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From Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933 until the 1945 liberation, music played an integral role in daily life under Nazism, as illustrated at a United Nations event which used the medium of the arts to communicate fragments of the lives of victims of the Holocaust.

The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said today it will seek to “establish the facts” surrounding allegations of the use of chlorine in Syria, where it is already working jointly with the United Nations to rid the country of its chemical weapons.

In the wake of Israel’s decision to break off talks with the Palestinians after a Fatah-Hamas unity deal, and amid a “volatile” situation on the ground with negative trends in the West Bank and a fragile calm in Gaza, a United Nations envoy today challenged the parties to use this “moment of truth” to reflect on the hard choices required to keep peace from slipping further away.

The Security Council today extended for another year the mandate of the United Nations mission tasked with monitoring the ceasefire in Western Sahara and organizing a referendum on self-determination for the people of the territory.

The United Nations human rights office today voiced deep concern about a new regulation in the Maldives that effectively overturns a 60-year moratorium on the use of capital punishment in the country and allows for children as young as seven to be sentenced to death for certain crimes.

The United Nations refugee agency is preparing to airlift relief supplies to South Sudan today for 100,000 displaced people ahead of the rainy season, while the top UN relief official there is calling for a month-long truce to enable people to move around safely and cultivate their fields.

At least two people were killed and six others injured in the Central African Republic (CAR) after an attack on an 18-truck humanitarian convoy relocating 1,300 Muslims to safety in the country’s north, a spokesperson for the United Nations refugee agency today confirmed, renewing calls for protection of displaced people.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today strongly condemned the imposition of the death penalty on hundreds of people in Egypt, after mass trials that she said clearly breached international human rights law.

Marking the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President John Ashe today urged the six reticent Member States to sign and/or ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention which aims to eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has highlighted the importance of Wednesday’s national elections for peace and stability in Iraq and called for creating the necessary conditions to enable all citizens to participate in the polls.