UN News

Nearly six million people in Somalia – almost a third of the population analysed – are projected to face acute hunger between April and June, with 1.9 million expected to experience emergency levels, UN-backed food security experts warned on Thursday.

Eighty years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, artist Sandy Walker believes art still has the power to cut through abstraction and confront people with the human reality of nuclear violence. Inspired by the writings of Hiroshima survivor Tamiki Hara, Walker’s work seeks to transform historical catastrophe into intimate acts of memory, grief and attention. 

A feasibility study is underway to examine whether Gaza’s war debris could be recycled to reclaim coastal land and build artificial islands, as part of reconstruction.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, has reacted strongly to Russian military strikes on a civilian area of Kyiv on Thursday. 

More than 1,600 conflict-related detainees in Yemen will be released under a UN-brokered agreement reached after months of negotiations in Jordan, marking the largest prisoner release deal since the country’s civil war began and offering a rare sign of progress in stalled peace efforts.

An additional $1.8 billion in US humanitarian funding will allow the United Nations and its partners to expand emergency relief operations reaching millions of people worldwide, as rising global needs and funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance.

Decades of gains in the fight against AIDS are under growing threat as donor funding declines and community-based health services collapse in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, the head of the joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS warned on Thursday.

Recycled plastics could help reduce the world’s growing waste crisis, but only if food packaging is carefully regulated to prevent contamination, according to a new analysis from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Millions of Syrians are at growing risk of hunger after severe funding shortages forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to halve emergency food assistance, cutting support for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the country.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis is deepening despite modest economic growth, with nearly three in four people unable to meet basic needs, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.

Mounting waste and limited access to sanitation sites are deepening health risks for families across Gaza, as humanitarian workers warn that overcrowded dumping areas and worsening living conditions threaten vulnerable communities.

Serious human rights violations continue in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and must not be allowed to fade from international attention, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Wednesday.

A complex international operation to disembark and repatriate passengers from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius has concluded in Tenerife, with the World Health Organization (WHO) praising Spain’s leadership while warning that global coordination must continue in the weeks ahead.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Wednesday that escalating drone activity and nearby explosions involving suspected Hezbollah drones and Israeli forces are endangering its personnel and threatening already fragile stability in southern Lebanon.

Africa’s rising influence is being constrained by outdated global institutions, unfair borrowing costs and cascading global crises, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres warned in Addis Ababa, as the United Nations and African Union reaffirmed their strategic partnership.

Economic inequality is leaving a deep mark on children’s health, learning and future opportunities – with effects felt well beyond the classroom, the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF and the UN education agency UNESCO warned on Tuesday. 

Many women in eastern Chad are being forced to give birth in overcrowded clinics with limited medicine, minimal equipment and severe shortages of anesthesia, as a worsening humanitarian crisis overwhelms the country’s fragile healthcare system, the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warned on Tuesday.

Africa continues to advance and demands investment at scale, justice in global systems, and partnerships grounded in respect, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.

Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

More than 26.5 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are facing acute hunger, according to a new analysis from UN-backed food security experts published Tuesday.

A feasibility study is underway to examine whether Gaza’s war debris could be recycled to reclaim coastal land and build artificial islands, as part of reconstruction.

More than 1,600 conflict-related detainees in Yemen will be released under a UN-brokered agreement reached after months of negotiations in Jordan, marking the largest prisoner release deal since the country’s civil war began and offering a rare sign of progress in stalled peace efforts.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Wednesday that escalating drone activity and nearby explosions involving suspected Hezbollah drones and Israeli forces are endangering its personnel and threatening already fragile stability in southern Lebanon.

Millions of Syrians are at growing risk of hunger after severe funding shortages forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to halve emergency food assistance, cutting support for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the country.

Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

As the Strait of Hormuz crisis deepens and tensions between Iran and the United States remain unresolved, oil prices rose again early Monday, prompting the UN Secretary-General to call for a peaceful resolution and warn of the widening fallout across Africa and beyond.

The humanitarian situation in Lebanon continues to deteriorate despite the ceasefire announced last month with Israel, the United Nations said on Monday.

The fragile ceasefire in Lebanon hasn’t prevented “ongoing killing and displacement”, with villages in the south of the country rendered completely unrecognizable after Israeli strikes, aid teams reported on Friday.

An Israeli airstrike overnight on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut has sparked a new wave of displacement among civilians already impacted by months of conflict, the United Nations said on Thursday.

The UN human rights office on Wednesday called on Israel to immediately release two members of the Global Sumud Flotilla detained in international waters, warning that solidarity with Palestinians and attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza “is not a crime.”

As the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz continues, the United Nations reiterates its commitment to support efforts towards peace, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday during his media briefing from New York.

Death and destruction have continued unabated in Lebanon while communities are still unable to return to their homes despite a ceasefire that began on 17 April, humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Amid claims and counter-claims of strikes and confrontations in the crucial Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the United States, UN maritime officials continue to urge vessels to exercise “maximum caution”.

Lebanon’s fragile ceasefire is being tested by renewed violence and rising humanitarian needs amid continuing civilians displacement, services under pressure and aid cuts.

The UN has formally concluded its cross-border humanitarian operations from Türkiye into Syria, marking the end of an 11-year mission that served as one of the most complex supply chains in the organization’s history. 

The strain on food, fuel and aid systems worldwide continues as the Middle East crisis deepens. Rising oil prices, supply disruptions and mounting transport costs are affecting humanitarian operations and access to essential goods far beyond the region. Stay with us this Friday for live updates.

As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and the rights of the most vulnerable people worldwide, UN agencies warned on Friday.

The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world towards recession, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday.

At least nine people were reported to have been killed in southern Lebanon on Thursday, as ongoing hostilities continue to exact a heavy toll on civilians and drive a worsening humanitarian crisis marked by rising hunger and strained public services.

The UN’s top human rights official warned on Wednesday that Iranians’ rights are being eroded in “harsh and brutal ways,” citing a surge in executions, mass arrests and alleged abuses amid a widening crackdown on dissent during the ongoing conflict.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, has reacted strongly to Russian military strikes on a civilian area of Kyiv on Thursday. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 3,000 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the UN agency reported on Friday.

At least 70 civilians have been killed and more than 500 injured across Ukraine since the start of May, UN human rights monitors said on Wednesday, as waves of attacks hit cities across the country and humanitarian workers struggled to reach communities near the frontline.

The Security Council meets in emergency session at 3pm to address the escalating conflict in Ukraine. The open briefing follows a formal request from Kyiv citing a surge in Russian aerial bombardments, including devastating strikes on the city of Dnipro. Ukraine has reported that between late March and mid-April, more than 5,000 drones and missiles were launched, killing dozens of civilians and injuring hundreds more. Follow full meetings coverage below and UN News app users can follow here.

New data shows that nearly three in four countries in Europe now use Artificial Intelligence in their health services to make a diagnosis.

