Latest News

The top United Nations human rights expert on torture today called for the adoption of the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which are being considered this week by the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna.

The top United Nations official involved in the Organization’s fight against illegal drugs and international crime said today how horrified he was when he first heard the news of migrants dying when their boats sank in the Mediterranean – “the latest reports of a tragedy seemingly without end.”

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria has continued to meet with Syrian, regional and international interlocutors today in the framework of the Geneva Consultations, according to a spokesperson for the Organization.

Stressing that Yemenis have faced “tragic levels of suffering and violence” in recent months, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on all sides in the conflict to refrain from any actions that undermine the safety and security of the country’s airports, seaports and transportation infrastructure, and to join consultations without preconditions.

The head of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today promised a new $100 million emergency fund and a global health crisis workforce as part of a reform package prompted by the response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, saying: “I do not ever again want to see this organization faced with a situation it is not prepared, staffed, funded, or administratively set up to manage.”

Renewable energy generation and energy efficiency improvements will need to accelerate dramatically if the world is to achieve universal access to sustainable energy by 2030, according to a United Nations-backed report released today as senior leaders from government, business, finance, civil society and global institutions are gathering in New York for the second annual Sustainable Energy for All Forum.

Gravely concerned at the ongoing violence in South Sudan, the Security Council has condemned both the renewed Government-led offensive in Unity state, as well as a recent large-scale attack by opposition forces on the war-torn town of Malakal, threatening to impose sanctions on all those threatening the country’s peace, security and stability.

As the United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees in the Middle East continued humanitarian operations in around the Yarmouk Camp, deep concerns remained about violence that continues to profoundly threaten the lives and safety of Palestine refugees.

The United Nations refugee agency has announced today that it is taking urgent measures to contain the spread of a severe watery diarrhoea outbreak among newly arrived Burundian refugees in Tanzania, as seven people have been reported dead since Wednesday.

The head of the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom worldwide today voiced grave concern about the safety of citizen journalists in Bangladesh following the killing of blogger Ananta Bijoy Das on 12 May.