Former child soldiers should be treated as victims and not security threats in the year ahead, the UN special envoy for children and armed conflict has urged. Many of them experience trauma and stigma that can make it difficult to go back to their communities or the classroom, says Leila Zerrougi. In the past 20 [...]

The killing of two peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Tuesday has been condemned by the UN mission there. The blue helmets, who were part of a battalion from Morocco, were escorting fuel trucks, when they were ambushed by unknown assailants. Two other peacekeepers were injured, one seriously, according to Vladimir Monteiro, spokesperson [...]

  Mosul operation displaces more than 130,000 Nearly 132,000 people have been displaced by the Iraqi military operation to liberate the city of Mosul from the ISIL terrorist group, the United Nations has reported. At least 114,000 of these civilians are now sheltered in camps and emergency sites. Humanitarians have reached more than 500,000 people [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from United Nations, with Matthew Wells and Dianne Penn. In today's programme:  The new UN chief outlines a challenge to staff to change, reform and improve… And, despite the ongoing conflicts and crises that beset the world, positive developments lie ahead, the President of the UN General [...]

Some five and a half million people in Syria's capital Damascus, have been deprived of water for the past seventeen days, according to a representative of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the war-torn country. Fighting in the Wadi Barada area where much of Damascus's water supply originates has resulted in an acute water shortage, [...]

Displacement rises as Mosul fighting intensifies More than 13,000 people have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul since Friday, the UN has reported, as military operations to retake the city from extremists have intensified. The offensive, launched in mid-October by the Iraqi army and its allies, has now entered a second phase. Stéphane Dujarric is [...]

The UN faces "very challenging times" and needs to embark on a new mission "to change and to reform and to improve." That's the message delivered to staff by new UN chief, António Guterres, on his first day at UN Headquarters in New York. The former Portuguese Prime Minister and UN High Commissioner for Refugees [...]

The UN envoy for Iraq has strongly condemned the terrorist attacks carried out in the nation’s capital Baghdad. According to media reports, multiple bombs were detonated across the city on Monday, killing and injuring many civilians. On Saturday, around 28 people were killed when suicide bombers struck another market in Al-Sinak district in the centre [...]

The Secretary-General has condemned a terrorist attack at a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey that happened during New Year’s celebrations. Dozens of people were killed and injured when an unknown gunman reportedly shot at revelers before running away. Members of the Security Council also released a statement earlier denouncing the “barbaric” attack. Jocelyne Sambira reports. UN Secretary-General [...]

The UN Secretary-General is calling on citizens, governments and leaders around the world to make 2017 a year for peace. António Guterres made the appeal ahead of New Year's Day, asking people to join him in making this shared resolution. The new threat of global terrorism affects everyone, he said, noting that whole regions are [...]