News

On a visit to Bangladesh, UN Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the pivotal moment the country is facing as it navigates a period of significant transition and reform.

Marking 14 years since the start of the Syrian conflict, top UN officials raised alarm over renewed violence and growing instability, warning that without urgent action, Syria’s fragile transition could be at risk.

For Waad Al-Kateab, the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria in December 2024 felt almost unreal. “I thought the ending of my story was dying in exile,” she told UN News.  “And it just happened out of the blue.”

“Support us and include us” to achieve real progress on advancing equal rights for all, young leaders told the Commission on the Status of Women, as the forum wrapped up the first week of its annual session at the UN Headquarters, in New York, on Friday.

Fresh fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has displaced tens of thousands of families, with children particularly at risk, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

The UN emergency food relief agency has not been able to transport any aid into the Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing closure of all border crossing points, which is now in its twelfth day, the UN Spokesperson said on Friday.

The UN Secretary-General has urged everyone to speak out against xenophobia and discrimination to combat a “disturbing rise” in anti-Muslim bigotry.

The Iranian Government has continued to ramp up efforts to restrict the rights of civilians including young children as part of a concerted effort to crush dissent, investigators mandated by the UN Human Rights Council said on Friday. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, during his visit to the Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh vowed to do everything in his power to prevent further hardship as drastic aid cuts threaten food supplies and other critical relief efforts.

Governments everywhere are “letting children down instead of lifting them up” as conflict, hunger, poverty and climate change hold back child development, UN rights chief Volker Türk told Member States in Geneva on Thursday.

The Constitutional Declaration issued by Syria’s caretaker authorities marks a pivotal moment in the country’s turbulent transition, with UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen expressing cautious optimism about its potential to fill a legal vacuum and pave the way for a “credible and inclusive political transition”.

The UN Secretary-General warmly welcomed the presidential signing of the State Border Treaty by Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on Thursday following decades-long negotiations.