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As the continuing violence in north-east Nigeria spills across the country’s borders and into neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) today sounded the alarm for the tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) currently in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

As the international community marks the 2015 edition of World Radio Day, United Nations officials have called for the greater participation of young people in utilizing the medium as a critical tool for shaping a sustainable future.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed two officials at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – George Okoth-Obbo as Assistant High Commissioner for Operations and Volker Türk as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection – the UN announced today.

Free, quality basic education is a fundamental human right for all, and governments must not delegate this responsibility to the private sector, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education urged authorities in Africa today.

Multi-stakeholder partnerships hold the key to achieving global development goals, Martin Sajdik, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has said, stressing that ending poverty, transforming people's lives and protecting the planet will require more than the work of States alone and must draw from a diverse cross-section of actors.

Security sector reform, good governance, the rule of law, and accountable institutions are critical building blocks for a sustainable future, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson declared today as he urged a greater international focus on security sector reform as part of an effort to strengthen the links between peace and security, development, and human rights.

The World Bank Group announced today that it has mobilized some $15 million in emergency financing to provide a record 10,500 tons of maize and rice seed to more than 200,000 farmers in the countries most-affected by the unprecedented Ebola outbreak, in time for the April planting season.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today commended the perseverance of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany to bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end, resulting in the signing of a package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk accords of September 2014.

The top United Nations official for refugee issues today urged the European Union (EU) to change its approach to dealing with irregular crossings of the Mediterranean Sea and make saving lives the topmost priority following the death earlier this week of some 300 people fleeing Libya on four dinghies.

The United Nations and its partners today launched an appeal for nearly $2 billion to provide vital humanitarian assistance to millions of people in nine countries across Africa’s Sahel region.