What's New

Only an end to the war in Syria can bring safety to children there, the head of the UN child rights agency said on Thursday. 

The United Nations on Wednesday launched the biggest global conversation on the world's future: the UN75 dialogues.  Views and ideas gathered throughout the year will be shared at a high-level event in September to mark the Organization's 75th anniversary.

The UN75 initiative is  described as a "global reality check" to spark conversations  around building a better future for all.

An independent UN human rights expert hailed on Tuesday, the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to consider a formal criminal investigation into allegations of war crimes in Palestine as a "momentous step forward in the quest for accountability" in the five-decade-long Israeli occupation.

The humanitarian situation facing civilians in many parts of Syria is “worse than when the year began”, the UN deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Thursday.

The head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office (UNOCT) has highlighted the importance of tolerance in combating the “corrosive spread” of violent extremism. 

Vladimir Voronkov was speaking in Abu Dhabi on Thursday at the closing of a regional conference aimed at empowering young people to prevent and counter violent extremism and terrorism. 

The Vatican must take action to ensure justice for people who were sexually abused by priests during childhood, a UN independent human rights expert said on Thursday. 

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio issued the charge in a statement welcoming the decision by Pope Francis to abolish a Roman Catholic Church policy which maintains secrecy in child abuse cases. 

More women could soon have access to an affordable version of an expensive life-saving breast cancer treatment, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. 

The first-ever Global Refugee Forum concluded in Geneva on Wednesday with more than 770 pledges of support, covering areas such as protection, employment, and education, for refugees and the communities which have taken them in. 

As “policies shaped more by fear than fact” have caused untold suffering to migrants, the UN Secretary-General is urging countries to realize the goals of a global agreement that promotes enhanced international cooperation on migration.  

António Guterres issued the charge in his message for International Migrants Day, observed annually on 18 December. 

As refugee numbers approach 26 million, heads of state, top UN diplomats, powerful figures from the private sector and civil society are heading to Geneva to agree on “bold, new” ways to help, at the first ever Global Refugee Forum, which got underway on Monday.