Sweltering conditions in Europe have come earlier than expected this year but the bad news is, they’re the shape of things to come.

Sexual violence has become a brutal tactic of warfare and repression that “terrorizes populations, destroys lives and fractures communities,” the UN chief said on Friday.

The current global economic paradigm of infinite growth based on using up a finite amount of resources, such as fossil fuels, will only deliver a “permanent triple whammy of inflation, climate chaos and conflict”, the UN chief warned on Friday.

Conflict, violence and other crises left a record 36.5 million children displaced from their homes by the end of last year, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates – the highest number recorded since the Second World War, the agency said on Friday. 

Amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Haiti, discussions about the country’s future governance remain deadlocked, UN Special Representative Helen La Lime said in a briefing to the Security Council on Thursday.

One-third of Sudan’s population, or 15 million people, are facing acute food insecurity, according to a new assessment released on Thursday by the World Food Programme (WFP). 

With livelihoods in tatters and hopes almost shattered, the Lebanese are “hanging on by a thread,” the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator said on Thursday, announcing the extension of the Emergency Response Plan (ERP) to address the rapidly deteriorating situation.

A UN-partnered bid to address the use of explosive weapons in towns and cities took a further step forward on Thursday, as Member States prepared to gather in Geneva to examine a concrete new plan of action.

The human rights situation in Nicaragua has continued to decline over the past three months, with detainees being held in appalling conditions, civic space shrinking, and an “unprecedented” rise in people fleeing the country, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Thursday. 

A staggering 100 million people have now been forced to flee their homes globally, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday, highlighting worldwide food insecurity, the climate crisis, war in Ukraine and other emergencies from Africa to Afghanistan as leading causes.

As the UN marks the International Day of Family Remittances on Thursday, there is concern that economic contraction and job losses in Russia - likely to now rise further as a result of sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine - are already having an impact on remittance-dependent communities in Central Asia, according to experts with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

UN independent human rights experts have deplored the recent violent crackdown on civil society in Iran, calling on Wednesday for independent investigations into excessive use of force against protestors.   

The Afghanistan people are experiencing some of “the darkest moments” in a generation the UN human rights chief told Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned a weekend attack in Burkina Faso that left dozens of civilians dead and displaced scores more, his Spokesperson said on Wednesday. 

Every year, one in six people aged 60 years and older experience some form of abuse – a trend that is expected to continue with rapid population ageing in many countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. 

The reported use of live ammunition by security forces in Tanzania, against ethnic Maasai herders, and the death of a police officer, have been condemned by top UN-appointed independent rights experts.

The Women, Peace and Security agenda is “one of our best hopes” for a more peaceful future and a liveable planet, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The “unprecedented” truce in Yemen has so far led to a reduction in fighting and other positive developments, but action is needed on its full implementation and to address rising humanitarian needs and insecurity, the UN Security Council heard on Tuesday. 

We have the tools to end the “systemic marginalization” of persons with disabilities, the UN chief told the 15th Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Tuesday.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday that the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee has been convened due to the spread of the Monkeypox virus to 32 non-endemic countries.

Food assistance to 1.7 million people in South Sudan has been suspended, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, citing a funding crunch and rising needs.

Still suffering from the devastating consequences of the February 2021 military coup, the UN rights chief said on Tuesday that the people of Myanmar remain “trapped in a cycle of poverty and displacement, human rights violations and abuses”.

New funding from governments for fossil fuel exploration or production is simply “delusional” the UN chief warned on Tuesday, adding that it would only “further feed the scourge or war, pollution and climate catastrophe.”

A social media campaign launched on Monday by the United Nations aims to bring the world closer to preventing a decaying supertanker, anchored off Yemen, from causing an oil spill that could spell disaster for the region and beyond. 

Long-term uncertainty related to the length of the transition period in Mali has made it even more difficult to achieve progress on implementing the 2015 peace agreement, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Monday. 

The political crisis unleashed in Myanmar following the 1 February military coup last year, has “opened new frontlines that had long been at peace,” the UN Special Envoy told the General Assembly on Monday, noting that challenges in the country have “both deepened and expanded dramatically.”

War in Ukraine continues to cause mayhem and “destroy the lives of many”, and it is everyone’s responsibility to limit the global food, fuel and financial crisis” that it has sustained, the UN’s top rights official told the Human Rights Council on Monday, in her last session as High Commissioner.

A critical $150 million dollar lifeline for rural families in Afghanistan was announced by the World Bank on Monday, part of an overall package of $195 million, for critical livelihood and life-saving assistance, the UN agriculture agency FAO, said on Monday.  

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Monday dismissed the British Government’s proposal to process United Kingdom-bound asylum seekers in Rwanda, describing the offshore deal between the two countries announced in April, as “all wrong”.

The UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, announced on Monday the winners of it’s 2022 UN Population Award, with the individual prize going to a young trailblazing parliamentarian from Namibia, while the institutional award went to Indonesia’s National Population and Family Planning Board.

The widespread exploitation of men, women, and children at a refugee camp in Malawi has been uncovered by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Malawian Police Service.

For three generations, Marsel Abdo’s family have been fleeing conflict, including the Syrian war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The UN issued a statement on Saturday calling for attacks on civilians by multiple armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to “immediately cease”.

At first, they look like bright spots of white casting shadows on a lush green lawn. As the drone camera swoops into the sky, it becomes clear that these are people – more than 200 students from half a dozen different countries – lining up to spell out a clear message to the world: SAVE OUR OCEANS. 

Rose Mary Tiep, fled domestic abuse and the conflict in South Sudan five years ago. Today she is helping others through their trauma in an Ugandan refugee camp, as part of a UN-backed support programme.