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During his trip to Vienna, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today visited a restaurant where refugees work together with locals to serve Austrian-Arab fusion cuisine, using this opportunity to showcase the UN system-wide initiative to counter xenophobia launched in September.

The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, said today that the UN is “seriously concerned” by the developing situation in Northern Rakhine state and has called on the security forces to act in accordance with the “rule of law and accepted international norms,” and to exercise caution in avoiding disproportionate responses that could cause violence to civilians.

The United Nations refugee agency has updated its ‘toolkit’ for protecting vulnerable people on the move, in response to a sharp increase in global flows of both refugees and migrants in the decade since it was published.

Discussions on how to assist civilians caught in the crossfire inside war-ravaged Aleppo continue to be difficult “because the Member States that are supposed to help us get access [are] poles apart on what is happening in Syria,” United Nations Senior Adviser Jan Egeland said today in Geneva.

Highlighting the challenges confronting the protection of millions of children, many of whom are separated from their families as they flee wars and persecution, the top United Nations refugee official today called for prompt action to stave off the risk of losing an entire generation.

With millions of Colombian farmers affected by the violent conflict that plagued the Latin American country for more than 50 years, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will support a comprehensive rural reform strategy, aimed at strengthening food security and peace, including measures which address issues of land access and restitution.

A new United Nations report out today has confirmed that Ukrainians living close to the “contact line” – the area between Government-controlled and armed group-controlled territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions – not only suffer due to fighting near their homes but also face the threat of landmines and unexploded ordinance as well as have to contend with severe restrictions on movement.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has joined other United Nations and international agencies in a new agreement that will lead to more environmentally and socially sustainable procurement of health commodities.

This year, the world suffered many weather-related shocks and civil conflicts which pressured food security for many countries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said today in a new report, which said that while the global agricultural situation is posited to improve in 2017, some 39 countries currently need food assistance.

Expressing deep concern over the serious political polarization resulting in a deterioration of the security, economic and humanitarian situation in Libya, the Security Council today reiterated its support for the United Nations envoy for Libya, who leads efforts in facilitating implementation of the political agreement signed about a year ago.