News

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has issued an alert after a surge in the number of displaced people fleeing war-torn Sudan for neighbouring South Sudan.

Following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime on Sunday, Syria has entered a period of profound uncertainty, and the UN will have a vital role in ensuring an orderly transition to renewed, stable institutions, continuing efforts to bring together different groups and factions which began at the outset of war in 2011.

The UN held a high-level pledging conference on Tuesday for its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) which ensures humanitarians can deliver urgently needed assistance wherever and whenever crises strike. 

The UN war crimes tribunal continues to make progress in delivering justice for the most serious crimes in Rwanda and the States of the former Yugoslavia, top officials told the Security Council on Tuesday.

Syria’s historic power reset coupled with the highly volatile situation there, has increased basic needs in a country where nearly 17 million people already depended on aid, UN aid teams insisted on Tuesday.

Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping the Syrian people to create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be take for granted.

Human Rights Day, marked annually on 10 December, will focus on the theme Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now, and we will bring you to UN Headquarters in Geneva and New York and every region of the world, with dispatches from colleagues on the ground from Gaza and Georgia to Nepal and Nicaragua. UN News app users can follow our live coverage here. 

Brazil’s first-ever Minister of Indigenous Peoples and an initiative promoting sustainable agriculture in Egypt are among the six recipients of the 2024 Champions of the Earth award, announced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday. 

At least 184 people, including 127 elderly men and women, were killed in Haiti’s Wharf Jérémie neighbourhood of Cité Soleil over the weekend, prompting strong condemnation from Secretary-General António Guterres.

As Human Rights Day dawns on 10 December, it serves as a reminder of the ongoing importance of equality, justice, and dignity for all people worldwide. 

The UN Special Representative for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) briefed the Security Council on Monday on recent developments, including political disagreements over constitutional reform and escalating insecurity in the east. 

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk delivered his annual statement on Monday, urging global solidarity and decisive action in the face of mounting challenges to fundamental human rights.