UN News

Rafah border reopens as UN officials warn of ongoing violence in GazaRussian attack in Ukraine killed and injured mine workers commuting to work Global space leaders convene in Vienna to tackle the future of outer space

Darfur's children living on a thin line between abandonment and hopeMyanmar: Türk says military-run elections have exacerbated violence, social divisionUNICEF steps up winter response to protect children and families amid Ukraine's harsh cold

IOM warns of deepening needs as millions of people return to Sudan WHO: India on alert with two cases of Nipah virus in JanuaryFAO's new 100 million initiative with ADB plans to strengthen food security for around one million Afghans 

Humanitarians continue to face impediments to aid delivery in GazaGaza at potential ‘turning point', top UN official saysDR Congo: $1.4 billion appeal amid immense needs, limited resources

UN chief calls for hope and solidarity on Holocaust Remembrance DayGaza: Restoring shattered education system must be a prioritySyria sees returns despite fresh displacement

Haiti crisis: FAO leads 90-day planting project to boost resilienceUNRWA chief condemns blaze at East Jerusalem HQTens of thousands may have been killed in Iran: independent rights expert

Iran: UN rights chief warns over execution uncertainty for protestersGaza: Never mind reconstruction, people desperately need more help, say aid agenciesIsraeli push against UNRWA in Occupied West Bank heightens Palestinian suffering, agency reports

Gaza: As Board of Peace launches, Human Rights Council probe pledges to continue seeking justice Ukraine: UNICEF mourns killing of 17-year-old in Odesa attacksNigeria: Emergency food assistance cuts expected within weeks, warns WFP

Haiti emergency: More than 8,000 confirmed killings in 2025: GuterresOccupied West Bank's historic settlements “systematically emptied”, reports UN human rights officeGlobal investment saw 14 per cent spike in 2025: UNCTAD

Sudan war: UN rights chief Türk warns of spiralling Kordofan escalationUNRWA headquarters bulldozed in occupied East JerusalemMozambique flooding emergency prompts crocodile alert – OCHA

In Sudan, UN rights chief Türk highlights plight of people uprooted by warIn Yemen, children are dying and it's going to get worse, warns OCHAMyanmar rejects accusations of genocide at UN's top court 

In Sudan, UN rights chief Türk highlights plight of people uprooted by warUkrainian families in ‘survival mode' amid Russian strikes and -18°C temperatures - UNICEFCentral and West Africa: Famine and malnutrition “mean that people are dying” - WFP

In Gaza, 800,000 people now live in dangerous locations prone to flooding: OCHASudanese pushed to the brink amid war and famine: WFPRohingya faced longstanding discrimination and hate speech ahead of genocide, ICJ hears 

Condemnation as Israeli authorities shut down UNRWA healthcare facilitySyria: Aleppo violence uproots 120,000 as aid teams push for access: OCHA2025 one of the three warmest years on record: WMO

Iran crisis: UN human rights chief urges dialogue as authorities mull death penalty for protestersUkraine: amid reports of another deadly night of Russian strikes, OCHA launches $2.3 billion aid appealGaza: UNICEF condemns further deaths of children despite ongoing ceasefire

WFP chief urges world leaders to end preventable famines ‘Beyond GDP' economists push for clearer metrics on wellbeing, sustainability: UNCTADIndependent rights experts welcome first Venezuela prisoner releases: Human Rights Council

Ukraine: 6,000 apartments in Kyiv left without power after latest Russia strikes  Sudan marks grim milestone of 1,000 days of war: OCHA, UNICEF  UN chief insists global body will continue vital work despite U.S. withdrawals 

Ukraine wakes to more devastation from Russia missiles: OCHA Niger in grip of acute malnutrition and childhood disease Human Rights Council elects an Indonesian candidate President for 2026

West Bank emergency: Israeli must end ‘apartheid'-like system, says UN Human Rights chief Volker TürkUkraine: The deadly reality of delivering aid in a war zoneUganda elections must be free and fair, insist independent rights experts

Venezuela: US actions make all countries less safe, says rights chief TürkUkraine: WFP teams continue to reach frontline communitiesSudan: Escalating violence in Darfurs and Kordofan sparks panic, warns OCHA

Venezuela: Security Council convenes in New York after Maduro extractionUkraine: UNOCHA supports victims of latest deadly Kharkiv attacksEthiopia: Refugee response now at breaking point, warns WFP

UN deplores ‘heinous' attack on mosque in Nigeria Guinea: UN rights chief calls for end to pre-election intimidation  New UN-Iraq deal on sustainable development cooperation 

Guterres calls for peaceful elections in the Central African Republic Yemen: UN Envoy welcomes accord on new phase of conflict-related detainee release Forest products show signs of recovery after 2023 decline, FAO reports 

Myanmar: UN rights chief warns of pre-election violence and repression DR Congo: WFP aims to reach thousands displaced by South Kivu violence Humanitarian funding cuts impact drought response in Somalia 

Syria: Illicit “captagon” manufacturing disrupted following regime change UN mission supports landmark elections in the Central African Republic$880 million humanitarian appeal for Haiti

Sudan war: Kordofan's El-Obeid ‘one or two steps' away from being attacked - IOM Gaza: Famine is averted but a third child dies of hypothermia - UNICEF DR Congo crisis: Victims of flare-up in eastern regions risk lives to reach safety, says UNHCR 

António Guterres calls for de-escalation in YemenSudan war: UN Human Rights office puts spotlight on horrific violations, executionsVolker Türk alarmed by spiralling Thai-Cambodia conflict and impact on civilians

Concerns grow for Ukrainians in cities left without power for days: OCHAKey water pipeline repaired in Gaza, but dire conditions remain: OCHA ‘High or very high' levels of early season influenza sweeping across Europe: WHO

Afghanistan: mothers turned away at health centres amid dire funding cuts, warns WFPDR Congo violence pushes 500,000 from their homes: UNHCRNew influenza variant is surging, but vaccination still our best bet: WHO

UN Secretary-General condemns deadly attack on Hannukah celebration in SydneyAmid “unending atrocities” around world, @Refugees chief Filippo Grandi reaffirms solidarity with asylum seekersUkraine: Aid teams provide relief after another weekend of Russian strikes on vital infrastructure - OCHA

Sudan war: Aid teams report agreement reached to access stricken El Fasher, reports World Food Programme, WFPOccupied West Bank alert over ‘intense' Israeli raids, warns UN human rights office, OHCHRSri Lanka's cyclone Ditwah created ‘2.2 million stories of loss and resilience', says UN migration agency, IOM

Gaza: Aid teams push to step up support as rain and cold take hold UN aid teams have been responding to torrential rains and cold in Gaza by focusing on helping the most vulnerable people in the wartorn enclave. Newborns and people living in areas prone to flooding are most at risk but efforts are underway to boost the number of winter clothing kits for children. Speaking from Al Mawasi in Gaza, Jonathan Cricx from the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, described how overnight downpours had soaked the clothes and mattresses of many living in makeshift tents:  “Those children, they're really suffering not only from the rain, but as well from the cold temperature. It's 6°C or 7°C in the Gaza Strip...What we are doing with UNICEF is we're trying to bring a lot of winter clothes…We also brought shoes. We brought 8,000 tents. We brought 600,000 blankets. But all this is far from being enough because we have more than 1.5 million people here who are in dire need for humanitarian aid.” Residents have been given empty flour sacks to fill with sand to keep rising waters at bay, while it's estimated that more than 760 displacement sites hosting about 850,000 people face the highest risk of flooding. Around 200 families living on the Gaza shoreline in high-risk areas were also being helped on Thursday to relocate to “what remains of Hamad city in eastern Khan Younis”, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. Gaza's humanitarian crisis continues, however, as humanitarians report that a key water pipeline is now damaged and out of service. Until last week, Bani Suhaila Mekorot channel supplied around 16,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day to Khan Younis. Fear and uncertainty in DR Congo amid heavy fighting  Renewed heavy fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed scores of civilians and uprooted communities who've fled in fear. UN aid coordinators OCHA has warned of “intense” clashes multiple territories, including Uvira, Walungu, Mwenga and Kalehe.  So far, more than 200,000 people have been displaced across South Kivu; most are sheltering in unsafe and overcrowded sites where the risk of disease is high. With more details, here's Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, speaking in New York on Wednesday: “The humanitarian impact of the crisis is now spilling across borders. Between December 5th and 8th, nearly 25,000 people crossed into Burundi, including Congolese nationals, Burundian returnees and third-country migrants – with additional arrivals also reported in Rwanda.”  The violence has disrupted aid assistance severely and forced the UN World Food Programme to suspend its activities across South Kivu. This has left 25,000 people without lifesaving food assistance, while host families share the last of their own reserves with displaced families, the agency said.  The UN's presence in DR Congo is limited; MONUSCO – the peacekeeping mission - is no longer deployed in South Kivu, while a Human Rights Council inquiry into serious abuses in the country has been left unstaffed because of dire funding shortfalls. Venezuela's national guard linked to serious abuses, rights investigators say To Venezuela, where investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council alleged on Thursday that the country's Bolivarian National Guard carried out a decade of systematic and serious violations, including crimes against humanity. In a new report, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela detailed evidence of what it called “systematic and coordinated repression”. According to the independent investigators, the national guard's actions appear to have been steered by a centralised command structure under President Nicolas Maduro.…

