Tens of thousands of people went missing in Syria during the Assad family’s rule, which stretches back to the early 1970s. A UN body set up to discover their whereabouts has been hearing the testimony of family members of the disappeared during a visit to the capital, Damascus, described as a “step on the path to truth.”
The terrorist group Da’esh, also known as ISIL, remains a serious global security threat despite years of sustained efforts to dismantle its operations, UN counter-terrorism officials warned during a Security Council meeting on Monday.
Two mass graves likely containing the bodies of migrants have been discovered in Libya, highlighting the ongoing, deadly dangers facing vulnerable people fleeing conflict and poverty, the UN migration agency, IOM said on Monday.
As the Israeli military completed its withdrawal at the weekend from a key security corridor in Gaza that had cut the enclave in two, UN humanitarians issued a fresh appeal for an end to all aid restrictions which continue to prevent the delivery of lifesaving relief.
In a significant move towards eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons programme, the head of the UN-backed international watchdog dedicated to ending the scourge has been visiting Damascus, together with a high-level delegation.
During the turbulent early years of Timor-Leste’s independence, the UN was a constant presence, helping to maintain peace and stability. Twenty-four years on, the country has made the successful transition from a host nation for UN peacekeeping operations, to one that contributes to supporting missions elsewhere.
UN peacekeeping must be fit for purpose as the nature of conflict evolves in the 21st century along with new weapons technology, more than 60 nations heard this week at a global forum on the future of peace operations, taking place in Indonesia.
The civilian death toll in Sudan has surged dramatically, with at least 275 people killed between 31 January and 5 February, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, reported on Friday.
Continued clashes in South Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are triggering mass displacement and causing civilian casualties, UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA said on Friday.
Armed groups in Haiti are inflicting “unimaginable horrors” on children, turning their “bodies into battlegrounds”, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The landmark year in the life of the UN has prompted introspection and a fresh impetus for change. How can the organization remains relevant in a world that is almost unrecognizable from the post-World War Two consensus into which it was born?
The head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA underscored its commitment to assist a population whose rights “continue to be violated”.