What's New

Millions of people around the world have been working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic and now experts are asking whether this “business unusual” could be the future of work, at least for those people whose job doesn’t require them to be tied to a particular location.

UN News spoke to Susan Hayter, a Senior Technical Adviser on the Future of Work at the Geneva-based International Labour Organization, about how COVID-19 could change our working lives.

In several countries afflicted by years of armed conflict, The UN assists with law and order issues, including policing expertise. This work is being challenged, as never before, by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this interview with UN News, Luis Carrilho, head of the UN Police Division, describes how the virus is affecting the ability of his colleagues to keep the peace.

For the first time, the UN Military Gender Advocate award has been awarded to two UN peacekeepers: Commander Carla Monteiro de Castro Araujo, a Brazilian Naval officer, and Major Suman Gawani, of the Indian Army.

Reaffirming its commitment to combat fake news, the UN is engaged with different partners in Lebanon to counter the surge in the production and dissemination of disinformation, propaganda and other misleading content. Part of the solution to the massive amounts of disinformation is to improve the supply of truthful information, and ensure that demand for it is met, through reinforcing journalistic ethics and professionalism, and improving media literacy among consumers of information.

A new UN initiative aims to push back against the tide of lies and hate that has risen in tandem with the COVID-19 pandemic, by empowering people worldwide to share accurate information to help save lives and promote global solidarity.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday launched Verified, which will create a cadre of “digital first responders” to increase the volume and reach of trusted, accurate information surrounding the crisis.

School closures, to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, have left some 60 per cent of the world’s children without an education, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in its new report, launched on Wednesday.

Human Development Perspectives COVID-19: Assessing the impact, envisioning the recovery, estimates the percentage of primary school-age children who are not getting any schooling, adjusted to reflect those without Internet access, is now at “global levels not seen since the 1980s”.

With  “unprecedented solidarity”, the World Health Assembly adopted a “landmark resolution” on Tuesday, which sets out a “clear roadmap” of the actions needed to sustain and accelerate the COVID-19 response at both national and international levels, the UN health agency chief told a press briefing on Wednesday, the day after the meeting concluded. 

The coronavirus pandemic threatens the hard-earned gains Africans have made throughout the continent, the UN chief said on Wednesday, urging the world to stand in solidarity with the people, “now, and for recovering better”.

The UN’s top aid official has urged the Security Council to renew a mechanism that provides lifesaving assistance to millions of desperate people in northwest Syria, through cross-border deliveries from Turkey.

Humanitarian Coordinator Mark Lowcock made the appeal on Tuesday during a virtual briefing to ambassadors in which he outlined the pressing need to keep the trucks rolling, amid the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded the annual World Health Assembly on Tuesday, adopting a resolution that calls for an independent review of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the agency’s own performance.