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A decade after the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, which killed nearly 250,000 people and left an arc of devastation across 12 countries, a warning system devised by the United Nations to assess communications flows and readiness procedures throughout the region is functioning “effectively,” the world body has announced after a two-day simulation exercise.

Stating that the digital age has opened the door to emancipation for millions and has been perhaps the greatest liberation movement the world has ever known, a senior United Nations human rights official warned today that digital platforms have sparked troubling concerns about the right to privacy, especially their vulnerability to surveillance, interception and data collection.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is rolling out its first operation in Ukraine, providing food assistance to vulnerable people affected by the conflict with distributions in transit centres and public shelters in Donetsk and Luhansk in the country’s east.

On his first visit to Syria since being appointed United Nations Special Envoy for that country, Staffan de Mistura met with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus today.

Amid continuing mistrust and disagreement over the electoral process in Haiti, a senior United Nations official today voiced deep concern over the political stalemate in the country.

The United Nations will continue to stand by Liberia and its neighbours currently battling an “unprecedented” Ebola outbreak, the Organization’s peacekeeping chief pledged today in Monrovia, spotlighting his mission to assess how the UN can further support the country.

Two senior United Nations officials have called for increased humanitarian assistance and development efforts to meet the needs of all communities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state following a visit there this week.

With an “intense and important year ahead,” United Nations Member States must work to build a framework that will sustain and finish what was accomplished with the landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the fight against poverty, hunger and disease, while rising to challenges old and new – not least climate change.

Global food prices continued to dip for the fifth month straight reaching their lowest level since September 2010, the United Nations agriculture agency reported today.

Despite rapid economic growth and huge progress in realizing the rights of children, young people in South Asia are paying a heavy price, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported today, noting that “everybody in South Asia has an obligation – and the potential – to do more to realize the rights of every single child in the region.”