UN News - Global perspective Human stories

• The race to build a pandemic-proof world
  Six years after COVID-19 killed millions, battered health systems, disrupted lives and brought the global economy to a virtual standstill, the world is still grappling with how we can prepare better for the next pandemic.
• Why the UN General Assembly still matters
  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.
• UN Crime Congress: Technology is transforming crime – and the response to it
  Sitting in her Vienna office ahead of a pivotal UN gathering in Abu Dhabi, Monica Juma is focused on a simple reality: crime has evolved faster than many of the institutions designed to combat it.
• ‘Violence will only defer a problem’: UN Assembly President on trust, AI and lessons from the Rohingya crisis
  Khalilur Rahman took the gavel as President of the UN General Assembly's 81st session amid what he calls a crisis of confidence in the organization he has served – in one capacity or another – for 35 years. 
• Security Council LIVE: UN peacekeeping under pressure
  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 António Guterres briefing ambassadors on how to close the gap.
• Sexual violence against civilians and POW’s in Ukraine widespread and ‘abhorrent’
  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.
• Less than 4 years from development goals deadline, progress shows what’s possible
  For Benin, making progress on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has meant finding new ways to finance development.
• Women and girls pay high price in DR Congo Ebola outbreak
  The deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has taken a disproportionate toll on women and girls, many of whom are on the frontlines caring for patients as well as their own families despite the high risk of infection.
• Haiti: Child malnutrition crisis worsens amid escalating violence
  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.   
• Nepal floods: ‘Apocalyptic’ destruction signals wider climate threat across Himalayas
  The catastrophic flooding that swept away entire villages in northern Nepal could occur again in the country or elsewhere in the Himalayas due to climate change.
• Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
  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.
• New UN system platform puts millions of data points at users’ fingertips, says Guterres
  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?
• World News in Brief: Winter aid for Gaza, West Bank; Haiti food production; migrant deaths at sea; human rights funding
  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.
• Gender equality woefully off track, new UN report reveals
  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.
• UN fact-finding mission on Iran focuses on plight of civilians
  The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran confirmed that civilians in the country suffered serious human rights violations and “crimes against humanity committed by their government,” while finding "reasonable grounds" to believe that the United States committed “war crimes” in the context of its ongoing conflict with the Islamic Republic.
• Guterres calls for action as hate speech spreads across new platforms online
  The UN Secretary-General has called for concerted action by governments, technology companies and civil society to stamp out hate speech, emphasizing that “its toxic message is spreading fast and striking deep”. 
• Security Council LIVE: Syria’s transition in the spotlight
  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 fuel prices. 
• Yemen escalation displaces more than 57,000 children: UNICEF
  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.
• As freshwater reserves shrink, countries must prepare for a new water reality
  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. 
• Who should set the rules for AI? The UN is pushing for a safer digital future
  Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, raising questions about how societies and governments can capture its benefits while managing risks that often extend beyond national borders.
• World News in Brief: Shipping alert from IMO, democracy vanishing in Nicaragua, alert over political ‘denialism’
  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”.
• Repression continues in Venezuela in the face of ‘appalling’ human rights violations
  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. 
• AI, climate and conflicts top Guterres’s agenda ahead of General Assembly
  Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s high-level week, Secretary-General António Guterres said the world had entered “an era of deep uncertainty” and urged governments to embrace international cooperation to address global threats.
• Security Council LIVE: ‘Being a woman is a crime in Afghanistan,’ civil society briefer declares
  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 met Wednesday to hear latest developments, including from a civil society representative who said being born as a woman in the country “is a crime”. Follow full coverage here.
• UN report warns of reprisals against those who collaborate in defence of human rights
  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.