The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry said on Thursday that not extending current cross-border aid to Syria along the remaining route, would be a “failure of the highest order”. The warning to the Security Council comes as humanitarian needs throughout Syria are at their highest, since the start of the devastating 11-year war.

International Roma Day on 8 April is a key date to mark Romani culture, made more significant in Romania since the passing of last year’s landmark legislation there, to combat hate-speech against the Roma – the first law of its kind in Europe.

The United Nations on Tuesday remembered the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and its continued impact on the modern world, by honouring the tradition of resistance to slavery and unity against racism, through personal stories of courage.

Following a U-turn over re-opening girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief shared her “profound frustration and disappointment” that six months after the Taliban seized power, high school girls have yet to return to the classroom.