In today's programme: … A young refugee mother in Uganda shares her story And: Praise for UN peacekeeper's response in support of a recent aid emergency in South Sudan

British engineers who have recently joined the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) are enjoying a unique experience according to the Commanding Officer of the contingent. Up to 400 engineers will eventually be deployed in the towns of Malakal and Bentiu. Daniel Dickinson caught up with Lieutenant Colonel Jason Ainley, the Commanding Officer of [...]

Nearly one million people in Sri Lanka are at risk of going hungry due to severe drought followed by heavy rainfall, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Thursday. Extreme drought conditions in 2016 and earlier this year led to widespread crop failures, particularly for the main staple food, rice. The situation was [...]

Iraqi children trapped in "endless cycle" of violence and poverty: UNICEF Iraqi children are trapped in "an endless cycle of violence and increasing poverty," according to a new UN Children's Fund report. The UNICEF assessment, "Nowhere to Go," examines how children have been effected by the uptick in violence since the ISIL, or Daesh, terrorist [...]

New UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador will advocate for young refugees A teenage refugee from Syria will use her role as Goodwill Ambassador with the UN children's agency, UNICEF, to urge world leaders to stand with children uprooted by war. Muzoon Almellehan, 19, is the youngest person and the first official refugee, ever to be appointed to [...]

Peacekeepers at the UN mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, are being praised by the top UN official in the country for their speedy response in support of a recent humanitarian emergency in the north. The 80 blue helmets from Rwanda were helicoptered into the remote village of Aburoc, located in the Upper Nile region, where [...]

Despite ebb in famine, conflict fuelling rise in hunger in South Sudan Although famine has eased in South Sudan, the number of people struggling to find food is still going up, UN agencies and their partners warned on Wednesday. More than six million people are now facing hunger, largely due to conflict, up from 4.9 [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from the United Nations, with Dianne Penn and Matt Wells. In today’s programme: … Uganda hosts "solidarity summit" amid fast-growing refugee emergency And: Sri Lanka food production hit hard by extreme drought, heavy rains: FAO

  Life-saving aid delivered by road to Qamishli for first time since 2015 Around 15,000 people living in the Syrian town of Qamishli have received aid deliveries by land for the first time since December 2015. Three trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP) used a newly-opened land corridor to reach the town, which is [...]

Urgent appeal for civilian protection in Syria: UN chief An urgent appeal has been made by the UN Secretary-General for combatants in Syria's six-year civil war to do "everything in their power to protect civilians." In a statement issued on Wednesday, UN chief AntĂłnio Guterres said he was "deeply alarmed" at the sheer depths of [...]