The latest wave of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians in Dnipro, Kyiv and Odesa, which killed and injured scores of civilians, was roundly condemned by Matthias Schmale, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country.

A senior United Nations official on Monday hailed the European Union (EU) as “a major economic and diplomatic actor and a strong advocate of multilateralism.”  

Despite successful legislative elections in Kosovo late last year, a “delicate equilibrium” persists as deep divisions remain over the future of the United Nations presence in the region.

In conflict zones where new technologies are making landmines more dangerous, deminers must innovate at the same pace to avoid being left behind, a leading UN mines expert has told UN News. 

More than four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the “danger is only increasing”, particularly from attack drones, a top UN human rights official warned on Thursday.

The Security Council is met for an open briefing on Ukraine, requested by European members following Kyiv’s 18 March letter citing a surge in Russian strikes. Inside the country, attacks continue to take a heavy toll: since 19 March, at least 25 civilians have reportedly been killed and more than 130 injured, including children, particularly in Donetsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia. We’ll have live coverage below, app users can follow here – and for all our key meetings coverage each day, go here. 

More than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, “the violence is worse than ever” and far from abating, the head of UN political and peacebuilding affairs said on Monday in a briefing to the Security Council. 

Forests cover more than 40 per cent of Belarus. At the same time, the country recorded twice as many forest fires last year compared to the year before.

Scores of Ukrainian children are still missing after being deported far and wide across Russia and occupied territories while their families continue to search for them, human rights investigators said on Thursday.

Four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many people are trying to overcome deep-rooted trauma and rebuild what has been lost. 

One evening in war-ravaged southern Ukraine, a group of armed men entered Maryna’s home. She had nowhere to hide.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops on 24 February 2022 shattered the peaceful aspirations of an entire continent, but war must never be the new normal, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said on Tuesday.

Four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UN is marking the day with high-level debate and renewed calls to end the war – including in the General Assembly which passed a resolution reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The UN chief just told the Security Council diplomats must use every tool available to finally end the war. UN News App users can follow the coverage here. For full UN meetings coverage today and every day, go here.

The international community must “use every diplomatic tool” to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Tuesday as Russia’s full-scale invasion entered a fifth year.

Reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine will cost almost $588 billion over the next decade, or nearly three times the estimated GDP in 2025, as housing, energy and other critical sectors continue to come under fire from Russian forces. 

Journalists working in Haiti are under constant threat of death or injury from rapidly expanding criminal gangs, as they continue to report news and information which they hope will help keep fellow citizens safe.

The Security Council is addressing the deepening crisis in Haiti on Thursday, centered on the Secretary-General’s latest report which highlights a security landscape of both intensified enforcement and rising civilian risk. While operations including by the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) between December and February resulted in the deaths of 1,343 suspected gang members, the humanitarian cost remains staggering. The UN Special Representative told ambassadors elections are the “only legitimate path” back to political stability, while his counterpart with the GSF said its success depends on “effective coordination”. Follow full meetings coverage below.

Mexican authorities must intensify efforts to end impunity, protect journalists and human rights defenders, and address the country’s “painful” crisis of disappearances, UN human rights chief Volker Türk has said.

While hope for peace is alive in Colombia as the country prepares for presidential elections, the Security Council on Tuesday heard that achieving it – and making it last – still requires the full implementation of a peace accord signed almost 10 years ago.

Six weeks since war erupted in the Middle East, the shockwaves have spread to the Caribbean region, already pushed to the brink, amid fears of a looming El Niño-linked climate disaster.

5.8 million Haitians, or roughly 52 per cent of the population, are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, or worse. Of those, more than 1.8 million are dealing with emergency levels, which means they are exhausting their last assets and unable to meet even basic food needs.

UN independent human rights experts called on Thursday for justice and accountability for young women and girls who were trafficked systematically as part of allegations contained in the so-called Epstein files.

Six-time Trinidad and Tobago archery champion, Anthurium Lewis, has told UN News how sport helped her overcome age barriers in environmental advocacy and how in the future it can contribute to reaching globally agreed poverty and sustainability goals.

Katerine Avella is a former combatant in Colombia’s decades-long civil war, a peace signatory and a community leader. After the guns fell silent, she created the fashion brand Ixora but, with violence returning to the region, Ms. Avella is now focusing on trying to keep the project afloat in the face of new challenges.

Haiti is facing “one of the most severe and rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crises in the Western Hemisphere,” a senior UN aid official warned on Friday, underscoring the need for continued global attention to alleviate suffering there. 

The UN has issued an urgent call for international support as Cuba grapples with a ‘worsening’ humanitarian crisis fuelled by a prolonged energy blockade and the lingering devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa last year.

Deadly gangs in Haiti are expanding their reach to include control over key sea and road routes as police in the beleaguered Caribbean island nation are being accused of using “unnecessary and disproportionate lethal force and summary executions.”

At a time when some state laws dictated where different races could live, Parkway Village, built to house some of the first UN staff in New York in 1947, led the way in eliminating racially segregated housing in the United States.

The liberation of territory from gangs and a more “motivated and visible” police presence has provided a “glimmer of hope” for Haiti as the Caribbean island nation continues to struggle with violence, insecurity and poverty.

Haiti remains mired in a multidimensional crisis marked by weak institutions, political uncertainty, widespread gang violence and overwhelming humanitarian needs, but a recent new agreement by political groups offers “a moment of hope and progress for the Haitian people”, according to the UN’s most senior official in the Caribbean country.

Venezuela’s repressive State apparatus remains operational despite the seizure of former President Nicolás Maduro by United States forces on 3 January, according to independent UN human rights investigators.

Nicaragua’s Government is financing the repression of its opponents through illegal misuse of public funds and targeting exiles through a transnational surveillance and intelligence network, the UN Group of Independent Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua warned in its latest report on Tuesday.

Cuba’s humanitarian situation is worsening as fuel shortages deepen nearly a month after Washington took measures to block oil supplies from entering the Caribbean nation, a senior UN official warned on Wednesday.

A 16-year-old Haitian boy has been talking about how he was lured into working for a criminal gang but then threatened with death when he said he would not fight against the police.

There has been an “alarming increase” in the number of children being recruited into gangs in Haiti with “devastating consequences” for children, families and society as a whole, the UN reported on Friday.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis is deepening despite modest economic growth, with nearly three in four people unable to meet basic needs, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.

Serious human rights violations continue in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and must not be allowed to fade from international attention, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Wednesday.

More than 150,000 people have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Maila, the latest storm in the Pacific area, which continues to drive what the UN relief coordination office OCHA has described as “significant humanitarian needs” across the Solomon Islands.

A Thai woman who spent more than 20 years in prison after being found guilty of drugs trafficking – including eight on death row – has told the UN how learning to sew helped her find meaning in life behind bars, and a job when she was released.

Indonesia is expecting a “strengthened multilateral system that delivers real impact on the ground,” as one of the key outcomes of the ongoing reform of the United Nations, that’s according to the country’s outgoing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Cooperation, Tri Tharyat.

Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan was once the Soviet Union’s primary testing ground for nuclear weapons. Today, in an age of rising nuclear threats, the Semipalatinsk Treaty – which saw a group of Central Asian countries renounce nuclear weapons in 2006 – is more relevant than ever.

The continued pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile development by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remain “a matter of serious concern,” the UN’s political affairs chief told the Security Council on Thursday. 

As the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu battles rising sea levels that threaten to put large parts of the island entirely underwater by the end of this century, its citizens are making efforts to safeguard their future while preparing for the worst impacts of climate change. 

In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, making it the deadliest year on record in South and Southeast Asia, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.

For Pacific Island countries, the Middle East crisis is not a distant geopolitical event. It is already showing up in higher fuel prices, electricity uncertainty and fears that communities sitting at the far end of global supply chains could be pushed into deeper economic insecurity.

A “new wave of global instability is hitting Myanmar at the worst possible moment,” a UN official in the country warned on Friday, as increases in fuel, food, and fertilizer prices due to the ongoing Middle East conflict push vulnerable families closer to hunger one year after a devastating earthquake.  

Domestic violence was not something people spoke about openly in Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but after a long road of dedicated efforts, there are now laws addressing family abuse, crisis centres and hotlines while human rights defenders tackle such new challenges as sexual slavery.

The fallout from the war in the Middle East is rippling far beyond the Gulf, disrupting fuel supplies, shipping routes and supply chains across Asia and the Pacific, with some of the region’s most vulnerable economies already feeling the strain through rising prices, rationing and threats to jobs, food security and remittances.

Top UN officials condemned on Tuesday Pakistan’s overnight strike on a rehab centre that reportedly killed at least 400 people in Kabul, according to Taliban authorities, and injured more than 250 others.

The Sawyers from Australia were never really interested in volatile investing. As their retirement age approached, the idea of a low-risk investment for their pension seemed attractive. But one day, after clicking on a seemingly legitimate online advert that offered a reasonable risk-averse plan, they unlocked a process that would lead them to lose over $2.5 million.

More than five years after Myanmar’s military coup, international resolve to hold the junta accountable must not weaken, an independent human rights expert warned on Friday, as escalating violence and growing humanitarian needs push millions of civilians deeper into crisis.

Crises in the region on both Afghanistan’s longest borders are undermining the country’s stability, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday as concerns over Middle East crisis grow amid clashes with Pakistan and a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Every morning in Kabul, several cars make their way across the Afghan capital to pick up the producers of Radio Begum. The young women do not travel to the office on their own as moving around the city has become too complicated.

16-year-old Raul John Aju – dubbed the “AI Kid of India” at home – is a business prodigy who advises government and industry and has created several innovative AI tools. 

Judges at the UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday opened a confirmation of charges hearing for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to send him to trial on alleged crimes against humanity linked to killings during the country’s so-called “war on drugs”.

Africa’s rising influence is being constrained by outdated global institutions, unfair borrowing costs and cascading global crises, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres warned in Addis Ababa, as the United Nations and African Union reaffirmed their strategic partnership.

Africa continues to advance and demands investment at scale, justice in global systems, and partnerships grounded in respect, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.

Many women in eastern Chad are being forced to give birth in overcrowded clinics with limited medicine, minimal equipment and severe shortages of anesthesia, as a worsening humanitarian crisis overwhelms the country’s fragile healthcare system, the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warned on Tuesday.

Drones caused more than 80 per cent of civilian deaths in Sudan’s war during the first four months of 2026, killing at least 880 people, the UN human rights chief said on Monday, warning that escalating drone warfare could push the conflict into an even deadlier phase. 

The United Nations on Monday launched a major expansion of its Nairobi headquarters, with Secretary-General António Guterres and Kenyan President William Ruto marking what officials described as a significant milestone for the Organization’s presence in Africa.

“This is not a distant warning. This is a crisis that is unfolding right now and it's deepening quickly.”

The Central African Republic (CAR) is making progress towards stability and security but major aid budget cuts threaten humanitarian operations there, a senior official with the UN aid coordination office OCHA said on Friday in New York. 

Hantavirus victims on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean may have been infected prior to joining the cruise and human-to-human transmission on board cannot be ruled out – although it is rare – the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The human rights situation in Mali is rapidly deteriorating following coordinated attacks by armed groups across the country, with civilians killed, displaced and cut off from food and aid, UN rights office OHCHR said on Tuesday.

Civilians who have fled the war in Sudan and sought shelter in neighbouring Egypt could potentially face a new battle – the loss of critical services that ensure their survival, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned. 

An independent organization for journalists in Sudan has been honoured for its commitment “to deliver accurate, lifesaving information” amid the ongoing civil war, the UN educational and cultural agency UNESCO announced on Thursday. 

Twenty years after the conflict in Darfur first sparked global outrage, children in the region are once again trapped in a catastrophic cycle of violence, hunger, and displacement – but this time, the world is failing to take notice.

Conflict and displacement are intensifying South Sudan’s hunger crisis, with 7.8 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity while 2.2 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, according to a joint statement on Tuesday from UN agencies.

Nearly 7.5 million children across the Central Sahel region in Africa are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance – “an emergency that remains too far from the attention of the international community,” a senior official with the UN child rights agency UNICEF has said. 

There are reports of continuing clashes in Mali on Sunday, a day after a series of coordinated attacks across the landlocked African nation against Government forces by extremists and northern separatist rebels.

On a red running track in eastern Uganda, coach Zuena Cheptoek is doing more than training runners. For many girls in the Sebei subregion, she is also a confidante, a mentor and first line of protection against female genital mutilation, child marriage and abuse.

Libya’s political leaders continue to lag in implementing a roadmap that leads to national elections and unified institutions, the UN Special Representative for the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

New data shows that nearly three in four countries in Europe now use Artificial Intelligence in their health services to make a diagnosis.

Senior UN officials painted a sorry picture of South Sudan on Friday at the Security Council, describing political turmoil, rising violence, hunger and disease, amid budget cuts that are limiting the ability of the UN peacekeeping mission to protect civilians.

Decades of gains in the fight against AIDS are under growing threat as donor funding declines and community-based health services collapse in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, the head of the joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS warned on Thursday.

Recycled plastics could help reduce the world’s growing waste crisis, but only if food packaging is carefully regulated to prevent contamination, according to a new analysis from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

A complex international operation to disembark and repatriate passengers from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius has concluded in Tenerife, with the World Health Organization (WHO) praising Spain’s leadership while warning that global coordination must continue in the weeks ahead.

Economic inequality is leaving a deep mark on children’s health, learning and future opportunities – with effects felt well beyond the classroom, the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF and the UN education agency UNESCO warned on Tuesday. 

The passengers and crew have disembarked from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius in Tenerife and many have returned to their home countries, as the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said the operation demonstrated a “triumph of solidarity”.

