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The United Nations Security Council condemned the recent attack in Hadramawt, Yemen, in which 20 soldiers were killed, reaffirming that all acts of terrorism are criminal, and urging all UN Member States to cooperate fully with Yemeni authorities so that those responsible can be brought to Justice.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing of one of the five Iranian border guards who were abducted last month by a militant group and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed the timely holding of the parliamentary election in the Maldives, which international observers have assessed as peaceful, orderly and well administered.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today expressed concern at Turkey’s recent decision to block access to the social media platform Twitter, noting that it is – along with any decision to curb freedom of expression online – in contradiction with the country’s international human rights commitments.

The international community has a duty to help end Syria’s tragic civil war, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized today at a meeting of Arab leaders in Kuwait, where he stressed that there is no military resolution to the conflict, which “can only be resolved through a political solution.”

With the humanitarian situation in Sudan deteriorating and neighbouring South Sudan “imploding,” United Nations relief officials today appealed to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries, both of which are in desperate need of assistance.

With calls to remember the abuses of the past and intensify efforts to end those of the present, United Nations officials are marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade by urging the international community to work towards a future in which no form of human slavery exists.

While technological progress and innovative business models have expanded opportunities for freedom expression, they have also allowed for new threats to emerge in the form of Internet censorship, filtering, blocking, and surveillance, warns the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Air pollution – both indoor and outdoor – killed some 7 million people across the globe in 2012, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk, according to new figures released today by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

The United Nations has condemned today’s deadly attack on an office of the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) in Kabul which comes less than two weeks before the holding of presidential and provincial council polls.