Focus On
UN Geneva Press Briefing: OCHA, UNICEF, OHCHR, UNECE, UNCTAD - 20.01.26
🎥 Humanitarian response to flooding in southern Mozambique; 🎥 Sudan: High Commissioner warns about intensification Kordofan; 🎥 Bulldozing of UNRWA headquarters; 🎥 Ukraine: More attacks energy infrastructure amid extreme cold; 🎥 Situation in Syria; Situation in Iran; 🎥 UNECE on the 2026; UN Water Conference; 🎥 UN Trade and Development on the Global Investment Trends Monitor; 🎥 Announcements.
How to lead forces for peace, with Cheryl Pearce | Department of Peacekeeping Operations | Awake at Night
After enlisting at 18, Cheryl Pearce broke gender barriers to rise through the military ranks. Now the UN’s Acting Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations, she is the highest-ranking woman in uniform. She reflects on resilience, defending peacekeeping amid disinformation, and why her family wants to see her chaotic side.
UN Resident Coordinator in Yemen - Press Conference - 19.01.26
Update on the humanitarian situation in Yemen and the work of the UN with Julien Harneis, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen.
UN Geneva Press Briefing: HRC, UNICEF, IFRC, WFP, WHO, UNHCR - 16.01.25
🎥 Ukraine endures the harshest winter of war this year; 🎥 Rising food insecurity in West and Central Africa; 🎥 Iran; United States Withdrawal from WHO; 🎥 Announcements.
Happening at UN Geneva
Human Rights Council - Special Session on Iran
The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran on Friday, 23 January 2026.
The special session will take place in the Assembly Hall at the Palais des Nations in Geneva starting 2 p.m. (GMT+1). The meeting will be webcast live in the six official languages of the United Nations.
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.
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”
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