UN News Centre

A contingent of 530 Ugandan “Blue Helmets” (63 women, 467 men) is playing a crucial role in the United Nations’ efforts to help bring peace and stability to Somalia. They make up the United Nations Guard Unit (UNGU, that is tasked with protecting UN compounds in Mogadishu in order to assist the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) to carry out their mandate. 

Stress, excessively-long working hours and disease, contribute to the deaths of nearly 2.8 million workers every year, while an additional 374 million people get injured or fall ill because of their jobs, the UN labour agency, ILO, said on Thursday.

At the top of the news agenda on Wednesday: updates on violence in Sudan’s Darfur and in Libya, how e-waste can become an employment opportunity, help for the 2 million affected by floods in Iran, and efforts to make the internet safer for children.

Heavy shelling overnight on Tuesday which hit a densely-populated neighbourhood of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, was condemned “in the strongest terms” by the head of the UN Mission there, after “scores” of civilians were reportedly killed and injured.

Security across the volatile Darfur region of Sudan has deteriorated since last week’s military takeover in Khartoum, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday, but the peacekeeping mission in Darfur has “remained vigilant” in the face of rising violence. 

Torture is likely still widespread in Afghanistan’s State-run prisons for detainees linked to ongoing conflict there, the UN said on Wednesday, while also noting an “encouraging reduction” in the level of abuse since 2016. 

A “toxic flood of electric and electronic waste” that is growing by the day across the world, should be urgently converted into a source of decent work, that can also protect populations from its harmful effects, the United Nations labour agency said on Wednesday. 

The Director-General of the  World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has marked World Health Day, which falls on Sunday, with a reiteration of the UN’s stance on health: that it is a fundamental human right, not a privilege.

In a message to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, UN chief António Guterres has warned of dangerous trends of rising xenophobia, racism and intolerance in many parts of the world.

Underlining the “enormous” opportunities for sustainable development and investment in the Middle East, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reaffirmed the Organization’s deep engagement in a “surge of diplomacy for peace,” to “untie the Gordian knot of conflict and instability.”

Noting that the Venezuela refugee crisis will leave some 1.1 million children, returnees and people in-transit lacking protection and basic services across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2019, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called on regional Governments to uphold their rights and protect unaccompanied, undocumented children.

The United Nations Secretary-General left Libya on Friday voicing his hope that the divided country can “avoid a bloody confrontation” in and around the capital Tripoli.

Intensifying clashes between the Myanmar military and armed separatists that reportedly involved a deadly helicopter bombing raid on civilians earlier this week in Rakhine state, have been condemned by the UN human rights office, OHCHR.

More than 19 million children in Bangladesh are at risk from devastating floods, cyclones and other environmental disasters linked to climate change, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday in a new report. 

Helping to promote a “Libyan-led and Libyan owned political solution” to resolve years of instability and insecurity there that puts the “welfare of the Libyan people” first, is the sole agenda of the United Nations within the country, Secretary-General António Guterres told a press conference in the nation’s capital, Tripoli on Thursday.

New criminal laws in Brunei that impose the death penalty for same-sex relationships, adultery and childbirth out of marriage, “breach international human rights norms”, and should be suspended or repealed said the heads of two United Nations agencies on Thursday.

Average life-expectancy globally has increased by five-and-a-half years since the turn of the century, and women outlive men “everywhere”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

A major new UN-led report, involving more than 60 international organizations, warns that a comprehensive overhaul of the world’s financial system is necessary, if governments are to honour commitments to tackle critical issues, such as combatting climate change and eradicating poverty by 2030.

The path towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must be “clear of landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)”, the United Nations Secretary-General said on Thursday, International Mine Awareness Day. 

A senior commander from Argentina, who has been deployed to the United Nations peacekeeping mission on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, has said that serving the UN is a “great opportunity” to develop professionally and personally.