Latest Features

UN News/Conor Lennon

UN chief calls for ‘a fair globalization’ with first-ever Global Goals Summit

24 September 2019
SDGs

“We need more investment, more political action, more priority for a fair globalization”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in an interview on Thursday, when asked about his expectations for the first-ever Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, on 24-25 September at New York headquarters.

World Bank/Dominic Chavez

With 5 billion set to miss out on health care, UN holds landmark summit to boost coverage

22 September 2019
Health

Some five billion people risk missing out on health care in 2030, unless countries close glaring gaps in health coverage, a new report revealed on Sunday, as the UN prepares to host a landmark summit to speed up progress on universal health care. 

© UNICEF David Berkwitz

World’s 1.8 billion youth must ‘have a say in the future of the planet’

20 September 2019
Climate Change

It is “crucial” that the world’s 1.8 billion young people have a say in the fight against climate change and ultimately “the future of the planet” according to the UN Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake.

UNDP Belarus

Nature ‘one of most effective ways’ of combatting climate change

19 September 2019
Climate Change

Nature is “one of the most effective ways” of combatting climate change and should be part of every country’s climate strategy according to the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Inger Andersen. 

© UN-Habitat/Kirsten Milhahn

Cities: a 'cause of and solution to' climate change

18 September 2019
Climate Change

Cities around the world are the “main cause of climate change” but can also offer a part of the solution to reducing the harmful greenhouses gases that are causing global temperatures to rise according to UN-Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif.

World Bank/Dana Smillie

Is the world living up to its climate commitments?

11 September 2019
Climate Change

As the United Nations gears up for the September Climate Action Summit in New York, one of its most high-profile climate conferences in recent times, what progress is the world making in tackling the climate crisis, and how is that progress being measured?

UN/Steven Bornholtz

New UN book club helps children deal with global issues

4 September 2019
SDGs

For children in Chad, getting an education can involve manual labour. That’s because, every year, there’s a chance that the rainy season will destroy their school, and they will have to join their teachers in rebuilding it. This is the story recounted in the children’s book “Rain School”, which is on the reading list of the UN's SDG Book Club.

UNICEF/Pirozzi

Corruption undermines democracy and contributes to instability, warns senior UN anti-crime official

28 August 2019
SDGs

Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability, Mirella Dummar-Frahi, Civil Society Team Leader at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warned at the UN Civil Society Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Courtesy of VFarm

Technology brings positive change, but ‘collateral damage’ must be minimized: senior UN official

27 August 2019
Economic Development

Digital technology has the potential to bring about a sustainable future, but the “collateral damage” of this transition must be mitigated, says the head of the UN’s technology strategy team, Salem Avan.

World Bank/Dominic Chavez

Marginalized groups hit hardest by inequality and stigma in cities

26 August 2019
Economic Development

Millicent Auma Otieno, a Kenya-based human rights and community activist, campaigns on behalf of women and persons with disabilities who face stigmatization, as a result of cultural and religious beliefs.  In an interview with UN News, Ms. Otieno reinforced the message that many people in cities are forced to live in informal settlements, which have proven to be hotbeds of unemployment, violence, drug abuse and early pregnancies.