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The Old Town of Yangon in Myanmar.
Unsplash/Zuyet Awarmatik

‘Urgent’ international response needed in Myanmar: UN chief 

30 September 2021
Human Rights

An “urgent” international response is needed to prevent the crisis in Myanmar from becoming a “catastrophe” in the heart of Southeast Asia and beyond, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned. In a report sent to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, the UN chief also said he feared that the military’s grip on power would become increasingly difficult to counter. 

Farming communities in the Pacific Ocean archipelago, Vanuatu, are adapting to drier weather patterns.
© UNICEF/Josh Estey

Climate action: ‘Time is running out’, UN chief tells ministers

30 September 2021
Climate and Environment

With just one month left until the COP26 climate change conference, countries must do more to reduce emissions, finance climate action and support mitigation, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the final official ministerial meeting in Milan, Italy, on Thursday. 

Haiti faces a combination of political, social and humanitarian crises.
© UNICEF/Georges Harry Rouzier

Comprehensive support needed for Haitians facing expulsion in Americas

30 September 2021
Migrants and Refugees

Vulnerable Haitian men, women and children on the move in the Americas, should not be expelled from countries where they have found shelter, UN agencies said in a protection appeal on Thursday.

Seafarers work in the engine room of a Chinese registered ship in the Port of Genoa in Italy.
ILO Photo/Marcel Crozet

UN recognizes work of 2 million seafarers in ‘extraordinarily challenging times’

30 September 2021
UN Affairs

The United Nations celebrates World Maritime Day on Thursday, highlighting the role of the men and women who work at sea. Seafarers: at the core of shipping’s future, is the theme for 2021.  

As part of the Fridays for Future school strikes, youth protest for climate action in Geneva in 2019. (file)
ICAN/Lucero Oyarzun

Keep raising your voices, UN chief tells young climate leaders

30 September 2021
Climate and Environment

With the climate crisis already devastating lives and incomes, young people will be critical to driving global action forward, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told participants attending the Pre-COP Youth Event in Milan, Italy, on Thursday.

American percussionist Mickey Hart performing "King Clavé".
UNFPA

‘We are one’: musical performance ‘King Clavé’ reveals that we are ‘interconnected’   

30 September 2021
Human Rights

Based on the core belief that “humanity is deeply interconnected” and “we are one”, the new performance piece, "King Clavé" is adding some musical inspiration to this year’s 20th anniversary of the historic Durban Declaration and Programme of Action (DDPA) against racism around the globe.  

No Denying It, the UN News Podcast about Climate Action
UN /Paula Bustamante

No Denying It episode 6: Michelle Yeoh Introduces Tariq Al-Olaimy

29 September 2021
Climate and Environment

In the sixth episode of the UN climate action podcast No Denying It, actor Michelle Yeoh Introduces Tariq Al-Olaimy, a young entrepreneur whose organization, Public-Planet Partnerships, allows business, changemakers, and governments to consider new ways of working & collaborating with nature.

A general view of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in session.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Alleged reprisals and intimidation against 240 who cooperated with UN 

29 September 2021
Human Rights

Allegations of reprisals and intimidation were documented against some 240 civil society members, activists and journalists, across 45 countries in the year up to 31 April, simply because they had been cooperating with the United Nations.  

A child at the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan.
© UNICEF/Sayed Bidel

Afghanistan: Rapid decline in public health conditions, WHO warns

29 September 2021
Health

Healthcare provision is deteriorating fast in Afghanistan, the UN health agency warned on Wednesday, with cases of measles and diarrhoea shooting up, and polio becoming a “major risk”.

Displaced people living in Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria carry newly received winter clothing kits, distributed by UNICEF.
© UNICEF/Delil Souleiman

UN launches initiative to support returnees trapped in Syria camps

29 September 2021
Migrants and Refugees

When the extremist militant group ISIL, or Da’esh, collapsed in Iraq and Syria, thousands of foreign nationals were hastily detained in prisons and camps. At least 42,000 foreign women and children, most under the age of 12, currently remain in squalid and overcrowded conditions inside camps in northeast Syria.