

The United States announced on Tuesday that it will leave the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which will take effect at the end of December 2026. 

Protecting underwater ecosystems from the growing interest in rare mineral mining, framing deep-sea laws and building a biobank are among landmark achievements of the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA), which is marking its 30th anniversary at its Kingston, Jamaica, headquarters.

Warning that the world is failing to uphold international law as wars stretch from Gaza to Ukraine, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres urged all nations to choose diplomacy over division and recommit to settling disputes peacefully.

The UN Security Council meets today for a high-level open debate on Promoting International Peace and Security through Multilateralism and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes, chaired by Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar. UN Secretary-General António Guterres is expected to brief as over 80 Member States join discussions on strengthening diplomacy and mechanisms for conflict prevention. UN News, in coordination with UN Meetings Coverage, brings you live updates. UN News App users can follow here.

UN Secretary‑General António Guterres declared the world has “passed the point of no return” on the shift to renewables and implored governments to file sweeping new climate plans before November’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil, saying the fossil fuel era is nearing its end.

South Sudan’s dramatic hunger crisis is worsening and millions of people there could miss out on food aid because of the global humanitarian funding crisis, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in the Gaza Strip who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday. 

Digital innovation and technology remain underfunded and underdeveloped across Africa, according to a report on Africa’s development which was discussed at the General Assembly on Monday.  

From the Himalayas to rural Texas, deadly floods this month have killed hundreds and exposed dangerous gaps in early warning systems, the UN’s weather agency warned, linking the devastation to rapid urbanization, land-use change and a warming climate that traps more moisture in the atmosphere.

The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached new and astonishing levels of desperation, with a third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row, a senior official with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday. 

As tensions between Houthi rebels in Yemen and Israel escalate, the UN Secretary-General is “deeply concerned” about the renewed airstrikes on Hudaydah Port conducted by Israel this Monday, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York. 

Ongoing sectarian violence in Sweida, Syria has triggered mass displacement in the area as humanitarians attempt to deliver aid.  

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing, his Spokesperson said on Monday. 

Badriya collapses from hunger, Khadija dreams of her kitchen and Hiyam longs for her daughters’ laughter in the garden – these are the stories of three women from Gaza who embody the daily struggles of mothers exhausted by war, hunger and displacement as the nearly two-year-long conflict continues.

Citing new global agreements on pandemic preparedness, ocean protection and development financing, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres said on Monday that recent “signs of momentum” show multilateralism can still deliver.

Worldwide, some of the most widespread and damaging drought events in recorded history have occurred in recent years due to climate change and resource depletion. 

“There will be another pandemic, and it will not be 100 years from now.”

After another deadly weekend in Gaza in which at least 67 Palestinians were reportedly killed seeking food, UN aid teams on Monday described “mayhem” and starvation in the enclave as the Israeli military pushed into Deir Al-Balah for the first time. 

An agreement signed by the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Congo River Alliance/March 23 Movement (AFC/M23) has been hailed by the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUSCO) as “an important step towards sustainable peace.”

Gang violence in Haiti has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and many are finding shelter in former schools where belief in the power of education remains strong.