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Amid the chaos of fighting and displacement in Somalia, United Nations agencies are working to address the growing problem of sexual violence in the country, which has not had a functioning government since 1991 and where an upsurge in violence has forced thousands to flee their homes.

Allegations of witchcraft are swirling around camps for internally displaced persons in Chad are causing further confusion and violence in the already chaotic atmosphere, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which has organized initiatives to combat accusations and confusion on the matter.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today raised the alarm about conditions in the Chocó region on Colombia's Pacific coast, where six displaced Afro-Colombian men were killed last week by members of an irregular armed group.

The parties to the milestone Darfur peace talks starting tomorrow must be flexible and willing to make concessions if they want to reach durable and practical solutions, the United Nations and African Union envoys who will be chairing the talks warned today.

A new website will provide Spanish-speakers with easy access to information on natural disasters and complex emergencies in the Latin American and Caribbean region previously available only in English, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

An independent United Nations human rights expert today called for a five-year moratorium on biofuels.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will push for greater harmonization and realignment of business practices at the United Nations when he participates in the two-day meeting starting today of the Chief Executives Board (CEB) of top officials from across the UN system.

The scale and brutality of the sexual violence currently faced by women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, an independent United Nations human rights expert has told the General Assembly.

An independent United Nations human rights expert today criticized Iran’s use of the death penalty against juveniles, saying it is probably the only country in the world that does this systematically.

Religious belief should never be accepted as a legitimate excuse for carrying out criminal actions that encroach on the rights of others, a United Nations independent human rights expert warned today.