SDGs

ECOSOC President Mona Juul briefs members of the Economic and Social Council.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Head of UN economic and social body underscores priority of health, safety during ‘unprecedented’ COVID-19 challenges

19 March 2020
Global

Confronted with widespread human, social, and economic ramifications surrounding COVID-19, the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) stressed the priority of ensuring “the health and safety of people”.

People shop in Azerbaijan's Sederek Market.
UN News/Elizabeth Scaffidi

New report from UN Economic Commission for Europe measures progress on Global Goals

17 March 2020
Europe

As all eyes, hearts and minds focus on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) garnered attention on Tuesday when a new UN report revealed that only ten countries in the European region have levels of air pollution below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limit. 

Farmers who gatherer flowers in the Southern Espinhaço Mountain Range in Brazil enhance biodiversity and preserve traditional knowledge.
FAO/João Roberto Ripper

Brazilian mountain farmers reap recognition, through UN heritage listing

11 March 2020
Americas

Farmers who gather flowers from the Espinhaço Mountain Range in Brazil received well-deserved recognition on Wednesday for their crucial role in enhancing biodiversity and preserving traditional knowledge.

Employed youth, between the ages of 15 and 24, face a greater risk than older workers of losing their jobs because of automation.
World Bank/Li Wenyong

Rising number of young people excluded from jobs, education and training

9 March 2020
Global

The number of young people around the world who are neither employed, studying or in some kind of training, is on the rise, according to a new report released on Monday by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Women in a self-help group meeting in Bhatajhari Village, India.
© UNICEF/Ashima Narain

International Women’s Day: Gender equality benefits everyone

7 March 2020
Global

The benefits of gender equality are not just for women and girls, but “for everyone whose lives will be changed by a fairer world”, the chief of UN Women said in her message for International Women’s Day (IWD) at UN Headquarters on Friday, being celebrated in New York, ahead of the official day.

Women in Bangladesh stand up for gender equality.
© UNICEF/Jannatul Mawa

International Women's Day: progress on gender equality remains slow

5 March 2020
Global

Women's Rights in Review, 25 years after Beijing takes stock of how the landmark gender equality plan, the Beijing Platform for Action, is being implemented and calls for greater parity and justice.

Women traders in Tanzania have helped to boost growth rate but still face inequality
UNCTAD

Report reveals nearly 90 per cent of all people have ‘a deeply ingrained bias’ against women

5 March 2020
Global

Despite decades of progress in closing the gender equality gap, close to nine out of 10 men and women around the world, hold some sort of bias against women, according to new findings published on Thursday from the UN Development Programmme (UNDP).

Sun rises in Chapala Lake, Mexico.
WMO/Victor Hugo

World Wildlife Day: UN chief urges ‘more caring’ relationship with nature

3 March 2020
Global

People everywhere need to remember that we depend on Mother Earth to survive, the UN chief said in his message for World Wildlife Day marked on Tuesday, advocating for “a more caring, thoughtful and sustainable relationship with nature”.

Buthaina Ahmed Ibrahim, 28, is harvesting sesame. She will use the seeds to make and sell sweets. She is one of 30,000 rural women across Sudan whose lives have been turned around as a result of micro-financing.
IFAD

New UN initiative to support financial systems that ‘work better for everyone, everywhere’

2 March 2020
Global

From developed to developing countries, no nation is immune from financial “gaps and vulnerabilities”, the President of the UN General Assembly said on Monday.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed delivers the keynote address at the opening of the 6th African Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in Zimbabwe.
ECA

‘Africa has both the energy and the determination’ to make sustainable development happen, says UN deputy chief

25 February 2020
Africa

The United Nations and the African Union (AU) should do more to ensure all Africans see their futures in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)and the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said on Tuesday in Zimbabwe.