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The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention today welcomed the recent release of a number of detainees in Cuba and the United States, some of whose cases have been followed by the expert group.

The United Nations Security Council this morning extended the mandate of its mission in the Golan until 30 June 2015, as it condemned recent fighting in the area and stressed that both Israel and Syria must “scrupulously” abide by the terms of the disengagement accord to prevent any breaches of the ceasefire.

Continuing steady growth in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year, global wood production has fully recovered from the economic downturn of 2008-2009, though production of pulp and paper stagnated largely due to a decline in consumption in China, data released by the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Agency (FAO) revealed today.

Asia and the Pacific is the world’s most natural disaster-prone area and accounts for more than 60 per cent of the world’s hungry people, but continues to drive the global economic recovery, according to the United Nations Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2014, released today.

As Afghanistan builds upon recent political developments, including the formation of a unity government, the country’s authorities and the international community must not ignore the immense challenges that lie ahead, from simmering insecurity to an escalating drug crisis, two senior United Nations officials declared today during their briefing to the Security Council.

The top United Nations official on human rights issues has welcomed the recent conviction and sentencing of a senior army officer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for crimes against humanity, adding that the move would help garner momentum for other similar cases currently underway in the country.

As Syria's war rages on into its fifth year, the needs for food, shelter and medicine are astronomical, several United Nations agencies said today as they launched a major appeal, requesting over $8.4 billion to help nearly 18 million people in Syria and throughout the region.

Far too many migrants still live and work in precarious and unjust conditions, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has said today in a message to mark International Migrants Day.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations Security Council have strongly condemned the bomb attacks in Radaa in Yemen’s Al Bayda province yesterday, which killed more than 25 people, including at least 15 schoolchildren.

Two out of five children urgently needing humanitarian aid in Central African Republic are without it, thanks to a critical lack of funding and continued conflict, a year after extreme violence tore through the country, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said today.