Vaccination campaign targets six million children in Iraq A five-day campaign has been launched to immunize over six million under-fives in Iraq. Those being targeted include more than 400,000 children in newly liberated areas of Mosul, where a military offensive is underway to free the northern city from the terrorist group ISIL, also known [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from United Nations, with Matthew Wells and Dianne Penn. In today's programme… "Absolutely nothing justifies" the continuing use of siege tactics endangering thousands of children's lives across Syria says the UN… And, we'll hear how a scholarship programme for refugees is restoring the dream of a real [...]

A scholarship programme administered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is restoring hope among young people displaced by the conflict in South Sudan. The DAFI scholarship programme, which the German government has funded for the past 25 years, has allowed more than 2,000 refugees in 41 countries to continue their post-secondary education. DAFI is the [...]

"Absolutely nothing" justifies the continuing use of siege tactics by the warring parties in Syria, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday. UNICEF's Regional Director Geert Cappelaere said that escalating violence in the besieged eastern city of Deir ez-Zor had put 93,000 civilians at risk, including more than 40,000 children. The extremist group ISIL, [...]

Depriving children of their freedom should be a measure of "last resort", according to a UN independent expert, speaking on Monday. Manfred Nowak, who is leading a UN Global Study on children deprived of liberty, said that education and social care is better than locking children up in detention centres. According to the UN's Human [...]

Gender equality must be the "benchmark" for measuring progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, the 17 global targets aimed at bringing about a more just world for people everywhere. That's the opinion of the head of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum taking [...]

Former Gambian President Yayah Jammeh has been commended for his “goodwill and statesmanship” and his will to preserve peace and stability in the country by agreeing to facilitate a peaceful and orderly transition of power. The West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, the African Union (AU) and the UN made the remarks in a statement released late [...]

  Muslim women are especially prone to hate crimes and should become more "visible" in the media to make their voices heard. That's the view of Zarqa Nawaz, a filmmaker and writer who spoke recently at a UN forum on combating anti-Muslim discrimination and hatred. The forum at UN Headquarters in New York, brought together [...]

Well-managed data can support efforts to deliver aid to millions of people affected by natural and man-made catastrophes, according to the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA. Stephen O'Brien said because data can "make facts our friends," it supports the decision making process and also shields aid workers from being viewed as being [...]

Tourism is a "perfect tool" to promote and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as it contributes to job creation, poverty reduction and economic growth. That's according to Ambassador Carlos Garcia of the United Nations Associations of El Salvador, a non-profit that recently organized a High-Level Meeting on Sustainable Tourism at UN Headquarters in New [...]