The Europe and Central Asia region is a front-runner in the race to end hunger, but it still struggles with malnutrition.
That’s according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s first-ever report on food insecurity in the region’s 53 countries.
The agency says problems of food insecurity are no longer so much about not getting enough calories, but rather focus on the quality of peoples’ diets.
Cannabis use is increasing worldwide and evidence shows that what’s available on the market is now more potent than ever before.
That’s according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which on Friday is releasing its 2015 World Drug Report.
The study also finds that drug use in prison is much higher than in the general population, with heroin use 14 times more prevalent.
Stephanie Coutrix spoke with Angela Me from UNODC’s office in Vienna and began by asking her about the drug situation in prisons.
A group of Swedish singers is helping the UN to mark the 70th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, in the US City of San Francisco.
A celebration is being held in the city on 26 June, the day of the signing of the founding document of the United Nations in the auditorium of the Veterans’ Memorial Hall.
Derrick Mbatha caught up with Kloster Vocalists and spoke to the group’s composer Stefan Safsten during a stop in New York where they gave a performance at the UN.
The situation in eastern Ukraine is very “grim” with four million people in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN Resident Coordinator in the country.
Neal Walker says people are continuing to die every day due to the conflict.
Ukraine has been plagued by fighting which broke out between pro-Russian rebels and government forces last year.
Liudmila Blagonravova caught up with Mr Walker during a recent visit to New York.
She began by asking him to describe the situation in the east of the country.
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More than two dozen students from the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India celebrated the first International Day of Yoga at UN Headquarters in New York.
It was the culmination of a school trip to the United States.
Two students, Sagarika and Amulya, both 16, were chosen to speak at the event after a number of government representatives and UN officials.
Although up to 90 per cent of world trade is carried out using ships, the work of the people on those vessels is not well known.
That’s according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which wants to change that situation through a campaign launched on the Day of the Seafarer observed on 25 June.
Increasing numbers of people of Haitian origin are returning to Haiti from the Dominican Republic, according to the Head of the UN Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH.
The two nations share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.
Sandra Honoré was recently in the Dominican Republic and says she took the opportunity to discuss the situation of Haitian returnees with Dominican high-level officials.
In September 2013, the highest court in the Caribbean nation ruled that people born after 1929 could only be guaranteed citizenship if they had at least one Dominican parent.
The Eritrean government faced renewed pressure over allegations of crimes against humanity on Wednesday, as UN investigators repeated their call for an international criminal probe into abuses.
In a high-level report compiled for the UN Human Rights Council, chief investigator Mike Smith detailed systematic and widespread alleged abuses against civilians in the Horn of Africa nation.
Mali has experienced an “historic” event with the recent signing of a peace agreement by all warring parties in the country.
That’s according to Mongi Hamdi, the Head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the West African country, MINUSMA.
He was in New York to brief the United Nations Security Council on the recent development which he says will bring unity and sovereignty to the nation.
May Yaacoub caught up with Mr Hamdi and began by asking him to describe the importance of the Peace Accord.
Selling of girls in conflict situations today has been compared to the sale of Africans during the Transatlantic slave trade.
Rape and other forms of sexual violence have been used as a weapon in wars across the globe.
The UN General Assembly recently established an international day to remember victims of this scourge and to remind the world that action still needs to be taken to stamp it out.
Dianne Penn’s report begins with the words of Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
