The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet - one of the oldest surviving literary works in history - is to be returned to Iraq by the United States later this week, the UN agency for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO), said on Monday.

Over the past year, freedom of expression in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been increasingly curtailed, according to a UN report issued on Wednesday.   

A new law in Iraq provides a measure of comfort for women and girls who have survived atrocities of ISIL terrorist fighters, but more must be done, an independent UN human rights expert said on Wednesday. 

Pope Francis’ historic visit to northern Iraq to hold prayers at an ancient church destroyed by ISIL “sends a clear message to the world that harmony and cohesion between the followers of all religions is the only way for the advancement and progress of humanity,” the top UN culture official has said.