Latest News

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today that global food prices were down for the second straight month in May and that the outlook for worldwide cereal supply has improved considerably since last month.

Launching the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today hailed modern energy services as the source of profound and life-changing opportunities – for the poorest communities and the richest investors – and urged generating the innovative ideas and vital partnerships to wholly transform the global energy landscape.

What began as ‘bold experiments’ in international justice two decades ago have resulted in ensuring accountability for the worst of crimes, officials from the United Nations tribunals dealing with the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda told the Security Council today, as they highlighted ongoing efforts to bring the work of their respective bodies to a close.

Gravely concerned about the reported worsening health of more than 75 Palestinian detainees on hunger strike now in hospital protesting Israel’s continued use of administrative detention, members of a United Nations committee today urged Israel to end the practice and heed the “desperate plea” prisoners to be told what they are accused of so they can mount a defence.

A group of United Nations human rights experts today expressed outrage at the recent executions of two prisoners in Iran, and urged the Government to institute a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to abolishing it all together.

Barbados, a small Caribbean island at the cutting edge of the fight against climate change, will be hosting this year's World Environment Day, leading United Nations-wide efforts to draw attention to the plight of the world's small islands potentially in peril of being lost to sea-level rise.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned “in the strongest terms” the attacks that took place on Sunday in Mpeketoni, Kenya, which reportedly killed at least 48 people and wounded many more.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former Vice-President Riek Machar to meet on Monday, as agreed to in the 9 May document that aimed to end the fighting in the world's newest country.

The United Nations humanitarian chief today called for $60 million for the next three months to prevent Somalia “from slipping back into a major humanitarian crisis” as it did during the 2011 famine.

Thousands of people are forcibly displaced and hundreds killed every month in Colombia, a senior United Nations humanitarian official today said, calling for more support for people affected by five decades of armed conflict and natural disasters in the country.