Passengers and crew from the cruise ship MV Hondius began disembarking in Tenerife on Sunday under a tightly coordinated international health operation led by Spanish authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), as officials sought to reassure the public that the outbreak “is not another COVID.”

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has issued a direct plea for calm and solidarity to the citizens of Tenerife ahead of the scheduled arrival of the MV Hondius on Sunday

The risk of hantavirus spreading to the general population is “absolutely low”, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) stressed on Friday, as a flight attendant tested negative for the disease after coming into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship at the centre of the outbreak, who later died. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 3,000 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the UN agency reported on Friday.

New evidence shows that malaria vaccination is significantly reducing child deaths in Africa and could have an even greater impact as programmes expand, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

A deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean poses a low global public health risk and is “not the start of another COVID pandemic”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

It’s been confirmed that another passenger from the cruise liner linked to the outbreak of hantavirus has contracted the disease, which has claimed the lives of three people on board and sparked an international alert coordinated by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

Hantavirus victims on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean may have been infected prior to joining the cruise and human-to-human transmission on board cannot be ruled out – although it is rare – the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The UN has expressed deep concern over escalating security incidents in the Gulf, warning that recent attacks risk undermining efforts to maintain regional stability.

An outbreak of deadly hantavirus aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has triggered an international public health response.

Three people have died and three others are ill following suspected cases of hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday.

Countries are making measurable progress in combatting viral hepatitis, but the disease remains a major global health challenge, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report published on Tuesday. 

On a red running track in eastern Uganda, coach Zuena Cheptoek is doing more than training runners. For many girls in the Sebei subregion, she is also a confidante, a mentor and first line of protection against female genital mutilation, child marriage and abuse.

A growing share of global hunger is becoming entrenched in a small group of conflict-hit countries, with two-thirds of people facing acute food insecurity concentrated in just 10 nations, a major international report backed by UN agencies warns.

Over the past 50 years, vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives, as ordinary people chose to protect themselves, their children and their communities from diseases like measles, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, and rotavirus. 

Africa’s rising influence is being constrained by outdated global institutions, unfair borrowing costs and cascading global crises, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres warned in Addis Ababa, as the United Nations and African Union reaffirmed their strategic partnership.

The United Nations on Monday launched a major expansion of its Nairobi headquarters, with Secretary-General António Guterres and Kenyan President William Ruto marking what officials described as a significant milestone for the Organization’s presence in Africa.

The United Nations Victims’ Rights Advocate has called for stronger and sustained action on behalf of the people she serves across the UN system.

The American businessman, media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner is being remembered by the United Nations for his long-standing support for the Organization and its values. 

With spending on advertising topping $1 trillion a year worldwide, the United Nations on Wednesday highlighted the untapped power of major brands to shape the future of Artificial Intelligence, warning that a failure to act could deepen a global information integrity crisis.

A new guide to the UN80 Initiative, released on Wednesday, provides an overview of the progress being made so far on this ambitious, wide-ranging reform effort.

The four candidates so far in the running to be the next UN Secretary-General will each have the chance to show why they are the best choice during a series of “interactive dialogues” taking place at UN Headquarters in New York this week.

The choice of the tenth UN Secretary-General, who will take office in January 2027, could shape global diplomacy, the response to crises across the world and the direction of the multilateral system for the next decade.

Top officials updated Member States Monday on selected proposals under the UN80 reform initiative, including an initial assessment of a possible merger between gender equality agency, UN Women, and the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, as well as updates on the technology and data tracks.

The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a landmark resolution to strengthen how UN mandates – the decisions taken by Member States that guide the Organisation’s work – are created, implemented and reviewed across the system. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for the immediate release of the 118 UN staff currently detained worldwide as attacks against the United Nations increase with 179 personnel arrested or detained last year alone.

Applause erupted in the UN General Assembly Hall on Wednesday as Member States adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. 

Born from the ashes of the Second World War, the dream of a more peaceful and fairer world drew nations together in 1945 under a new vision for humanity: the United Nations.

The UN is mourning the loss of Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for South Sudan, who went from advising Nelson Mandela following the historic anti-apartheid struggle to becoming a “tireless” champion of crisis diplomacy for the UN in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The UN chief on Monday urged countries to “work together” and eradicate a rising tide of anti-Muslim hate, calling for a rejection of “the narratives of fear and exclusion”. 

Access to justice for women and girls dominated the agenda on Monday as the Commission on the Status of Women opened its 70th session at UN Headquarters in New York. Government officials, civil society representatives and UN leaders called for renewed efforts to dismantle the discrimination and legal obstacles that continue to limit women’s and girls’ rights worldwide.

Welcome to our live coverage of International Women’s Day 2026 and the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN Headquarters in New York. Throughout the day, we will bring you updates, reactions and key moments from global leaders, diplomats and advocates gathering at the UN, alongside stories and reports from the field across the UN system, as communities around the world mark International Women's Day and advance the theme “Rights. Justice. Action” for all women and girls. UN News app users can follow the coverage here.

A Nobel laureate who survived an assassination attempt, a Hollywood actor turned UN advocate and a young Afghan musician whose voice defied repression took the stage at the United Nations on International Women’s Day, delivering a powerful message: justice for women and girls cannot wait.

On Friday the General Assembly was briefed on the latest developments of the UN80 Initiative – a system-wide reform effort to make the organisation more effective and fit for the future – including progress on the New Humanitarian Compact and on training and research reforms.

The President of the United Nations General Assembly appealed on Tuesday for Europe to protect the international rules-based system, defend the truth in the face of fake news and other falsehoods, and support UN reform. 

A Thai woman who spent more than 20 years in prison after being found guilty of drugs trafficking – including eight on death row – has told the UN how learning to sew helped her find meaning in life behind bars, and a job when she was released.

The United Nations Victims’ Rights Advocate has called for stronger and sustained action on behalf of the people she serves across the UN system.

The world is at a “moment of crisis” and countries must reaffirm commitment to international law amid rising violations and geopolitical tensions, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at an event on Friday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

Syria has made “remarkable progress” on transitional justice within the past year, raising hopes for accountability and recovery after more than a decade of civil conflict.

Domestic violence was not something people spoke about openly in Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but after a long road of dedicated efforts, there are now laws addressing family abuse, crisis centres and hotlines while human rights defenders tackle such new challenges as sexual slavery.

She woke up to messages flooding her phone. Doctored images of her, sexualised and viral, had spread while she slept.

The Sawyers from Australia were never really interested in volatile investing. As their retirement age approached, the idea of a low-risk investment for their pension seemed attractive. But one day, after clicking on a seemingly legitimate online advert that offered a reasonable risk-averse plan, they unlocked a process that would lead them to lose over $2.5 million.

Haiti remains mired in a multidimensional crisis marked by weak institutions, political uncertainty, widespread gang violence and overwhelming humanitarian needs, but a recent new agreement by political groups offers “a moment of hope and progress for the Haitian people”, according to the UN’s most senior official in the Caribbean country.

