More than 61 per cent of the world’s employed population – two billion people – earn their livelihoods in the informal sector, the United Nations labour agency said on Monday, stressing that a transition to the formal economy is critical to ensure rights’ protection and decent working conditions.

From Switzerland to Somalia girls are creating their own apps; they are programming the robots they build. On Girls in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Day, the United Nations is urging more girls to pursue careers in the fast-paced science and tech industry, generally regarded as a ‘boys-only’ club.

Peacebuilding and sustaining peace require a more coherent United Nations strategy, as well a ‘quantum leap’ in funding activities that prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, Secretary-General António Guterres said Wednesday.

With one in four of the world’s 1.2 billion youth affected by some sort of violence or armed conflict, the United Nations on Tuesday launched a project to support new, youth-driven initiatives in education, science, culture and the media to prevent violent extremism in Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia