Latest News

Spotlighting the current “crisis” in international efforts to address the world's nuclear arsenal, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on delegates attending a review conference in Vienna on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to demonstrate that progress is possible.

Continuing an official tour of Central Asia, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour arrived today in Kazakhstan for talks with top officials.

Indoor air pollution from solid fuels used for cooking and heating are to blame for almost 5 per cent of deaths and disease, affecting mostly women and children, in 21 of the most heavily impacted countries, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

The senior United Nations envoy to Haiti has congratulated the country’s people on the successful conclusion of a number of local, municipal and legislative elections which culminated a three-round process as part of broader efforts to consolidate democracy in the Caribbean country.

The senior United Nations envoy to Liberia today welcomed the Security Council’s decision to lift its six-year-old ban on the export of diamonds from the country that was introduced to stop proceeds from the sale of these so-called “blood diamonds” from fuelling wars across West Africa.

Delivering his first major policy address since assuming the top United Nations communications post earlier this year, Under-Secretary-General Kiyotaka Akasaka today described efforts to reorient the Department for Public Information (DPI) both structurally and programmatically, and said priority attention would be paid to peace and security, climate change, development and human rights.

International judges at the United Nations-backed trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, accused of mass killings and other horrific crimes during the late 1970s, today welcomed Cambodia’s decision to reduce fees for international lawyers, saying it opened the way for the court to move quickly to start its work.

Security Council sanctions are most effective when they aim for a clear goal using incentives and not just threats, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a symposium on the issue today.

Deeply deploring the civilian deaths resulting from renewed fighting in Somalia, the Security Council today urged the country’s Government to reach out to all segments of the war-torn country’s society, while demanding that the warring parties allow relief aid to reach those in need.

The United Nations human rights office in Nepal today called on the country’s Maoists to allow internally displaced persons (IDPs), forced to flee during the decade-long civil war, to return safely to their homes, pointing out that past agreements also call for all confiscated property be given back to these returnees.