Bassem Al-Habal carried a large bag of flour provided by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, inside one of the shelters in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, part of his daily journey to find food and water for his family while overcoming displacement, bombardment and the challenges of being deaf and mute in a war zone.
The General Assembly designated 22 April as International Mother Earth Day through a resolution adopted in 2009, but the roots of the Day go back to the 1970s.
Plastic pollution blocks rivers, chokes oceans and makes its way into the food chain as microplastics. It’s a global environmental crisis, and Small Island Developing States are especially vulnerable, having to cope with detritus washing up on their beaches, as well as the waste they generate themselves.
Becoming a successful international fashion photographer is hard for anyone, but it’s particularly difficult if you grow up in Dominica, a small Caribbean country regularly hit by hurricanes. This hasn’t deterred Josiah Johnson, an aspiring photographer who is taking advantage of digital technology training to find new opportunities well beyond the borders of his home.
A youth activist in Haiti has described how years of gang violence, kidnappings and insecurity in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has forced their “tears to run dry”.
Kornelia Icha has never gone hungry or got close to starvation. Very few people do in Indonesia with its fertile soil and tropical climate. But, until a recent intervention by the National Food Agency, her diet consisted mostly of rice, corn, onions and the occasional meat dish.
Vanessa Winston’s home and business in the Caribbean island of Dominica were destroyed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Starting from scratch, the mother of four fought back and today, with UN support, she has rebuilt her life.
Renewable energy, if supported by governments, can “truly change the landscape” in terms of achieving equitable access to affordable and clean energy, but only if they can move from “commitment to action”, according to the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Long before artificial intelligence, UN staff brainstormed and developed innovative solutions in the Organization's day-to-day affairs, so this #ThrowbackThursday we are taking you behind the scenes for a peek at some almost forgotten retro mid-20th century cutting-edge tech at UN Headquarters ahead of World Creativity and Innovation Day, marked annually on 21 April.
What will it take for Palestine to become a full UN Member State? As the Security Council takes up the matter while the devastating war in Gaza enters its seventh month, we looked at Palestine’s current status and what it takes to become a UN Member State.
