Latest News

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

A ‘charismatic leader’ dedicated to making the world a better place for all: officials bid farewell to former UN chief Kofi Annan

18 August 2018
UN Affairs

The flag at United Nations Headquarters in New York is flying at half-mast this Saturday as the Organization marks the death of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

UN mourns death of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, ‘a guiding force for good’

18 August 2018
UN Affairs

The United Nations is mourning the death of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who passed away peacefully after a short illness, according to a statement published on his official Twitter account on Saturday. The renowned Ghanaian diplomat was 80 years old.

© UNICEF/Kamal Ayyashi

Senior UN children’s advocate says they ‘should never be targeted by violence’

17 August 2018
Peace and Security

Reacting to a recent upsurge in violent attacks affecting children, Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, called on Friday for those responsible to be held fully accountable.

UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN chief encourages victims of terrorism to ‘raise up their voices’

17 August 2018
Peace and Security

Victims of terror attacks have an important and powerful role to play in combatting the “global menace” the United Nations chief said on Friday, launching an exhibition at UN Headquarters in New York to commemorate the first International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism.

The United Nations Office at Geneva, where multilateral discussions on biological weapons have been taking place.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Terrorists potentially target millions in makeshift biological weapons ‘laboratories’, UN forum hears

17 August 2018
Peace and Security

Rapid advances in gene editing and so-called “DIY biological laboratories”which could be used by extremists, threaten to derail efforts to prevent biological weapons from being used against civilians, the world’s only international forum on the issue has heard.

WHO/Twitter

Child victims of DRC Ebola outbreak need ‘special attention and care’: UNICEF

17 August 2018
Health

An ongoing deadly Ebola outbreak in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has particularly affected children, the UN’s children agency, UNICEF, said on Friday.

UNRWA/Tamer Hamam

Aid funding for Occupied Palestinian Territories at ‘all-time low’

17 August 2018
Humanitarian Aid

Funding for humanitarian operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) is at an “all-time low”, threatening the delivery of life-saving aid to people in the West Bank and Gaza, the United Nations warned on Friday.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Continue ‘their mission’ urges UN chief, as the victims of the Baghdad bombing are remembered, 15 years on

17 August 2018
Peace and Security

Remembering 22 colleagues killed by the “horrific terrorist attack” on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad 15 years ago, Secretary-General António Guterres has called on all staff to pay tribute to the fallen by “continuing their mission,” and keep going to “dangerous places with the aim of making them safer”.

UNICEF/Celeste Hibbert

‘No safe way’ into battle-scarred Afghan city of Ghazni to deliver aid as traumatized children search for parents

17 August 2018
Humanitarian Aid

The city of Ghazni in Afghanistan is still too dangerous for aid workers to reach, after a week of “intense” fighting and reports that traumatized children are turning up at hospitals looking for their parents, UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, said on Friday.

UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi

‘Unconscionable’ to kill aid workers, civilians: UN Emergency Coordinator

17 August 2018
Humanitarian Aid

Remembering all the humanitarians killed in the line of duty just ahead of World Humanitarian Day, the United Nations relief chief on Friday, renewed the call for civilians and aid workers everywhere to be better protected.