The statement, released on Saturday, also includes a rebuttal of the US administration’s reasoning for the measures. In response to government statements that the WHO has “trashed and tarnished” and insulted it, and compromised its independence, the agency notes that “the reverse true,” and that the WHO has always sought to “engage with the United […]
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on Wednesday that 2025 was one of the three warmest years on record, continuing the streak of extraordinary global temperatures. After analysing eight international datasets, the organization said that global average surface temperatures last year were 1.44°C above the 1850 to 1900 average. Two of these datasets ranked 2025 as […]
The surge was driven by continued human emissions, more wildfire activity and weakened absorption by land and ocean “sinks” – a development that threatens to create a vicious climate cycle. Tripling since the 1960s The WMO’s latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows that CO₂ growth rates have tripled since the 1960s, accelerating from an annual average […]
“Air quality respects no boundaries,” said Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). “The smoke and the pollution that issues from the wildfires in this record-breaking season in the Iberian Peninsula has been detected over Western Europe already [and]…can travel basically throughout the rest of the European continent.” Presenting the latest WMO Air […]
That’s the message from Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, speaking on Tuesday after concluding a five-day visit to Lebanon and Syria. “The international community cannot afford to be mere observers, assessing and judging the developments in Syria,” she said. “They must take an active role supporting stabilization and recovery […]
Attacks against health facilities doubled between 2023 and 2024, and more than 900 health workers were killed last year, the agency reported. Humanitarian aid workers were also killed in record numbers in 2024. Yet, 2025 is outpacing even these dark statistics at a time when funding for humanitarian work is shrinking and support services established […]
Extreme temperatures caused approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths annually between 2000 and 2019, with 36 per cent occurring in Europe and 45 per cent in Asia. The health impacts of heat are especially severe in cities due to the so-called ‘urban heat island effect’ – the over-heating of dense city areas compared with their rural surroundings […]
The months-long deprivation of most life-sustaining basic goods has led to a deepening of the crisis. More than 100 people were killed, and hundreds of others injured, along food convoy routes and near Israeli-militarised distribution hubs in the past two days alone. As one in three people currently going days without food, OCHA reiterated […]
This is just one way that the de facto authorities have restricted women and girls’ fundamental rights. Today, Afghanistan has the second largest gender gap in the world after Yemen. “Sometimes I wonder how to remain hopeful in these dark circumstances,” said Fariba, whose name was changed to protect her. Afghanistan is not the only […]
Marking its 30th anniversary, ISA is the world’s authority on the deep-sea beyond national jurisdiction. Washington may have passed an order on deep-sea licensing in international waters earlier this year, but the authority’s chief Leticia Carvalho said the United States, which is not an ISA member, “is going at it alone”. “The rest of the […]
In the first half of 2025, only 17,000 births were recorded, according to Gazan health authorities, representing a 41 per cent decline in Gaza’s birth rate over the past three years, the agency said. Additionally, 220 mothers died – more than 20 times the total number of maternal deaths in 2022 – while at […]
“I deeply regret President Donald Trump’s decision to once again withdraw the United States of America from UNESCO,” Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the Paris-based agency, said in a statement. In New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that the Secretary-General joins Ms. Azoulay “in deeply regretting the decision by the United States.” The US first […]
The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday that more intense downpours and glacier outburst floods are becoming increasingly frequent, with deadly consequences for communities caught off guard. “Flash floods are not new, but their frequency and intensity are increasing in many regions due to rapid urbanization, land-use change and a changing climate,” said […]
Globally, $1.4 billion of the agency’s programmes are being shuttered or put on hold, UNHCR said in a new report. “We can’t stop water, you can’t stop sanitation, but we’re having to take decisions when it comes, for example, to shelter,” said UNHCR Director of External Relations, Dominique Hyde. “We’re have people arriving on a […]
In the fourth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, housing remains one of the country’s most urgent humanitarian and recovery challenges. The destruction has been widespread and ongoing. According to the latest Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, 13 per cent of Ukraine’s housing stock has been damaged since February 2022, impacting an estimated 2.5 […]
Loneliness is linked to approximately 100 deaths every hour – more than 871,000 deaths annually. By contrast, strong social connections are associated with better health and longer life, the UN health agency said on Monday. WHO defines social connection as the ways in which people relate to and interact with one another. Loneliness is the […]
Rafael Mariano Grossi was speaking to reporters in Austria following a briefing to the Government in Vienna. Israel began launching air and missile strikes against Iranian military and nuclear sites nearly two weeks ago, and the United States carried out surprise bombing raids on three Iranian uranium enrichment facilities this past weekend. A ceasefire between […]
After more than a decade of conflict and severe economic stagnation, lifting the punitive measures will encourage long-term recovery and peacebuilding in Syria, Amy Pope, IOM Director-General, said in a statement. “The lifting of sanctions sends a powerful message of hope to millions of displaced Syrians, both within the country and across the region,” she said. […]
“We have been approached by Israeli authorities to resume limited aid delivery, and we are in discussions with them now on how this would take place given the conditions on the ground,” OCHA said in a statement. It is now 11 weeks since the Israeli authorities closed off all food, fuel and medicines to Gaza. […]
In a statement on Monday, the UN agency said it is supporting Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) – not deportation – for those who decide to leave the US. At the request of the US Government, IOM is helping people who register to go back to their countries of origin voluntarily. “AVR is a well-established, rights-based […]