The new global development agenda cannot become a reality if the generation it impacts is excluded from the process.
That’s according to 15-year-old Kehkashan Basu, former Global Coordinator for Children and Youth with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Young people should ensure their voices are included in global discussions on development issues.
That’s the message of Dana Podmolikova from the Czech Republic, this year’s outgoing member of the Youth Advisory Board for UN-Habitat.
The UN agency aims to increase youth participation and advocacy in sustainable urbanization and urban development.
Guinea-Bissau remains calm after the president dismissed the government over a row with the prime minister, according to a senior UN envoy to the West African country.
The army, quick to intervene in past political disputes in the coup-prone former Portuguese colony, has reportedly remained in their barracks.
Marco Carmignani, deputy head of the UN’s peacebuilding office in Guinea-Bissau, said President Jose Mario Vaz is consulting with political parties in the national assembly.
A human rights expert has sounded the alarm on what she called the “deliberate starvation” of civilians in Yemen.
Hilal Elver, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, warned that the war-torn Middle Eastern country is spiralling into a major food crisis.
Thirteen million people don’t have adequate food as a result of heavy fighting since March.
Iraqi authorities faced pressure to take a clear stance against torture on Friday as a UN rights committee called for them to close secret detention centres.
Covering violations dating back to 2011, the UN Committee Against Torture said Iraq’s judiciary needed to punish offenders - and come up with a firm definition of what constituted torture.
Allegations that 40,000 people have been held in detention centres for many years needed to be verified, Committee member Alessio Bruni told Daniel Johnson.
Duration: 3’22”
Progress is being made in South Sudan to protect children and at-risk populations against cholera, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The UN’s health agency recently reported that the provision of life-saving treatment to thousands of people is helping bring down the number the cases.
Since June, more than 1,500 cholera cases have been reported in the youngest African nation, with children under the age of nine being most affected in Juba and Bor counties.
Disturbing details about deliberate attacks on health workers show how important it is to come up with new measures to protect them, the UN said Friday.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its #ThanksHealthHero hashtag social media campaign, more than 600 health professionals died in direct attacks in 2014, and nearly 1,000 more were injured. This data comes from just 32 countries.
Women need a greater role in humanitarian relief efforts following war or natural disasters, according to the UN.
Recently experts gathered at the UN to discuss strategies to ensure that women are included in making decisions during times of crisis.
They also looked at how women can better protect themselves during periods of upheaval.
Maria Carlino reports.
Duration: 2’51”
An Internet campaign that uses the power of celebrity to raise awareness about the unprecedented scale of the world’s crises has already proved a hit ahead of World Humanitarian Day, the UN said Thursday.
With the help of stars such as tennis champion Maria Sharapova and Colombian singer Juanes, UN humanitarian agency OCHA says its #ShareHumanity campaign has already reached out to a new online public.
The world has learned from the Ebola experience, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Margaret Chan was briefing the UN Security Council on Thursday on peace and security in Africa related to the latest Ebola virus outbreak, which struck the continent in March 2014.
Since then, the disease has claimed the lives of close to 11,300 people, mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Stephanie Coutrix reports.
Duration: 2'59"
