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Inequality, migration, human rights and culture research from the UN, Pew Research and Our World in Data.
Support for water and sanitation at the biggest camp in the world for Syrian refugees is under threat from a lack of funding – combined with the impact of climate change – the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Monday.
The Security Council met Monday morning with prospects for peace in the Middle East under strain on two fronts. In the West Bank, settler violence and settlement expansion are raising fears for a two-State solution. In Gaza, a year-old peace plan has stalled while civilian…
Sudan’s Foreign Minister addressed the UN General Assembly on Monday in place of de facto head of state General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, whose visa application was rejected by Washington.
From artificial intelligence to migration, some of the forces reshaping the twenty-first century took centre stage at the UN General Assembly on Saturday. Leaders wrestled with a common dilemma: how to harness profound technological and social change without allowing it to…
Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand warned the UN General Assembly on Saturday that the international order has entered an era of profound disruption, calling for stronger multilateral cooperation and new partnerships as major powers increasingly turn away from global…
Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, accused Western countries of destabilising the world through “force and double standards” in his address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, vowing that Moscow's “special military operation” in Ukraine would be “carried…
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar warned on Saturday that violent conflicts continue to undermine international peace and security, while countries far removed from the battlefield are being forced to pay a heavy price.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister warned the UN General Assembly on Saturday that escalating military and economic pressure in Latin America and the Caribbean was threatening international law, while accusing the United States of intensifying a decades-long campaign to isolate and weaken…
Countries adopted on Saturday a new global blueprint for tackling rapidly evolving forms of crime on Saturday, as the UN’s largest gathering on crime prevention and criminal justice opened in Abu Dhabi with a call for stronger international cooperation.
China's Vice President, Han Zheng, urged the world to defend the postwar international order on Saturday, telling the UN General Assembly that geopolitical conflicts, widening development gaps and mounting global challenges make multilateralism more urgent than ever.
The UN said on Friday it remains gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the security situation across northern Ethiopia, as fighting spreads across multiple fronts and increasingly disrupts humanitarian operations.
The situation in the occupied West Bank continues to deteriorate, the UN human rights office has said, pointing to the “mass destruction” of Palestinian villages and forcible transfer of residents in Msafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the UN General Assembly on Friday that any attempt by India to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the Indus River waters “will be treated as an act of war”.
As the high-level debate enters a fourth day, The Takeaway looks back at key highlights on Thursday, with Israeli and Palestinian leaders presenting divergent views on the Middle East conflict and their counterparts from across the world weighing in on the far-reaching impacts…
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, has stressed that decisions over war and peace, and control of weapons, must rest solely with the State and its constitutional institutions.
Iraq’s Prime Minister, Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, said his country aims to exert its influence as an active economic power in the region, and as a bridge for dialogue and cooperation between its peoples.
Haiti is at a “watershed moment” in its struggle against gang violence and needs sustained international support alongside stronger national security institutions, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé told the UN General Assembly on Friday.
At a time when war, climate crises and man-made disasters continue to displace millions around the world, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees will brief the Security Council on Friday.
The Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) cautioned against growing global demand for “blood-stained minerals” in the rush to net-zero, in her speech to the UN General Assembly.
Israeli policies now threaten “the very life and existence of the Palestinian people on their homeland”, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly on Thursday, urging the world not to allow “another Nakba”.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) continues to operate under “extraordinary pressure”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday.
This edition of UN News's The Takeaway recaps key highlghts at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, including focus on the war in Ukraine and a renewed push by African countries for Security Council reform.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called on world leaders on Thursday to turn knowledge into action, reform international institutions and ensure that new technologies and global wealth benefit everyone.
The Vice-President of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that his Government had engaged “responsibly and positively” with regional and international peace initiatives and made significant concessions to…
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his address to the UN General Assembly to defend Israel’s strikes against Iran as a matter of national survival and describe the violence in the West Bank as the work of few “juvenile delinquents” and reject accusations of genocide in Gaza…
World leaders approved the UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise by consensus on Thursday as the UN chief warned that encroaching waters are already threatening the future of coastal communities worldwide.
