Thirty non-endemic countries have reported more than 550 confirmed cases of monkeypox, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Accompanying Somalia’s newly-appointed drought envoy on his first field visit, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official for the Horn of Africa country warned on Tuesday of the devastating outlook for millions of affected Somalis, amidst heightened risks of famine.

In Ukraine, nearly 100 days since the Russian invasion, at least two children have been killed every day with many more injured, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday, the International Day for Protection of Children.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is scaling up operations in Sudan, where 10.9 million people, 30 per cent of the population, are expected to need lifesaving support this year – the highest number in the past decade, the UN agency said on Tuesday. 

UN-appointed independent human rights experts called on Tuesday for Saudi Arabia to immediately release Abdullah al-Howaiti and quash the death sentence against him for crimes he allegedly committed as a child. 

The recent resurgence of the M23 armed group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) constitutes a serious threat to peace, security and stability in the region, and urgent action towards curbing the violence is needed, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

From climate and environment themed videogames to special features, pop-ups, and real-life tree-planting opportunities embedded within beloved classics like PAC-MAN or Angry Birds, the gaming industry is working with the United Nations to engage audiences like never before and inspire a new wave of climate action.

The tobacco industry damages both the environment and human health, and needs to be more accountable for the destruction it causes, declared the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.

A young Cambodian woman says it is her dream to help remove all land mines from the south of Lebanon and improve living conditions for all people living under the threat of death or injury.

It’s been five decades since Sweden hosted the world’s first conference to make the environment a major issue, in recognition of the “human sacrifice zone” it could become if we fail to look after it, according to rights experts. On Monday, ahead of fresh discussions in Stockholm this week to discuss further action, the experts warned that much greater efforts are needed which could save millions of lives every year.

There is an “urgent need” to support the victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) according to a local organization which works on the issue with the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO.

At the end of her official visit to China, the first such trip in 17 years, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet announced new areas of engagement between her office and the Chinese Government on rights issues, and summarized the many rights issues raised during her six-day May mission.

Women are often “placed second or even ignored” when they are employed as corrections officers in prisons and other detention centres, according to Téné Maimouna Zoungrana, an officer from Burkina Faso serving with the UN Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). 

The Sahel region of Africa should be considered a region of opportunity. despite the “multiple crises” that people there are enduring; that’s according to Annadif Khatir Mahamat Saleh, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel.

The Ocean is the planet’s largest ecosystem, regulating the climate, and providing livelihoods for billions. But its health is in danger. The second UN Ocean Conference, due to take place in June, will be an important opportunity to redress the damage that mankind continues to inflict on marine life and livelihoods.

Zambia’s plan to abolish the death penalty adds to the growing global chorus against the practice, the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR, said on Friday in welcoming the decision. 

The head of the UN agency leading the fight against HIV/AIDS, welcomed on Friday a public apology from Chile on a landmark case of involuntary sterilization of women living with HIV.

With more than 3.5 million people having fled to Poland since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, continues to scale up its operations to provide aid to arrivals, the agency’s spokesperson said on Friday.

  Israelis and Palestinians must push beyond the paradigm of managing the conflict and move towards resolving it, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council on Thursday, as he expressed particular concern that dynamics in the occupied West Bank could spiral out of control “at any time”.

Despite UN efforts, political, economic and security deadlock continues in Libya, the UN political affairs chief told the Security Council on Thursday, adding that human rights there have also deteriorated.

African countries are at the vanguard of a vital transformation of food systems to simultaneously address food security, nutrition, social and environmental protection – all while boosting resilience – said the UN chief on Thursday. 

The United Nations paid tribute to the men and women serving under its flag in some of the most dangerous places in the world during a ceremony in New York on Thursday to mark the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

Every day, United Nations peacekeepers work to protect millions of vulnerable people in increasingly dangerous places in the world’s most fragile political contexts.

Afghanistan is at a crossroads and the de facto authorities, the Taliban, must pursue a path towards stability and freedom for all citizens, especially women, the UN independent expert on human rights there said in the capital, Kabul, on Thursday. 

The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry said on Thursday that not extending current cross-border aid to Syria along the remaining route, would be a “failure of the highest order”. The warning to the Security Council comes as humanitarian needs throughout Syria are at their highest, since the start of the devastating 11-year war.

The attempted destruction of Ukraine’s historic culture by invading Russian forces, will have a devastating impact on the pace of recovery in the post-war era, an independent UN human rights expert warned on Wednesday. 

Conflict continues to inflict “widespread civilian death and injury” a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, outlining the “grim reality” for those caught up in the crossfire of war.

Governments must take greater action to ensure school remains a safe place for boys and girls, the head of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said on Wednesday, following the latest deadly school shooting in the United States. 

Wrapping up a five-day mission to Bangladesh, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees appealed on Wednesday for sustained and predictable support for Rohingya refugees and their host communities.

The world will experience 1.5 medium to large-scale disasters every day through the end of the decade, unless countries ramp up action on prevention and risk reduction, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said in Bali, Indonesia, on Wednesday.

On day three of her official mission to China, top UN rights official Michelle Bachelet described having a “valuable opportunity” to highlight rights issues and concerns with President Xi Jinping and other senior officials, the first such visit by a UN rights chief since 2005.

On Africa Day, the world celebrates the diverse and dynamic continent’s “enormous promise and potential”, the UN chief said in an upbeat message to mark the day on Wednesday.

The Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, re-elected Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to serve a second five-year term as Director-General of the world’s leading public health agency.

For the first time, a Zimbabwean peacekeeper has been chosen to receive the prestigious 2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, UN Peacekeeping announced on Tuesday.

Time is short for Sudan to reach a solution to its protracted political crisis, the Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Tuesday, warning that if the impasse is not urgently overcome, the consequences will be felt beyond national borders, impacting a whole generation.