Women activists from war-torn Syria have been a "glimmer of hope" in a peace process that has been very "challenging and depressing", the head of UN Women's Arab States Section has said. Hiba Qasas was speaking ahead of a meeting with members of the Syrian Women's Advisory Board to the UN Special Envoy for the [...]

Eight countries which have so far failed to ratify a Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty are holding the international community "hostage". That's according to Lassina Zerbo, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). He took part in an informal meeting organized by the General Assembly at UN Headquarters on [...]

Around 1,000 South Sudanese are fleeing across the border into Uganda each day in what the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is describing as a "children's emergency." Since fighting between rival factions loyal to the President and former first Vice President erupted in early July, around 100,000 civilians have sought safety in Uganda. The UNHCR chief [...]

Eight oil-producing countries in Africa are facing a "very significant" economic shock following the collapse in oil prices over the past two years. A barrel currently costs around US$50 on global markets, down from a high of US$125. The countries mostly badly hit are Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria and [...]

"Nigeria displaced are close to starvation" In Nigeria, displaced people including children are on the verge of starvation and need help urgently after the liberation of areas previously held by terror group Boko Haram. The appeal comes from Chaloka Beyani, who's the United Nations expert on internally displaced persons (IDPs). He's just returned from north-east [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from United Nations Radio, with Matthew Wells and Dianne Penn. In today’s programme: women and girls face a "double whammy" when it comes to the millions of hours wasted fetching and carrying water each day: the UN Children's Fund explains why; and state-sanctioned forced disappearances leave communities [...]

Time wasted collecting water is a "double whammy" for women and girls around the world. That's according to Sanjay Wijesekera, Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene programmes at the UN Children's Fund, (UNICEF). He said that apart from losing time that could be spent in class, girls' health also suffers due to the hard physical [...]

In Nigeria, the terror campaign carried out by Boko Haram extremists and the government's efforts to defeat them have left civilians malnourished to the point of starvation, a leading UN rights expert has said. The warning comes from Chaloka Beyani, who's the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Just back from north-east [...]

Tributes have been paid following the death of the first woman to serve as a United Nations Under-Secretary-General; the third highest rank in the global organization. Dame Margaret Anstee, who was from the United Kingdom, joined the UN in 1952 and was appointed as a so-called USG in 1987. She was also the first woman [...]

The origin of three separate  chemical weapons attacks in Syria has been clearly established following an "independent, impartial, and objective" investigation mandated by the UN Security Council. The so-called Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), led by a three-person Leadership Panel, examined nine cases of documented chemical weapons use to establish who was responsible for using them. The Panel found sufficient [...]