UN News Centre

While significant progress has been made in providing assistance, the number of Syrian refugees living in poverty continues to rise in host countries in the region and access to basic services remains a critical challenge, a new United Nations report warned today.

The United Nations human rights chief today deplored the terrorist bombing in Baghdad on Sunday that reportedly killed more than 150 people, calling on Iraqi authorities to do more to protect civilians as well as halt uncontrolled militias from continuing to take revenge on civilians fleeing towns recaptured from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da&#39esh).

The United Nations today condemned Israel for demolishing Palestinians&#39 homes and advancing plans to build new houses for Israeli settlers, amid the prospect of the two-state solution to the Middle East conflict already &#8220slipping away.&#8221

A United Nations-mandated human rights inquiry panel today welcomed a resolution that brings justice for the people of Eritrea who have suffered gross human rights violations over the past 25 years &#8220a step closer&#8221 to being realized.

The United Nations human rights chief today warned that the security and human rights situation in the Central African Republic (CAR) may be starting to deteriorate again, after a series a major incidents in the capital of Bangui and rural areas.

The head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today hailed as &#8220a major breakthrough&#8221 a recent announcement by Canada, Mexico and the United States that they will take sweeping action to achieve 50 per cent clean power generation by 2025 and cooperate on reducing disaster risk.

A United Nations human rights expert today urged the international community rushing to forge or strengthen political or economic ties with Myanmar not to undermine the country&#39s rights priorities.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he was &#8220deeply saddened&#8221 to learn the passing yesterday of Elie Wiesel, 87, a Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and long-standing UN Messenger of Peace.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the terrorist bombing in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad today that reportedly killed more than 100 people in a busy shopping street &#8211 an attack which the top UN official in that country described as an &#8220avenge by the terrorists of Da&#39esh who have suffered defeats at the battlefront.&#8221

Sustaining peace requires more coherence and coordination among the United Nations system, the head of the intergovernmental advisory body that supports peace efforts in countries emerging from conflict told the Security Council today.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today rallied corporate leaders and entrepreneurs gathered for a summit in New York to focus on key areas required to reach a new era of sustainability, including responsible practices, transformative partnerships, breakthrough innovation and targeted investment.

Standing up for values and principles that unite us – not divide us – and never succumbing to violent provocations in today’s world is vital so that extremists and perpetrators do not declare victory, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General emphasized today at a ceremony in tribute to Jo Cox, the United Kingdom Member of Parliament who was killed this past week.

Noting the new protests and increased tensions in Bahrain triggered by the revocation of the citizenship of a prominent Shia religious leader, a senior United Nations human rights advisor called on the Government to ensure that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly is fully respected and that any response to the protests is in accordance with the country’s obligations under international human rights law.

Climate change is expected to increase the intensity and frequency of droughts in the Caribbean, so countries in the region must enhance their capabilities to deal with this and other extreme weather-related challenges to ensure food security and hunger eradication, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said in a new report.

Concluding her seventh visit in the country, Marie-Thérèse Keita Bocoum, the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Central African Republic (CAR), expressed concern about the threats from armed groups and large-scale banditry to the protection of civilians, natural resources and to the crisis recovery process.

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today called for an investigation into the killing of Jacinto Hernández Torres, also known as Jay Torres, a Spanish-language journalist in Texas.

Condemning today's terrorist attack against a Jordanian border guard post at the north-eastern border with Syria, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon offered his condolences to the families of the victims and reiterates his solidarity with the Government and people of Jordan.

A United Nations independent high-level board of inquiry has completed a special in-depth investigation into how the UN responded this past February to deadly violence in a protection of civilians site in the town of Malakal, in northern South Sudan.

Addressing an event commemorating the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today stressed the importance of prevention and early response efforts, as well as the need to shift shame and stigma from victims to perpetrators.

While Governments around the world have been working decidedly and collectively to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons, the international community must intensify efforts in that regard in order to keep up with and effectively address global challenges, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.