The issue of road safety is being “completely ignored” in some countries according to a senior UN envoy.
Some 1.25 million people are killed in car crashes around the world each year.
Around 90 per cent of those fatalities occur in low- and middle-income countries.
In 2011, the international community set out to prevent some five million traffic deaths.
Experts are gathering to discuss progress in Brazil from Wednesday.
The terrorists who carried out the multiple deadly attacks in Paris last Friday were promoting a “hateful ideology” according to a United Nations independent expert.
The attacks which left 129 people dead were claimed by the ISIL terrorist group, also known in Arabic, as Daesh.
The Islamist group controls large areas of Syria and Iraq and has begun carrying out atrocities in other countries, such as France and Lebanon.
Karima Bennoune is the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights.
Cristina Silveiro asked her to characterize the attacks.
“We must stand together” against terrorism, the words of the UN cultural organization’s chief marking its 70th anniversary on Monday in Paris.
Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, was determined that the milestone event, including the organization’s world Leaders’ Forum, would go ahead, despite the terrorist attacks in the city on Friday.
Impressive drop in maternal mortality rates
Maternal mortality rates worldwide have dropped by almost 44 per cent over the last 15 years. That’s according to a report released by the United Nations. The report indicates that maternal deaths around the world fell from about 532,000 in 1990, to an estimated 303,000 this year. Maternal mortality is defined as a woman’s death caused by pregnancy, childbirth or within 6 weeks of having a baby. Veronica Reeves has the story.
Sri Lankan maternity hospital reborn after 2004 tsunami
Women’s contributions to ending war and bringing about peace are being honoured in a photo exhibition which has just opened at UN Headquarters in New York City.
‘Poppies: Women and War’ features portraits of women and girls whose lives have been affected by conflict alongside images of the flower that serves as a reminder of those who died in battle.
Dianne Penn has the story.
Duration: 2'57"
After Typhoon Haiyan slammed the Philippines two years ago this month, people in the town of Tanauan came together with “an innate desire to be of service.”
That’s according to mayor Pel Tecson who believes this community spirit, or as it is known locally “bayanihan,” was the reason why his hometown was able to bounce back from the devastation.
Mr Tecson was recently at the UN to share what he has learned about the value of community-led development.
Investment in research and development in the science sector has been boosted by private contributions as public funding has declined.
That’s according to the latest Science Report from the UN cultural and scientific organization, UNESCO.
The report, which suggests that science will be essential to reach many of the newly agreed Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs, was released on World Science Day for Peace and Development, marked annually on 10 November.
Local public schools in Lebanon can accommodate only half of the 400,000 school-age Syrian refugee children in the country according to the UN Refugee Agency, (UNHCR).
More than four million people have fled Syria as a result of the four-year long civil war that has engulfed the country.
Many parents have arrived in Lebanon and are hoping that their children can receive a proper education.
Daniel Dickinson reports.
Duration: 2'15"
Start-up companies, artists, musicians and humanitarian workers have been examining how technological innovations can improve the lives of poor and marginalized children worldwide.
They have been meeting in Helsinki, Finland, at a two-day summit organized by the government and the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, which ended on Tuesday.
Dianne Penn has been talking to Gary Stahl, UNICEF representative in Brazil, where the agency is pioneering a mobile phone alert system to help keep millions of children in school.
Duration: 3'33"
Programmes that promote women’s entrepreneurship and educate adolescents about HIV and AIDS have changed the lives of more than 6,000 people in Zimbabwe.
That’s according to Stella S. Dongo who heads the Community Empowerment Project which was established as a means to buffer the blow of the 2008 global economic meltdown on citizens of the southern African country.
Ms Dongo was recently honoured by Rotary as a ‘Global Woman of Action.’ The international charity has had a longstanding relationship with the UN and hosts ‘Rotary Day at the UN’ each November.
