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For the second time this week, the United Nations refugee agency today voiced alarm for indigenous communities in Colombia, where more than 1,700 Wounaan are fleeing their ancestral land after two of their leaders were killed by members of an irregular armed group in northwestern Chocó region.

More than 64,000 survivors of last October's devastating earthquake in Pakistan have already left relief camps for home with the end of the harsh winter, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported today.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is urging the Kenyan Government to take strong measures following a recent spike in rape incidents that has seen young girls to elderly women being brutally assaulted.

With 47,000 people estimated to die each year from toxic chemicals and many millions more made ill, a United Nations expert today urged States to hold trans-national corporations accountable for the human rights caused violations caused by poisons in household goods and food.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the bombing of the Buratha mosque in the Al Adhamiya area of Baghdad today.

Increasing levels of youth unemployment in impoverished West Africa, where almost three quarters of the population is under 30, poses a serious threat to the security and stability of the whole region, the United Nations Special Representative for the area warned today, highlighting the findings of a UN study looking at ways to diffuse this “ticking bomb.”

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is providing material relief to the victims of last week’s earthquake in Iran, today announced plans to offer psychosocial support to traumatized youngsters in the coming weeks.

In Nairobi today, the United Nation’s top humanitarian official launched an appeal for $426 million to support the urgent needs of more than 8 million people in mortal danger from a drought in the Horn of Africa that shows no sign of relenting.

The Palestinian public health system faces a rapid decline towards possible collapse, with limited or no access to preventive and curative services for nearly half the population, particularly the poor, in the event of a cut-off in donations and an Israeli suspension of tax transfers, according to the United Nations health agency.

Amid concern over a looming confrontation developing in Nepal, where the Government banned protests on the eve of demonstrations by opposition parties, the United Nations’ human rights unit reported today that fewer than expected protesters showed up but arrests occurred as soon as the demonstrations began.