UN Affairs

UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés underscores the importance of indigenous languages and their contribution to cultural diversity and sustainable development.
Twitter

‘Champion for multilateralism’ readies to hand over UN General Assembly gavel

16 September 2019
Global

Through consultation, collaboration and consensus, the UN chief on Monday described outgoing President of the General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa, as “a champion for multilateralism” who had succeeded in making the United Nations “relevant to all”.

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande speaks to UN News before taking up his duties as President of the 74th session of the General Assembly. (September 2019)
UN News/Nam Cho

INTERVIEW: Poverty, education and inclusion top new General Assembly President’s priority list

13 September 2019
Global

Back in June, Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, was elected by acclamation to preside over the 74th session of the General Assembly, which kicks off in New York in just over a week.

Winne Byanyima pictured at a UN event on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

Winnie Byanyima ‘honoured to be joining UNAIDS’ as next Executive Director

14 August 2019

The UN programme dedicated to the elimination of AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, has warmly welcomed the appointment of Winnie Byanyima as its new Executive Director.

At Kres primary school, in Cambodia, the multilingual education curriculum allows children to study in their indigenous language of Kreung, while they learn the national language of Khmer (November 2018).
© UNICEF/Antoine Raab

Wednesday’s Daily Brief: Syrian detainees, Zimbabwe hunger crisis, Kabul attack, Mexico disappearances, new tech to feed the world

7 August 2019
Global

Wednesday’s top stories: Syrian detainees “failed by Security Council”; Zimbabwe experiencing “worst-ever hunger crisis”; Guterres welcomes new Mozambique peace accord; deadly Kabul attack; Mexico “responsible for enforced disappearances”; indigenous languages at risk; and how innovation should be used to feed the world.

American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Col. Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. and Col. Michael Collins of Apollo 11, the first men to land on the moon, visited the United Nations where they attended a ceremony in their honour at the North Plaza of the United Nations General Assembly Building. (13 August 1969)
UN Photo/J. Grinde

First men on the moon ‘came in peace’ to UN Headquarters ‘for all mankind’

19 July 2019

As the world remembers Saturday’s 50th anniversary of the “giant leap for mankind” made by all those involved in the pioneering Apollo 11 space programme, we take a look back at the visit made by astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, to UN Headquarters in New York, just a few weeks after their historic mission. 

UN staff volunteer at Brownsville Community Culinary Center in Brooklyn to commemorate Nelson Mandela International Day New York. (18 July 2019)
UN/Sergio Gomez

'Emulate his example' urges UN chief as world celebrates Nelson Mandela: a ‘global advocate for dignity and equality’ 

18 July 2019
Global

Nelson Mandela was an “extraordinary global advocate for dignity and equality” who anyone in public service should seek to emulate, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message marking the International Day that honours the iconic anti-apartheid campaigner, and South Africa’s first democratically-elected President. 

Senior UN officials holding copies of the UN Charter at UN HQ in New York
UN Photo/Amanda Voisard

‘Summon the spirit of San Francisco’, says General Assembly President on UN Charter anniversary

26 June 2019
Global

Reaffirming faith in human rights, promoting social justice and saving the world from the “scourge of war”: just some of the founding principles of the United Nations, which appear in the Organization’s bedrock Charter, signed exactly 74 years ago in San Francisco.

The UN Trust Fund in support of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse has supported women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo receive vocational trainings like mushroom farming. (October 2018)
MONUSCO/Michael Ali

Righting a wrong: UN Fund helps thousands of sex abuse survivors rebuild their lives

21 June 2019
Global

About 3,340 women, children and men, many of whom are victims, have been given support to recover from or help put an end to the scourge of sexual exploitation or abuse (SEA) by United Nations personnel, thanks to a Trust Fund established in 2016. On Friday, a meeting was held at UN Headquarters in New York, to report on the progress and impact made, and collect new pledges from Member States.

Bangladesh. Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar to safety in Cox's Bazar.
© UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo

UN chief accepts independent report on Myanmar, highlighting ‘systemic’ failure surrounding Rohingya crisis

17 June 2019
Asia Pacific

An independent review into how the UN System operated in Myanmar in the years leading up to the mass exodus of the Rohingya following serious human rights abuses, has concluded there were “systemic and structural failures” that prevented a unified strategy from being implemented.

Patients being treated at the Tripoli Government Hospital in Libya.
OCHA/D. Palanivelu

Thursday’s Daily Brief: the European Charlemagne prize, sexual abuse, transgender rights, Somalia and Libya updates

30 May 2019

Top stories this Thursday: UN chief Guterres received the Charlemagne Prize for services towards European unification; sexual abuse in Somalia and within the UN; a leap in transgender rights; news from Libya; and new political appointments at the UN.