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The Iran nuclear deal must “continue to work for all”, despite moves by both the United States and Iran which have destabilized the “hard-won” 2015 agreement, the UN Political Affairs chief told Security Council members on Wednesday. 

This is especially true at time when both countries continue their diplomatic war of words over recent attacks around the crucial oil shipping lanes of the Gulf, said Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo, describing events as “a reminder that we are at a critical juncture.” 

Opioids, which include both heroin and legal pain relievers, were responsible for around two-thirds of drug-related deaths in 2017, a new UN report revealed on Wednesday. The number for global opioid users contained within the World Drug Report, some 585,000 people, is more than double the previous estimate.

“Week after week, month after month, year after year”, the Security Council has been briefed on Syria’s humanitarian suffering, and on Tuesday, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator once again described “the latest horror facing civilians”, pleading for greater humanitarian access.

“I repeat our call again today” to Syria’s warring parties, said Mark Lowcock, who is also the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs: “Ease the suffering, save lives, end the fighting [and] obey the law”.

The work of the UN body responsible for assisting Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which has allowed millions of children to receive an education that promotes UN values of human rights and tolerance, as well as democracy and conflict resolution, should be viewed “not only as our common responsibility, but as our common success”, said Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday.

There is a need for “genuine regional dialogue” to address rising tensions in the Gulf, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday, calling on Secretary-General António Guterres “to play a role” in bringing countries to the table.

A landmark international agreement banning violence and harassment in the workplace has been applauded by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, after it was adopted on Friday at the International Labour Organization’s Centenary Conference in Geneva.

In his speech to delegates in the Swiss city, Mr. Guterres congratulated Member States for “building upon a legacy of achievement, guided by that age-old vision of social justice through social dialogue and international cooperation”.

Older generations have “failed to respond properly” to the climate emergency said the UN chief on Sunday, while the young are “stepping up to the challenge” and taking the lead to slow the destructive pace of global warming. 

António Guterres was making the closing address at the UN-backed World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth, and Youth Forum, in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, Lisboa+21.  

Acts of violence against civilians, humanitarian workers and civilian infrastructure in Idlib are “deplorable”, the United Nations Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis said on Friday, condemning them “in the strongest terms”.  
 

“I am shocked and appalled by reports of an incident yesterday in which a female patient and three paramedic staff were killed when the ambulance they were travelling in to Maarat Al Numan main hospital, in Idleb, was hit by a strike”, Panos Moumtzis said in a statement, which also offered his condolences.  

A record 70.8 million people fled war, persecution and conflict in 2018, UN refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday, appealing for greater international solidarity to counter the fact that “we have become almost unable to make peace”. 

Unabating violence, destruction and a downward sprial in overall conditions for the desperate people trapped in north-western Syria’s Idlib were in the spotlight as the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Tuesday that “we are faced with a humanitarian disaster unfolding before our eyes”.