What's New

Global hunger and population displacement, which were already at record levels when COVID-19 struck, could “surge” as migrants and those reliant on a dwindling flow of remittances desperately seek work to support their families, a new UN report has warned. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues evolving, the world must “take all opportunities to learn and improve the response as we go”, the UN health agency chief said on Friday.   

Eight new animated characters on a mission to protect the planet, have been pressed into service by the UN to empower children worldwide and boost the drive towards sustainability by 2030. 

The Climate Action Superheroes are the face of a new campaign, to be launched on UN social media platforms this Saturday, aimed at mobilizing children under 12 to recycle and to save water and energy. 

The top UN disarmament official on Thursday briefed the Security Council on progress made by Syria towards eliminating its chemicals weapons programme, complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“It cannot be repeated often enough: There is no justification for the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances”, Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs said. “There are no excuses for an inexcusable act”. 

The COVID-19 pandemic can be defeated through science, solutions and solidarity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, underlining one of its core messages throughout the crisis. 

Children face violence and bullying at school all over the world, with one in every three students subject to attacks at least once a month and one in 10, a victim of cyberbullying, the UN said on Thursday.

The warning from UNESCO, the UN organization for education, science and culture, based on 2019 data, coincides with the first International Day against Violence and Bullying at School - Including Cyberbullying, on 5 November.

In 2018, a storm named Norma hit Lebanon. Heavy rains, high winds and freezing-cold temperatures were reported across the country. The people we met on our visit to Majdal Anjar were particularly hard-hit; rainwater invaded their homes, businesses and cars.

It is possible for countries to both protect public health and “ensure access” for vulnerable people forced to flee their homes, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

Opening a virtual session of UNHCR’s annual Dialogue on Protection challenges, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs, warned that “measures restricting access to asylum must not be allowed to become entrenched under the guise of public health”, 

Health systems and global preparedness are not only an investment in the future but “the foundation of our response” to today’s COVID-19 health crisis, the head of the UN’s health agency said on Monday.

Even though 2020 saw a “slight decrease” in the rate of impunity for crimes against journalists, 87 per cent of such cases worldwide were still not resolved, UNESCO, the UN agency tasked with defending press freedom, has reported.