New General Assembly President brings ‘valuable insights’ into key UN challenges
Sep 18, 2019, at 10:15 am
New York: The new President of the 74th session of the General Assembly brings to his role “years of United Nations experience”, the UN chief said on Tuesday, as Tijjani Muhammad-Bande banged the gavel to open his year in office.
‘Champion for multilateralism’ readies to hand over UN General Assembly gavel
Sep 17, 2019, at 10:25 am
New York: Through consultation, collaboration and consensus, the UN chief on Monday described outgoing President of the General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa, as “a champion for multilateralism” who had succeeded in making the United Nations “relevant to all”.
Guterres calls for ‘maximum restraint’ following drone assault on key Saudi oil facility
Sep 16, 2019, at 04:17 pm
New York: The UN Secretary-General appealed on Sunday for “maximum restraint" following a wave of drone attacks claimed by Houthi rebels in Yemen, against a huge Saudi Arabian State-owned Armco petroleum processing facility, which threatens to disrupt global oil supplies.
In visit to hurricane-ravaged Bahamas, UN chief calls for greater action to address climate change
Sep 14, 2019, at 09:56 am
New York: World leaders attending the upcoming UN Climate Action Summit are being urged to show up armed not with speeches but with plans to achieve carbon neutrality, reduce emissions and improve adaptation.
Sep 13, 2019, at 10:10 am
New York: Amidst a global call by Secretary-General António Guterres to “reaffirm the sanctity” of religious sites and keep worshippers safe, the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) on Thursday launched a new plan of action to “counter hate and violence around the globe”.
One person dies by suicide every 40 seconds: new UN health agency report
Sep 10, 2019, at 09:51 am
New York: Despite progress in national prevention strategies, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General lamented on Monday, highlighting key findings of the agency’s latest report on global suicide estimates.
UN nuclear watchdog to meet about nuclear security, Iran, North Korea
Sep 06, 2019, at 04:52 pm
Vienna, Sept 6 (Xinhua/UNI) UN atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors will convene a meeting at the agency's headquarters here on Monday, according to its website.
New UN book club helps children deal with global issues
Sep 05, 2019, at 02:26 pm
New York, Sept 5 (IBNS): For children in Chad, getting an education can involve manual labour. That’s because, every year, there’s a chance that the rainy season will destroy their school, and they will have to join their teachers in rebuilding it. This is the story recounted in the children’s book “Rain School”, which is on the reading list of the UN's SDG Book Club.
A third of young people polled by UN, report being a victim of online bullying
Sep 04, 2019, at 05:53 pm
New York: Around one-in-three young people across 30 countries say they have been bullied online, while one-in-five report that they have skipped school because of it. Those are some of the key findings in a new poll released on Wednesday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Special Representative on Violence against Children.
UN chief pays tribute to the courage of DR Congo citizens, and the sacrifice of blue helmets
Sep 02, 2019, at 08:29 am
New York, Sept 2 (IBNS): On the second day of his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres saluted the courage of the country’s citizens, as well as the sacrifice of the peacekeepers who have died serving them.
UN chief and senior officials show solidarity with DR Congo during three-day visit
Sep 01, 2019, at 04:14 pm
New York, Sept 1 (IBNS): United Nations chief António Guterres and senior members of the UN, have embarked on a three-day visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where civilians are facing insecurity and ongoing health crises, including a year-long Ebola epidemic which has claimed more than 2,000 lives.
Activist Greta Thunberg gets preview of UNHQ ahead of climate summit
Aug 31, 2019, at 06:36 pm
New York, Aug 31 (IBNS): Two days after disembarking from her carbon-free yacht in New York, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg paid a visit to UN Headquarters on Friday, after joining participants of her global climate strike movement, Fridays for Future, at the Organization’s gates.
Aug 30, 2019, at 10:26 am
New York, Aug 30 (IBNS): Despite an agreement signed nearly a year ago on a halt to further escalation in Syria’s war-battered Idlib, “the bombing and fighting go on in plain sight, day in and day out”, the UN humanitarian chief told the Security Council on Thursday.
Aug 30, 2019, at 10:10 am
New York, Aug 30 (IBNS): “Little undermines development like disaster,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told attendees at a thematic session on Africa and climate change, on day two of the Tokyo international Conference on African Development (TICAD), now in its seventh year.
Aug 30, 2019, at 10:06 am
New York, Aug 30 (IBNS): The legacy of nuclear testing is “nothing but destruction,” and in a world of rising tensions, “our collective security depends” on bringing a global treaty into force that bans nuclear explosions, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has said.
