Peace and Security

Secretary-General António Guterres review of the troops upon arrival at MONUSCO Lava Site in Goma
UN/Martine Perret

UN chief and senior officials show solidarity with DR Congo during three-day visit

31 August 2019
Africa

United Nations chief António Guterres and senior members of the UN, have embarked on a three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where civilians are facing insecurity and ongoing health crises, including a year-long Ebola epidemic which has claimed more than 2,000 lives.

Cratar neighbourhood in Aden, Yemen. (18 November 2018)
OCHA/Giles Clark

As Yemen relief operations face funding gap, timing of surge in violence ‘couldn't be worse’

30 August 2019
Middle East

The situation in Yemen is “very fragile”, the top United Nations humanitarian official there has warned, noting that as many as 13 people have been killed and at least 70 wounded over the past three days during clashes in two governorates.

Traveling with his family via an unofficial border crossing from Syria to Lebanon, the nine-year-old boy pictured here was injured during an unidentified explosion; abrasions from the explosion are also visible on his face.
©UNICEF/Kate Brooks

Millions in Idlib ‘counting on your support to make the violence stop’, UN relief chief tells Security Council

29 August 2019
Middle East

Despite an agreement signed nearly a year ago on a halt to further escalation in Syria’s war-battered Idlib, “the bombing and fighting go on in plain sight, day in and day out”, the UN humanitarian chief told the Security Council on Thursday.

A view of 'ground zero' at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan. Remote Semipalatinsk was once the Soviet Union's primary test area for nuclear weapons.
UN News/Nargiz Shekinskaya

UN NEWS SPECIAL REPORT: ‘Ground Zero’ at the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan

29 August 2019
Global

Every year on August 29, at the initiative of Kazakhstan, the UN and its Member States mark the International Day against Nuclear Tests. This year, the Day coincides with the 70th anniversary of the first atomic bomb test at the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan. UN News travelled to the remote, eerily beautiful region, for this special report. 

A view of Semipalatinsk Test Site’s ground zero in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan. The remote area was once the former Soviet Union’s primary testing venue for nuclear weapons. (file)
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Bringing nuclear test ban treaty into force a ‘central pillar’ of global disarmament push, says UN chief

29 August 2019
Global

The legacy of nuclear testing is “nothing but destruction,” and in a world of rising tensions, “our collective security depends” on bringing a global treaty into force that bans nuclear explosions, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said.

António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General (r) meets Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, on the margins of the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama, Japan, on 28 August 2019.
UN Japan/Ichiro Mae

Wednesday's Daily Brief: Guterres talks technology for Africa’s development, ‘extinction crisis’ prompts stronger wildlife protection, Greta Thunberg reaches New York, funding shortfalls in Iraq, a positive step for Indigenous women

28 August 2019
Africa

A recap of Wednesday’s stories: Secretary-General António Guterres says ‘winds of hope are blowing ever stronger’ for Africa’s development; Swedish climate youth activist Greta Thunberg reaches New York by boat; Chief of UN Mission for Iraq warns on funding shortfalls; and in Canada, a new bill recognizes the rights of indigenous women.

UN Special Representative Hennis-Plasschaert visits Sinjar on the fifth anniversary of the gross atrocities committed by ISIL terrorists against Iraq’s Yazidi community. (August 2019)
UNAMI PIO/Sarmad As-Safy

‘Perseverance is key’ to Iraq’s future, UN envoy tells Security Council

28 August 2019
Middle East

Although Iraq is “hard at work building on progress made to date”, a top United Nations official told the Security Council on Wednesday that decades of trouble continue to impact the present, but cautioned “we have not seen the end of it yet”.

The Nigerien army patrols the Sahara desert targetting militant groups including ISIL and Boko Haram.
© UNICEF/Gilbertson V

With ISIL down but not out, continued vigilance is key, UN Security Council told

27 August 2019
Global

Despite ISIL’s territorial defeat in Syria, the terrorist group, also known as Da’esh “continues to aspire to global relevance”, the United Nations top counter-terrorism officials told the Security Council on Tuesday.

otesters walking towards protest site by Gaza separation fence.The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented its findings in Geneva on 28-Feb-2019, in which it stated that found that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such..
UNifeed Video

Tuesday’s Daily Brief: UN envoy on Middle East peace process, child labour in Nepal, latest deadly Mediterranean shipwreck, DRC's Goma 21-days free of Ebola transmission, UN chief urges ban on nuclear testing

27 August 2019
Global

A recap of Tuesday's stories: UN envoy says tangible steps 'can, and must be taken' to reverse the 'negative trajectory' of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; child labour case in Nepal highlights 'widespread and systematic' abuse; some 40 people drowned off the coast of Libya in Mediterranean shipwreck; DR Congo's Goma passes key 21-day period free of Ebola transmission; and UN chief calls for global support in putting an end to nuclear weapons testing. 

 

A Displaced woman feeds a child in Gaza. (File)
© World Bank/Natalia Cieslik

‘Complete political deadlock’ over Middle East peace risks more violence, regional escalation, warns UN envoy

27 August 2019

Tangible steps “can, and must, be taken” to urgently reverse the “negative trajectory” of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and revive the peace process, a senior United Nations envoy told the Security Council on Tuesday.