UN News Centre

The President of the United Nations General Assembly has urged everyone around the world “to continue to work together” to end the coronavirus pandemic, and to build an inclusive and sustainable future. 

At UN News, 2020 started with a hope that the year would be one of peace for Syria’s children.  However, in the weeks that followed, the news cycle was upended by the coronavirus pandemic, that not only changed what we covered, but also how we covered UN-related news around the world.  

More than 10 million children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, northeast Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South Sudan and Yemen will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday, warning that without urgent action, the numbers could rise further. 

With millions forced to work from home this year, offices and shops closing as part of containment measures, and travel severely curtailed everywhere, it was inevitable that the economy would suffer. In part five of our look back at 2020, we focus on the seismic effect that COVID-19 has had on the global economy.

Powerful digital tools using artificial intelligence (AI) software are helping in the fight against COVID-19, and have the potential to improve the world in many other ways. However, as AI seeps into more areas of daily life, it’s becoming clear that its misuse can lead to serious harm, leading the UN to call for strong, international regulation of the technology.

A group of independent UN human rights experts called on Ugandan authorities to end the arrest, detention and judicial harassment of political opponents, civil society leaders and human rights defenders.

The Netherlands has violated a child’s rights by registering children under the category “nationality unknown” as opposed to Stateless – leaving them ineligible to access international protections, the UN Human Rights Committee  declared on Tuesday.  

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Lebanon’s decision to bring to justice the man found guilty of killing two UN peacekeepers decades ago.

Progress made towards sustainable development by the Atlantic Ocean nation, Cape Verde, is under serious threat due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to the United Nations’ most senior official in the country. In this blog, UN Resident Coordinator Ana Patricia Graça, explains how the UN is supporting the small island country to rebound from the impact of the virus.

A UN independent human rights expert, on Tuesday, called on the United States to remove unilateral sanctions against Syria that may hamper efforts to rebuild the war-torn country’s destroyed civilian infrastructure.

In part four of our review of the global impact of COVID-19, UN News considers the new challenges faced by refugees and migrants during 2020; from a heightened risk of catching the COVID-19 virus in crowded camps, to being stranded due to travel restrictions, and becoming the targets of criminal gangs.

An increase in violence against women in India during the global COVID-19 outbreak has been described by the United Nations as a "shadow pandemic".

As the world enters 2021, after a “year of trials, tragedies and tears”, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has delivered a message of hope for the new year. 

In the final World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 press conference of the year, on Monday, senior officials warned that the virus is "not necessarily the big one", and that there is a real chance of another, more serious pandemic spreading across the world.

Some 25,000 Eritrean refugees, sheltering in two camps in the unsettled Tigray region of Ethiopia, have received desperately needed food aid for the first time since mid-October.

A group of transgender women in Mexico City has been telling the UN how despite living with discrimination and the threat of physical violence, they have managed to help others in a poor neighbourhood of the Mexican capital during the COVID-19 crisis.

United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners have called on authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to act urgently to help hundreds of migrants, stranded and without shelter, amid freezing winter temperatures. 

Children all over the world have had their education severely disrupted this year, as schools struggle to cope with repeated closures and re-openings, and the transition, if it’s even an option, to online schooling. Disadvantaged children, however, have been worst-hit by the emergency measures. In part three of our look back at the effect that COVID-19 has had on the world, we focus on the education crisis provoked by the pandemic.

A Peruvian biologist and inventor who is turning wind into water has been named as a winner of an annual UN environmental award.

The United Nations is commemorating the first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on Sunday, underscoring the need to learn lessons from the coronavirus pandemic, and urging greater investments in preparedness, to confront future health emergencies.