CAR leaders urged to put country's interests first Leaders in the Central African Republic (CAR) have been urged by the UN Deputy Secretary-General to put the best interests of the country above all else. Jan Eliasson is on a two-day visit to the nation, where he met with the President on Wednesday before addressing [...]

The way in which corruption is measured in Africa is unreliable and it doesn't give the whole picture, a new report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has found. The assessment is based mostly on an individual's perception of the extent of the crime and often ignores the international dimension of corrupt acts [...]

Organised crime, ethnic and armed conflicts and a rise in demand for information from the public about corruption has resulted in more acts of violence against journalists. That's according to Frank La Rue, from the UN cultural agency UNESCO. More than 800 journalists have been killed in the course of their work over the past [...]

Aleppo violence claims new victims in rebel and government areas In Syria's Aleppo, deadly fighting between armed rebel groups and pro-government forces has escalated in recent days and may constitute war crimes by both sides, the UN said Tuesday. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), more than 30 civilians [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from United Nations Radio, with Matthew Wells and Dianne Penn. In today's programme: the UN chief says he's “deeply  distressed” by the findings of an official investigation into how the UN responded to major fighting across South Sudan's capital last July. We’ll hear from the man who [...]

Malnourishment is becoming so severe in war-torn Yemen that children and parents are laying side-by-side in hospital beds, "too sick to move". That's according to Muhannad Hadi, the World Food Programme's Regional Director for the Middle East, speaking at UN Headquarters about his latest visit to Yemen. He described the scenes he had witnessed of [...]

An outbreak of violence in South Sudan in July in which some 300 people died and many women were raped was characterised by a "lack of leadership" and clarity over the UN's mandate, the head of an independent special investigation team has said. Acts of violence were committed against civilians and peacekeepers in the capital [...]

UN mission to verify Colombia ceasefire The "green light" has been given to the UN political mission in Colombia to verify a ceasefire in the country, a senior UN official there has reported. UN Special Representative Jean Arnault has welcomed what he called the "unanimous support" shown by the Security Council, which has written to [...]

Volunteerism is a basic form of "social expression" and should be open to anyone who wants to contribute to the social good. That's according to Geoffrey Prewitt, the Chief of Development Programming at UN Volunteers (UNV). Globally, there are around 7000 UNVs, as they are known, working in approximately 130 countries. Pierre Marc Rene spoke to [...]

Four years ago, there were only 10 qualified midwives in South Sudan, which has a population of more than 12 million. Today, more than 300 of these skilled workers are deployed across the country, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA Deputy Country Representative Dr Wilfred Ochan described the rise in midwives as one of [...]