An international early warning system blocked a shipment of chemicals used to make fentanyl that could have produced up to 1.6 billion potentially lethal doses, the UN narcotics control body said on Thursday.

A 16-year-old Haitian boy has been talking about how he was lured into working for a criminal gang but then threatened with death when he said he would not fight against the police.

There has been an “alarming increase” in the number of children being recruited into gangs in Haiti with “devastating consequences” for children, families and society as a whole, the UN reported on Friday.

A sprawling online scam industry worth an estimated tens of billions of dollars a year is being powered by trafficked workers subjected to torture, sexual abuse and forced labour inside heavily guarded compounds in Southeast Asia, a new UN human rights report has found.

A majority of parliamentarians worldwide are facing threats and abuse from voters, according to a new report released by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which found that 71 per cent of lawmakers surveyed experienced violence from the public – whether offline, online or both.

Fish fraud is widespread in markets, grocers and restaurants around the world, but a growing number of innovative tools are turning the tide, according to a new report published on Tuesday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Haiti is facing one of the world’s most acute humanitarian crises, driven by escalating gang violence, political paralysis, and deep economic distress.

In 2011, a trafficker in Chile was convicted for recruiting economically vulnerable Peruvian citizens and arranging for them to be brought into the country – destined to become victims of sexual exploitation. 

Atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region are spreading from town to town in an organized campaign of violence that includes mass executions, rape and ethnic targeting, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council on Monday.

Past geopolitical tensions related to the synthetic drug “captagon” are now being mitigated with the Syrian authorities’ commitment to dismantle illicit manufacturing, says the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Last year, one in five people who dealt with a public official were asked to pay a bribe, according to a UN report. The world is doing something about it. 

In Gaza, as airstrikes, shelling and gunfire continued to kill and maim Palestinians, UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday rejected suggestions by the Israeli military that the so-called “Yellow Line” of concrete blocks it has erected inside the enclave represented a new border.

Serious human rights violations continue in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and must not be allowed to fade from international attention, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on Wednesday.

Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

More than 26.5 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are facing acute hunger, according to a new analysis from UN-backed food security experts published Tuesday.

Drones caused more than 80 per cent of civilian deaths in Sudan’s war during the first four months of 2026, killing at least 880 people, the UN human rights chief said on Monday, warning that escalating drone warfare could push the conflict into an even deadlier phase. 

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Monday praised Mongolia’s recent human rights progress during a visit to the country, which recently adopted the region’s first law protecting human rights defenders.

A Thai woman who spent more than 20 years in prison after being found guilty of drugs trafficking – including eight on death row – has told the UN how learning to sew helped her find meaning in life behind bars, and a job when she was released.

In Somalia’s Puntland region, dried out watering holes, animal carcasses and old pots filled with ash have become part of the landscape as worsening drought conditions deepen a growing hunger crisis.

The UN human rights office on Wednesday called on Israel to immediately release two members of the Global Sumud Flotilla detained in international waters, warning that solidarity with Palestinians and attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza “is not a crime.”

“Housing is the gateway to all other rights” said actor and humanitarian Richard Gere, who has joined UN efforts to combat homelessness. 

At least 70 civilians have been killed and more than 500 injured across Ukraine since the start of May, UN human rights monitors said on Wednesday, as waves of attacks hit cities across the country and humanitarian workers struggled to reach communities near the frontline.

The human rights situation in Mali is rapidly deteriorating following coordinated attacks by armed groups across the country, with civilians killed, displaced and cut off from food and aid, UN rights office OHCHR said on Tuesday.

Media freedom is not a given and its absence frequently leaves communities and vulnerable individuals in danger. To mark World Press Freedom Day, we’ll be hearing from UN agencies, along with war correspondents and reporters who face major obstacles trying to do their job. The aim is to get a better understanding about what press freedom means in practice and why it is worth defending.  

Concern is mounting over the health of imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was reportedly being held alongside high-risk offenders.

War in the Middle East has made Lebanon the deadliest country for media workers so far this year, but practically no country offers a safe environment in which to be a journalist, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

Journalists working in Haiti are under constant threat of death or injury from rapidly expanding criminal gangs, as they continue to report news and information which they hope will help keep fellow citizens safe.

Three mass graves were recently uncovered in northeastern Syria, including one reportedly at the site of a former detention centre run by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Armed Forces (SDF). 

Restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment in Afghanistan could leave the country with a deficit of over 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday. 

Mexican authorities must intensify efforts to end impunity, protect journalists and human rights defenders, and address the country’s “painful” crisis of disappearances, UN human rights chief Volker Türk has said.

Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.

Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ access to healthcare, including during conflict, is the theme for a major meeting that opened at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Monday. 

An additional $1.8 billion in US humanitarian funding will allow the United Nations and its partners to expand emergency relief operations reaching millions of people worldwide, as rising global needs and funding shortfalls force aid agencies to scale back assistance.

Millions of Syrians are at growing risk of hunger after severe funding shortages forced the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to halve emergency food assistance, cutting support for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people across the country.

Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

More than 150,000 people have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Maila, the latest storm in the Pacific area, which continues to drive what the UN relief coordination office OCHA has described as “significant humanitarian needs” across the Solomon Islands.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Monday praised Mongolia’s recent human rights progress during a visit to the country, which recently adopted the region’s first law protecting human rights defenders.

The fragile ceasefire in Lebanon hasn’t prevented “ongoing killing and displacement”, with villages in the south of the country rendered completely unrecognizable after Israeli strikes, aid teams reported on Friday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified more than 3,000 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the UN agency reported on Friday.

“This is not a distant warning. This is a crisis that is unfolding right now and it's deepening quickly.”

The Central African Republic (CAR) is making progress towards stability and security but major aid budget cuts threaten humanitarian operations there, a senior official with the UN aid coordination office OCHA said on Friday in New York. 

Haiti continues to face escalating violence and deepening insecurity, with gangs expanding their reach beyond Port-au-Prince and civilians increasingly caught between armed groups and security operations.

An Israeli airstrike overnight on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut has sparked a new wave of displacement among civilians already impacted by months of conflict, the United Nations said on Thursday.

In Somalia’s Puntland region, dried out watering holes, animal carcasses and old pots filled with ash have become part of the landscape as worsening drought conditions deepen a growing hunger crisis.

Death and destruction have continued unabated in Lebanon while communities are still unable to return to their homes despite a ceasefire that began on 17 April, humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Concern is mounting over the health of imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was reportedly being held alongside high-risk offenders.

The UN has formally concluded its cross-border humanitarian operations from Türkiye into Syria, marking the end of an 11-year mission that served as one of the most complex supply chains in the organization’s history. 

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has been transferred from prison to house arrest, with her sentence reduced under a prisoner amnesty linked to a Buddhist holiday. 

Twenty years after the conflict in Darfur first sparked global outrage, children in the region are once again trapped in a catastrophic cycle of violence, hunger, and displacement – but this time, the world is failing to take notice.

