Europe

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council in Vienna, Austria.
OSCE

Ban spotlights role of UN-OSCE partnership in addressing regional challenges

4 November 2014
As civil conflicts, terrorism, illegal drug trafficking, a rise in divisive politics, and health crises such as Ebola continued to transcend borders and threaten millions of people worldwide, United Nations partnerships with regional organizations were ever more vital to deal with and adapt to such challenges, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as he addressed the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with Conchita Wurst, Austrian singer and winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.
UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

UN chief hails Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst’s ‘powerful message’

3 November 2014
As part of a visit to mark the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Vienna International Centre today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was among those treated to a performance by Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, calling her win earlier this year an “electrifying moment of human rights education.”
Italian coastguard vessels arrive at Lampedusa Island after rescuing people on the Mediterranean. (January 2012)
UNHCR/F. Noy

UN rights expert urges reversal of UK decision to halt Mediterranean migrant rescues

30 October 2014
The United Nations human rights expert on migrants today urged British authorities to reconsider a decision not to support search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea, saying allowing people to die at Europe’s borders just because of their administrative status “is appalling.”
UN study calls on governments and the social partners to put in place efficient job placement services and training opportunities, and to strengthen linkages between education and training systems and the world of work.
Department for Transport UK

UN study finds ‘substantial’ skills mismatch for European workers

29 October 2014
Europe’s labour market is facing a “substantial” mismatch between supply and demand as a sizeable percentage of continental workers are currently over- or under- qualified for their jobs, a new United Nations study has found.
A monitor from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine inspects damage to a building, 9 July 2014.
OSCE/Evgeniy Maloletka

Ukraine: Ban deplores planned holding of November ‘elections’ by rebel groups

29 October 2014
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today deplored the planned holding by armed rebel groups in eastern Ukraine of their own “elections” on 2 November, calling the potential polls a “breach of the constitution and national law.”
A Ukrainian mother with her daughter and young friend in the room where she lives with her family at a centre for displaced people in Slavyansk.
UNHCR/E. Ziyatdinova

Amid uneasy ceasefire, Ukraine risks becoming ‘protracted’ conflict, UN officials warn

24 October 2014
The simmering conflict in Ukraine continues to take lives and exacerbate already precarious humanitarian conditions in the country’s Eastern regions, two senior United Nations officials told the Security Council today, as they warned that the situation risks turning into a “protracted low-intensity conflict.”
A view of the destruction caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004 in Point Pedro, a small fishing village in northern Sri Lanka.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Mediterranean, North Atlantic prepares for UN-backed tsunami warning system test

23 October 2014
Some 20 nations with coastlines on the North Atlantic, and Mediterranean and Black Seas are set to participate in a United Nations-supervised tsunami warning exercise to improve their ability to respond to an alert and enhance regional coordination in the event of a disaster.
Photo: UN/MINUSTAH/Victoria Hazou
UN/MINUSTAH/Victoria Hazou

Malta must accelerate efforts towards preventing ill-treatment of detainees – UN experts

9 October 2014
The Government of Malta has made strides towards preventing the torture and ill-treatment of people in detention, a group of independent United Nations rights experts confirmed today, but added that more needed to be done for the island nation to comply with its international obligations.
A Ukrainian family with their belongings after arriving at Kyiv by train. They had fled the violence in eastern Ukraine.
UNHCR/I. Zimova

Eastern Ukraine conflict continues to take heavy toll on civilians, UN report warns

8 October 2014
While the fragile month-long ceasefire in eastern Ukraine is a welcome step towards ending the conflict, armed groups continue to terrorize the population in areas under their control, pursuing killings, abductions, torture, ill-treatment and other serious abuses, the United Nations Human Rights Office said today as it released its latest report on the situation in the country.
An elderly returnee to Sloviansk, Ukraine, whose house was hit by artillery and needs major repairs, is comforted by a relative.
UNHCR/Iva Zimova

Ukraine: UN chief 'disturbed' by death of aid worker, dangerous surge in fighting

3 October 2014
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “saddened and disturbed” to learn of the death of an international humanitarian aid worker, killed when a shell landed near the International Committee of the Red Cross Headquarters in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.