Listen to a bulletin of news and features from the United Nations, with Dianne Penn and Matthew Wells. In today's programme: UNICEF seeks $3.3 billion in emergency assistance for 48 million children worldwide And we hear why putting youth in leadership positions always "pays off"  

A "massive, structural transformation" is needed to advance women's political representation in Somalia, a female member of parliament or MP has urged. Asha Gelle Dirie was appointed Chairperson of the Committee of Goodwill Ambassadors in the Horn of Africa country to help women secure 30 per cent of seats in the Federal Parliament. Women faced [...]

Almost one in four children today lives in a country affected by conflict or disaster, the UN said Tuesday, in a call for US$ 3.3 billion to help them. UN Children's Fund UNICEF launched the appeal in Geneva, warning that youngsters are under direct attack in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, as well as in South [...]

Comprehensive sex education programmes are important to stop the spread of HIV among young people, a Programme Director for the Uganda Network of Young Positives has said. Nicholas Niwagaba, who is also a member of the UNAIDS network called Act2015, spoke on the margins of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum held at [...]

Young people are still seen as a "problem and liability" in some parts of the world, and yet the UN has shown that putting them in leadership positions always "pays off". That's according to the outgoing UN Youth Envoy, Ahmad Alhendawi, who was also the youngest person in UN history to serve at such a [...]

Teachers and pupils in the war-torn eastern part of Mosul are celebrating the reopening of schools this week, although the battle to liberate the entire city from ISIL terrorists is far from over. Around 750,000 remain trapped in the western part of Iraq's second city, but with the fighting over in the east, the UN [...]

Young people are "ready and able to do the heavy lifting" to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Youth Envoy has urged. Ahmad Alhendawi shared his message shortly before the opening of the annual Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum on Monday. Youth delegates and ministers from over 70 countries are meeting in [...]

The world of work is changing and women should be empowered to "leapfrog" into high-tech or green jobs in the future, the Deputy-Executive Director of UN Women has said. Lakshmi Puri shared this message with delegates at a multi-stakeholder forum on "Women's Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work". It is also the priority [...]

If the world is to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) then "billions" of dollars need to be unlocked from the private sector, as well as public coffers. That's the message from the World Bank Group's Vice President on Development and Finance, Axel van Trotsenburg. He was speaking ahead of a meeting organized in [...]

The protection of the rainforests needs to be one of the top priorities for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in the year ahead, according to its executive director. Erik Solheim said trees were a critical part of the battle against climate change since around 20% of global carbon emissions are being generated through the destruction [...]