UN News Centre

With some 168 million children working in various sectors globally, the fight against child labour requires coherent policy packages to support legislation focused on quality education, social protection and decent jobs for parents, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) said today.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Haiti has urged all Haitian actors to maintain a constructive approach in the country&#39s electoral process.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned an attack carried out today near the Sayidda Zeinab shrine in a Damascus suburb of Syria, in which several civilians were killed and many others wounded.

The United Nations envoy in Afghanistan today condemned an attack targeting civilians gathered for Friday prayers at the Hisarak Jami Mosque in Rodat district, in Nangarhar province.

The United Nations Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide has condemned the inflammatory speech by the President of the Gambia, Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia at a political rally this past week, in which he reportedly threatened to eliminate the Mandinka ethnic group.

The United Nations human rights office today strongly condemned a series of rocket and mortar attacks against several residential areas and markets in Taiz between since last Friday, which killed 18 civilians, including seven children, and injured 68 others.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced it delivered food for the first time since 2012 to the besieged town of Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, as part of a joint UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) convoy.

More than half a million people remain uprooted from their homes two years after fleeing violence in the Iraqi city of Mosul, while military activities in the north and south-east of the city are causing fresh displacement, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

Some 30,000 residents of three localities in Haiti now have access to potable water, thanks to a sanitation campaign launched by the Government and supported by the United Nations following a cholera epidemic that killed almost 100 people in the community.

Speaking at a Security Council debate on the protection of civilians, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed that the United Nations is determined to work collectively to support governments to protect their people, and to persuade parties to conflict to abide by their obligations.

Meeting today with Faustin Archange Touadéra, President of the Central African Republic (CAR), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that the country had turned a corner following the holding of democratic elections, and welcomed the leader&#39s resolve to fully address the root causes of the country&#39s crisis in an inclusive spirit.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned yesterday&#39s attack on Ethiopian troops at an base of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Halgan, Somalia.

A United Nations-backed partnership fun has approved an additional $40 million to expand its support of a global programme fighting against illegal trafficking to a total of 19 countries in Africa and Asia.

The United Nations refugee agency today announced a revision to the regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan, involving 60 partner organizations and covering the eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkans route, in order to focus on the static population in Greece and on protection activities.

The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) today appointed the Chair of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and leading fashion designer Kenneth Cole as a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned today’s terrorist attack in the centre of Istanbul, which claimed the lives of at least 11 people and injured dozens more.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today it is concerned about the arrests, expulsions from school and injuries of students in Burundi schools, and has called for all parties involved in the political conflict in the country to fully respect the rights of children to education and to protect them from violence.

Two more candidates for the position of the next United Nations Secretary-General will be heard today, answering questions on how they would promote sustainable development, improve efforts to create peace, protect human rights, and deal with huge humanitarian catastrophes should they be selected to lead the 193-member Organization.

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in south-east Niger following near back-to-back attacks since this past Friday by Boko Haram insurgents on the town of Bosso in the troubled Diffa region, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

A United Nations human rights expert today expressed dismay at the lengthy sentences imposed last week on the leadership of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).