Investigations must be held into the actions of the Israeli security forces, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Saturday, calling for accountability and an end to impunity. Her appeal comes in the wake of the killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu…

A human trafficking expert at the United Nations has told UN News how she was instrumental in saving over 1,000 trafficking victims. Reda Sirgediene works for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as the Regional Adviser on Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling for Central Asia…

Governments, cities, companies, and communities around the world are taking action to address a significant and growing threat to wildlife, including many species of migratory birds - light pollution. The issue is in the spotlight this World Migratory Bird Day, observed on Saturday, 14 May…

Humanitarians continue to call for scaling up assistance in the Horn of Africa, where the worst drought in 40 years is affecting some 15 million people across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.  The drought follows four consecutive failed rainy seasons, and the fear is the number could jump to…

Amid new claims by Moscow of a covert biological weapons programme in Ukraine, the Director of Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) affirmed on Friday that the UN is not aware of any such programme and has neither the mandate nor the technical operational capacity to investigate it - a message first…

A new UN-led push to prevent an arms race in outer space has received wide-ranging support and participation from civil society and Member States – including all five permanent members of the Security Council - at talks in Geneva. The first Open-ended Working Group on Reducing Space…

Ensuring everyone has access to a healthy diet is among the goals of a UN-backed initiative launched on Friday in line with efforts to transform food systems globally.  The Coalition of Action for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems for all (HDSFS), brings together governments, UN…

Kicking off a three-day meeting on Friday on the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its wider impact on food and energy prices, the head of the UN agriculture agency outlined key ways for governments to help safeguard global food security. Under the theme Securing Global Food…

Recent deep cuts to overseas aid budgets by governments, will have “direct, negative impacts” on the ability of the world to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN chief warned on Friday. Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his concern over the fall in…

Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating ways of slowing it down must happen “urgently, using every tool we can”, said the head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on Thursday, calling for a global commitment to support drought preparedness…