News items | The United Nations Office at Geneva

Welcome to the United Nations

Landlocked nations ‘invisible to much of the world’: UN trade and development chief

Trapped by geography and squeezed by global market forces, the world’s 32 landlocked developing countries remain among the poorest – and most overlooked. At a major UN conference underway this week in…

Gaza: Alarm over Israeli move to deregister NGOs

Aid agencies warned on Wednesday that most partner organizations providing vital relief across Gaza will likely have to shut down their operations within weeks, unless Israel withdraws its demand that they provide sensitive information about Palestinian employees…

Hiroshima, 80 years on: ‘Real change’ needed to end existential nuclear threat

The world changed forever 80 years ago this Wednesday when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during the Second World War. While the city has been…

World News in Brief: Funding schools in Afghanistan, Seaweed farming in Latin America, drought in Somalia

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday welcomed a contribution of $3.5 million from the Government of Indonesia to support the agency’s school meal programme in Afghanistan.…

Ceasefire in doubt as Rwanda-backed rebels kill hundreds in eastern DR Congo

Hopes for peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been shaken by a surge in brutal attacks on civilians by armed groups, including the Rwandan-backed M23 militia, in the country’s troubled eastern region…

Just 1.5 per cent of Gaza’s agricultural land remains accessible and undamaged

UN data published on Wednesday underscores the tiny amount of cultivable land that remains in the Gaza Strip, contributing to the famine-like conditions now being endured by more than two million people there. …

UNHCR urges Pakistan to stop forced returns of Afghan refugees

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is calling for Pakistan to halt the forcible return of Afghan refugees holding proof of registration (PoR) cards, Spokesperson Babar Baloch said on Tuesday in Geneva. …

Gaza: Security Council meets on hostage crisis amid ‘unbearable’ conditions facing Palestinian civilians

As conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel continue to deteriorate, a senior UN official upheld the need for a political solution to the crisis in Gaza that can lead to a lasting peace between the two peoples. …

The world is demanding action over plastic pollution: UN environment chief

High stakes negotiations got underway at the UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, attended by delegates from nearly 180 countries. “The world wants…

SECURITY COUNCIL LIVE: Israel calls for focus on Gaza hostages’ plight

The Security Council is meeting to discuss rising concern in Israel and elsewhere over the dire conditions facing the hostages who remain in Gaza. It follows the release of recent videos by Hamas and other Palestinian militants showing emaciated captives, which the UN Secretary-General called “an…