Focus On
UN Geneva Press Briefing: UNICEF, ITU - 27.01.26
🎥 UNICEF: ‘Back to Learning’ for Hundreds of Thousands of Children in Gaza; 🎥 IOM: Deadly Shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean; 🎥 Announcements.
#3Minutes | 2026, a milestone for multilateralism
As we start the year, this new 3 Minutes episode looks at why 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for multilateralism and highlights the role of International Geneva in addressing today’s global challenges.
At the Edge of War – A Mother's Escape | United Nations
After more than 1,000 days of war in Sudan, millions have been uprooted. This is the story of one of them. “Nafeesa,” as we call her, fled the violence and found refuge across the border, in the town of Birao, in the Central African Republic. With support from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), she and her family secured shelter and began rebuilding their lives alongside the host community.
Peacekeepers work to meet mission mandate in the Middle East
The role of peacekeepers in the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in Golan is to de-conflict, avoid escalation, and to observe, monitor and report on violations to the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement. After visiting the region, Under-Secretary for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned of significant violations to the agreement, and the impact on the local population.
Happening at UN Geneva
Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026
Every year on 27 January, the international community comes together to commemorate the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This Day was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp in 1945.
The United Nations Office at Geneva and its partners will mark the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust (27 January) reflecting the theme of this year's commemoration: “Holocaust Remembrance for Dignity and Human Rights”
51st Session of Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique mechanism of the Human Rights Council that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years. The UPR provides each State the opportunity to regularly:
- Report on the actions it has taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights; and
- Receive recommendations – informed by multi-stakeholder input and pre-session reports – from UN Member States for continuous improvement.
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its States parties. It also monitors implementation of the Optional Protocols to the Convention, on involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Over the past 30 years, children's lives have been transformed bythe most widely ratified human rights treaty in history. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has inspired governments to change laws and policies, so more children get the healthcare and nutrition they need. There are better safeguards in place to protect children from violence and exploitation. More children have their voices heard and participate in society. But there is still more work to be done.
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