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A United Nations-chaired panel set up to peacefully resolve the border dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria is about to adopt its plan for the scheduled withdrawal of troops from the Lake Chad area and to improve cooperation between the two countries.

Sierra Leoneans have been returning home from Guinea by land this week, after a three-month hiatus due to the rainy season, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) said today.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) trying to help refugees in Iran are meeting frequent administrative obstacles, despite official statements of welcome, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Russians have overtaken Iraqis as the world's biggest national group of asylum seekers, but overall refugee numbers have declined over the first nine months of this year, the UN refugee agency announced today.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland expressed concern today about the rising tensions in Côte d'Ivoire and the impact of possible renewed civil conflict on civilians there.

The Security Council President for December, Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, today outlined its work programme for the month, with Iraq expected to be a prominent source of activity.

An Argentine advocate for the disappeared, a Jordanian taboo-lifting family protection team, the handicapped son of a former Chinese leader turned disability defender, a human rights educator in the United States and a West African women’s peace-building network are the winners of this year’s United Nations human rights awards.

The present model of globalization is not working for Africa and international policies must change to put jobs at the centre of the development debate in an employment-centred approach to alleviating the continent's chronic poverty, the head of the United Nations labour agency said today.

With 10 new HIV/AIDS infections occurring every minute, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned today that action is still far short of what is needed and that at the current rate of progress none of the goals set by the General Assembly’s 2001 session on the pandemic will be reached by the target date of 2005.

Given that poverty and malnourishment often breeds crime and extremism through resentment, it is in the interests of rich and poor countries to combat hunger, the head of the United Nations food agency said today.