Latest News

Bringing the idea of the United Nations to life required huge leaps of statecraft to bridge differences, declared Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today in San Francisco, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Charter, which he said “symbolizes the hope and aspirations that we can bring the world as it is a little closer to the world as it should be.”

The President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today opened the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, declaring that 2015 must be the year when the world’s people and leaders realize the dream of a new sustainability agenda.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, continues his talks with the parties to the conflict in this country within the framework of the Geneva consultations, having yesterday met with leaders of the Syrian tribes, according to a UN spokesperson.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed today the United States Supreme Court ruling that the US Constitution guarantees the right to same-sex marriage.

Marking the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, top United Nations officials focused on the need for alternative development for farmers who cultivate illicit crops and for leaders to address drug trafficking and drug abuse that pose as obstacles to sustainable development for the world.

The United Nations today welcomed a decision by European Union (EU) leaders to assist up to sixty thousand refugees in need of international protection but warned that much more will have to be done to address the root causes of a steadily increasing global refugee crisis.

Last year saw more children killed or maimed in Afghanistan since monitoring of those statistics began in 2007, reflecting that “children are bearing the brunt of the conflict,” according to United Nations UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on children and armed conflict in that strife-torn country.

Strongly condemning the terrorist attacks carried out separately today in Tunisia, Kuwait and France, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored that, far from weakening the world’s resolve, the heinous incidents will only strengthen commitment to defeating all forms of terrorism.

The international community must redouble its efforts to help the Central African Republic to fully realize its transition to peace, national reconciliation, reconstruction and the end of impunity, the United Nations independent expert on the human rights situation in the country said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has renewed his call for Member States to repudiate the use of torture amid the international community’s ongoing fight against terrorism and provide victims of the inhumane practice with support critical in helping them rebuild their lives.