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With the current session of the United Nations committee tasked with safeguarding intangible cultural heritage under way, three cultural elements in Portugal, Uganda and Ukraine have been inscribed to the United Nations list of cultural traditions in need of urgent protection.

Highlighting the challenges to human rights around the world, the United Nations human rights chief called on the international community to act collectively for the common good and to do “everything possible” to prevent the situation from deteriorating.

Destruction of a major water pipeline has left nearly half of the children in the Iraqi battleground city of Mosul cut off from access to clean water, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs has just released its 2016 Report on the World Social Situation, which includes important new findings about persisting inequalities in education and economic opportunity, and challenges the international community to work harder to break down barriers to participation.

Strongly condemning the nuclear test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 9 September, the Security Council today unanimously adopted measures that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as “the toughest and most comprehensive sanctions regime ever” against that country.

The response to cholera in Haiti will be a “long and thorough battle,” but the United Nations will stand by the Haitian people and authorities, Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said on the eve of the launch of the world body's new approach to tackling the epidemic in the country.

With thousands of civilians fleeing neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo, senior United Nations officials today appealed to the Security Council and the wider international community to come together and “do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable aid access to the besieged parts of the [war-battered city] before it becomes one giant graveyard.”

Speaking at a special event commemorating World AIDS Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today underscored the need to stop stigma and abuse against those living with the disease and to ensure that they receive the care, treatment and protection they are entitled to.

Global partnership is needed to end discrimination and violence against the worldwide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, a United Nations human rights expert has told an international conference in Bangkok, Thailand, outlining five key steps that should be taken.

Expressing deep concern over the impact of a series of bureaucratic impediments and access constraints on relief operations, a senior United Nations humanitarian official in South Sudan has called on all parties to allow free, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to the people in need.