UN tribunal for former Yugoslavia "pioneer" for international justice A tribunal set up to try cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia has been described by the UN chief as "a pioneer" for international criminal justice. The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, made the comment at a ceremony [...]

Astronaut Chiaki Mukai broke all the way through earth's stratosphere to become the first Japanese woman in space. For this latest edition of our podcast series, The Lid Is On, she sat down with Dianne Penn at the recent High Level Forum on Space, held in Dubai and organized by the UN Office for Outer [...]

Documenting the horrors suffered by the Yazidis at the hands of ISIL, or Daesh, terrorists provides a "positive weapon" to confront the dangers of modern-day genocide. That's one of the hopes expressed by the German-Yazidi producer of a new film screened at the UN this week called Háwar – A Cry For Help. Düzen Tekkal [...]

The international community is being urged to continue supporting efforts to restore and rebuild Somalia. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made the appeal during a visit to the country this week. Decades of political instability coupled with armed violence, poverty, drought and other natural hazards, have displaced scores of Somalis: either within the [...]

Listen to our daily bulletin of news and features from the United Nations, presented by Dianne Penn and Vibhu Mishra. In today’s programme:  Families go home following the first closure of a UN camp for displaced people in South Sudan; and: The UN refugee chief calls for continued international support for Somalia.

More coherent and coordinated efforts needed to combat evolving threats to international peace and security, says UN chief The world is witnessing an increase in the type of threats to international peace and security, the UN chief said today. Speaking at the Security Council on Wednesday, Secretary-General António Guterres said that tensions over nuclear weapons [...]

Hundreds of families who had been sheltering at a UN camp in South Sudan are returning home due to improved security. That's according to the UN mission in the country, UNMISS, which for the first time has closed one of its protection of civilian sites, or POCs. These locations provide sanctuary for internally displaced people [...]

Restrictions that affect people in their daily lives are increasingly finding their way online, a leading human rights expert said on Wednesday. David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Freedom of Expression, made his comments on the sidelines of the Internet Governance Forum (#IGF2017) taking place in Geneva. He told Daniel Johnson that while [...]

Peacekeepers at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have been trained in how to be more aware of incidents of gender-based violence. They took part in a recent workshop organized to remind contingents of their role to fully protect civilians in a country where rape has been used as a weapon of war. UNMISS [...]

UN rights chief Zeid in probe call after Israeli military shoot disabled protester The fatal shooting by the Israeli military of a wheelchair-bound demonstrator from Gaza was a "wanton act" that merits an independent investigation, the UN human rights chief said on Tuesday. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein's appeal follows the death on Friday of Ibrahim [...]