Conflict and displacement are intensifying South Sudan’s hunger crisis, with 7.8 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity while 2.2 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, according to a joint statement on Tuesday from UN agencies.

Nearly 7.5 million children across the Central Sahel region in Africa are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance – “an emergency that remains too far from the attention of the international community,” a senior official with the UN child rights agency UNICEF has said. 

The United Nations has condemned two recent drone attacks in Sudan, one of which left seven dead, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday during his regular media briefing in New York.

Eighty years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, artist Sandy Walker believes art still has the power to cut through abstraction and confront people with the human reality of nuclear violence. Inspired by the writings of Hiroshima survivor Tamiki Hara, Walker’s work seeks to transform historical catastrophe into intimate acts of memory, grief and attention. 

War in the Middle East has made Lebanon the deadliest country for media workers so far this year, but practically no country offers a safe environment in which to be a journalist, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

A month after completing their historic flyby of the Moon, the astronauts from NASA’s Artemis II mission landed at UN Headquarters in New York this week with a message that sounded like a reminder: humanity is capable of extraordinary things when it acts together.  

An independent organization for journalists in Sudan has been honoured for its commitment “to deliver accurate, lifesaving information” amid the ongoing civil war, the UN educational and cultural agency UNESCO announced on Thursday. 

Jazz music can bring people together and promote freedom, humanity and love according to a contemporary musician practicing his art in New York City.

Since the Middle East war started on 28 February, several sites of major cultural significance have come under attack in Israel, Iran and Lebanon. Ensuring their protection is the task of the UN agency for education, science and culture, UNESCO. 

The world of football met the world of diplomacy this week as Brazilian World Cup legend Zico touched down at UN Headquarters in New York. 

The 2026 World Cup final will take place at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, a few miles away from UN Headquarters where, on Wednesday, elite athletes and sports administrators spoke about the power of football and other international sports to change the world for the better.

The number of children and young people out of school worldwide has climbed for the seventh consecutive year, reaching 273 million, according to a new report from the UN education agency, UNESCO. 

Since the outbreak of war on 28 February, several unique sites of cultural significance have been damaged in Iran, Israel and Lebanon, alongside immense suffering, displacement and death.

Around two-thirds of children worldwide report an increase in cyberbullying, with one in two say they don’t know how to get the right support, according to a recent poll carried out by the UN’s top official who works to end violence against children. 

From delivery couriers compelled to follow the demands of online platform algorithms to content moderators who confront pornography and death every day while training artificial intelligence (AI) systems, the impact of new technologies on working conditions is becoming increasingly obvious.

16-year-old Raul John Aju – dubbed the “AI Kid of India” at home – is a business prodigy who advises government and industry and has created several innovative AI tools. 

Children in Gaza are voicing their demands for the future through a UN-run initiative that seeks to amplify their voices and restore the “fundamentals of childhood”.

Creators worldwide are facing mounting financial pressures as rapid advances in digital technologies and artificial intelligence continue to transform the cultural and creative industries, according to a new global report released by the UN culture agency, UNESCO, on Wednesday. 

Even as the world fixates on ever‑brighter screens and sprawling digital feeds, radio endures with a quiet resilience, shaping how we share experience and understand one another. Its waves travel where sight cannot, pairing with cutting‑edge innovation in some places and acting as a lone, indispensable lifeline in others when technology fails to keep pace.

Broadcaster Rami Al-Sharafi works on a laptop inside the damaged Zaman FM radio station building in Gaza, marking what may seem an unlikely return to the airwaves amid the rubble of the deadly two-year Israel-Hamas war.

Far from global newsrooms and editorial boardrooms, a radically different model of journalism has been taking shape for over two decades in rural India.

AI looks set to be transformative for us all, but it also brings a real risk of job losses and widening social and economic divides. UN experts are focusing on how to manage that transition, to ensure the benefits of the technology outweigh the threats.

On the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on the global community to “not only to look at our past, but to reflect on our present, and to safeguard our future.”

A feasibility study is underway to examine whether Gaza’s war debris could be recycled to reclaim coastal land and build artificial islands, as part of reconstruction.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian and economic crisis is deepening despite modest economic growth, with nearly three in four people unable to meet basic needs, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Wednesday.

Economic inequality is leaving a deep mark on children’s health, learning and future opportunities – with effects felt well beyond the classroom, the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF and the UN education agency UNESCO warned on Tuesday. 

Africa continues to advance and demands investment at scale, justice in global systems, and partnerships grounded in respect, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday.

As global electricity demand grows, so does the popularity of nuclear energy. In the Middle East, several countries are evaluating or advancing nuclear power projects, balancing weighty issues such as regional security, climatic conditions and international cooperation.

For decades, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been used as a benchmark of society’s progress. Yet, as the GDP figures keep ticking up, so too does a profound disenchantment with the political and economic systems tasked with serving the public. Is it time to find a new way to measure what really matters?

It can be annoying when the wifi signal is cut, but what about if everything digital we rely on were to crash suddenly – from satellites to life-support systems in hospitals?

The escalating crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could push tens of millions into poverty, trigger a surge in global hunger and even tip the world towards recession, the UN Secretary-General warned on Thursday.

With spending on advertising topping $1 trillion a year worldwide, the United Nations on Wednesday highlighted the untapped power of major brands to shape the future of Artificial Intelligence, warning that a failure to act could deepen a global information integrity crisis.

The blockading of ships in the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the conflict between the United States and Iran has demonstrated how ships and seafarers have become “leverage in geopolitical disputes,” according to the head of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).

More than 80 years after World War Two, the Solomon Islands remain one of the most heavily mine-contaminated places in the Pacific.

The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals that drive economies all over the world – and a race by countries to obtain them.

If AI is “a very fast car with no steering wheel” then regulation must provide one, insists Nobel laureate and Artificial Intelligence pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, the visionary scientist widely known as the “godfather” of the self-learning tech. 

Young Palestinians in Gaza with university-level educations are setting aside dreams of putting their hard-won skills into practice and doing whatever they can to survive. 

The UN and European Union issued a joint warning on Monday that human development across Gaza has been set back by a staggering 77 years, with $71.4 billion needed over the next decade for recovery and reconstruction.

Rising conflicts, the climate crisis and shrinking development finance are putting growing pressure on the poorest and most vulnerable countries – pushing development goals further off track.

Globally, most people say they want two or more children, but many are having only one, or none at all. According to a senior UN economist, fears of a demographic timebomb are unwarranted.

Six weeks since war erupted in the Middle East, the shockwaves have spread to the Caribbean region, already pushed to the brink, amid fears of a looming El Niño-linked climate disaster.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) released its next-generation platform on Thursday known as HungerMap Live, a digital monitoring and intelligence site that integrates food security data with predictive modelling to help fight hunger in more than 50 countries.

For Pacific Island countries, the Middle East crisis is not a distant geopolitical event. It is already showing up in higher fuel prices, electricity uncertainty and fears that communities sitting at the far end of global supply chains could be pushed into deeper economic insecurity.

