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Protests against police brutality took place across the United States in 2020, including in New York City.
UN News/Shirin Yaseen

End ‘rampant’ police brutality, promote tolerance: UN human rights experts

13 August 2021
Human Rights

Expressing alarm over “rampant police brutality against peaceful protesters worldwide”, more than 40 UN-appointed human rights experts on Friday called for an end to the violence, urging Governments to promote dialogue, tolerance and diversity. 

This mother of five decided to move from Tanganyika, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (file)
IOM/Lauriane Wolfe

DR Congo: ‘Widespread and systematic’ violence linked to clashes over gold

13 August 2021
Peace and Security

Rival armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are carrying out horrific sexual attacks against women and girls, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday.

A two-year-old girl and her mother wait to see a doctor at the paediatric oncology unit at a hospital in Accra, Ghana.
WHO/Ernest Ankomah

Childhood cancer care in Africa hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic

13 August 2021
Health

Nearly 30,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa are believed to have died from cancer during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). 

A mother and her son, who suffered severe burns when their home was attacked, seek refuge in the Haji camp for internally displaced people in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
© UNICEF Afghanistan

Fast-moving Afghanistan crisis ‘has hallmarks of humanitarian catastrophe’

13 August 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Afghanistan is on course to witness its highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since records began, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.

A digital illustration of the coronavirus shows the crown-like appearance of the virus.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

UN health agency urges support for new COVID-19 origins studies

13 August 2021
Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged all countries “to put differences aside” in order to speed up efforts to understand where and how the COVID-19 virus started – including the unproven suggestion that it was manufactured in a laboratory.

A family runs across a dusty street in Herat, Afghanistan. (file)
UNAMA/Fraidoon Poya

Afghanistan: UN chief following escalation in fighting ‘with deep concern’

12 August 2021
Peace and Security

With Taliban fighters continuing to gain ground in Afghanistan, the UN Secretary-General is following events “with deep concern” said the UN Spokesperson on Thursday, including the battle for Herat and Kandahar, the country’s second and third largest cities.

 

Women and children at a market stand in Kurtunwaarey , Somalia.
UN Photo/Tobin Jones

Top UN envoy points to fresh hope for democratic Somalia

12 August 2021
Peace and Security

Political strides are breathing new hope into the country’s fragile State-building process, driven by an electoral agreement signed by Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, and the heads of Somalia’s federal member states, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Thursday.

File photo of UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu (centre) meeting young people in Japan at an event focused on the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and the establishment of the UN.
UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

Youth must be included in disarmament and non-proliferation

12 August 2021
Peace and Security

With 40 per cent of the global population under 25, the international community has a special responsibility to ensure young people can share their perspectives and concerns about existential threats to current and future generations, UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said on Thursday.

The active engagement of youth is central for stable societies and to avert the worst threats to sustainable development, including the impacts of climate change.
ICAN/Lucero Oyarzun

Youth need ‘seat at the table’ to lead struggle for better future: Guterres

12 August 2021
Culture and Education

Young people are on the “frontlines of the struggle to build a better future”, the UN chief said on Thursday, International Youth Day.

A person browsing through social media on their laptop computer (content blurred to protect privacy).
World Bank/Simone D. McCourtie

Spyware: Rights experts push for surveillance technology moratorium

12 August 2021
Human Rights

A group of UN-appointed experts on Thursday called for a moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology, warning against the danger of allowing the sector to operate as “a human rights-free zone.”