Indigenous youth meet trailblazers ahead of Nelson Mandela Day

Indigenous youth meet trailblazers ahead of Nelson Mandela Day

Accompanied by their parents and mentors from the midwestern state of Wisconsin, the group wore handmade ribbon skirts and vests featuring seven coloured bands, each symbolizing a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of personal significance, such as good health and gender equality. Also visiting the UN in New York for the first time that day was […]

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: Emergency meeting on rising tensions in Syria

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: Emergency meeting on rising tensions in Syria

The Security Council met on Thursday afternoon for an emergency session on Syria after deadly violence in the south and a wave of Israeli airstrikes that reportedly hit military sites and key locations in Damascus. Khaled Khiari, a senior UN political affairs official briefed ambassadors, warning that renewed bloodshed could derail prospects for a credible, […]

Pakistan reels under monsoon deluge as death toll climbs

Pakistan reels under monsoon deluge as death toll climbs

Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, reported at least 63 casualties and 290 injuries in the past 24 hours, pushing the nationwide toll since the seasonal rains began on 26 June to over 120 fatalities, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. The unfolding crisis – rising rivers, forecasts of further downpours, fragile rural homes collapsing […]

UN rights chief condemns the killing of scores of civilians in Sudan

UN rights chief condemns the killing of scores of civilians in Sudan

Since 10 July, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, has verified that the Rapid Support Forces  (RSF) have killed at least 60 civilians in North Kordofan’s Bara locality, while civil society groups have reported that up to 300 were killed. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) also hit two villages in West Kordofan from 10 to […]

Ukraine: UN and partners launch Winter Response Plan amid escalating hostilities

Ukraine: UN and partners launch Winter Response Plan amid escalating hostilities

Amidst escalating hostilities and continued strikes on critical infrastructure, Ukraine is once again bracing for another harsh winter.   As the cold season brings heightened risks, especially for people near the frontline, displaced persons living in collective sites, and other vulnerable populations, the Winter Response Plan aims to deliver essential multisectoral humanitarian assistance to over […]

From crisis to classroom: How the UN supports education in conflict zones

From crisis to classroom: How the UN supports education in conflict zones

Of the 234 million school-age children affected by conflict globally, 85 million children are completely out of school.   The figures are “unprecedented,” Helena Murseli, who leads the UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) Global Education in Emergencies team, told UN News.  © UNICEF/Jospin Benekire UNICEF’s Helena Murseli. “These are not isolated incidents. They are part of […]

We need to value women in sport, UN rights chief says

We need to value women in sport, UN rights chief says

“The playing field is still far from level,” Mr. Türk said.   In the past few years, topflight women’s sporting competitions have achieved increased global prominence with around a billion people watching the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023. This visibility and attention have prompted important conversations about stereotypes and power dynamics in women’s sports. […]

From diamonds to dirt: Sierra Leone youth bring land back to life

From diamonds to dirt: Sierra Leone youth bring land back to life

But now, parts of the land have been restored. Crops are beginning to flourish and bees are buzzing around once again. The people responsible for this change are a hodgepodge group – former taxi drivers and miners, people who barely finished secondary school and some with higher education degrees. The unifying factor? Most have youth […]

Unprecedented Afghan returns are ‘a test of our collective humanity’

Unprecedented Afghan returns are ‘a test of our collective humanity’

Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, made the appeal during a visit to the Islam Qala border crossing with Iran on Tuesday where she witnessed the daily influx of tens of thousands of returnees. She also met returnee families, aid partners and regional de facto officials. Alarm bells should be ringing “What should be a […]

World News in Brief: Haiti funding cuts bite, civilian suffering intensifies in Myanmar, Belarus deaths in custody alert

World News in Brief: Haiti funding cuts bite, civilian suffering intensifies in Myanmar, Belarus deaths in custody alert

Ongoing violence is compounding the country’s food crisis, disrupting local food production in critical areas such as the commune of Kenscoff and the Artibonite department, often considered the breadbaskets of Haiti. While the UN and its partners are responding “wherever and whenever possible,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said this Wednesday that humanitarians have only been […]

Displacement, poverty and insecurity fueling violence against women in Gaza

Displacement, poverty and insecurity fueling violence against women in Gaza

In the past three months, a third of Gaza’s population (714,000 people) have been forced to move once again, separating families and dismantling local support systems. Women and girls are bearing a heavy burden, fearing for their lives on the streets – at delivery points, and in overcrowded, makeshift shelters that lack privacy and security […]

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: ‘Aid must go where needs are greatest’ in Gaza, urges UN relief chief

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: ‘Aid must go where needs are greatest’ in Gaza, urges UN relief chief

The UN Security Council is meeting on the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where fresh Israeli evacuation orders have uprooted tens of thousands amid relentless bombardment claiming hundreds of civilian lives in recent weeks – many of them children. “Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed […]

Sudan: UNICEF condemns weekend attacks that killed 35 children

Sudan: UNICEF condemns weekend attacks that killed 35 children

At least 24 boys, 11 girls and two pregnant women reportedly were among the victims of the violence, which occurred over the weekend in communities around the city of Bara, including the villages of Shag Alnom and Hilat Hamid.  UNICEF fears that with dozens more injured and many still missing, the number of child casualties […]

Gaza: More misery as new evacuation orders impact tens of thousands

Gaza: More misery as new evacuation orders impact tens of thousands

Those impacted by the orders have been told to relocate to the “already overcrowded” coastal strip at Al Mawasi, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), late Tuesday. Al Mawasi near Khan Younis lacks “the basics for survival”, the UN agency insisted. It has also seen nearly two dozen strikes on […]

First Person: How many more children must die before the world acts?

First Person: How many more children must die before the world acts?

Juliette Touma, the director of communications for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, has visited Gaza several times during and before the war and has been reflecting on the children she has met there and in other conflict zones. “Adam has been on my mind lately, more so than usual. I met Adam years […]

Scores killed in Sudan’s Kordofan region as fighting intensifies

Scores killed in Sudan’s Kordofan region as fighting intensifies

Amid ongoing communication disruptions in the area, confirming the exact civilian death toll remains difficult, but reports indicate that at least 300 people – including children and pregnant women – were killed in attacks on villages in Bara locality, North Kordofan State, between 10 and 13 July. During the same period, a series of attacks […]

Ukraine: Civilians under fire in record numbers as attacks surge

Ukraine: Civilians under fire in record numbers as attacks surge

According to the UN human rights office, OHCHR, at least 139 civilians have been killed and 791 injured so far in July alone. “The devastating physical and psychological impact on civilians of repeated attacks in this and other conflicts cannot be captured by numbers alone,” said OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell on Tuesday. Escalating attacks On the […]

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