Nine years after the mass displacement of the Rohingya from Myanmar, their situation remains one of the world's most protracted and complex refugee crises, marked by years of persecution and uncertainty over the prospect of returning home.
Kenyan President William Ruto told the General Assembly on Wednesday that the sovereign equality the UN proclaims is contradicted by its own structures, urging Member States to reform the Security Council and an international financial system “built for another age”.
Argentine President Javier Milei told the General Assembly on Wednesday that the UN has broken the “sacred covenant” on which it was founded, failing at what it was meant to do – while excelling at things beyond its remit.
Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that his country “is rising” on many levels, thanks to the strength of its people.
Five years of war. Another winter closing in. Today, the Security Council once again debates a path to peace – though any resolution still runs up against the veto of Russia, one of its own permanent members, whose objections have repeatedly stalled any consensus. As world…
Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking Declaration on the Right to Development this December, world leaders gathered at a High-Level Week meeting on Wednesday to map progress made and the 21st century challenges still ahead – from narrowing the digital divide to…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday called for intensified pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, arguing that Moscow continues to incur massive losses while prolonging a conflict whose consequences are increasingly being felt far beyond the…
President Masoud Pezeshkian opened his General Assembly address with a direct rebuttal to US President Donald Trump, who a day earlier had branded Iran the “number one sponsor of terror.”
Rising sea levels and ever-more-powerful storms are eroding shorelines, submerging land and threatening to evict millions of people from their homes worldwide.
The first generation to grow up with AI may also be the last one anyone thinks to ask about it – and that has to change, the UN's top human rights official said on Tuesday.
As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.
The UN’s survival for 80 years is not, by itself, proof of success, and now, the institution must confront painful truths if it hopes to rebuild public trust, said Khalilur Rahman, president of the General Assembly’s 81st session on Tuesday.
Humanity faces four defining “tests of power” – around war or peace, inequality, climate change and AI – that will determine whether the world moves towards a new era of cooperation or deeper division, the UN chief warned the General Assembly on Tuesday.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the General Assembly on Tuesday that the UN needs to become a “temple of peace” once again, as it confronts one of the most critical periods in its 80-year history.
The United Nations continues to be weakened, and those who have tied their hopes to the world body – from Palestine to Sudan – have been disappointed, Türkiye’s President said, while adding that his country is committed to restoring confidence in the Organization.
The crisis in the Gulf should come as a surprise to no one, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said on Tuesday, describing it as the cumulative result of years of delay, crisis management through temporary fixes, and unrealistic policies.
The UN chief warned on Tuesday that the two-State solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict is at risk of collapse amid illegal Israeli settlement expansion and annexation.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that the world faces a stark choice: “Do we want to live…with a return to the law of the jungle – or do we want to live in a civilized international society?”
The UN has condemned continued cross‑border attacks by Houthi forces against Saudi Arabia, including an attempted strike on the capital Riyadh, as fighting inside Yemen drives one of the country’s fastest displacement surges in years.
UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts on Monday laid out a grim picture of the human cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with a spotlight on civilians facing a third wartime winter as well as the intimidation of Russians who have fled abroad.
In a world facing rising conflicts, violence and divisions that are causing great suffering for millions of people, the UN chief on Monday called on world leaders and citizens to invest more in peace.
Using long-run census data to understand the scale of recent US migration trends, and how these compare to previous centuries.
More than eight decades on, the UN General Assembly remains the place where the UN’s 193 Member States come together to debate the defining challenges of the day, from war and peace – to development, climate change and human rights.
For Benin, making progress on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has meant finding new ways to finance development.
Over 1,000 cases of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine have been documented from the start of Russia’s invasion to the end of July this year.
People displaced by the renewed fighting in Yemen have described fleeing for their lives amid shelling and gunfire, aid agencies reported on Friday, while highlighting the dramatic increase in humanitarian needs in the country and in Djibouti, where thousands have sought shelter.
UN peacekeepers have increasingly been sent into places where there is no peace to keep – under resourced, outgunned and exposed to violence they are not equipped to counter. The Security Council meets this afternoon in New York to confront that problem, with Secretary-General…
Haiti is facing a worsening child malnutrition crisis, with an estimated 253,725 children aged 6 to 59 months projected to suffer from acute malnutrition between June 2026 and May 2027, new UN-backed analysis has revealed.