Many women in eastern Chad are being forced to give birth in overcrowded clinics with limited medicine, minimal equipment and severe shortages of anesthesia, as a worsening humanitarian crisis overwhelms the country’s fragile healthcare system, the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warned on Tuesday.

Reports of online violence against women journalists have doubled since 2020, with serious impacts on their health and well-being, according to a study published ahead of World Press Freedom Day marked annually on 3 May. 

Restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment in Afghanistan could leave the country with a deficit of over 25,000 female teachers and health workers by 2030, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday. 

On a red running track in eastern Uganda, coach Zuena Cheptoek is doing more than training runners. For many girls in the Sebei subregion, she is also a confidante, a mentor and first line of protection against female genital mutilation, child marriage and abuse.

The war in Gaza has inflicted a far higher toll on women and girls than in previous conflicts in the Palestinian enclave, with more than 38,000 killed by Israeli air bombardment and land military operations since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in October 2023, UN Women said on Friday.

Across war-torn Sudan, women and girls “are telling a consistent story of continued experience of danger, and risks for gender-based violence” whether when fleeing to safety or arriving at displacement camps, a senior official with the UN reproductive and sexual health agency UNFPA said on Friday.

UN independent human rights experts called on Thursday for justice and accountability for young women and girls who were trafficked systematically as part of allegations contained in the so-called Epstein files.

For 25 years, the world has made significant progress in advancing women’s right to health, particularly in sexual and reproductive care. Women are living longer than ever before – but they are not living better.

The Secretary-General’s commitment towards women leadership in the United Nations was recognized at a pivotal moment marked by global uncertainty, economic volatility and increasing pressure on hard-won rights.

Domestic violence was not something people spoke about openly in Kyrgyzstan in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but after a long road of dedicated efforts, there are now laws addressing family abuse, crisis centres and hotlines while human rights defenders tackle such new challenges as sexual slavery.

More than two years of unrelenting violence, displacement and loss have pushed children and young people in Palestine into what one UN official describes as a “profound mental health emergency”, with girls facing heightened risks, including a resurgence in child marriage.

UN Women will continue delivering for Afghan women and girls despite sweeping restrictions and ongoing instability, a senior official said on Tuesday.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Thursday he was appalled by the devastating impact on civilians of increasing drone attacks in Sudan, amid reports that more than 200 civilians have been killed by drones since 4 March alone, in the Kordofan region and White Nile state.

The UN chief on Tuesday applauded civil society groups for “shaking the foundations of privilege” in a male-dominated world, addressing a range of questions during a townhall meeting on the margins of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) at UN Headquarters.

A Nobel laureate who survived an assassination attempt, a Hollywood actor turned UN advocate and a young Afghan musician whose voice defied repression took the stage at the United Nations on International Women’s Day, delivering a powerful message: justice for women and girls cannot wait.

Welcome to our live coverage of International Women’s Day 2026 and the opening of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women at UN Headquarters in New York. Throughout the day, we will bring you updates, reactions and key moments from global leaders, diplomats and advocates gathering at the UN, alongside stories and reports from the field across the UN system, as communities around the world mark International Women's Day and advance the theme “Rights. Justice. Action” for all women and girls. UN News app users can follow the coverage here.

Access to justice for women and girls dominated the agenda on Monday as the Commission on the Status of Women opened its 70th session at UN Headquarters in New York. Government officials, civil society representatives and UN leaders called for renewed efforts to dismantle the discrimination and legal obstacles that continue to limit women’s and girls’ rights worldwide.

Every morning in Kabul, several cars make their way across the Afghan capital to pick up the producers of Radio Begum. The young women do not travel to the office on their own as moving around the city has become too complicated.

Women held 27.5 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide as the year began –a 0.3 per cent increase from 2025, marking the slowest growth in nearly a decade, according to a new report from the UN-backed Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). 

Women have never been closer to equality and never closer to losing it, according to UN Women ahead of the start of the world’s largest gender equality gathering.

More than 1,600 conflict-related detainees in Yemen will be released under a UN-brokered agreement reached after months of negotiations in Jordan, marking the largest prisoner release deal since the country’s civil war began and offering a rare sign of progress in stalled peace efforts.

A feasibility study is underway to examine whether Gaza’s war debris could be recycled to reclaim coastal land and build artificial islands, as part of reconstruction.

Eighty years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, artist Sandy Walker believes art still has the power to cut through abstraction and confront people with the human reality of nuclear violence. Inspired by the writings of Hiroshima survivor Tamiki Hara, Walker’s work seeks to transform historical catastrophe into intimate acts of memory, grief and attention. 

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Bernadette Castel-Hollingsworth, has reacted strongly to Russian military strikes on a civilian area of Kyiv on Thursday. 

Nearly six million people in Somalia – almost a third of the population analysed – are projected to face acute hunger between April and June, with 1.9 million expected to experience emergency levels, UN-backed food security experts warned on Thursday.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Wednesday that escalating drone activity and nearby explosions involving suspected Hezbollah drones and Israeli forces are endangering its personnel and threatening already fragile stability in southern Lebanon.

Mounting waste and limited access to sanitation sites are deepening health risks for families across Gaza, as humanitarian workers warn that overcrowded dumping areas and worsening living conditions threaten vulnerable communities.

Africa’s rising influence is being constrained by outdated global institutions, unfair borrowing costs and cascading global crises, UN Secretary‑General António Guterres warned in Addis Ababa, as the United Nations and African Union reaffirmed their strategic partnership.

Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming a growing number of Palestinian children, while in Gaza tens of thousands with life-changing injuries lack access to treatment and rehabilitation, UN agencies warned on Tuesday.

Many women in eastern Chad are being forced to give birth in overcrowded clinics with limited medicine, minimal equipment and severe shortages of anesthesia, as a worsening humanitarian crisis overwhelms the country’s fragile healthcare system, the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warned on Tuesday.

More than 26.5 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are facing acute hunger, according to a new analysis from UN-backed food security experts published Tuesday.

As the Strait of Hormuz crisis deepens and tensions between Iran and the United States remain unresolved, oil prices rose again early Monday, prompting the UN Secretary-General to call for a peaceful resolution and warn of the widening fallout across Africa and beyond.

Drones caused more than 80 per cent of civilian deaths in Sudan’s war during the first four months of 2026, killing at least 880 people, the UN human rights chief said on Monday, warning that escalating drone warfare could push the conflict into an even deadlier phase. 

The humanitarian situation in Lebanon continues to deteriorate despite the ceasefire announced last month with Israel, the United Nations said on Monday.

As global electricity demand grows, so does the popularity of nuclear energy. In the Middle East, several countries are evaluating or advancing nuclear power projects, balancing weighty issues such as regional security, climatic conditions and international cooperation.

The fragile ceasefire in Lebanon hasn’t prevented “ongoing killing and displacement”, with villages in the south of the country rendered completely unrecognizable after Israeli strikes, aid teams reported on Friday.

