Latest News

A United Nations commission that is the highest international body on food standards has adopted a landmark agreement on assessing the risks to consumers from foods derived from biotechnology, including genetically modified foods, as well as irradiated products, it was announced today.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency today sought to persuade Iran's leaders to allow enhanced inspections of their nuclear programme, including environmental samplings, following the country's failure to disclose certain nuclear material and activities.

United Nations envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello today discussed the evolving political process in Iraq with the head of the United States-run provisional administration, L. Paul Bremer.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today discussed Liberia with various leaders at the African Union Summit in Mozambique, focusing on the transitional arrangements for the peaceful transfer of power and the role of a possible multi-national peacekeeping force there.

The report of the United Nations Security Council's recent special mission to West Africa - carried out at a time when the stability of the sub-region appeared "particularly precarious"- recommends that the 15-nation body urgently consider authorizing an international stabilization force to quell the violence in Liberia.

Deteriorating security, lack of essential services and the absence of a functioning civil administration in many parts of Iraq will likely prevent large-scale refugee returns until next year, the top United Nations refugee official for the country said today.

A senior United Nations rights official today urged the fighting parties in Burundi to negotiate a peaceful settlement in light of the suffering of the civilian population and appealed to the belligerents to respect the right to life, security and physical integrity.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed a senior American diplomat and former top UN official in the Balkans as his new special envoy for Liberia, in light of the rapidly unfolding political events in the war-torn West African nation.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) have stepped up their battle against the illicit traffic in Iraqi cultural properties after widespread looting there with the establishment of a regularly updated database.

The President of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today granted an early release to a former prison-camp commander after serving two-thirds of his nine-year sentence for war crimes committed while in charge of Bosnian Serb detainees.