UN News Centre

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues evolving, the world must “take all opportunities to learn and improve the response as we go”, the UN health agency chief said on Friday.     

Eight new animated characters on a mission to protect the planet, have been pressed into service by the UN to empower children worldwide and boost the drive towards sustainability by 2030. 

The trail of devastation left by Typhoon Goni in the Philippines, runs straight through some heavily populated areas – including places where COVID-19 cases are high, and where returning migrants are concentrated - UN agencies reported on Friday.  

People in four food insecurity “hotspots” inside Burkina Faso, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, need help urgently to avoid sliding into famine, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

The UN Secretary-General has called for better management of natural resources and ecosystems, highlighting that doing so could pave a path towards peace in war-torn societies and help crisis-affected countries boost sustainable development. 

The UN’s top relief official has strongly condemned recent attacks on aid workers in different parts of the world, demanding that those who target humanitarians are brought to justice.

Globally, millions of children are at a heightened risk of polio and measles – dangerous but preventable diseases – amid disruptions to vital immunization programmes due to the coronavirus pandemic, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) have said.

Physical distancing, handwashing with soap, wearing masks: these are some of the most basic, recommendations for slowing the spread of COVID-19, but for many refugees, and other displaced people, they can be very difficult to follow.

The top UN disarmament official on Thursday briefed the Security Council on progress made by Syria towards eliminating its chemicals weapons programme, complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic can be defeated through science, solutions and solidarity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, underlining one of its core messages throughout the crisis. 

UN agencies, together with other international NGOs, are calling on Israel to better protect Palestinian farmers from violence by Israeli settlers, as they bring in their traditional olive harvest - crucial to livelihoods - and ensure families can access their land “freely and safely”.

Despite significant progress made in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the signing of a peace deal 25 years ago this month, some politicians continue to ignore “core European values” and even glorify war criminals, the international community’s High Representative for the country told the Security Council on Thursday.  

The deteriorating health of Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul is “deeply alarming”, UN-appointed rights experts said on Wednesday, calling for her release along with “all other women human rights defenders in detention”. 

Children face violence and bullying at school all over the world, with one in every three students subject to attacks at least once a month and one in 10, a victim of cyberbullying, the UN said on Thursday.

Seventy-three people, including 41 children have been displaced after Israeli authorities demolished their homes and other structures, and destroyed belongings in the Palestinian community of Humsa Al Bqai’a in the West Bank, the UN humanitarian wing has reported. 

Top UN officials have underscored the importance of continuous risk assessment and preparedness to safeguard coastal communities worldwide from the disastrous impact of tsunamis, marking World Tsunami Awareness Day on Thursday.

It is possible for countries to both protect public health and “ensure access” for vulnerable people forced to flee their homes, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

Even as they confront the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in Africa’s Great Lakes Region continue to improve political, security and economic cooperation in line with a 2013 Framework agreement, UN Special Envoy Huang Xia told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

Farmers in Malawi who are struggling with the dual threats of climate change and an economic crisis worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, are learning how to more accurately predict the weather and prepare for the eventuality of natural disasters, thanks to a project supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic and its continuing impact, the global economy could see a “somewhat less severe, though still deep” recession through 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected in its latest global economic outlook.