UN News

Children increasingly bear brunt of CAR violence amid mass displacement

Horrific and deadly acts of violence against babies and children have been reported in the Central African Republic (CAR), where fighting has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in recent months. The warning follows months of renewed conflict involving armed groups in the mineral-rich state, which has seen decades of instability after declaring independence in 1960. Daniel Johnson has more.

Food production in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been severely damaged by the worst drought in the country since 2001, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Thursday.

Rainfall in key crop-producing areas was well below average from April through June, disrupting planting and damaging crops including staples such as rice, maize, potatoes and soybeans.

A key milestone has been reached in the fight against HIV, according to UN health experts, who say that more than half of all sufferers now have access to treatment.

The announcement from the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) accompanies new data showing that an estimated 37 million people had human immunodeficiency virus in 2016, an 11 per cent drop since 2010.

Women and children are urging authorities in South Sudan to restore peace in the town of Yei.

Violence between Government and opposition forces which erupted last year has forced thousands to flee.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 3'11"

Horrific and deadly acts of violence against babies and children have been reported in the Central African Republic (CAR), where fighting has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes in recent months.

The warning  from UN Children's Fund UNICEF and UN Refugee Agency UNHCR follows months of renewed conflict involving armed groups in the mineral-rich state, which has seen decades of instability after declaring independence in 1960.

Iraq will continue to require international support in the wake of the military victory in the northern city of Mosul, the Security Council heard on Monday.

The UN’s top representative in the country, as well as a senior Iraqi diplomat, told ambassadors of the “substantial” need for assistance, including to remove landmines left by the terrorist and to return scores of displaced residents to their homes.

Dianne Penn reports.

Duration: 3'28"

A bid to protect global consumers from naturally occurring arsenic-contaminated rice has been given the go-ahead by Member States, the UN said on Monday.

The initiative is one of many food safety measures covered by an international body known as the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Helping migrants integrate into host communities is crucial to everyone’s wellbeing, but it’s something that’s frequently misunderstood by authorities, the UN has said.

The issue is one of many on the agenda at the International Dialogue on Migration in Geneva beginning on Tuesday, hosted by the UN migration agency, IOM.

Arab states are late in beginning the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), due largely to conflict and instability, but “not that late”.

That’s the cautiously optimistic view of Mohamed Ali Alhakim, the newly-appointed Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), which includes 18 Arab states.

He’s the first Iraqi to become an Executive Secretary in the UN system, and he’s a former Iraqi Ambassador to the UN in both New York and Geneva.

Scientists are being trained by a UN-backed organization in methods to monitor whether or not a nuclear explosion has taken place.

The workshops have been organized by a commission known as the CTBTO which is preparing for the entry into force of a UN treaty that bans nuclear explosions anywhere in the world.

The historic treaty on banning nuclear weapons was adopted at UN Headquarters on July 7.