These measures are putting life-saving humanitarian assistance and other essential services for hundreds of thousands of people affected by a recent deadly earthquake at risk, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned in a statement. On Sunday, the de facto security forces prevented women Afghan staff members and contractors from entering UN compounds in […]
Speaking at the regular news briefing in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said António Guterres is following the ensuing diplomatic fallout across the NATO military alliance “with great concern” the incident, which reportedly occurred amid a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine. “There is an urgent need for a full, immediate and […]
The unrest began Monday as a self-styled “Gen Z protest” against corruption, nepotism and restrictions on social media. It quickly escalated after security forces opened fire on the crowds. By Tuesday, protesters had stormed and torched parliament, the Supreme Court and multiple government offices, including Singha Durbar – the central administrative complex. Homes of political […]
“We are witnessing a dangerous escalation in Gaza City, where Israeli forces have stepped up their operations and ordered everyone to move south,” said the Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “Nearly one million people are now left with no safe or viable options – neither the north nor the south offers safety.” […]
“I’m ashamed on behalf of the world that we cannot find it in ourselves to be more compassionate, to be more kind, to recognise what people here are going through,” said Tom Fletcher, who heads the UN emergency relief agency, OCHA, during a visit to the Caribbean nation. “I listened to people whose lives have […]
“Indispensable” monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ended in June, agency chief Rafael Grossi said, when Israel and US-backed airstrikes targeted Iran’s nuclear power installations. At the time, the Iranian authorities confirmed that the Natanz enrichment site had been “impacted” without affecting existing radiation levels, the top IAEA diplomat said. Practical step forward […]
In a statement, António Guterres spoke out against what he called a “flagrant violation” of Qatari sovereignty and territorial integrity. He insisted that all parties must focus on achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, “not (on) destroying it”. No senior leaders killed, claims Hamas Hamas reported that six people had been killed, including the son […]
This will be “no ordinary session,” she pledged, with the multilateral system beset by overlapping crises and heightened disunity. A former foreign minister of Germany, Ms. Baerbock becomes only the fifth woman in history to preside over the General Assembly. In a symbolic gesture linking past to present, she swore her oath on the UN’s […]
Over 41,000 incidents of violence against school-age children were reported by the UN in 2024. Countries with the highest levels of violations in were Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, notably the Gaza Strip, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, Nigeria, and Haiti. In a message to mark the International Day to Protect […]
“The world is spending far more on waging war than in building peace,” the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at a press briefing for his new report on the threat posed by the steady rise in military expenditure. Spending on security needs increased across all five global regions during 2024, marking the steepest year-on-year rise for […]
Governments and civil society organizations have so far submitted more than 60 contributions to a review process mandated under the Pact for the Future, agreed by Member States last year. The UN has an 80-year legacy that includes deploying multidimensional peacekeeping operations that combine police, troop and civilian personnel; special political missions engaged in conflict […]
Shortly after presenting a mandated report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, insisted that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia had carried out atrocity crimes. Among the testimonies gathered for the report, survivors from RSF detention […]
The unrest, which began Monday as a self-styled “Gen Z protest” against rampant corruption, nepotism and curbs on social media, quickly escalated after security forces responded with force. Most of the dead and wounded were young demonstrators shot by police. Many remain hospitalised in a critical condition. By Tuesday, demonstrations had spread across the country, […]
The attack on Yarova injured nearly 20 others. Many elderly civilians have decided to stay at home in frontline communities, despite the escalating danger from Russia’s continuing offensive, said Assistant Secretary-General Matthias Schmale, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country. “This lasting violence continues to tear lives apart. In recent days, the Donetsk region has […]
Secretary-General António Guterres said it marked a “further escalation” of the conflict. Authorities reported more than 80 civilian casualties, including a national non-governmental organization (NGO) worker and her two-month-old son in Kyiv. Other affected cities included Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kremenchuk, Kryvyi Rih and Kherson. Energy infrastructure was also hit, causing temporary power and water […]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the terror attack, his Spokesperson said in a statement. “He conveys his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a full and speedy recovery to those who were wounded,” it said. The incident took place at a busy intersection in Ramot, located in the northern outskirts […]
On Tuesday, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock will become the first European woman to hold the post and only the fifth female President in the Assembly’s history. On the eve of Baerbock’s inauguration, UN News spoke with one of her predecessors. María Fernanda Espinosa, a former Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, led the Assembly […]
Briefing correspondents in New York via video link, Shannon O’Hara spoke from Jalalabad on the conditions in Afghanistan just days after the magnitude 6 earthquake and its devastating aftershocks. “We saw families whose lives had been shattered just within a few minutes,” the head of strategy for OCHA in Afghanistan said. Left with nothing “The […]
Police used tear gas and opened fire on protesters attempting to storm the parliament complex in the capital, Kathmandu, according to media reports. Curfews have been imposed in parts of the city and in Rupandehi, with restrictions on movement effective in Pokhara. ‘So unlike Nepal’ UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Fikry Ahmed Singer described the situation […]
More than 800 drones were launched in waves designed to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences, according to news reports, and a Government building was hit in the capital Kyiv for the first time. Ukrainian authorities reported that four had been killed, with 44 injured. Air-raid sirens continued for 11 hours straight across the capital and although […]