UN News - Top Stories

From Gaza to Sudan, wars are being waged on the very systems set up to protect civilian populations, with health workers, hospitals, health centres and ambulances being targeted in horrifying numbers, according to the UN agency for reproductive health and rights, UNFPA. 

As the Israeli military offensive in Gaza City intensifies, the UN and partners continue to warn against the catastrophic consequences for civilians.

US and Qatari diplomatic efforts to bring a lasting peace to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have not yet led to improved conditions on the ground, where the security situation remains dire, the UN Security Council heard on Friday.  

Delegates from around the world met at UN Headquarters in New York this week to advance the long-awaited high seas biodiversity treaty, with discussions ranging from rules of procedure, to the creation of a clearing-house mechanism and the location of the treaty’s secretariat.

Extreme heat is fast becoming one of the biggest threats to workers’ health and livelihoods, the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Friday.

World Expos are not just feel-good exhibitions, “they are invitations to tell our stories,” The UN chief told festival goers in Osaka, Japan, which is hosting Expo 2025.  

More than half a million people in Gaza are trapped in famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution and preventable deaths, according to a new UN-backed food security report released on Friday.

Recent elections in Libya are a sure sign of the people’s desire to choose their own representatives, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for the country said in the Security Council on Thursday. 

Terror attack survivors came together to bear witness at UN Headquarters on Thursday, emphasising that their voices must not be sidelined in shaping policy and driving efforts to prevent future atrocities.

The UN Special Envoy for Syria briefed the Security Council on Thursday, saying that amid a strained ceasefire and military skirmishes in Syria, the political transition “remains on a knife’s edge”.

Heavy monsoon rains and flash floods have killed at least 739 people across Pakistan since late June, displacing thousands and destroying homes and crops, with more severe weather expected in the weeks ahead, according to UN agencies and national authorities.

The United States must stop ramping up sanctions against officials with the International Criminal Court (ICC), UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Thursday. 

With intensifying Israeli activity in and around Gaza City reportedly continuing on Thursday, UN chief António Guterres renewed his urgent call for a ceasefire, as Palestinians fled intense airstrikes, artillery shelling and gunfire.

In recent days, reported attacks on healthcare facilities in Sudan’s Darfur State have forced some humanitarian groups to stop providing critical cholera services as the outbreak continues to spread. 

The threat posed by the terrorist group ISIL – known more widely in the Middle East as Da’esh – remains dynamic and diverse, with Africa currently experiencing the highest level of activity worldwide.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has strongly rejected new sanctions announced by the United States on Wednesday against four more of its personnel in a renewed push surrounding investigations into US and Israeli officials.   

The Israeli military has escalated attacks across Gaza City, reportedly deciding to press ahead with plans to take full control which will only lead to further “mass killings of civilians” and displacement, UN human rights officials warned on Wednesday.

Over half of all children under-18 worldwide continue to experience corporal punishment on an annual basis, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).  

The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday repeated his call for Africa to have a greater say in decisions that affect its future, in remarks to a conference in Japan focused on the continent’s development. 

The UN has strongly condemned recent attacks carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in several locations in North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed recent diplomatic efforts spearheaded by the United States towards a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, his Spokesperson said on Tuesday in New York. 

Hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are intensifying as a devastating ground offensive looms, creating a limited opportunity for humanitarians to bring in shelter items, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday. 

This Tuesday, the UN honoured fallen colleagues and reminded the world that aid workers should never be a target, as 2024 saw a shocking new record of 383 aid workers killed. 

Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, briefed the Security Council’s open debate on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) on Tuesday, presenting the Secretary-General’s annual report and stressing the need to support survivors in conflict zones where services are increasingly inaccessible. 

The small trickle of aid entering Gaza is totally insufficient to alleviate starvation and displacement in the Strip, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Before Pedro Matos joined the World Food Programme (WFP) for 17 years, he said his job in space engineering just “wasn’t enough”.

With the news on Tuesday that a record 383 aid workers were confirmed killed in the line of duty last year, one veteran UN aid worker based in Gaza reaffirmed the resolve of humanitarians everywhere to save lives and relieve suffering, no matter how challenging the situation.

As gang violence across Haiti escalates, and the United States and other donors reduce their humanitarian funding, 1.3 million people who have fled their homes are facing the direst of consequences.

Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, briefed the Security Council on the deteriorating security and humanitarian conditions in South Sudan on Monday.

Nepal has eliminated rubella as a public health problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday, hailing the breakthrough as a “remarkable achievement”.