“No country is free of racism.” That warning from US youth activist Marley Dias set the tone on Monday as UN Member States reinvigorated global efforts against racism, discrimination and xenophobia with a new declaration.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) told the UN General Assembly on Monday that its status as a nuclear-armed State was irreversible, arguing that its military capabilities were necessary to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and maintain peace on the Korean…
South Sudan remains committed to holding general elections in December to conclude its transition period, the country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Cecilia Adout Majok Adeng, told the General Assembly on Monday, calling for all sanctions, including the arms…
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…
World leaders are meeting in the General Assembly to assess how far the world has come in combating racism and how far it still has to go. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, the most comprehensive framework of its kind, seeks to acknowledge historical injustices,…
Aid teams trying to keep deadly Ebola disease from spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are increasingly concerned about ongoing fighting and violence that has forced thousands of people to flee a displacement camp in the vast, resource-rich east of the…
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.
The continuing conflict in the Middle East is disrupting global energy markets and pushing up fuel prices, with knock-on effects far beyond the region.
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…
From the Caribbean to the Pacific, leaders from small island States demanded climate justice, ocean protection and greater solidarity at the UN General Assembly on Friday. They warned that rising seas are already redrawing national boundaries, while the ripple effects of…
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.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister warned on Saturday that escalating threats across the Middle East risked international peace, energy security and global trade, calling for stronger international cooperation to protect Gulf States and vital shipping routes.
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.
Climate change remains the greatest existential threat to Tuvalu, Prime Minister Feleti Teo told the UN General Assembly on Friday, warning that the pace and scale of international action are still falling far short of what vulnerable island nations need.
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.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese underlined the need for countries to work together to address the climate crisis, emerging technologies such as AI, and the breakdown of international rules, at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
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.
COVID-19 killed millions, shattered health systems and brought the global economy to a virtual standstill. World leaders are meeting Friday to review the lessons learned and cement a new approach to prevention and preparation for the next pandemic. Hopes are high that a World…
Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of…
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah brought a stark warning from the Himalayas to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, saying catastrophic floods that killed at least 1,400 people in his country laid bare the human cost of climate change, and the failure of the international…
Africa should focus its use of technology on solving its own real challenges rather than copying the systems and priorities of other parts of the world.
The war in Sudan has devastated the economy and agricultural production, but a UN-backed plan aims to mobilise private sector investment to help farmers return to their fields.
Sea level rise is among the most visible consequences of global warming, but for some countries, it is an imminent existential threat. World leaders meet Thursday to adopt a new declaration and debate the best ways to strengthen international cooperation and support vulnerable…
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”.
Russian armed forces have carried out repeated attacks across Ukraine over the past several days, killing and injuring civilians and damaging homes, hospitals, shops and workplaces, UN human rights monitors said on Thursday.
“There is a people. A people who can wait no longer. A people waiting to regain security, to return home to work, to send their children to school, and to freely choose their leaders.” Those are the words of the Haitian Prime Minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who spoke at a…
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”.
Venezuela is seeking to rebuild after a period of political upheaval and the destruction caused by twin earthquakes earlier this year, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez told world leaders at the United Nations on Wednesday.
🔴 LIVE NOW The Security Council turns its attention to artificial intelligence at 3pm as the global debate over AI safety – and who controls it – intensifies at the UN. Tech leaders driving the AI race, including the heads of OpenAI, Anthropic and Hugging Face, are due to…
🔴 LIVE NOW From deadly floods in the Himalayas to wildfires and extreme heat across Europe, 2026 has brought a succession of stark reminders of a changing climate. The task is immediate: Protect people from the impacts already unfolding while rapidly cutting the emissions of…
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.
The United Kingdom will fight disinformation at home and abroad, and work to ensure global safety standards for artificial intelligence (AI), new Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday evening in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.
More than 130 days into the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health experts said on Wednesday that response efforts have been scaled up significantly and “the first encouraging signs of progress” are now being seen.
More children and young people are beating cancer, but progress remains uneven across regions and age groups, highlighting the need for increased investment to boost survival rates.
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.”
“We are the first generation with the tools to end the fossil fuel age – and the last who can avert climate catastrophe,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday, calling on countries to draw up credible roadmaps with clear timelines to transition away from…
Rising sea levels and ever-more-powerful storms are eroding shorelines, submerging land and threatening to evict millions of people from their homes worldwide.