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Every child has a right to education and health, the United Nations today said launching a guidance note to assist the people monitoring, reporting and working to prevent attacks against schools and hospitals.

In response to the rising levels of illicit trafficking of fauna and flora, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has adopted a new global platform taking aim at this “particularly devastating’ form of organized crime involving a raft of illegal activities – from poaching to timber smuggling and money laundering.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his deep concern at the rapidly deteriorating situation in the northern Malian town of Kidal, where the United Nations says renewed violence threatens to once again destabilize the country.

The global economy is expected to strengthen over the next two years, despite a downgrade of growth prospects for some developing countries and transition economies, and “stubbornly slow” job growth, according to the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 mid-year update launched today in New York.

United Nations officials today highlighted the importance of both traditional and new forms of cooperation, as well as building broad partnerships, to shaping a future development agenda that is both sustainable and leads to prosperity for millions around the world.

The United Nations human rights chief today condemned the “flagrant disregard” for international human rights and humanitarian law – both by the Syrian Government and by some armed groups – that has led to tremendous suffering for civilians in Aleppo.

While hailing Asia’s dynamism, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today cautioned leaders gathered in Shanghai that despite best efforts, the wider Asian theatre is the scene of some of the "most worrying tensions in the world today," and urged healing the region’s rifts, including the Syrian crisis, the spread of deadly weapons, and local territorial disputes, through cooperation and common interests.

Briefing the United Nations Security Council in the wake deadly violence that rocked the northern Malian town of Kidal this past weekend, the top UN official in the country urged all parties today to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and avoid further provocation to keep the long-troubled region from sliding back into crisis.

The top United Nations official in Afghanistan today welcomed the release of preliminary results in the country’s provincial council election and lauded the “real community engagement” seen in the polls.

“An unprecedented expansion” of synthetic drugs is taking an ever-greater share of the illicit drugs market, according to a new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).