A team from the UN's mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has been selected as finalists for the annual Secretary General Awards, after carrying out an emergency life-saving operation. The mission's Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Liaison section carried out the operation in February 2013, in response to inter-communal violence in the troubled North Darfur region. The [...]

  Diabetes is not just a health issue, but a disease which concerns the whole of society, according to a spokesperson from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Changes in life-style in countries across the world are resulting in more cases of the sometimes fatal condition. Around 422 million people now suffer from diabetes, a figure [...]

Collaboration between developing countries, or south-south cooperation as it's known, has been hailed as "a powerful way" to support vulnerable nations. That viewpoint has been expressed by the senior UN official who is galvanizing global action to bring about a more sustainable future for all. Dr David Nabarro is the Special Adviser to the UN [...]

Members of the UN Security Council visiting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have called for an end to "acts of terrorism" taking place in Beni. The delegation, led by Angola and France, travelled to the North Kivu town on Sunday to assess the security situation there. The people are suffering from years of [...]

Children, whose gender cannot be defined as male or female are often forced by their parents to undergo surgery in an attempt to "normalize" their bodies, according to a UN official. Charles Radcliffe, head of the UN Free & Equal Campaign, said that this medical procedure could leave "terrible scars", such as incontinence, loss of [...]

This year is "very likely" to be the world's hottest year on record according to the  World  Meteorological Organization (WMO). Preliminary data released by the UN agency shows that 2016's global temperatures are approximately 1.2 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Petteri Taalas is the Secretary-General of the WMO. Daniel Dickinson asked him how concerned he was [...]

Despite a decade of impressive economic growth in Paraguay, 10 per cent of citizens there are facing hunger and malnutrition. The warning comes from UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Hilal Elver, who added that the nation of seven million also produces enough food for almost nine times its population. Ms Elver has [...]

A new peace agreement between Colombia and the FARC rebels reaffirms the country's desire for peace, according to the UN Secretary-General. In a statement issued Sunday by his Spokesperson, Ban Ki-moon praised Colombians for listening to one another throughout this exercise. A plebiscite in early October defeated the first agreement, a culmination of a historic four [...]

Indigenous people across the world have made "contributions" to help mitigate climate change by conserving forests and high biodiversity areas. However, according to the UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, governments often do not "recognize" their efforts. She added that their rights to maintain their property and practice their beliefs [...]

An estimated 1.7 per cent of new-born babies across the world can be classified as intersex, which means their gender cannot simply be defined as male or female. That's according to the UN Free & Equal Campaign, initiated by the UN Office for Human Rights. The campaign is working with intersex people to raise awareness [...]