Latest News

The aid operation in Yemen cannot meet the life-saving needs of people unless humanitarians are assured safe and reliable access to the capital’s international airport, the United Nations relief coordinator for the country said today, calling it an “essential lifeline.”

Each day some 500 children die from road traffic crashes, thousands more are injured and the situation is only getting worse, the United Nations warned today as it launched #SaveKidsLives, a global campaign to generate action to make streets safe for children.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban K-moon and the General Assembly President Sam Kutesa today drew attention to the importance of the Organization’s cooperation with regional partners to shape a “bold new vision” for a post-2015 development agenda, as well as to tackle the world’s myriad pressing challenges.

The United Nations has hailed South Sudan’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as the African nation takes a critical step towards protecting and promoting the rights of all children.

To say that 2015 is a big year for sustainable development may be an understatement given that, over the course of six months beginning in July, countries have the opportunity to take decisions that will determine the global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity, protect the environment and address climate change.

The global humanitarian community is fighting against the clock as it delivers critical relief to Nepal’s most devastated communities, a top United Nations official said today as she urged international donors to step up their support.

Freedom of expression and press freedom are critical to the successful implementation of good governance and human rights around the world, top United Nations officials declared today as they inaugurated the 2015 edition of World Press Freedom Day with a reminder that both freedoms were “essential” for the shaping of a new global sustainable development agenda.

In a major step to boost the health-care assistance to earthquake survivors in Nepal who have been unreachable since last week's devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today announced it is setting up a new field office in the remote, mountainous Gorkha district, considered to be near the epicentre of the quake.

Wrapping up their visit to Nepal, the United Nations and European Union aid chiefs stressed that while relief teams are working around the clock to assist the thousands of people affected by the devastating earthquake that struck the tiny Himalayan nation one week ago today, aircraft and helicopters are urgently needed, as are emergency shelters, particularly for people in hard-hit rural areas.

After a reported overnight attack on Yarmouk refugee camp, the United Nations relief agency assisting Palestinians across the Middle East has called on the Syrian Government to refrain from using explosive weapons in populated areas, “including airborne weapons, whose indiscriminate effects expose civilians to imminent danger and suffering.”