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The United Nations is “determined to stand by” civilians across Syria’s war-torn northwest, as “a grave humanitarian crisis” continues, the UN emergency relief chief said on Tuesday.

Speaking from Hatay, along the Turkish side of the border with Syria, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, said that displaced civilians were “struggling to survive in horrific conditions”.

Humanitarian assistance needs to be scaled up significantly to more than a million people displaced by fighting in northwest Syria, a senior UN aid official said on Monday, amid reports that children are freezing to death on the Turkish border.

With the Security Council meeting in emergency session on Syria following the death on the battlefield of dozens of Turkish troops, the UN strongly urged Russia and Turkey on Friday “to build on previous agreements to secure a fresh ceasefire” across the war-torn northwest.

The 21st century must be the century of women’s equality, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday evening, in a call to transform the world by ensuring equal participation for all.

Speaking to faculty and students at The New School, a university in New York City, the UN chief declared himself a proud feminist and called for men everywhere to support women’s rights. 

All countries should do more to prevent the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus and none should make the “fatal” mistake of assuming that it won’t be affected,  UN health agency chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Thursday.

Cross-border humanitarian deliveries from Turkey last month reached more people in northwest Syria than at any time since operations began more than five years ago, the UN’s Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Thursday. 

The number of new COVID-19, or coronavirus, infections outside China has outpaced those inside the country for the first time, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

For an Organization that is seen as all too ready to give advice, the United Nations welcomed a major role reversal on Tuesday: young people from all over the world were gathered in Switzerland to voice their concerns, outline their vision for a better future, and give Secretary-General António Guterres their advice on steering the world body through todays’ turbulent waters.

Meeting in Zimbabwe with young leaders from across the African continent,UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Monday encouraged the lively gathering to “use your youth power, for it’s your future to define”, telling them to use technology effectively to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).