Women

UNICEF supporter Millie Bobby Brown in New York on the set of a video produced for World Children's Day 2018.
UNICEF/UN0248272/Clarke

World Children’s Day: Millie Bobby Brown to #GoBlue as new UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

20 November 2018
Global

On this World Children’s Day, when kids across the globe unite for their rights, Emmy-Nominated actress Millie Bobby Brown has been named the newest United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador.

Staff members serving with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) organized a student awareness campaign on sexual exploitation and abuse in Bangui. 24 January 2018.
UN Photo/Hervé Serefio

UN recorded 64 new allegations of sexual exploitation or abuse in the past three months

5 November 2018
Global

Across its various offices, agencies, and partner organisations implementing its programmes, the United Nations received 64 new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), involving 77 victims, between July and September, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.

End Virginity Testing Infographic.
WHO

‘Virginity testing’: a human rights violation, with no scientific basis - UN

17 October 2018
Global

A group of United Nations agencies has issued a joint statement calling for a ban on tests meant to assess the virginity of a girl or a woman, which is a common practice in at least 20 countries.

A young girl writes on a whiteboard during class at a school in Dohuk governorate, Iraq.
UNICEF/Mackenzie

‘Concerted effort’ must be made to help 600 million-plus adolescent girls realize full potential

11 October 2018
Global

There are “multiple barriers” including “systemic discrimination” bias and lack of training, which are keeping the largest generation of girls in human history from reaching their full potential, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement on Thursday, marking International Day of the Girl Child.

2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nadia Murad, is the UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. In this photo from 2017, she is participating in a panel discussion at UN Headquarters in New York.
UN Photo/Manuel Elías

Nobel Peace Prize goes to UN Goodwill Ambassador and Congolese doctor, highlighting sexual violence

5 October 2018
Global

Nadia Murad, a Yazidi rights activist and the first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Denis Mukwege, a gynecologist who helps victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

Thirty-two year old Delgermurun breastfeeds her eight-day-old baby amidst her family in a ger, Alag-Erdene, Mongolia.
UNICEF/Ilvy Njiokiktjien VII Photo

When it comes to breastfeeding, ‘timing is everything’ in saving newborn lives – UNICEF chief

1 August 2018
Global

Three-in-five babies, mostly born in low- and middle-income countries, are not breastfed within the first hour of life, placing them at higher risk of death and disease, according to a new United Nations report launched on Tuesday.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (2nd from right) stands with (to her right) Margot Wallström, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden; & Bineta Diop, AU Special Envoy for Women, Peace & Security, at the National Fistula Centre in Niamey, Niger.
UNFPA/Ollivier Girard

Women vital for ‘new paradigm’ in Africa’s Sahel region, Security Council hears

10 July 2018
Africa

Women across Africa’s Sahel region can be agents for a “new paradigm” for peacebuilding and development that benefits all people there, the United Nations Security Council heard on Tuesday.

OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
UN Multimedia

Teenage girl’s death sentence spotlights Sudan’s failure to tackle forced marriage, gender-based violence – UN rights office

18 May 2018
Africa

The case of Noura Hussein Hammad Daoud, a Sudanese teenager convicted of fatally stabbing the man she was forced to marry, after he had allegedly raped her, highlights the country’s failure to tackle the tragedy of early and forced marriage, marital rape and other discrimination and violence against women and girls, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.

Photo: WHO/SEARO/Anuradha Sarup
WHO/SEARO/Anuradha Sarup

UN’s advice for hospitals: Help mothers breastfeed to give babies best possible start in life

11 April 2018
Global

Breastfeeding within the first hour of birth protects newborns from infections and saves lives, United Nations agencies said at the roll-out of their 10-step guidance to help new mothers and hospital workers embrace this practical advice and give children the best possible start in life.

Actor and activist Danai Gurira (left); Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women; and actor and activist Reese Witherspoon (right) take part in the celebration of International Women's Day at the UN Headquarters.
UN Women Twitter

On International Women’s Day, UN celebrates the power of activism to bring change for ‘sisterhood of humanity’

8 March 2018
Global

The drumbeat for women’s rights and empowerment reached a crescendo on Thursday as the United Nations celebrated International Women’s Day with a number of powerful events, where global activists joined top UN officials calling for the recent momentum generated by grassroots movements against discrimination and harassment to tip the scales towards lasting change.