What's New

Until outstanding issues related to Syria’s initial declaration of its chemical weapons stockpile and programme are resolved, the international community cannot have full confidence that its activities have ended, the UN’s top disarmament expert told the Security Council on Thursday.

Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are at record levels, and emissions that saw a temporary decline due to the pandemic are heading towards pre-COVID levels, while global temperatures continue to hit new highs, according to a major new UN report.

The erosion of trust in public institutions, unequal access to health care and tensions around delicate peace negotiations, are among the risks amplified by COVID-19, which if not mitigated, could push more countries into violence, the UN political affairs chief told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly has worked hard, under “extraordinary circumstances” to uphold its vital mandates, perform essential services, and ensure continuity in the name of the people the Organization serves, the president of the UN body said on Tuesday.

Speaking at an in-person meeting in the Assembly hall, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande recounted some of the important initiatives the 74th session had conducted throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 threatens to undo decades of hard-fought progress in reducing deaths of children under the age of five, UN agencies have warned, calling on countries to ensure vital health services for children and women do not falter amid the global crisis.

With 1.4 billion people around the world lacking basic literacy skills, the head of the UN cultural agency on Tuesday urged all those involved in learning, to mobilize the investments needed that could unleash each person’s potential. 

The first International Day of Clean Air for blue skies is being commemorated around the world, on Monday, following the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of the importance of clean air for the health and day-to-day lives of people. 

In a message, UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the dangers posed by air pollution and urged greater efforts to address it. 

The 75th UN General Assembly (UNGA) session, begins on 15 September and this year, due to the ongoing global pandemic, it will be unlike any other in the organization’s three quarters of a century of existence. 

This month, there will be no bumping into presidents or the occasional global celebrity in hectic and sometimes crushed corridors at UN Headquarters in New York.

The COVID-19 health crisis has caused massive disruption worldwide in diagnosing and treating people with deadly but preventable diseases, including more than one in two cancer patients, UN health experts said on Friday.

Exactly 25 years after the historic world conference in Beijing on the advancement and equality of women, the head of the UN gender empowerment agency declared on Friday that “its significance is undimmed”.