The head of the UN's Department of Political Affairs has urged Somalia to continue its efforts towards reconciliation and state-building. Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman concluded a two-day visit to the Horn of Africa country on Friday where he met with leaders, including the President of the Federal Government, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. The President, whose nickname is [...]

South Sudan has known no respite since fighting broke out last July, following the collapse of a peace deal between the government and opposition forces. People in Africa's newest nation have witnessed “barbaric” acts of violence carried out by armed groups, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), such as the sexual assault of women [...]

Natural disasters are a major brake on development but low-cost initiatives can counter the threat they pose. That's according to senior UN official Robert Glasser, head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). His message comes ahead of the Fourth Central American Forum on Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management (PCGIR) in Panama beginning on [...]

UN human rights experts concerned about situation in Burundi International human rights experts monitoring Burundi have seen “no sign of positive” change in the country in recent months. That’s according to a report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council into allegations of ongoing grave abuses in the Great Lakes state. In June, UN investigators [...]

Fifty-four police officers in Somalia's South West state have been trained to tackle sexual and gender-based violence as well as conflict-related sexual violence. They took part in a three-day workshop this week in the state capital, Baidoa, organized by the UN Mission in the country, UNSOM, together with the state's Ministry of Women and Human [...]

Europe: Refugee and migrant arrivals drop but dangers persist, says UNHCR Despite a decline in the arrival of refugees and migrants in Europe, the likelihood of death on the journey to the continent is still "alarmingly high." That's according to a report issued on Thursday by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) which said many of [...]

Needs are "beyond belief" for thousands of civilians trapped by ISIL fighters in the Syrian city of Raqqa, a senior aid official said on Thursday. Jan Egeland, who's Special Advisor to the UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, made the comments after a meeting of an internationally-backed humanitarian task force in Geneva. The UN is [...]

UN welcomes report on Myanmar's Rakhine State The United Nations has welcomed the release of a report on finding lasting solutions to the crisis in Rakhine State in Myanmar. The western state has seen deadly clashes between Buddhist and Muslim communities. The study follows a year of consultations by an Advisory Commission established by the [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from the United Nations, with Dianne Penn. In today’s programme: No "worse place on earth" than Syria's Raqqa, says top aid official; and Somali police officers trained in tackling sexual violence.

Violence against protesters in the US town of Charlottesville that left one woman dead should be condemned "at the highest political level," a UN rights body said on Wednesday. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued the statement in Geneva. In it, the panel of rights experts highlight their concern at the [...]