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A new laboratory has been set up in the Ivorian port city of Abidjan to improve the monitoring of hazardous materials under a project backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that aims to prevent a repeat of a notorious incident in which thousands of people were sickened by toxic waste.

Disparities in research capacity among social scientists across the world have reduced the capacity of the field to contribute to human welfare, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said in a report launched today.

The United Nations has begun providing quality seeds to 100,000 vulnerable farmers in Burkina Faso, one of several nations in the Sahel region suffering from a growing food crisis that is putting millions at risk of hunger.

United Nations agencies are urging the international community to mobilize resources to boost child nutrition in Niger in the wake of new Government data that shows that the situation has deteriorated in the last 12 months.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) stressed today that there must be no impunity for any serious crimes committed during the 2008 conflict in South Ossetia, Georgia, after they wrapped up an official visit to the Caucasus country.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is attending this weekend's summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) industrialized and developing economies in Toronto, Canada, stressing the concerns of the world's most vulnerable and the need for everyone to step up efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

United Nations agencies today reported that the situation in Kyrgyzstan is relatively calm but still tense and that large numbers of those uprooted by the recent violence are returning to their homes, while adding that relief workers are still having difficulty reaching all those in need.

A United Nations human rights working group today urged Member States to back a global pact aimed at protecting people from enforced disappearances that is just two ratifications shy of the number needed to bring it into force.

As the people of the small African nation of Burundi get set to cast their votes in Monday's presidential election, an independent United Nations expert today warned of potential violence and human rights violations, citing a number of recent worrisome developments.

The world’s leading cocoa-producing and consuming countries reached agreement today at a United Nations meeting on a new pact that aims to make the global trade in the $10 billion industry fairer and more sustainable.