Global

An aid worker from the UN refugee agency attends to a baby at a UN-supported health center in the northern region of Burkina Faso.
OCHA/Giles Clarke

Universal Health Coverage will ‘drive progress’ on 2030 Development Agenda

11 December 2019
Health

Last September world leaders at the United Nations endorsed an ambitious political declaration on universal health coverage, “reaffirming that health is a human right”, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in his message for International Universal Health Coverage Day.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres (centre) addresses the high-level meeting on Caring for Climate at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid.
UNFCCC

COP25: Support business efforts to tackle climate change, urges Guterres

11 December 2019
Climate and Environment

The UN Secretary-General has called on business and civil society leaders to press Governments into articulating policies that support private sector efforts to address climate change. 

A newborn baby receives her birth certificate at a hospital in the Republic of the Congo.
© UNICEF/Frank Dejongh

Failure to register newborns leaves millions ‘invisible’ warns UN Children’s Fund

11 December 2019
Human Rights

While the number of registered births has significantly increased over the past decade, one quarter of children globally remain unaccounted for, leaving them vulnerable and “invisible”,  the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

Storm clouds forming over Banghwa-ri in Gyeongsangnam-do, Republic of Korea.
WMO/Injoo Hong

Deliver ‘significant results now’, UN General Assembly President tells COP25 climate conference

10 December 2019
Climate and Environment

It is “imperative” that the COP25 climate conference underway in Spain delivers “significant results now”, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, President of the UN General Assembly (PGA), said on Tuesday.

High school girls from Long Island, New York, join other youth climate activists in a demonstration calling for global action to combat climate change. (20 September 2019)
© UNICEF David Berkwitz

Human Rights Day celebrates ‘tremendous activism’ of the world’s young people

10 December 2019
Human Rights

Activists, students and UN officials came together on Tuesday to pay tribute to young people’s “tremendous activism” in promoting human rights for everyone. 

Marking the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda (2019).
UN Photo/Violaine Martin

‘World has failed’ victims of genocide too often: Guterres

9 December 2019
Human Rights

Too often, “the world has failed” populations under threat of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide on Monday.

The United Nations and the Olympic flags raised at UN Headquarters. (file)
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

UN Assembly calls on all States to observe Olympic Truce throughout Tokyo Summer Games

9 December 2019
SDGs

The General Assembly on Monday urged United Nations Member States to observe the Olympic Truce – the ancient Greek tradition calling for the cessation of hostilities before, during and after the Games – in the context of next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

UNDP's flagship publication Human Development Report 2019 released in New Delhi by Ms. Shoko Noda, UNDP Resident Representative in India (centre), Mr. Swastik Das, UNDP Development Economist (right) and Ms. Alka Narang, UNDP Adviser, Gender and Social Inclusion (left).
UN India

Monday’s Daily Brief: increasing inequality, human rights and climate, civil war crimes, Ethiopia reforms

9 December 2019
Economic Development

New UN development report warns global inequality breeding a “new generation of inequalities”; human rights linked to climate change by senior UN official; intentional starvation in civil wars classified as a war crime, UN rights expert calls for Ethiopia reform support.

A farmer in the Philippines inspects his rice crop after a flood. Increased flooding is expected due to climate change.
World Bank/Nonie Reyes

COP25: Global investors urge countries to meet climate action goals

9 December 2019
Climate and Environment

More than 630 investors who collectively manage over $37 trillion in assets are calling on governments across the world to step up action to address climate change and achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

An IOM supported piped water supply project in a displaced persons camp in Dolow, Somalia. IOM, WFP and other agencies were able to cover the urgent needs of the displaced people in this camp thanks to the support of UNCERF.
WFP/Georgina Goodwin

UN chief urges emergency fund support as one of the ‘most effective investments’ in humanitarian action

9 December 2019
Humanitarian Aid

The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), is “one of the most effective investments you can make in humanitarian action”, Secretary-General, António Guterres told a high-level pledging event at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday.