Female Olympic athletes show "we are all created equal, we can all achieve" Seeing women compete and succeed in the 2016 Rio Olympics shows the world that "we are all created equal, and we can all achieve". That's according to UN Women's social media manager, Beatrice Frey, who has returned from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [...]

Farmers need extra US$45 million to ward off El Niño in Ethiopia Farmers battling drought in Ethiopia have "a small window of opportunity" this September to plant a last set of crops for the year, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The UN agency is appealing for US $45 million in additional funding [...]

More than 850 people killed in the Philippines in crackdown on crime The Philippines should stop the unlawful killing of people suspected of drug-related offences, two UN independent experts have urged. More than 850 people have reportedly been killed since May when Rodrigo Duterte was elected President vowing to crack down on crime. Over 650 [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from United Nations Radio, with Dianne Penn and Jocelyne Sambira. In today's programme: Twelve countries report an overall drop in child refugee detentions; and, how women Olympic athletes are breaking barriers and starting conversations.

The number of refugee children in detention centres in 12 countries fell by 14 per cent over the past two years, according to a report launched by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The study details achievements made by countries that have adopted a UNHCR strategy aimed at ending the detention of asylum seekers and refugees. [...]

The UN and its partners are ready to relieve the emergency needs of the most vulnerable people in the world, but safe and unimpeded access is needed. That's the message Stephen O'Brien, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, shared in the run-up to World Humanitarian Day (WHD) observed on 19 August. WHD is an annual reminder [...]

UN and Haiti "heavily engaged" in eradicating cholera The UN and the Government of Haiti have been "heavily engaged" in cholera eradication since the 2010 outbreak, the international organization said on Thursday. Cholera deaths, which over the past six years totalled about 9,000, have dramatically decreased to 168 fatalities in 2016. The focus has been [...]

Seeing women compete and succeed in the 2016 Rio Olympics shows the world that "we are all created equal, and we can all achieve". That's according to UN Women's social media manager, Beatrice Frey, who has returned from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this week. Ms Frey has been working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) [...]

Climate change is not a "vague concept" but reality, and it is having an impact on people everywhere. That's the opinion of Patricia Espinosa Cantellano who has been appointed Executive Director of the UN climate change secretariat, the UNFCCC. The veteran diplomat from Mexico was in Paris last December for the signing of the landmark [...]

South Sudan's leaders "should not accept impunity" when it comes to violence against aid workers and humanitarian facilities, a senior UN official in the country has stated. UN Humanitarian Coordinator Eugune Owusu has condemned a recent brutal attack at a hotel in the capital, Juba, in which a local journalist was killed and several civilians [...]