Joint efforts and strengthened cooperation are crucial for improving the situation of asylum-seekers and refugees in Greece, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has urged. The agency issued eight recommendations on Monday aimed at putting in place a sustainable refugee response in the European country. As of 20 March, only 10,000 asylum-seekers had left Greece for [...]

Health situation in East Ghouta "deteriorating" warns UN health agency The deteriorating health situation in Syria's eastern Ghouta region in Rural Damascus, where more than 300 000 people are besieged, is a serious cause for concern. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning on Monday as well as a call for "uninterrupted humanitarian access" [...]

Following successful elections, the longer-term objective for Somalia and the international community "has to be" to prevent famine from "ever happening again." That's the view of the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, UNSOM, Michael Keating. He was at UN Headquarters in New York to address the Security Council on conditions in Somalia, [...]

Myanmar violations to face international inquiry An international probe has been set up to investigate rights abuses against Muslim communities in Myanmar. The decision was taken at the Human Rights Council on Friday. It follows what the UN human rights office described as "unprecedented" violence in Rakhine state in October, allegedly involving abuses by government [...]

  Curbing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, or SLCPs, such as as black carbon and methane, can slow down the warming of the planet, Rita Cerruti and Helena Molina Valdes of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) have said. Speaking on the margins of a High-Level UN event on Climate Change and the Sustainable [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from the United Nations, with Jocelyne Sambira and Matthew Wells. In today's programme: The destruction of cultural heritage by terrorists is a "war crime," says the head of the UN cultural agency, UNESCO. And … Keeping with the theme of culture: African rhythms permeate the music of [...]

  Descendants of slaves have "made their mark" in every field: UN chief The descendants of slaves have "made their mark" in "every field of human endeavour" said the UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday. He was speaking on Friday during a commemoration event at UN Headquarters in New York, marking the International Day of [...]

The destruction of cultural heritage by terrorists, described as "cultural cleansing" by the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), is a war crime. Irina Bokova made the remarks on Friday after members of the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on the protection of cultural heritage sites in armed conflict. UNESCO, [...]

Slavery is the last great "unmentionable" that has profoundly shaped every corner of the world although it happened centuries ago, the Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture has said. Dr Lonnie Bunch III made the remarks ahead of a UN General Assembly event to mark the International Day of Remembrance [...]

The UN Special Envoy for Syria said on Saturday he was “deeply concerned” at the recent escalation in fighting in Damascus and elsewhere around the country. Intra-Syrian talks are under way in Geneva amid what Staffan de Mistura called "difficult" conditions created by the intensifying fighting of recent days. The Syria conflict is now in [...]