Two-thirds of global drug deaths now from opioids: UN drugs report

26 June 2019
Health
UNAMA/Eric Kanalstein

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.

Tackle ‘tsunami of hatred’ across the world urges Guterres, to counter anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance

New UN report on families in a changing world puts ‘women’s rights at their core’

UN chief praises impact of Palestine refugee agency as ‘our common success’, at key pledging conference

Security Council approves ‘historic’ political Haiti mission, ending UN peacekeeping role in the country

Peace dividend palpable in South Sudan, but ‘grassroots’ are moving faster than elites, says Shearer

UNICEF/Wikus De Wet

World faces ‘climate apartheid’ risk, 120 more million in poverty: UN expert

Climate Change

Climate change “threatens to undo the last 50 years” of development, global health and poverty reduction, a United Nations expert said on Tuesday, citing the risk of a new era of “climate apartheid” where the rich buy their way out of rising heat and hunger.

UN Women/Ruth McDowall

FROM THE FIELD: Changing world, changing families

Women

The world is changing rapidly and so are families according to the United Nations gender-focused agency, UN Women.

World Bank/Natalia Cieslik

Tuesday’s Daily Brief: funding for Palestine refugees, families today, tech surveillance

Humanitarian Aid

This Tuesday, we cover: a key fundraising conference for the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA); a new UN report on families in 2019-2020; a call by an independent human rights expert to ban surveillance technology; 20,000 migrants rescued in the Sahara; and malnutrition in India.

UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

Moratorium call on surveillance technology to end ‘free-for-all’ abuses: UN expert

Human Rights

Surveillance technology should be banned immediately until “effective” national or international controls are put in place to lessen its harmful impact, a UN-appointed independent rights expert said on Tuesday.

OCHA/Fadwa Baroud

Syria: Ease suffering, save lives, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator tells Security Council

Peace and Security

“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.

Headlines at a glance

Security Council urges ‘maximum restraint’ around Gulf region as Iran and United States trade diplomatic blows in New York

Statelessness for terrorists’ families, never an acceptable option, urges UN rights chief

Monday’s Daily Brief: human rights in the Near East and a Forum for Refugees

‘Wanton destruction’ in Sudan’s Darfur region, ‘blatant violation’ of international law

Don’t take African generosity towards refugees for granted, says UN refugee chief

Government internet ban leaves parts of Myanmar ‘in a blackout’, UN expert calls for immediate lifting

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