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Around $1 million of equipment and vaccines are urgently needed to help stem outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), where farm animals are crucial to food security, the United Nations warned today.

The values and ideas embodied by the former United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld – from championing human rights to promoting democracy to fighting poverty – remain more relevant than ever, half a century after his death, a senior UN official said today.

Senior United Nations officials today urged continued international support for Sierra Leone as it consolidates peace and advance development, and especially as it prepares for next year’s elections, warning that any faltering now could risk the significant progress made so far.

A one-million signature petition from cities around the world demanding the abolition of nuclear weapons went on exhibition at United Nations Headquarters in New York today in a ceremony attended by Japanese survivors of the first and only use of the devastating bombs.

A group of independent United Nations human rights experts today voiced deep concern about hundreds of alleged enforced disappearances that have taken place in recent months in Libya, where what started as peaceful civilian protests demanding the ouster of Muammar Al-Qadhafi has turned into a violent military crackdown by the regime of the opposition.

A week after the Security Council authorized “all necessary measures” to protect civilians in Libya from Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi’s forces, speedy and decisive action by the world community remains crucial amid serious concerns of human rights abuses, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

The death toll from the post-electoral violence that has gripped Côte d’Ivoire continues to rise, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the West African nation reported today, while warning that systematic attacks on civilians could constitute crimes against humanity.

The United Nations Human Rights Council voted today to appoint a special rapporteur to look into the situation in Iran, expressing concern over its lack of cooperation with a previous General Assembly call for the country’s authorities to improve their human rights record.

Dozens of countries are taking part in a United Nations-sponsored effort to protect potentially life-saving centuries-old traditional medicines from bio-piracy by learning from India how to halt their misappropriation through international patents granted on non-original innovations.

On the eve of World TB Day, the United Nations and its partners today called for greater efforts to meet the goal of diagnosing and treating one million people with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) between 2011 and 2015.