At the current rate of progress, gender equality would take 171 years to achieve, a new UN report finds as institutions built to advance gains are being defunded and demobilised.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is seeking to raise $97.5 million to protect 540,000 children and their families in Gaza and the West Bank from harsh winter conditions in the coming months.
How do you make sense of a world facing interconnected crises, from poverty and hunger to climate change, if the facts are scattered across dozens of different places?
Renewed fighting in Yemen is deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in a country where more than 12 million children depend on aid, after more than a decade of conflict.
The world is entering a period in which abnormal water supplies are becoming the norm, with river flows, groundwater and glaciers all showing signs of sustained disruption, the UN weather agency warned on Thursday.
While Syria is making progress in its political transition, the Security Council is meeting to hear briefings and discuss the situation on the ground, including recent reports of deadly armed clashes with an ISIS-affiliate terrorist group in the south and protests over rising…
Each September, New York becomes the centre of global diplomacy as presidents, prime ministers, ministers and diplomats from around the world gather at United Nations Headquarters.
Activists, lawyers and others who cooperate with the United Nations on human rights continue to face intimidation and reprisals, according to a new report issued on Wednesday by the Secretary-General that calls for greater protection and accountability.
Search and rescue operations continued in Gaza City on Wednesday following the collapse of a bombed-out building that killed at least 20 people, according to reports.
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the continuing presence of terrorist groups as well as rights violations against women and girls are a growing concern as the Security Council meets Wednesday to hear the latest updates, including from a civil society…
Amid a rising number of attacks on shipping in key waterways in the Middle East linked to the US-Iran war, the head of UN maritime agency, Mr. Arsenio Dominguez, has insisted that the conflict is not a “pretext” to target “innocent seafarers”.
In Venezuela’s El Rodeo maximum security prison, some of those detained for political reasons are subject to forced intubation – and prolonged confinement in a sealed underground cistern.
Bodies are still being pulled from the rubble of Gaza, three years after Israeli bombardment flattened entire neighbourhoods – most of them women and children.
The already dire hunger crisis in South Sudan is becoming increasingly critical as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday.
Two years ago, the idea of a large-scale war breaking out felt like a distant hypothetical to the experts who help chart the world’s dangers. Today it tops their list of fears, according to a new UN Global Risk Report.
The escalating conflict in Yemen is choking off aid shipments and driving fresh displacement, including to nearby Djibouti, with UN agencies reporting on Tuesday that nearly 100,000 people have been displaced since fighting intensified earlier this month.
Amid rising violence in Yemen, the Security Council has called an emergency meeting at 3pm (NY time) on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait shipping route as UN agencies warn of rising displacement, including thousands of Yemenis fleeing to…
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners have delivered lifesaving assistance to families in conflict-affected communities in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, many of whom had gone months without humanitarian support.
The Director General of the UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA, opened its 70th General Conference on Monday in Vienna with a message full of optimism, stressing that despite the many difficulties and tensions the world is witnessing a “common spirit of dedication” which still guides…
Independent UN human rights investigators called for an immediate cessation of hostilities on Monday following a series of United States airstrikes on Iran in recent weeks that have killed civilians as tensions ripple through the region.
UN aid agencies on Monday said they may be forced to scale back humanitarian aid in Sudan – home of the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis – due to funding shortfalls.
Migrants sent $728.6 billion home to families in low and middle-income countries in 2025, nearly double the amount recorded a decade earlier, according to a new report from the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Poor management of toxic chemicals and hazardous waste threatens “many, if not all, human rights,” the newly appointed independent human rights independent expert on the rising threat told the Human Rights Council on Monday.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told leaders of a bloc of major emerging economies in New Delhi on Sunday that a more balanced global order requires an overhaul of the institutions built after the Second World War, including the UN Security Council.
Ola Ishtiwi sits with her children in front of the remains of her home in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood in eastern Gaza City, a few metres away from a series of painted cement blocks Israel has placed to mark what has become known as the “yellow line”.
Earth just had the hottest August on record, according to newly released weather data.