Latest News

The UN Development Programme has been supporting reconstruction efforts including the installation of solar power panels.
UNDP Lebanon

A year after the Beirut explosions: a UN Resident Coordinator blog

1 August 2021
Humanitarian Aid

On August 4th, 2020, a devastating blast in a warehouse destroyed much of the centre of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. Many neighbourhoods were destroyed, downtown Beirut looked like a war zone. Thousands were injured and some 200 people tragically lost their lives on that day and the days that followed. For many, their property and livelihoods were literally blown away.

South Sudanese refugee, Yiech Pur Biel, runs the 800-metres for the Refugee Olympic Team in Rio. (August 2016)
© UNHCR/Benjamin Loyseau

Olympic athletes describe the power of sport to change the world

31 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Leading athletes, influencers and innovators have been sharing their thoughts on the role that sport can play in building a better world for all, in UN-led online discussions held to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics.

With most of its land only a few feet above sea level, Kiribati is seeing growing damage from storms and flooding.
© UNICEF/Vlad Sokhin

Sink or swim: Can island states survive the climate crisis?

31 July 2021
Climate and Environment

Small island nations across the world are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, and their problems have been accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely affected their economies, and their capacity to protect themselves from possible extinction. We take a look at some of the many challenges they face, and how they could be overcome.

People praying in the grounds of a temple in Yangon, Myanmar, the country's largest city.
Unsplash/Matteo Massimi

Six months after coup, Myanmar’s political, rights and aid crisis is worsening

30 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

It’s been six months since the military coup in Myanmar where there’s grave concern over the widening impact of the deepening political, human rights and humanitarian crisis affecting the country’s people.

Herat is located in the west of Afghanistan. (file)
UNAMA/Mohammad Fahim Mayar

Afghanistan: Attack on UN mission draws global condemnation

30 July 2021
Peace and Security

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) strongly condemned an attack in its main compound in the western Afghan province of Herat on Friday that left an Afghan police guard dead and other officers injured.  

Drought-stricken Madagascar has been identified as a 'hunger hotspot'.
© UNICEF/Safidy Andriananten

Conflict, COVID, climate crisis, likely to fuel acute food insecurity in 23 ‘hunger hotspots’

30 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Life-saving aid to families on the brink of famine is being cut off in several countries by fighting and blockades, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said in a new report issued on Friday.

Health workers tend to patients in a temporary COVID-19 emergency ward, in New Delhi, India.
© UNICEF/Amarjeet Singh

Delta variant, a warning the COVID-19 virus is getting ‘fitter and faster’

30 July 2021
Health

Cases and deaths resulting from COVID-19 continue to climb worldwide, mostly fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which has spread to 132 countries, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.

Libya's revolution of 2011 resulted in a fragmented militia rule with much of the country still divided.
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

Mercenaries ‘impede’ peace, must leave Libya to allow elections

30 July 2021
Peace and Security

The continued recruitment and presence of mercenaries in Libya is impeding “progress in the peace process” and an obstacle to upcoming elections, independent UN human rights experts said on Friday, calling for their “long overdue” departure.
 

A child is screened for malnutrition at a health centre in Tigray, Ethiopia.
© UNICEF/Mulugeta Ayene

100,000 children in Tigray at risk of death from malnutrition: UNICEF 

30 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

More than 100,000 children in Tigray, Ethiopia, could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next 12 months, a tenfold jump over average annual levels, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. 

Formula E cars at the 2021 New York race in Red Hook, Brookyln.
UN/Joon Park

From electric dreams to supercharged reality: the road race to a clean energy future

29 July 2021
Climate and Environment

The global Formula E electric race series, a partner with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP),  has grown in popularity since it launched some seven years ago, attracting the attention of major car manufacturers, changing people’s perceptions of electric vehicles, and bringing the world one step closer to a sustainable transport future.