The UN chief in his message to mark Monday's International Day in honour of Nelson Mandela, hailed the first Black President of post-Apartheid South Africa and racial justice icon, “a giant of our time”, who remains a “moral compass” for us all.

A small, quiet village in Kenya has found a new purpose in the fishing industry through a successful marine coral conservation project, the first of its kind in the Marine Protected Areas of the western side of the Indian Ocean.

The UN human rights office said on Saturday it was deeply concerned by worsening violence in and around the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and rising abuse at the hands of heavily armed gangs, against vulnerable local communities.

Venezuela's rural, remote, indigenous communities have been particularly affected by COVID-19 and the country's socio-economic crisis; community gardens help Wayúu women from Rio Negro to make ends meet, and provide a haven from violence.

A group of independent UN human rights experts have condemned reports of escalating violence targeting foreign nationals in South Africa, and called for accountability against rising xenophobia, racism and hate speech aimed at migrants, refugees, asylum seekers - and even citizens perceived as outsiders - throughout the country.

The head of the UN Country Team in Sri Lanka has urged senior politicians to ensure a peaceful transfer of power in line with the national Constitution, following weeks of protests that finally saw the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday.

Following two years of virtual meetings due to COVID-19, the 2022 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) closed on Friday at UN Headquarters in New York with delegates showing “enthusiasm, passion and high-energy” for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The conviction of an Iranian official by a Swedish court for his part in the mass execution and torture of political prisoners was welcomed on Friday by a top UN-appointed independent rights expert.

Official data published by UN agencies on Friday shows the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccination rates in approximately 30 years, with 25 million infants missing out on lifesaving shots.

Over 500,000 conflict-affected people in northeast Nigeria will be tossed “a lifeline,” thanks to a new UN humanitarian and development package, launched on Thursday.

The UN Secretary-General is appalled by the deadly missile attack on Thursday against the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, that reportedly killed at least 22 people, far from the frontline of the main fighting in the east, including three children and wounded more than 100 others, his Spokesperson said in a statement. 

The international community should lend full support to the incoming administration in Colombia, which has a tremendous opportunity to speed up implementation of the landmark 2016 Peace Agreement that ended more than 50 years of civil war, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday. 

The decision by a Philippines court to uphold the conviction of campaigning journalist Maria Ressa should be reassessed by the newly elected government, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, said on Thursday.

Diseases transmitted from animals to people in Africa have jumped 63 per cent in last decade, compared with the previous ten year period, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) analysis released on Thursday.

In addition to tackling COVID and the monkeypox outbreak, the UN health agency has also been keeping a close eye on the puzzling spread of hepatitis in previously healthy children, which has left dozens needing lifesaving liver transplants.

The UN chief on Wednesday described progress between Russia and Ukraine on allowing the resumption of grain exports during UN-brokered talks in Türkiye, as a “ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world.”

Women working in the health and care sector earn nearly 25 per cent less than their male counterparts – a larger gender pay gap than in other economic sectors, two UN agencies said in a new report on Wednesday. 

The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution to extend lifesaving aid deliveries into northwest Syria from Türkiye for a further six months following a vote on Tuesday. 

More vaccines must be developed to tackle antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacterial pathogens, and countries must make better use of the ones currently available, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. 

Rising COVID-19 cases are not only putting further pressure on already stretched health systems and workers but also triggering an “increasing trend of deaths”, World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists at the regular weekly press briefing on Tuesday.

Surging and deadly gang violence in the Haitian capital has contributed to runaway food insecurity for well over one million people there, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

“I recall the civil war in Liberia vividly,” says Elfreda Dennice Stewart, a United Nations Police (UNPOL) officer serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

15 November 2022 is predicted to be the day that the global population reaches eight billion. The projection is revealed in the UN’s World Population Prospects 2022 report, which also shows that India is on course to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.

Although the UN-brokered truce between the Yemeni Government and Houthi rebels continues to hold, the key issue of road openings remains outstanding, while the country’s “humanitarian catastrophe” is set to worsen, the Security Council heard on Monday. 

The values that we ascribe to nature are vital parts of our cultures, identities, economies, and ways of life, all of which should be reflected in policy decisions surrounding our natural world, according to a new UN-backed report released on Monday.

Amid reports that Sri Lanka’s President has confirmed he will resign after his residence was stormed by thousands of protesters at the weekend, the UN chief on Monday called for dialogue to “ensure a smooth transition of government and solutions to the country’s deep economic crisis.

The annual UN report on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), released on Monday, details the devastating impact that various forms of conflict had on children around the world in 2021.

As Mozambique looks to move on from its violent past, a UN-led programme is supporting efforts to reintegrate former combatants, and give them a chance to lead productive, peaceful lives in their communities.

Over the last 10 years, the number of people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes and become displaced in their own countries, has more than doubled. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the increase in internally displaced persons (IDPs) has been particularly stark, as Resident Coordinator Bruno Lemarquis, the senior UN official there, explains.

Preliminary findings of two Marburg virus cases have prompted Ghana to prepare for a potential outbreak of the disease. If confirmed, these would the first such infections recorded in the country, and only the second in West Africa. Marburg is a highly infectious viral haemorrhagic fever in the same family as the more well-known Ebola virus disease. 

Prospecting used to be about digging up gold and other minerals. Today “bioprospecting” is allowing countries to use the natural riches at their disposal, for the production of pharmaceuticals, and other commercially viable products.  

Stronger collaboration among countries is the only sustainable path to a peaceful, stable, prosperous world for all, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on Friday.  

The UN health agency (WHO) issued an urgent appeal on Friday for access to sick and injured people caught up in the war in Ukraine, including “hundreds” of landmine victims, “premature babies, pregnant woman, older people, many of whom have been left behind”.

Prospecting used to be about digging up gold and other minerals. Today “bioprospecting” is allowing countries to use the natural riches at their disposal, for the production of pharmaceuticals, and other commercially viable products.  

The United States must withdraw unilateral sanctions which are resulting in discrimination against academics from affected countries, a group of independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Thursday.