A World Food Program-backed initiative to deliver millet seeds to vulnerable people is taking root in Odisha, India, where it is helping to ward off hunger and improve livelihoods.

The Darién Gap, a dangerous route that links South and North America, has long been used by migrants trekking north to the United States, in search of a better life, or simply fleeing violence at home.  As well as extreme physical challenges, they also risk attacks from smugglers, and other criminal groups.

A deal reportedly made by the United Kingdom to send some migrants for processing and relocation to the Central African nation of Rwanda, are at odds with States’ responsibility to take care of those in need of protection, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday.

A UN brokered two-month renewable truce between the warring parties in Yemen is holding, Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Thursday, providing “light at the end of the tunnel”, and the possibility of a lasting peace. 

The world’s best-known coral reefs could be extinct by the end of the century unless we do more to make them resilient to our warming oceans.

The UN has allocated $100 million to fight hunger in Africa and the Middle East as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to push millions even closer to famine. 

As the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, we cannot afford to ‘lose sight’ of the changes, the UN health agency said on Wednesday, warning that lower case numbers and deaths do not necessarily mean ‘lower risk’.

Women’s rights are human rights, and universal in times of war and peace, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, urging ambassadors to ensure accountability for conflict-related sexual violence. 

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres presented the first detailed policy brief to be issued by the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG), which he set up to study the effects of the war in Ukraine on the world’s most vulnerable. Here is a summary of the findings, and some of your key questions answered, on what the Group aims to achieve.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has highlighted the need for “adequate safeguards” and vetting measures to be put in place against the possible exploitation of Ukrainian women, under the United Kingdom’s “Homes for Ukraine” scheme.

Millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger as food rations dwindle due to humanitarian resources being stretched to the limit as the world grapples with a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate shocks, and COVID-19, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, welcomed the setting up of a new Heads of State and Government Group to get the world back on track to reduce premature deaths from noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart and lung disease, by a third – in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - and promote mental health and well-being.

Colombia’s dynamic peace process – which saw fresh strides with the holding of a largely peaceful parliamentary election last month – will succeed or fail based on efforts to halt the deadly violence faced by former combatants, social leaders and human rights defenders, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

The fallout from the war in Ukraine could dramatically worsen the economic outlook for developing countries already grappling with debt financing related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN said in a report published on Tuesday. 

The Asia and Pacific region’s economic recovery from COVID and other global shocks, must be anchored in an inclusive “new social contract”, to protect the vulnerable in the years ahead, according to a new Economic and Social Survey of the region, published on Tuesday by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Decrying the erosion of democracy in Brazil, a UN expert has called for authorities to create and maintain a safe environment conducive to the exercise of the rights to peaceful assembly and association. 

Increasing reports of sexual violence and human trafficking in Ukraine - allegedly committed against women and children in the context of massive displacement and the ongoing Russian invasion - are raising “all the red flags” about a potential protection crisis, the head of the UN’s gender agency warned the Security Council on Monday.

Although safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations are available, the pandemic is still far from over, and countries affected by conflict are in danger of being left behind, the UN Security Council heard on Monday. 

A UN-led development plan for Ukraine launched on Monday, to provide immediate economic help and longer-term assistance to the millions left struggling to meet basic needs, in the wake of the Russian invasion.

Oman has become the 100th country to ratify a 2006 treaty that protects the rights, pay and conditions of seafarers - a milestone that was commemorated on Monday by a ceremony at the headquarters of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva. 

Fabien Mwingwa once fought as a child soldier with an armed group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Today, he has turned his life around, and works for the UN peacekeeping mission in the country as a firefighter, helping to keep local people safe.

In Papua New Guinea, defending women accused of sorcery, has become a life-threatening occupation. The UN and European Union run Spotlight Initiative, is promoting legislation that will protect threatened human rights defenders in the country, who risk violence, torture, and death.

Critical funding and timely action are needed to prevent a decaying tanker anchored close to Yemen’s coastline from sparking a major oil spill, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country said on Friday in New York. 

Following this week’s crackdown on non-violent demonstrations in Sri Lanka, independent UN human rights experts urged the government on Friday to “ensure that all human rights be respected and protected” and guarantee the fundamental rights of peaceful assembly and expression.

Governments and pharmaceutical companies need to work together in a better way, to deliver vaccines “to every person, everywhere” – not simply in the wealthiest nations, said the UN chief on Friday.

Twelve years into the war in Syria, thousands of families “remain in the dark” when it comes to the fates of their missing relatives, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet told the General Assembly on Friday. 

Global food prices have reached “a new all-time high,” the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday, “hitting the poorest the hardest.”

In eastern Ukraine, a reported Russian missile attack on a railway station that’s killed dozens of civilians including children, has been condemned by the United Nations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement, that the strike - and others against civilians and civilian infrastructure, were «gross violations» of international law.

Although girls have more difficulty accessing education and make up most out-of-school children at the primary level, challenges facing boys are increasing at later stages, according to a report published on Wednesday by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The UN’s peacekeeping chief in Mali on Thursday, made an urgent call for adequate resources for the mission to carry out its mandate, and meet the growing demand to address a deteriorating security situation across the north and centre of the restive country. 

The UN’s top humanitarian official has joined the call for an investigation into the killing of hundreds of civilians in Bucha, Ukraine, following a visit to the city on Thursday. 

The UN paid tribute on Thursday to the one million people who were murdered in 100 days during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which moderate Hutu, Twa and others who opposed the genocide, were also killed. 

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday calling for Russia to be suspended from the Human Rights Council. 

International Roma Day on 8 April is a key date to mark Romani culture, made more significant in Romania since the passing of last year’s landmark legislation there, to combat hate-speech against the Roma – the first law of its kind in Europe.

The war in Ukraine has increased the risk of a “massive malnutrition crisis” for millions of children in other emergencies because of its already huge impact on global food prices, the UN said on Thursday.