UN News Centre

Speaking ahead of an international conference on Cyprus, the United Nations Special Adviser on the country stressed that the coming days would be crucial for the resolution of the remaining matters, and said that while the path ahead is “going to be difficult,” a solution is possible.

Despite attempts to increase food aid in Afghanistan, children bear the brunt of the country’s nutritional crisis, the United Nations humanitarian arm today reported, warning that the ongoing fighting has also led to record number of children at risk of abuse and exploitation.

Raising alarm over the health of several prisoners of conscience in Iran, who have been on a prolonged hunger strike contesting the legality of their detention, the United Nations expert on the human rights situation there urged the authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release all those who have been arbitrarily arrested, detained and prosecuted for exercising their rights.

With 14 million people in Yemen lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food, the European Union (EU) has committed 12 million euros to assist the efforts of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to tackle rising hunger in the strife-torn Gulf of Aden country.

With Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – including East Jerusalem – and those who have fled the conflict in Syria, facing humanitarian crises, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) today launched an $813 million emergency aid appeal.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the Security Council have denounced the terrorist attack by a Palestinian who reportedly rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem yesterday.

The Security Council has strongly condemned the ambush by unknown attackers late last week against a convoy of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in Bokayai, in the northwest part of the country, in which one Bangladeshi peacekeeper was killed.

Deeply saddened by the passing of former Portuguese President and Prime Minister Mário Soares, who died earlier today in Lisbon at the age of 92, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres hailed the commitment to freedom and democracy that made Mr. Soares &#8220one of those rare political leaders of true European and global stature.&#8221

The United Nations today announced that it plans to strengthen its approach to preventing and responding to sexual exploitation and abuse by creating a high-level task force that will develop a “clear, game-changing strategy” to achieve “visible and measurable further improvement.”

Following two weeks with no access to running water for millions of people in and around Damascus due to ongoing fighting near the Syrian capital, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today raised the alarm over a potential increase in diarrheal diseases among children.

A joint United Nations agency study has revealed that Syrian refugees in Lebanon remain highly vulnerable and that despite living there for years, their economic situation continues to be difficult, leaving more than a third food insecure.

Drawing attention to situation of hundreds of asylum-seekers on the Greek Aegean islands, facing further vulnerability as temperatures are expected to drop in the coming days, the United Nations refugee agency underlined the urgent need to accelerate their transfer to the mainland.

An independent United Nations expert will assess the human rights situation in Myanmar starting next week, it was announced, following increasing concerns about civilians in Kachin State and the escalating violence in Rakhine State.

Looking back over the past month, which saw some of the most difficult challenges for humanitarian workers in Syria but which also witnessed evacuations of thousands of civilians from war-ravaged eastern Aleppo, United Nations envoys for Syria said today that things have to change in 2017 and that “it can change in 2017.”

A team of United Nations human rights experts is supporting a recent decision by a United States school district in Connecticut to remove offensive and inaccurate historical information about slavery from its classrooms.