Gaza: continuing airstrikes, shelling and gunfire leave more dead and injured: UN human rights chiefUNICEF warns of deepening global crisis for childrenOn Human Rights Day 2025, credit for journalists risking everything to expose abuses

Gaza newborns ‘scarred by war before first breath' by preventable maternal malnutrition: UNICEFSudan: Dangerous ordeal of El Fasher's escapees is not over, warns UNFPASeven in 10 women activists have been abused online: UN Women

Sudan: WHO chief Tedros deplores 'senseless attacks' on civilians in South KordofanHumanitarians launch $33 billion appeal for 2026UNRWA condemns search of Jerusalem headquarters by Israeli officials

Syria one year after government change - UN rights office warns of ongoing killings and abuses Mozambique displacement crisis deepens as attacks intensify and aid supplies run low, UN reports South-East Asia: Climate disasters disrupt schooling for more than 4 million children, UNICEF says 

Sudan: UN rights chief Türk condemns spiralling conflict in KordofansMalaria control faces biggest threat from growing drug resistance: WHOArab region pushed to limits by climate extremes: WMO

Ukrainians brace for another winter of hardship amid Russian invasion: OCHAUN deminers appeal for greater support to slow deadly legacy from world's conflictsGaza: As fragile ceasefire holds, aid teams continue vital work, WHO says 

Mozambique: close to 100,000 flee violence and attacks in the past fortnight alone, warns UNHCRAsia: Lives upended by cyclones, ‘extreme' rainfall on the rise, warn UN agenciesMillions of jobs at risk in Asia-Pacific as AI surges in wealthy nations

• Landmine casualties hit four-year high as global ban faces withdrawals, new use and funding cuts• Sri Lanka: UN warns of severe humanitarian impact after Cyclone Ditwah triggers deadly flooding• Gaza: Winter conditions worsen as OCHA scales up relief under fragile ceasefire

Jenin: UN “appalled” by apparent summary execution in the West BankMyanmar: Civilians pressured to return to unsafe areas before junta electionMeasles: WHO warns cases surging worldwide despite major drop in deaths

Somalia declares drought emergency as hunger crisis deepens after failed rainsUkraine: more than 340 educational facilities damaged or destroyed this yearOver 600 million children exposed to violence at home, UNICEF warns

Palestine: UNCTAD reports deepest economic collapse ever recordedGaza's women face hunger, repeated displacement and rising disability crisis50,000 women and girls killed by partners or family in 2024: UNODC, UN WomenHuman trafficking: IOM launches global campaign urging stronger survivor support

UN human rights chief warns of risks from AI misuse, worker exploitation and rising corporate powerUkraine: UN notes civilian impact of Kharkiv strikesGaza: UN says aid missions denied and shelter conditions worsening under winter rainsMalaria: Gavi–UNICEF deal cuts vaccine price, set to protect millions more children

Gaza: Two children killed per day since ceasefire, says UNICEFBusiness must align with human rights standards, insists UN's Volker TürkIn Ukraine, not a day goes by without civilians coming under attack: OCHA

Ukraine: Spike in Russian attacks highlights need to extend refugee protections, says UNHCRWHO: European health sector fails nearly one in three survivors of gender-based violenceYouth Activists Summit celebrates hope over hate and ‘humanity over hostility'  

Gaza: ‘death of dignity' for displaced Palestinians, warns UNICEFUkraine reeling from another night of deadly Russian airstrikesWHO: AI can transform health care - but legal safeguards are needed