Friday’s decision by the US Supreme Court which overturns the 50-year-old Roe v Wade judgement guaranteeing abortion across the United States, was described by the UN human rights chief as “a huge blow to women’s human rights and gender equality.”

With record numbers of people uprooted within their homelands due to conflict, disasters, the climate emergency and other tragedies, more must be done to end this crisis, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday, launching his Action Agenda on Internal Displacement. 

The dramatic real-life effects of shutdowns of the internet on people’s lives and human rights are vastly underestimated, the UN human rights office warns in a report released on Thursday.

Israeli forces were behind the fatal shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank - not indiscriminate Palestinian firing - the UN human rights office, OHCHR, alleged on Friday.

Investing in the UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, is also “investing in stability” for the entire Middle East region, the UN chief told a pledging conference on Thursday.

Addressing the first meeting of the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee on Thursday over the global Monkeypox outbreak, the WHO chief told members that person-to-person transmission was ongoing, and “likely underestimated”.

Over the past two years, there has been “an unprecedented increase in all forms of gender-based violence,” the UN Deputy Secretary-General told a high-level meeting in Kigali, on Thursday, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a major contributor.

Hunger is tightening its grip on more than 20 million Ethiopians who are facing conflict in the north, drought in the south and dwindling food and nutrition support beginning next month, the UN food relief agency warned on Thursday.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, is urging Iran to call off plans to amputate the fingers of eight prisoners convicted of burglary, Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Wednesday. 

  Efforts are underway to reinvigorate the Central African Republic’s political process, which has lapsed into a state of “de facto lethargy” even as horrific attacks against civilians have risen, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Indigenous women and girls face grave, systematic, and continuous acts of violence that permeate every aspect of their lives, a UN-appointed independent rights expert said on Wednesday in a hard hitting report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva

The UN and partners have rushed to support Afghanistan following a devastating earthquake that hit two provinces in the east of the country early on Wednesday morning. 

The Secretary-General issued a statement on Wednesday expressing his shock and outrage over reports that well over a hundred civilians have been killed in the past week, during attacks by armed extremists in central Mali, and further north.

In a solemn ceremony, the UN chief on Wednesday honoured the memory of 485 UN personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty during 2021, “the highest number of colleagues” ever lost in a single year while serving the Organization.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov who auctioned off his gold medal to raise money for child refugees on Monday, has told UN News that the record-breaking sale of $103.5 million proved that “sometimes humanity can come together, and show solidarity”.

Global cooperation is critical to confront the surge in suffering due to conflict, climate disruption, hunger, the rising cost of living, and the COVID-19 pandemic. senior UN officials said on Tuesday at a meeting organized by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to strengthen delivery of humanitarian assistance. 

Critical relief supplies for nearly 64,000 people have been delivered to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two cities in the Government-controlled areas of the eastern Donetska oblast, or region, in Ukraine, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported on Tuesday. 

The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide briefed the Security Council on Tuesday, reinforcing concerns already voiced by other senior UN officials in the chamber, over “the heightened risks” of sexual violence, and trafficking, which are “significantly impacting women and children”, following the Russian invasion of 24 February.

UN humanitarians issued an alert on Tuesday over the deteriorating situation for millions of mainly women and children in northeast Nigeria who continue to be affected by protracted armed conflict, just as the country enters the lean season.

A shocking new UN report released on Tuesday indicates that the number of crisis-impacted school-aged children requiring educational support has grown from an estimated 75 million in 2016, to 222 million today.

Nuclear weapons are “a deadly reminder of countries’ inability to solve problems through dialogue and collaboration”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, urging the international community to abandon them once and for all.  

The ocean holds the keys to an equitable and sustainable development path for all. This is the premise behind the UN Ocean Decade and it will be in the spotlight during several major international summits this year to promote ocean health, including the UN Ocean Conference, which is set to open soon in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Lebanese Government, the United Nations and partners on Monday announced a $3.2 billion appeal for the country to address ongoing impacts from the war in neighbouring Syria and the current economic crisis. 

With eight months remaining, the window of opportunity is closing for South Sudan to meet critical benchmarks required to complete its transition away from long-running civil conflict, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Monday, pressing parties to the November 2018 peace deal, to implement their commitments in letter and spirit.

With humanitarian needs in Syria at their highest levels since the start of the civil war more than 11 years ago, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed on Monday for the Security Council to renew a resolution on delivering lifesaving aid to millions in northwest Syria, through cross-border operations from neighbouring Türkiye. 

Further food ration cuts are imminent for refugees as humanitarian needs multiply around the world while funding struggles to keep pace, the UN food relief agency warned on Monday, World Refugee Day. 

Ahead of World Refugee Day, marked annually on 20 June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday visited refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan now living, working and adding to the vibrancy of New York City.  

The Secretary-General strongly condemned on Sunday, an attack in Kidal, a city in northern Mali, against a convoy of UN peacekeepers that claimed the life of a blue helmet.

The Secretary-General strongly condemned on Sunday, an attack in Kidal, Mali, against a convoy of UN peacekeepers that claimed the life of a blue helmet.

Ahead of World Refugee Day, marked annually on 20 June, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday visited refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan now living, working and adding to the vibrancy of New York City.  

In Colombia, decades of violence and armed conflict created significant obstacles to human development and sustainable peace. To encourage the private sector to move back into hard-hit areas, the UN is financing an innovative project that is supporting local businesses and providing sorely needed job opportunities.

After two decades of dictatorship, The Gambia is on the road towards democracy and respect for human rights, The UN is working closely with the government on this journey, a process that involves facing up to the country’s violent past.

Hate speech incites violence, undermines diversity and social cohesion and “threatens the common values and principles that bind us together,” the UN chief said in his message for the first-ever International Day for Countering Hate Speech.

A UN human rights expert on Friday urged the United Kingdom to halt its controversial policy of transferring some asylum seekers to Rwanda and expressed serious concern that the two country’s asylum partnership arrangement violates international law, and risks causing irreparable harm to those seeking international protection.

In Burkina Faso, UN humanitarians on Friday appealed to the international community for help, after attacks by armed groups forced thousands to flee their homes in the east of the country.