Europe

European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Carmen Cuesta Roca

Strengthen existing protections to curb negative impact of sanctions, UN rights expert urges EU

23 June 2017
Noting progress made by the European Union (EU) to ensure that its sanctions allow for legal remedy and offer a measure of due process, a United Nations expert has called for further strengthening such measures to ensure that the human rights of those impacted are protected to the greatest extent.
Secretary-General António Guterres.
UN Photo/Mark Garten (file)

UN chief 'deeply saddened' by the many lives claimed by raging wildfires in Portugal

18 June 2017
'Shocked and horrified' at the many lives claimed by the devastating fires that hit the Pedrógão Grande region of Portugal, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today expressed his deep sadness and condolences to the Portuguese Government and people.
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of Germany, addresses a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in June 1997.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN chief praises 'vision, tenacity' of the late Helmut Kohl, chancellor who reunited Germany

16 June 2017
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has lauded the vision and tenacity of the former Chancellor of Germany, Helmut Kohl, who died today at the age of 87.
On 13 February 2017, first-grade students in eastern Ukraine, including 6-year-old Sasha (in red sweater), participate in a drill to practice their response to a shelling.
© UNICEF/UN053119/Zmey

Ukraine: 750,000 children at risk of losing access to safe drinking water, warns UN

16 June 2017
With the recent escalation of hostilities damaging vital water infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, at least 750,000 children are at imminent risk of being cut off from safe drinking water, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned today.
Many homes on the front line in Ukraine have been so badly damaged by shelling that they remain abandoned.
Daniel Gerstle/IRIN

Hundreds of thousands in eastern Ukraine at grave risk after water supplies disrupted – UN aid chief

14 June 2017
Raising alarm over lack of safe drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the so called contact line in Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine since 11 June, the top United Nations relief official today called on all parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international law and ensure that civilian areas and infrastructure are not targeted.
The bomb shelter at the school in the village of Hranitne, which is located along the ‘contact line’ that divides Government and non-Government controlled areas where fighting is most severe, eastern Ukraine. UNICEF/Kozalov

Conflict in Ukraine enters fourth year 'with no end in sight' – UN report

13 June 2017
Warring parties in eastern Ukraine have repeatedly failed to implement ceasefire agreements, allowing hostilities to escalate and the cumulative death toll to exceed 10,000 as the conflict entered its fourth year, a new United Nations report reveals.
Air pollution from an old coal-fired power plant in Kosovo.
World Bank/Lundrim Aliu

Polluted environments kill 1.4 million in Europe annually; UN agencies urge stepped-up action

13 June 2017
As some 1.4 million people in Europe and Central Asia die prematurely each year from polluted environments, United Nations agency heads at high-level meeting call for regional leaders to scale up action to stem environmental deaths and diseases.
Following the on-going hostilities in Mosul, newly arrived refugees on the way to the Al-Hol camp, close to the Iraqi border in Syria’s north -eastern Hasakeh Governorate. UNICEF/UN037295/Soulaiman (file)

Iraq: Lives of 100,000 children ‘on the line’ as fighting continues in west Mosul

5 June 2017
Some 100,000 children remain in extremely dangerous conditions in western sections of Iraq’s Mosul city as fighting between Government and terrorist forces continues, the United Nations children’s agency today reported, warning that “children’s lives are on the line.”
Secretary-General Briefs Media on Cyprus; 04 June 2017; United Nations, New York; Photo # 724258

UN chief Guterres meets with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders

5 June 2017
Following a meeting with the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced that they had agreed on the need to reconvene the Conference on Cyprus in June, in line with the 12 January statement of the conference.
Secretary-General António Guterres.
UN Photo/Violaine Martin (file)

UN chief strongly condemns terrorist attacks in London

4 June 2017
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned last night's terrorist attacks in London and expressed solidarity with the people and Government of the United Kingdom in the combat against terrorism and violent extremism.