UN News Centre

A group of independent United Nations human rights experts today urged the Saudi Arabian Government to stop the imminent execution of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, convicted for a crime he allegedly committed as a child.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is following with “great concern” the situation in Burkina Faso, and today called upon the country’s defence and security forces to avoid at all costs an escalation of violence and to ensure the respect for physical security and human rights of all Burkinabé citizens.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today stressed the need to ensure women refugees and migrants moving across Europe have access to life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare, as it appealed for $4.2 million for humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations envoy for Libya has announced the finalization of a proposed peace plan to end the political crisis in the North African nation, adding that it is now up to the parties to act on the text.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its Goodwill Ambassador and international pop star Shakira urged global leaders today to invest heavily in early childhood development in the wake of new science that is creating a revolutionary shift in understanding the lasting effects of deprivation and stress on the developing brains of young children.

Two independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the Philippines Government to investigate the deaths of three human rights defenders in Surigao del Sur in Mindanao.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to defuse tensions and prevent an escalation of the current situation on the ground, during a recent phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels today and tomorrow to discuss the ongoing refugee and migration crisis, in what the United Nations cautioned may be the last chance to create a coherent response to end the suffering and exploitation of refuges and migrants.

Returning from consultations with Syrian interlocutors in Damascus and Istanbul, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria announced today that he met with facilitators appointed by the Secretary-General to head working groups designed to find a political solution to the five-year conflict.

Five months after she first met with two girls from the Yazidi community who had been held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the United Nations official dealing with sexual violence in conflict said after seeing them again today that they are “filled with hope for the future,” and that is “the greatest blow they could have dealt” to the terrorist group.

The head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) today lauded the Chilean Government’s successful efforts to reduce disaster risk and minimise the number of casualties from the 8.3-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which occurred last night.

Senior United Nations officials today expressed outrage at the very serious accounts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that were allegedly committed between 2002 and 2011 by all parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka, including Government security forces, affiliated paramilitary groups and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Security Council today extended the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) until 30 September 2016, and authorized a reduction in the number of its personnel, as preparations continue for the security transition to the country’s authorities next year.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is eager to get countries to submit as soon as possible their action plans that will form the basis of the new universal climate change agreement to be adopted in December in Paris, a senior United Nations official dealing with the issue said today.

The top United Nations official in Afghanistan told members of the Security Council today that the country’s path to stability and self-reliance cannot be taken for granted, and that support from the international community continues to be crucial.

The United Nations human rights chief said today he is “appalled” at the recent actions displayed by the Hungarian Government in its treatment of refugees and migrants, and urged European institutions to take firm action to respond to the crisis affecting several countries.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted specific actions aimed at ending sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations personnel that require “urgent” support from countries that provide troops and police to peacekeeping operations.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations human rights chief today spoke out against the coup d’état in Burkina Faso and called for the immediate release of the country’s transitional leaders.

The United Nations programme that works to combat HIV/AIDS is working with the Government of Kenya in a bid to end the AIDS epidemic in the country by 2030, through the creation of a new data-collecting tool to track progress in current HIV programming.

Malaria death rates have plunged by 60 per cent since 2000, but the ancient killer remains an acute public health problem with 15 countries mainly in sub-Saharan Africa accounting for some 80 per cent of cases and deaths globally, according to a new United Nations report released today.