Global

United Nations Civil Society Briefing.
UN News/Maher Nasser

‘Leaders who sanction hate speech’ encourage citizens to do likewise, UN communications chief tells Holocaust remembrance event

31 January 2019
Human Rights

The Holocaust illustrates how easily “people can move from condoning brutality, to committing genocide” and shows that “leaders who sanction hate speech or make anti-Semitic or xenophobic slurs” are encouraging their own citizens “to do the same”, the UN’s head of Global Communications told leading members of the Jewish community at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.

Two girls apply make-up at Kandapara, a brothel in the city of Tangail, Bangladesh. A man offered them to find them jobs, but instead sold them to Kandapara. (2009)
© UNICEF/UNI91025/Noorani

Human trafficking cases hit a 13-year record high, new UN report shows

29 January 2019
Law and Crime Prevention

The latest Global Report On Trafficking In Persons, released on Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at UN headquarters in New York, shows a record-high number of cases detected during 2016, but also the largest recorded conviction rate of traffickers.

As 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Periodic Table by Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, the UN has launched a yearlong initiative to raise awareness of chemistry and its applications for sustainable development.
Graham Crouch/World Bank

UN lauds special chemistry of the periodic table, kicking off 150th anniversary celebrations

29 January 2019
Culture and Education

On Tuesday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements at its headquarters in Paris, kicking off a series of events and activities to be held throughout the year, as the world celebrates the 150th anniversary since its creation by Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleev.

Children at a school tent in the northern Idlib, Syria. Humanitarian emergencies deprive children of health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and other basic needs.
© UNICEF/UN0248372/Watad

Nearly $4 billion needed to protect 41 million children from conflict and disaster

29 January 2019
Humanitarian Aid

Tens of millions of children living through conflict, disaster and other emergencies in dozens of countries urgently need protection, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, in an appeal for $3.9 billion to support its humanitarian work around the world.

Mr. Marian Turski, Holocaust Survivor and Chair of the Council of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw speaking at the United Nations Holocaust Memorial Ceremony on 28 January 2019.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

‘Humiliation was the worst’; Holocaust survivor at UN, asks world to act with ‘empathy and compassion’

28 January 2019
Human Rights

More than seven decades ago in Auschwitz, Jewish teenager Marian Turski felt he “had no name, he had nothing, but a number” tattooed on his body. Speaking on Monday, at the annual Holocaust Memorial Ceremony, at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the 92-year-old called on the world to express renewed “empathy and compassion”.

Secretary-General António Guterres addressing the annual United Nations Holocaust Remembrance Memorial Ceremony in the General Assembly Hall.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Bigotry ‘moving at lightning speed’ Guterres warns, as UN marks the Holocaust

28 January 2019
Human Rights

Amid an “alarming increase” in anti-Semitism, International Holocaust Remembrance Day was commemorated at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday, honouring the memory of some six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust during World War Two, along with many other victims of what the UN chief called “unprecedented, calculated cruelty and horror”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (right) with Rabbi Arthur Schneier of New York City’s Park East Synagogue, where he attended United Nations International Holocaust Shabbat. 26 January 2019.
Laura Gelbert / UN

Tackling ‘deeply worrying’ global rise in anti-Semitism is a job for all societies everywhere, says UN chief

26 January 2019
Human Rights

Warning that anti-Semitism, the world’s oldest prejudice, has persisted to torment new generations, Secretary-General António Guterres has pledged that the United Nations will always be at the forefront of the fight against all forms of hatred, and work to strengthen efforts to uphold human dignity for all.

In Somalia's Puntland, crops and livestock have died in areas where there is no water following three years of failed rains. (January 2017)
UNDP Somalia/Said Isse

Climate change recognized as ‘threat multiplier’, UN Security Council debates its impact on peace

25 January 2019
Climate and Environment

As climate change is increasingly recognized as a “threat multiplier” by scientists, political representatives, and civil society across the world, the United Nations Security Council held an open debate on Friday to discuss its concrete impact on peace and security, and focus on tangible ways to diminish the effects of global warming.

Eight-year old attends the second grade in the Guinea-Bissau village of Ponta Nova.
UNICEF/Pirozzi

‘Education transforms lives’ says UN chief on first-ever International Day

24 January 2019
Culture and Education

Education is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development because it gives people across the world the skills needed to realize all 17 Global Goals (SDGs), said the UN chief on Thursday, marking the first-ever International Day of Education.

On 17 October 2018 in Indonesia, Saiful and Gilang walk over the rubble and past the fallen mosque, carrying salvaged metal they hope to sell. Rubble and broken houses are all that remains of Belaroa, Sulawesi, which was completely destroyed by a powerful earthquake on 28 September 2018.
© UNICEF/UN0250967/Watson

Extreme weather hit 60 million people in 2018, no part of the world spared

24 January 2019
Climate and Environment

With some 60 million people affected by extreme weather in 2018, according to a new study, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) called for better management of the issue worldwide, in a statement published on Thursday.