UN News Centre

Economic losses to disasters in Asia and the Pacific could exceed $160 billion annually by 2030, the United Nations development arm in the region warned on Tuesday, urging greater innovation in disaster risk financing.

With the conflict in Syria into its eighth bloody year and human suffering worsening by the day, the United Nations and partners on Tuesday made a major appeal for additional funds, as well as for reinvigorating the stalled UN-led Geneva talks.

At the start of World Immunization Week , the United Nations on Tuesday said that while vaccines are protecting more children than ever, more countries need to make immunization a priority, because more than one million children still die every year from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday described his predecessor Dag Hammarskjöld as his “fundamental inspiration,” who should be regarded as the “central reference” point for the whole United Nations ideal today.

The UN Special Envoy for Climate Action, Michael Bloomberg, announced on Sunday a contribution of $4.5 million to the Organization’s Climate Change Secretariat, the UNFCCC.

The United Nations Secretary-General has condemned Sunday’s killing of a senior staff member working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen, who was attacked while travelling in a vehicle on the outskirts of Taiz.

A suicide attack on a voter-registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul which left at least 30 dead on Sunday, has been condemned by the United Nations mission in the country, UNAMA.

The members of the United Nations Security Council need to find a way to unite and punish anyone found to have used chemical weapons in Syria, in line with international law.

Following the leader of North Korea’s announcement that nuclear and missile tests are to end, the United Nations chief António Guterres said on Saturday that the “path is open for the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula”.

Africa’s attempts to achieve health for all by 2030 could be threatened unless the continent address the twin challenges of undernutrition and obesity, experts attending a United Nations meeting in Nairobi this week have warned.

Despite warnings, Nigerian refugees and asylum-seekers who fled Boko Haram violence continue to be returned from Cameroon, the United Nations refugee agency has said, underscoring the need to accord international protection to those in need.

The world needs a new approach to peace, which is why the United Nations General Assembly will hold a major meeting next week to discuss ways to foster peace by focusing on conflict prevention, mediation, dialogue and diplomacy, the 193-member body’s President has said.

Transforming pineapple skins into product packaging or using potato peels for fuel may sound far-fetched, but such innovations are gaining traction as it becomes clear that an economy based on cultivation and use of biomass can help tackle pollution and climate change, the United Nations agriculture agency said on Friday.

Commending the remarkable achievements made by the people and Government of Liberia to consolidate lasting peace and stability in the wake of a 1999-2003 civil war, the Security Council on Thursday asked the United Nations Secretary-General to conduct a study of the role played by its peacekeeping mission in resolving conflicts and other challenges the country has faced.

In a milestone exercise that “transited the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) from weapons to politics,” last month’s congressional elections drew millions of Colombians to the polls amid a trend towards a reduction of electoral violence, the senior-most United Nations official in the country said on Thursday

Were it not for the sacrifices of United Nations peacekeepers, humanitarians and other personnel, the people who needed urgent support in the most difficult and dangerous environments would have experienced greater suffering, the top UN official said Thursday in an annual memorial service for fallen colleagues. 

Robotics may soon be a critical ally in the fight against disease-spreading bugs, a United Nations agency said Thursday after a successful test releasing sterile mosquitos from aerial drones as part of efforts to suppress the insect that spreads Zika and other diseases.  

A group of United Nations human rights experts have called on Iran to annul the death sentence against a prisoner citing serious concerns that he was tortured in detention and did not receive a fair trial.

A technical team sent by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the United Kingdom has identified toxic agents consistent with the UK’s initial investigation, the top United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council on Wednesday.

A senior United Nations humanitarian official on Wednesday called on Israeli authorities to halt plans to demolish Palestinian-owned structures and cease plans for the relocation of Palestinian Bedouin communities in the West Bank.