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The head of the United Nations body tasked with promoting women’s rights today condemned the intimidation and targeted killings of female Afghan officials and called for bringing the perpetrators to justice.

This year's International Day of Democracy falls amid volatile political transitions in several countries, prolonged economic crisis, and dramatic demographic and social change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, stressing that such events all underscore the need to strengthen people's voices in how they are governed — an imperative that lies at the heart of democracy.

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos announced today that Iran is set to strengthen its partnership with the UN on regional and international assistance, and stressed that effective collaboration is crucial if the world body and other organizations are going to meet the needs of an increasing number of people affected by emergencies worldwide.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has today received the report of the UN team probing the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria and plans to brief the members of the Security Council on the findings in a closed-door session tomorrow.

Welcoming the news that Russia and the United States have reached an agreement on a framework for Syria to destroy all of its chemical stockpiles, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also announced the Syrian Government's formal accession to the international treaty on banning chemical weapons, effective 14 October.

Pressing ahead with his efforts secure a diplomatic solution that would end to more than two years of bloodshed in Syria, United Nations-Arab League Joint Representative Lakhdar Brahimi hosted a meeting between senior officials from Russia and the United States on devising a political path forward, in Geneva today.

Global and national efforts to end preventable deaths of children under-five years of age saved some 90 million lives in the past two decades, but at the current rate, a universal promise to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015 will not be reached, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported today.

A senior United Nations official in the Philippines, on behalf of the UN humanitarian team and its partners, today called for an immediate end to the latest violence and said the team is ready to support the Government in delivering humanitarian aid to people affected by the armed clashes.

While “truth commissions” – independent panels set up in the aftermath of conflict to resolve tensions and promote reconciliation – are vital to many countries trying to rebuild their societies, a United Nations independent expert today warned that the mechanisms risked falling short of expectations because the were burdened by overbroad mandates and unreliable funding.

As fighting between Syrian Government and opposition forces continue to intensify, the United Nations humanitarian chief today called on all sides to agree to a pause in the hostilities so that relief agencies could gain “immediate and unhindered access” to evacuate desperate civilians trapped in towns and cities increasingly under siege.