UN News Centre

A United Nations human rights expert today urged the Government of Myanmar to do more to protect children in the country, citing cases of detention and alleged incidents of child labour and marriage.

The African Union (AU) and the United Nations are proposing 44 per cent and 30 per cent reductions in their troop and police presence in Sudan&#39s Darfur region as a step towards an eventual exit, a senior UN peacekeeping official told the Security Council.

The United Nations deputy chief today called on Member States to fund the Organization&#39s new strategy to counter cholera in Haiti, stressing that the initiative is facing a critical shortage of resources.

Reducing gender disparities at workplaces by 25 per cent by 2025 could inject nearly $5.8 trillion into the global economy and boost tax revenues, a new report released today by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) has revealed.

Raising alarm over lack of safe drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the so called contact line in Donetsk Oblast of eastern Ukraine since 11 June, the top United Nations relief official today called on all parties to the conflict to abide by their obligations under international law and ensure that civilian areas and infrastructure are not targeted.

Underscoring the importance of accountable and inclusive governance and institutions for the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today called for public services to be more responsive, efficient and collaborative.

Continuing his visit to Central Asia, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today visited the Aral Sea &#8211 once the world&#39s fourth largest inland sea, that has now shrunk to about a quarter of its original size due to human mismanagement &#8211 where he urged the world to take lesson from the catastrophe and to ensure that such tragedies are not repeated.

Underlining the importance of energy, in particular for realizing the Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent action to ensure that everyone has access to clean, affordable and efficient energy so that they can rise to their full potential.

The first-ever United Nations summit on oceans today wrapped up with a global agreement to reverse the decline of the ocean&#39s health, and more than 1,300 pledged actions for protecting the blue.

Condemning yesterday&#39s attacks against the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in the city of Kidal, Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated the Organization&#39s support to help implement the peace agreement in the West African country.

Through a joint project, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are exploring mobile tools to combat food fraud and contamination, which result in global annual in the billions and pose a serious public health threat.

An estimated 40,000 children are trapped in extremely dangerous conditions in Raqqa as fighting intensifies in and around the Syrian city, the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) reported today, warning that &#8220many are caught in the crossfire.&#8221

Protracted fighting and unrest are swelling the ranks of displaced and hungry ins some parts of the world, even as large agricultural harvests in some regions are buoying global food supply conditions, according to a new report by the United Nations agriculture agency.

Secretary-General António Guterres today stressed the importance of partnership between the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in achieving global development goals and combating some of today&#39s key threats to peace and security, such as terrorism.

Voicing concern over lack of progress on the part of Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to undertake credible investigations into widespread allegations of rights violations and abuses in the Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental provinces, the top United Nations human rights official today called for setting up of an international investigation mechanism to look into the situation.

The United Nations migration agency today appealed for some $60 million to aid an estimated 16 million people suffering from the worst drought in decades in East and Horn of Africa.

The situation facing children in Yemen is &#8220extremely dire,&#8221 a senior United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) official warned today, citing a dramatic increase in cases of malnutrition and a massive outbreak of cholera across the war-torn country.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today congratulated the people of the Kingdom of Lesotho on the conclusion of a peaceful National Assembly election.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said today that he has been &#8220encouraged&#8221 by the progress in Colombian peace process and called on the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) to continue to implement their respective commitments under the accord.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today appointed Liu Zhenmin of China as the next Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.