A former American astronaut whose year-long journey in space captivated people worldwide will now help the United Nations to promote space as a tool for achieving sustainable development.
Scott Kelly, who has retired from the US space agency, NASA, was on Sunday appointed United Nations Champion for Space by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).
Investing in training is critical to expand the tech sector in Africa, according to Rwanda’s Minister of Youth and ICT (information and communications technologies).
Jean Philbert Nsengimana said his government has supported tech entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by providing a “hub” where their ideas can be turned into businesses.
Libyan women hampered by lack of midwives and gender-based violence
In a world experiencing an overload of information, people need to practice deep thinking or philosophy, according to a representative from the UN’s educational, scientific and cultural organisation- UNESCO.
To commemorate World Philosophy Day which takes place annually on the 17th of November, the agency will host a twelve hour nocturnal event called “A Night of Philosophy.”
“Pop-up public spaces” combined with what have been described as “democratic three-dimensional tools” are proving an effective way to engage poor communities in urban design.
That’s the view of Pontus Westerberg, of UN-Habitat, the UN programme for sustainable cities.
He is the manager of the Block by Block initiative, a collaboration between UN- Habitat and the makers of the videogame Minecraft.
An estimated 1.7 per cent of new-born babies across the world can be classified as intersex, which means their gender cannot simply be defined as male or female.
That’s according to the UN Free & Equal Campaign, initiated by the UN Office for Human Rights.
The campaign is working with intersex people to raise awareness of their existence and help protect their rights.
Hida Viloria is an intersex advocate and author of the book entitled “Born Both.”
A film festival has been held for the first time in Beirut, Lebanon, in an attempt to expose the plight of Syrian refugees settling in the country.
Mirielle Girard, the UN’s Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) representative in Lebanon, said that the festival is aimed at showing people what is “behind the statistics”.
She added that xenophobia in Lebanon is “mounting” due to slow economic growth caused by the war in Syria and refugees overcrowding the country’s population.
Social spending in the Asia-Pacific region remains low compared to the rest of the world, leading to slow economic growth in some countries and lack of protection for children.
That’s according to Christopher de Bono, UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) Chief of Communication for the East Asia and Pacific region.
Governments from across the region have been meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to discuss ways to advance children’s rights in critical areas.
The trauma of war still lingers with Sri Lankans whether they have been affected directly or not, an activist from the country told a meeting at the UN.
The Indian Ocean island nation is recovering from a 25 year old conflict that pitted government forces against the so-called Tamil Tigers ended in 2009
The society is also deeply divided along religious, ethnic and linguistic lines.
Being a woman, human rights defender in Pakistan is “risky”