Aug 29, 2019, at 09:42 am
New York, Aug 29 (IBNS): African nations have made ‘significant progress’ in developmental efforts in the last few years, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday, kicking off the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), taking place in Yokohama.
Technology brings positive change, but ‘collateral damage’ must be minimized: senior UN official
Aug 28, 2019, at 09:45 am
New York, Aug 28 (IBNS): Digital technology has the potential to bring about a sustainable future, but the “collateral damage” of this transition must be mitigated, says the head of the UN’s technology strategy team, Salem Avan.
Aug 28, 2019, at 09:10 am
New York, Aug 28 (IBNS): Sport brings people together “regardless of conditions or flags”, a senior United Nations official in Perú said on Tuesday referring to a new initiative launched over this past weekend to promote the well-being of children and youth in Lima’s refugee and migrant communities through football.
Support Mali reconciliation efforts ‘in whatever way possible’, urges UN expert
Aug 20, 2019, at 06:00 pm
New York, Aug 20 (IBNS): Reconciliation initiatives in central Mali, to bring together local leaders and end ongoing violence, have been welcomed by the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali, Alioune Tine, who said on Monday that they should be supported “in whatever way possible.”
Humanitarian assistance to be scaled-up for millions of Venezuelans in need
Aug 15, 2019, at 12:02 pm
New York, Aug 15 (IBNS): The United Nations humanitarian wing launched a new Response Plan (HRP) on Wednesday, that aims to help around 2.6 million people in Venezuela through to the end of the year, almost half of whom are youth.
‘We are facing a learning crisis’, UN chief warns on International Youth Day
Aug 12, 2019, at 10:17 am
New York, Aug 12 (IBNS): Schools are “not equipping young people with the skills they need to navigate the technological revolution”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned, in a message released to mark the UN’s International Youth Day.
UN food aid to Yemen will fully resume after two-month break, as Houthis ‘guarantee’ delivery
Aug 10, 2019, at 10:22 am
New York, Aug 10 (IBNS): Life-saving food aid distribution is set to resume to 850,000 people in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, following guarantees by Houthi opposition forces that the supplies will reach those who need them most, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
UN rights chief bemoans unilateral sanctions on Venezuela, fearing ‘far-reaching implications’
Aug 09, 2019, at 10:26 am
New York, Aug 9 (IBNS): A new set of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Venezuela this week prompted the concern of the United Nations’ top rights official on Thursday, who said in a statement that she feared they would have a “potentially severe impact” on the human rights of the South American nation’s “long-suffering” people.
Bigotry makes politicians ‘complicit in the violence that follows’ : UN independent experts
Aug 08, 2019, at 10:02 am
New York, Aug 8 (IBNS): Responding to the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio on Saturday, a group of independent UN experts has called out the “increased use of divisive language”, as well as attempts to marginalise racial, ethnic and religious minorities”, by some politicians and leaders.
Aug 07, 2019, at 10:16 am
New York, Aug 7 (IBNS): Paying homage to those who perished as the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, as well as the many others whose lives were devastated in the years that followed, UN chief António Guterres on Tuesday underscored their “courage and moral leadership” in reminding the world of “the human cost of nuclear war”.
‘€1 million’ fines for rescue boats prompts UN concern for future sea operations
Aug 07, 2019, at 10:07 am
New York, Aug 7 (IBNS): A move by Italian lawmakers to impose fines of up to €1 million on vessels and organizations carrying out search and rescue operations off the country’s coastline, sparked a new warning on Tuesday from the UN that the measure risks deterring future lifesaving efforts in the Mediterranean.
Aug 06, 2019, at 10:03 am
New York, Aug 6 (IBNS): Money earned by the Myanmar military from international and domestic business deals, “substantially enhances its ability to carry out gross violations of human rights with impunity” according to a report released on Monday by an independent United Nations group looking into military-business ties in the South East Asian country.
UN chief laments ending of Cold War-era disarmament treaty
Aug 03, 2019, at 06:45 am
New York, Aug 3 (IBNS): Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his “deep regret” on Friday that the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty betweein the United States and Russia came to an end.
Aug 02, 2019, at 09:18 am
New York, Aug 2 (IBNS): Ten years after the start of a violent insurgency in north-east Nigeria plunged the country into a humanitarian crisis that is “still far from over”, the United Nations and its aid partners have underscored the need to “collectively redouble efforts” to help the most vulnerable.
Jul 31, 2019, at 10:34 am
New York, July 31 (IBNS): To mark the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed that “human trafficking is a heinous crime that affects every region of the world” – especially women and children.