Most people in countries have been doing steadily better in human development but the progress has been uneven, a new UN report has found.
Human development tracks progress on people’s ability to get an education, to be healthy, to have a reasonable standard of life and to be safe, the report says.
But it’s also a matter of how secure the achievements are whether conditions are sufficient to maintain the progress.
Serving as a United Nations peacekeeper does not only benefit the people who are being assisted but also the peacekeeper.
That's the view of a Zimbabwean female peacekeeper serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Routendo Mondenyanya is part of the UNMISS team that is helping the new African nation as it builds its prison system.
She discussed with Regina Gorle the importance of her mission, some of the challenges she is facing and the fulfillment of serving as a UN peacekeeper.
The UN Human Rights Council has decided to urgently dispatch an international commission of inquiry to investigate all human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territory in the context of military operations conducted since 13 June.
That includes East Jerusalem and particularly the occupied Gaza strip.
Twenty-nine Member States voted in favour of the resolution, 17 abstained and 1 voted against.
Jocelyne Sambira reports.
Duration: 3'25"
The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated $75 million to scale up aid in the neglected regions of the West African Sahel and the Horn of Africa.
That’s according to Lisa Doughten, Chief of CERF.
The Fund just selected 11 countries in the Horn of Africa and West Africa’s Sahel region for its 2014 Underfunded Second Round.
Since it’s inception in 2006, CERF has given 3.6 billion to crises around the world of which 1.2 billion dollars has been given to forgotten or neglected crises.
The time for talking is over, action must now be taken to combat the increasing levels of youth unemployment around the globe.
That is the resounding message from some young people who recently attended a major conference at the United Nations on youth issues.
Wambui Kahara is the Youth Representative from Kenya attending the conference.
She told Sophie Outhwaite about the situation in Kenya, where an increasingly young population is faced with unemployment and rising underemployment.
Duration: 2'30"
The world’s drug problem can be solved by reducing the demand for drugs, or focusing on drug abuse prevention, according to Dr. Lochan Naidoo, of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
One dollar invested in prevention can save ten dollars in later costs, he noted.
The INCB is an independent, quasi-judicial monitoring body for the implementation of the United Nations international drug control conventions.
Young people in Uzbekistan have been challenged by the United Nations to come up with ways of promoting volunteerism through social media.
Part of the challenge is to create a one minute long video clip which will attract young people to volunteer for their communities.
Nigina Mirbabaeva has been speaking to the UN Development Programme's Bokhodir Ayupov, who manages the Social Innovation and Volunteerism project.
She began by asking him to share some of the most exciting success stories.
The number of people in Gaza seeking refuge in its sites has jumped to over 100 000, according to the UN relief and works agency for palestine refugees (UNRWA).
An expanded ground offensive by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) has resulted in an ‘exponential increase’ in internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Gaza over the past few days.
The numbers shot from 63 000 to 84 843 in a single day on Monday.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is warning that increased efforts are needed to improve awareness in West Africa about the risks of contracting the Ebola virus from eating certain wildlife species, including fruit bats.
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are struggling to contain the world’s deadliest recorded outbreak of the virus, which is transmitted by direct contact with the blood and body fluids of infected people as well as infected animals.
Women are the ones who pay the highest price in times of conflict, Nahla Haidar, a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), said.
However, they should not only be seen as victims but as “agents for peace”, she added.
She was speaking to Patrick Maigua after the just concluded 58th Session of CEDAW, which reviewed reports presented by several countries including Syria and India.
The Committee, a 23-person expert body, monitors compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
