Former child soldiers need to be treated humanely and "not as menaces" to society, an advocate for children's rights has said. Kabba Williams was one of those forcefully recruited in Sierra Leone by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, at the age of 7. Rescued and reintegrated into his community with the support of the [...]

Listen to a bulletin of news and features from United Nations Radio, with Dianne Penn and Jocelyne Sambira. In today's programme: A human rights expert visits China this week to learn how the country is combatting poverty; and an appeal to help Ethiopian farmers feed millions affected by drought.

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 to support farmers so they can produce food for millions of their [...]

Although China has made significant progress in slashing extreme poverty, the country still faces challenges in fighting this problem. Human rights expert Philip Alston is in the country this week to find out more about the global giant's efforts to address the issue. This is Mr Alston's first visit to China since being appointed UN [...]

One young Ugandan studying agriculture in Central America has big plans to return home and help African farming become more climate-friendly. Tom Okot, who was internally displaced from his war-torn home region of Northern Uganda, is a student at Earth University, in Costa Rica. He was one of the 60 winners of a multilingual essay contest  [...]

Doing the right thing is "good business" and companies that don't see the connection won't survive in the long run. That's what the head of a non-profit that helps businesses build a more just and sustainable world said, on the margins of a UN debate on ending forced labour. People need to make the connection [...]

The participation of Congolese refugees in the Olympics is a "huge victory", according to members of their community. Congolese Judokas Yolande Mabike and Popole Misenga competed on August 10th and were watched by members of the Congolese community who cried and celebrated as Yolande lost and Popole won his first round. For the first time [...]

Youth employment key to achieving global development goals Investment in youth employment is "indispensable" to the global effort to eradicate poverty and achieve a sustainable future for all. That's the message from the head of the International Labour Organization (ILO), for International Youth Day, observed this Friday, 12 August. Roughly 200 million people worldwide are [...]

A UN fund which supports countries emerging from conflict, needs an extra US$70 million just to keep up with current demand, according to a senior UN official. The UN Peace Building Commission was established in 2005 to serve post-conflict countries in need of aid, such as Colombia. In recent years there has been a shift [...]

As people continue to flee insecurity in South Sudan, neighbouring countries are "straining" from the weight of absorbing the displaced, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday. UNHCR says there are some 930,000 South Sudandese refugees in the region but that number is on track to reach one million "within a matter of weeks." [...]