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Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the top United Nations human rights body today that its mission was more important than ever in an era when “war, terror and the threat of political violence have become a much greater part of many peoples’ lives,” an era when “inaction is not an option.”

The United Nations refugee agency today protested the deportation of Colombian refugees by Panamanian authorities, stressing that asylum seekers should not be forced to return to their country of origin.

The top United Nations environmental body today called for urgent action in post-war Iraq, ranging from immediate humanitarian relief and assessing the threat from weapons with depleted uranium, to the longer-term recovery of an environment that has suffered from decades of damage.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan cut short his trip to Europe today to return to UN Headquarters in New York in light of current developments in Iraq, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and elsewhere.

The senior United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Terje Roed-Larsen, strongly condemned today's suicide bombing attack in the Israeli town of Kfar Sava, which left one person dead another at least another 13 people wounded, several seriously.

The Security Council today extended for another three weeks the authority of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to run the United Nations programme that is the only source of food for 60 per cent of Iraq's population so that supplies already in the pipeline can be delivered.

United Nations relief agencies reported the return today of more international staff to Iraq after their withdrawal on the eve of hostilities, and forecast an increase in food convoys, but said the security situation remained critical in Baghdad.

As thousands of people around the world gear up to draw attention to workplace safety issues, the head of the United Nations labour agency today called for a new culture of safety to help save the millions of lives and trillions of dollars lost every year due to work-related accidents and illnesses.

The United Nations Security Council today called on all countries, organizations and individuals to help in resolving the fate of 605 Kuwaitis and other nationals missing since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

The central United Nations human rights forum today tackled a range of issues strongly endorsing the interdependent and mutually reinforcing nature of human rights, development and the rule of law, by adopting measures designed to protect the rights of individuals and promote civil and political freedoms.