Law and Crime Prevention

A mother cries when she sees the body of her son who died of Ebola, before he is taken for burial at the Ebola Teatment Centre of Butembo, North-Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (March 2019).
UNICEF/Tremeau

Wednesday’s Daily Brief: Ebola now an international Public Health Emergency, young peacemakers, defining moment for Sudan, war crimes fugitives, migrant ‘crisis’ in Hungary

17 July 2019

In today’s Daily Brief: the DR Congo Ebola outbreak is officially declared an international Public Health Emergency; UN Youth Envoy briefs Security Council; an ‘exciting and potentially defining’ moment for Sudan, says UN adviser; more cooperation’s needed to secure arrest of war crimes fugitives; and politicizing the migrant ‘crisis’ in Hungary

Many countries continue to face terrorism threats.
UNODC

Threat from petty criminals who turn to terrorism, a growing concern, Security Council hears

9 July 2019

The less predictable threats represented by small-time criminals who have opportunistically embraced terrorism, are a source of growing concern, the UN Security Council heard on Tuesday. That warning came from Tamara Makarenko, an International Consultant, who works with the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), speaking at an open debate on threats to international peace and security.

On the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan Ministries of the Interior and Counter-Narcotics burned more than 20 tons of illicit drugs and alcohol.
UNAMA/Eric Kanalstein

Two-thirds of global drug deaths now from opioids: UN drugs report

26 June 2019
Global

Opioids, which include both heroin and legal pain relievers, were responsible for around two-thirds of drug-related deaths in 2017, the latest World Drug Report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed on Wednesday. 

Afghanistan Villagers discuss road construction in Gharaka, Daman district of the Kandahar Province.
World Bank/Ishaq Anis

Presidential election: ‘Key moment’ to reaffirm Afghanistan’s democratic political structure, UN mission chief tells Security Council 

19 June 2019
Middle East

The presidential election scheduled for 28 September will be a “key moment to reaffirm the legitimacy of Afghanistan’s democratic political structure”, the United Nations mission chief in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

Promotional materials meant to highlight the “no excuse, zero tolerance” approach to sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations personnel.
UN Photo/Nektarios Markogiannis

The UN’s unyielding effort to tackle sexual abuse and exploitation: our quarterly update

30 May 2019
Global

In the first quarter of 2019, according to latest figures released on Thursday, the United Nations recorded a total of 37 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) against UN personnel, including civilian and uniformed personnel from peacekeeping operations, agencies, funds and programmes. So far, most of these allegations remain under investigation.

A family climbs out of their destroyed home to flee minutes after an ISIS suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle on the street outside their home in the Al Andalus neighbourhood of Mosul, Iraq. Photo: UNHCR/Ivor Prickett
Photo: UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

UN launches innovative programme to detect and disrupt terrorist travel

7 May 2019

A new programme aimed at improving the tracking of suspected terrorists, using state-of-the-art software, was launched by the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) on Tuesday.

Mandisa Dukashe and her family live in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Mandisa is a trained nurse and works in the response to HIV to ensure quality control in health-care settings. She is living with HIV and encourages people to get tested for HIV. Her husband and two daughters are all HIV-negative.
UNAIDS/MUJAHID SAFODIEN

Laws must protect, ‘not reject’ says UNAIDS chief on Zero Discrimination Day

1 March 2019
Global

Discriminatory laws and practices that bar access to health and other services must be changed, the United Nations agency leading the fight against HIV/AIDS said on Friday, Zero Discrimination Day.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its judgment on the preliminary objections raised by the United States of America in the case concerning Certain Iranian Assets at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
UN Photo/ICJ-CIJ/Frank van Beek

Top UN court rules it has jurisdiction to hear Iranian claim against US over frozen assets

13 February 2019

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Wednesday that is has the jurisdiction to hear part of a case brought by Iran against the United States, aimed at unfreezing close to $2 billion in Iranian assets being held there.

Residents of the Muslim Ward known as Aung Mingalar in the town of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar.
OCHA/P.Peron

Parliamentary bid to democratize Myanmar constitution a ‘positive development’ says UN rights expert

7 February 2019
Asia Pacific

A newly formed parliamentary committee to amend Myanmar’s problematic constitution was welcomed as a positive move on Thursday by Yanghee Lee, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country.

The issue of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea was raised by several speakers during the Security Council's debate on transnational maritime crime.
Eunavfor

Piracy and high seas crime growing, becoming more sophisticated, UN Security Council told

5 February 2019
Global

International maritime crime is becoming “increasingly sophisticated” as criminal groups exploit jurisdiction and enforcement challenges on the high seas and pose “immediate danger to people’s lives and safety”, the UN anti-drugs and crime chief warned the Security Council on Tuesday.