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Independent Expert on Albinism Ikponwosa Ero.
OHCHR/Christine Wambaa

General Assembly can take steps to reduce violence against persons with albinism – UN rights expert

26 October 2016
United Nations human rights expert Ikponwosa Ero called upon government representatives gathered in New York for the General Assembly to take swift action to end a growing problem of violence and severe discrimination against people with albinism.
UN Photo/John Isaac
UN Photo/John Isaac

‘Nothing is more powerful than the human spirit,’ Ban tells memorial honouring fallen UN staff

26 October 2016
Joined by staff and families of the women and men of the United Nations who lost their lives between 1 January 2015 and 30 June 2016, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a memorial service at UN Headquarters today that “those who destroy may think bombs and bullets are the most powerful force […] but nothing is more powerful than the human spirit.”
IOM distributes non-food items to internally displaced people in Qayyara, near Mosul, Iraq.
IOM

UN aid agencies stepping up assistance for those fleeing Mosul fighting

26 October 2016
As newly-displaced Iraqis are starting to arrive at camps set up by the United Nations for people fleeing the ongoing military offensive to wrest Mosul from terrorists, the Organization’s health and refugee agencies have ramped up their own operations to provide assistance and to respond to what has thus far been a ‘moderate’ influx.
Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Pernille Kardel.
UNAMA/Fardin Waezi

UN ‘Global Open Day’ emphasizes Afghan women’s role in fighting violent extremism

26 October 2016
Following a meeting with Afghan civil society representatives today in Kabul, senior UN officials stressed that securing women’s rights is essential to strategies that combat violent extremism and encouraged the Government to develop and implement human-rights based and gender sensitive polices to address to address its drivers.
A severely malnourished child receives treatment in a clinic in Banki, north-east Nigeria. He is receiving water with sugar and food supplements to increase his body weight.
OCHA/O.Fagan

‘Nigeria faces worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” warns senior UN relief official

26 October 2016
With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water, “Nigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent,” Peter Lundberg, the acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, warned today.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
UN Photo/Pierre Albouy

South Sudan: UN human rights chief warns of ‘alarming rise’ in ethnic hate speech

26 October 2016
An alarming rise in hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic groups in South Sudan has prompted the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, to issue a warning that if the community and political leaders at the highest levels do not rein it in, mass atrocities in the country could erupt.
Families from Ghor Province, Afghanistan, gather by fires to stave off cold temperatures. About 300 people are living in makeshift shelters and tents after fleeing their homes due to fighting and drought, which ruined their harvests.
Andrew Quilty/IRIN

UN mission ‘outraged’ at killing of hostages in central Afghanistan

26 October 2016
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned the killing of 26 civilians who were earlier taken hostage by a group of armed men in country’s central Ghor province.
MINUSCA peacekeepers on patrol in the Central African Republic.
MINUSCA

Ban condemns outbreak of violence and attacks on UN mission in Central African Republic

26 October 2016
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the outbreak of violence, on 24 October, in the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, that killed at least four civilians and injured nine others.
Wide view of the General Assembly meeting to consider the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.
UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

US abstains for first time in annual UN vote on ending embargo against Cuba

26 October 2016
Economic Development

In a near unanimous action, the United Nations General Assembly today adopted a resolution underlining the need to end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba, while also welcoming progress in the relations between the two countries.

Street scene in Quetta, Baluchistan province, Pakistan.
UNICEF/Asad Zaidi

UN chief ‘condemns’ terrorist attack in Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province

25 October 2016
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned a terrorist attack on a police academy in Quetta, Pakistan earlier today that claimed the lives of at-least 60 people and injured more than 100.