What's New

Responding to rising humanitarian needs brought about by the escalation of conflict in the Gaza Strip, the World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday began providing emergency assistance to support families, amid fears of low food stocks and rising prices. 

The cash support from the UN agency, which is working alongside partners, will benefit more than 51,000 people in northern Gaza. 

Although COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to decline globally for a second consecutive week, the UN health agency chief said on Monday that “a huge disconnect” is mounting between some highly vaccinated countries, which see the pandemic as largely resolved, while huge waves of infection continue to grip others where shots are scarce. 

More than one in two LGBTQI students in Europe have suffered bullying based on their sexuality, the UN educational, cultural and scientific body (UNESCO) said on Monday, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia.

The current “senseless” cycle of violence in the Middle East must end now, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks to a Security Council meeting held on Sunday morning in response to the crisis.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation across the planet, millions worldwide still lack Internet access, the UN Secretary-General said on Monday, highlighting why information and communication technologies (ICTs) must be “a force for good.”

In his message for World Telecommunication and Information Science Day, celebrated annually on 17 May, the UN chief called for action to conquer both the pandemic and the digital divide.

De-escalation of the Palestine-Israel conflict is “an absolute must” said the UN Secretary-General on Wednesday, declaring that the mounting death toll, including children, was totally unacceptable.

The conflict in Yemen forced Asia El-Sayeed Ali and her family from her home in Aden’s Al Tawahi district, where there was active fighting, in 2015. Today, she works at a health clinic supported by the World Food Programme (WFP), where she cares for children, and their mothers, suffering from malnutrition.

The UN Secretary-General said he was "gravely concerned" at escalating violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Tuesday, while the UN rights office, OHCHR, appealed for “a redoubling of efforts to restore calm”, after airstrikes and days of clashes between protesters and Israeli police.

Although the outlook for global growth has improved, the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as inadequate progress on vaccination in poorer countries, are putting recovery at risk, according to the latest UN economic forecast, published on Tuesday. 

Amidst an “unacceptably high plateau” in COVID-19 cases and deaths globally, the UN health agency chief on Monday shone a light on last week’s death toll that totalled almost 90 thousand people and 5.4 million reported cases. 

Despite decreased instances in most regions, including the two worst-affected – the Americas and Europe – World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists at a regular press briefing, “any decline is welcome, but we have been here before”.