“This is not a distant warning. This is a crisis that is unfolding right now and it's deepening quickly.”

An Israeli airstrike overnight on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut has sparked a new wave of displacement among civilians already impacted by months of conflict, the United Nations said on Thursday.

Bahrain and the United States have circulated a draft Security Council resolution calling for Iran to cease attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, their ambassadors outlined to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday.

As the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz continues, the United Nations reiterates its commitment to support efforts towards peace, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday during his media briefing from New York.

What do more than half of all doctors in Australia, over 40 per cent of Nobel laureates from the United States, and most of the workforce in some Gulf States have in common? 

Civilians who have fled the war in Sudan and sought shelter in neighbouring Egypt could potentially face a new battle – the loss of critical services that ensure their survival, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned. 

Restricting migration does not stop people from moving. It often pushes them into more dangerous routes.

In South Sudan, the UN aid coordination office [OCHA] reported on Thursday that conflict and flooding continue to drive displacement and food insecurity higher throughout the country.

UN-led efforts are continuing to ensure that all countries can benefit and regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it increasingly shapes our economies, societies and daily lives.

On the outskirts of the Ugandan town of Biale, tents are scattered along dirt roads that give way to open fields. The Kriandongo camp sits between a shattered past and a life tentatively being rebuilt. Here, the story does not end with fleeing war. Another phase begins, one where days are measured not in hours, but in the weight of loss and the effort to carry on.

An Ethiopian man describes how he was tortured by human traffickers as he went in search of his nephew on a now infamous migration route from the Horn of Africa through Yemen to Saudi Arabia.

Barham Salih has spent much of his life crossing borders, first as a young Kurdish exile fleeing repression in Iraq, and now as the UN top official for refugees, confronting a world in which more than 117 million people have been forced from their homes.

A 2018 agreement that aims to strengthen international cooperation on migration management must become reality, the UN Secretary-General said on Friday in New York. 

The UN on Thursday condemned the latest attacks against civilians in Ukraine by Russian forces, reiterating that they always constitute a violation of international law “and must stop immediately.” 

Funding shortfalls are putting the lives of more than 1.9 million displaced people in South Sudan at risk amid rising humanitarian needs, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday. 

Concerns have been raised about the “coercive” repatriation from Tanzania of Burundian refugees, many of whom do not want to return to their home country.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has received credible reports of civilian casualties following airstrikes carried out by Pakistan inside Afghanistan late on 21 February and into the early hours of the next day.

As the war in Sudan approaches a fourth year, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and 123 partners appealed on Tuesday for $1.6 billion to support millions of people forced to flee the country in pursuit of safety. 

Fifty-three migrants including two babies are dead or missing after a large rubber dinghy capsized off the coast of Libya, the UN migration agency said on Monday.

Amid the ongoing war in Sudan, Chad, the country receiving the most refugees in Central Africa, saw slight improvements in its humanitarian situation last year, but as one of the most vulnerable nations on the African continent, it is still struggling to support four million people in need.

Step by step, mile by mile, Deo Kato ran his way across a continent — and beyond. After a year and a half on the road, the Ugandan British runner and campaigner has become the first person to run from Cape Town to London.

UN-appointed independent human rights experts have raised alarm over violations of children’s rights during US immigration procedures, nearly a year after federal funding for legal representation for unaccompanied minors was terminated. 

The UN migration agency, IOM, expressed deep concern on Monday over multiple deadly shipwrecks that are believed to have taken place over the past ten days across the Central Mediterranean.

As global leaders gather at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, UN agencies are warning that rising hunger and displacement are not only humanitarian emergencies but growing threats to global economic stability.

It can be annoying when the wifi signal is cut, but what about if everything digital we rely on were to crash suddenly – from satellites to life-support systems in hospitals?

Indonesia is expecting a “strengthened multilateral system that delivers real impact on the ground,” as one of the key outcomes of the ongoing reform of the United Nations, that’s according to the country’s outgoing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Cooperation, Tri Tharyat.

With spending on advertising topping $1 trillion a year worldwide, the United Nations on Wednesday highlighted the untapped power of major brands to shape the future of Artificial Intelligence, warning that a failure to act could deepen a global information integrity crisis.

As we confront increasingly complex and interconnected crises – from climate change to the AI revolution – the leadership and voices of young people have never been more vital, says the UN. 

Six-time Trinidad and Tobago archery champion, Anthurium Lewis, has told UN News how sport helped her overcome age barriers in environmental advocacy and how in the future it can contribute to reaching globally agreed poverty and sustainability goals.

The world of football met the world of diplomacy this week as Brazilian World Cup legend Zico touched down at UN Headquarters in New York. 

For 25 years, the world has made significant progress in advancing women’s right to health, particularly in sexual and reproductive care. Women are living longer than ever before – but they are not living better.

The Secretary-General’s commitment towards women leadership in the United Nations was recognized at a pivotal moment marked by global uncertainty, economic volatility and increasing pressure on hard-won rights.

An estimated 4.9 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2024, including 2.3 million newborns, according to new United Nations estimates released on Tuesday – highlighting a worrying slowdown in global progress on child survival.

Despite global progress in strengthening land tenure and governance, more than a billion people worldwide – nearly one in four adults – fear they could lose the rights to some or all of their land and housing within the next five years. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the key role science has in international governance of artificial intelligence during an event on Friday held on the margins of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India. 

After a year that saw heavy monsoon floods, prolonged drought and dry spells, and a surge in violence, 7.5 million people in Pakistan face high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition according to a report from the global hunger monitor. 

Climate inaction, biodiversity loss and rising emissions are pushing Asia and the Pacific further off course on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the region set to miss nearly nine out of ten targets by 2030, the United Nations has warned.

The future of artificial intelligence “cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires,” the UN Secretary-General told the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Thursday, calling for a global fund to help developing nations to better access these technologies.  

Rising food prices and declining farm incomes are putting increasing pressure on the global food system, with up to 720 million people facing hunger last year, and billions more struggling to afford healthy diets.

With inequality deepening and trust in public institutions under strain, the UN’s main forum on social policy wrapped up its annual session on Tuesday with a renewed push to turn global commitments on social justice into action.

Towns and cities are home to more than half of the world’s population and responsible for around 70 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions driving the climate crisis, which is why urban planners in Brazil are leading a design revolution that could point the way to creating built-up areas with a dramatically smaller carbon footprint.

With global tensions rising and “reckless actions” triggering dangerous consequences, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday called for renewed efforts on peace, justice and sustainable development as he outlined his priorities for 2026 – the final year of his tenure.

“Giving up is not an option – so many people depend on you,” the words of Maryanne Gichanga, a participant in a UN supported initiative, which aims to help farmers in Kenya find solutions to alleviate the pressures of climate change on agricultural production. 

From humanitarian crises and youth unemployment, to climate resilience and development financing, many of today’s global challenges pass through a single United Nations body that is quietly turning 80 this year.