Latest News

Nearly 350 reported disasters, over 22,000 deaths, 98.6 million people affected, and $66.5 billion in economic damage. That was the devastating toll of disasters worldwide in 2015, according to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). At the helm of the Geneva-based office is Robert Glasser, an experienced development official who took up his post at the start of this year.

United Nations efforts to enhance international peace and security may grab headlines, but the vast majority of the Organization’s resources are devoted to development, and to advancing the Charter's pledge to "promote higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development."

The 193-member United Nations General Assembly today honoured the memory of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 93, recalling his legacy in helping the world body find its footing in a new global landscape during the tumultuous early 1990s.

Atefah “Atti” Riazi, the Chief Information Technology Officer of the United Nations, carries the following items in her handbag at all times – a screwdriver set, a Swiss Army knife and an iPhone.

World leaders must come together in 2016 to renew their commitments to humanity and unite to prevent and end crisis and reduce vulnerability, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, telling UN Member States that the World Humanitarian Summit will provide an opportunity for “concrete steps towards ending the suffering experienced by billions of people today.”

The United Nations mourns the loss of Jean Gazarian, a staff member whose six-decade career offered him a rare opportunity to witness the various moments and milestones along the path that saw a nascent 51-member Organization develop into the 193-strong world body it is today.

Yasuaki Yamashita, a 76-year-old who makes his home in Mexico, is among the dwindling number of hibakusha – people alive today who survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Many, like Mr. Yamashita, have since those horrifying events, dedicated their lives to peace and continue to work for nuclear disarmament.

Multiple conflicts have resulted in the massive displacement of men, women and children around the world in record numbers. Last year alone, more than one million refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean to Europe. And yet, the arrivals in Europe represent only a fraction of the world’s current 60 million refugees and displaced people – the highest level since the end of the Second World War.

In September 2002, Zeid was elected the first President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. At that time, the Court was only a plan on paper, and over the next three years he oversaw the election of the first 18 judges, mediated selection of the Court’s first president, and led efforts to name the Court’s first prosecutor – laying out a functioning institution, despite considerable budgetary pressures and criticism of the Court from several leading nations.

With countries reaching a new agreement at the United Nations climate change conference (COP21), the global meeting has been qualified as a “monumental triumph” by top UN officials. While many continued to hail the outcome document as the walls of COP21 were torn down on Sunday, the UN News Centre looked back on other aspects that contributed “positive energy” to the two-week event.