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Anxiety, emotional distress and even child suicide are among the damaging consequences of cyberbullying, and better prevention strategies involving big tech must be developed, the UN Human Rights Council heard on Wednesday.

According to findings from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 130 million students worldwide experience bullying, which has been exacerbated by the spread of digital technologies. UNICEF estimates that one in every three students from 13 to 15 is a victim. 

Despite pouring rain, around 60,000 advocates, artists, influencers and concerned citizens were in New York’s iconic Central Park on Saturday night, where they heard the deputy UN chief issue a clarion call to mobilize for change.

The race to protect the planet is about to accelerate, as world leaders, business giants, and experts gather to attend the Climate Ambition Summit on Wednesday.

Almost all indicators are off-track or heading in the wrong direction. Extreme weather events are displacing millions of people, the world is heating up, and out-of-control wildfires continue to cause death and destruction, from Canada to the Greek islands.

Some 4.5 billion people, more than half the global population, do not have enough access to essential health services, an issue that world leaders and ministers will tackle at a series of high-level meetings at the UN this week.

Now is the time for a global plan to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are woefully off-track halfway towards their 2030 deadline, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday in New York. 

The centrepiece of the UN General Assembly’s 2023 high-level week, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, will see world leaders gather in New York on 18 and 19 September. Their goal: to put the world back on track towards a greener, cleaner, safer, fairer future for all.

With several high-profile world leaders opting out of the UN General Assembly’s annual opening session next week, Secretary-General António Guterres has said that he cares less about who comes to New York and more about what gets done, especially to revive the lagging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This is not a Vanity Fair. This is a political body in which governments are represented,” he told UN News in an exclusive interview. 

“When we receive a rescue call, all we ask about is the fire site, neither caller identity nor nationality matters to us,” says Oussama Al Abouchi, sergeant at Al-Fayhaa Fire Brigade.

Today, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS), the Government of Japan, and the Municipality of Tripoli inaugurated the recently rehabilitated and reactivated “Markazouna”, a Multipurpose Community Centre in Shalfeh, Tripoli.