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Global warming and rising political tensions are dangerous and avoidable, Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters on Thursday, previewing the UN’s upcoming Climate Action Summit, and spotlighting geopolitical hotspots.

These extreme weather events are just the tip of the iceberg. And that iceberg is also rapidly melting. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

A new UN report has found that 2018 was the worst year on record for children caught up in armed conflict; the year saw the highest numbers killed or maimed since the United Nations began monitoring the violation.

In the 20 conflict situations monitored in the 2018 edition of the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict, released Tuesday, more than 12,000 children were killed or maimed that year.

To mark the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed that “human trafficking is a heinous crime that affects every region of the world” – especially women and children.

Bombing and shelling in Syria for more than 90 days by the Government and Russia have led to “carnage in the so-called de-escalation zone” of Idlib, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Tuesday, in his seventh update since the “current onslaught” began.

The relentless campaign of airstrikes in Syria has been met with a “collective shrug,” the top United Nations human rights official said on Friday, denouncing the world’s apparent indifference to the mounting civilian casualties as a “failure of leadership” by the world’s most powerful countries.

In her inaugural speech as President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Mona Juul, of Norway, underscored that the body’s mandate today remains “as relevant and compelling” as it did back in 1945 when it was tasked with “fostering international cooperation on economic, social, and cultural issues”.

Having served as one of the four ECOSOC Vice-Presidents, Ms. Juul was elected by acclamation on Thursday morning.

The following is a joint press release from the United Nations Global Compact, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and the We Mean Business coalition. 

28 companies with combined market cap of $1.3 trillion step up to new level of climate ambition 

Ahead of the UN Climate Action Summit, companies commit to set 1.5°C climate targets aligned with a net-zero future, challenging Governments to match their ambition 

Can young coders help solve the climate crisis? The UN’s Youth Envoy launched a global competition earlier this month, “Reboot The Earth”, with support from the UN Office of Information & Communications Technology, Deloitte and SAP, to try and answer that question, fostering collaboration between the United Nations, academia, civil society, and young people to address the climate emergency.

The “dangerous paralysis” that prevails in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is fuelling extremism and exacerbating tensions, leading to a “loss of hope” that peace can ever be achieved through negotiation, the UN’s Political and Peacebuilding chief told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Ahead of the upcoming 2019 Climate Action Summit, the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) and Climate and Clean Air Coalition announced on Tuesday 23 July the “Clean Air Initiative”, calling on governments at all levels to join the Initiative.