Syria is experiencing a wave of violence not seen in years that likely amounts to war crimes, top UN-appointed rights investigators said on Monday.

The UN Secretary-General on Monday highlighted the urgent need to defend women's rights which are under threat, citing a reversal in hard-won progress, increasing violence against women and a growing digital gender divide.

A Ramadan ceasefire for Gaza must be implemented immediately, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday, the first day of the Muslim holy month.

Amid worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, briefed the Security Council in New York on Monday on her recent report relating to the 7 October attacks ...

The UN Secretary-General on Saturday highlighted the urgent need for a negotiated political solution in Syria, emphasizing the protection of civilians and the dire humanitarian situation.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday outlined a comprehensive set of measures to counter religious hatred, emphasizing the urgent need for concerted action to address the rising levels of discrimination and violence.

A recent sharp rise in deadly attacks against civilians in Ukraine and Russia, including by armed drones, run counter to international law and must end now, top UN officials told the Security Council on Friday afternoon.

Any assault by Israeli forces on the densely populated city of Rafah where 1.5 million have sought shelter following mass displacement, will hugely increase the risk of atrocity crimes, the UN High Commissioner for Human rights warned on Friday.

The UN Security Council on Friday adopted a key resolution on Sudan, calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the war-torn country during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Sunday.

Violent repression of peaceful protests and pervasive institutional discrimination against women and girls has led to serious human rights violations by Iran – many amounting to crimes against humanity – the Independent International Fact-Finding Missi...

More than 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM); an increase of 30 million or 15 per cent compared with figures from 2016, new UN estimates revealed on Friday.

The UN chief on Friday launched a plan to boost empowerment of women and girls around the world, unveiling details at a meeting commemorating International Women’s Day on the theme of investing in women and girls.

An international maritime aid corridor to Gaza could be in operation as early as Sunday, according to the head of the European Commission, working closely with the UN’s Senior Humanitarian Coordinator and other international partners.

The Afghan economy and especially regions affected by the devastating earthquakes in October last year, “are still hurting”, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said on Thursday, as restrictions on women and girls continue to thwart basic rights and ec...

The plan by Israel’s Government to build more than 3,400 housing units in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank was condemned on Thursday by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

Life is rapidly being choked out of northern Gaza. After enduring nearly five months of bombing, starvation, illness, pain and suffering, many of the last survivors have finally had enough, according to some of the displaced who have been speaking to U...

The benefits of cutting-edge technology remain out of reach for around 2.6 billion people globally who are still waiting for an Internet connection the head of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) said on Thursday, outlining the agency’s pl...

The UN Secretary-General on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan and unhindered humanitarian access as the country teeters on the brink of further disintegration.

Days from the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and with no ceasefire agreement in sight for Gaza, UN humanitarians reiterated deep concerns on Thursday that a growing number of children are dying of starvation. 

The annual UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meets in March each year to address the widespread inequalities, violence and discrimination women continue to face all around the world.

At the current rate of investment, more than 340 million women and girls will still live in extreme poverty by 2030, according to UN Women. As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on 8 March by investing in women, we look at what needs to be ...

Much more lifesaving humanitarian aid must be allowed into Gaza where one in six children is dangerously malnourished in the north of the war-torn enclave, UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

The UN envoy for Afghanistan on Wednesday repeated her call for the Taliban to reverse its numerous restrictions on the lives of women and girls in violation of their human rights, warning that the longer they remain in place, the more damage will be d...

The UN migration agency (IOM) announced on Wednesday that last year was the deadliest on record for migrants worldwide.

“Hunger has reached catastrophic levels,” Jamie McGoldrick, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told journalists at UN Headquarters on Wednesday, describing a two-day visit to war-ravaged Gaza.

Nearly 11 months since rival generals declared war in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday that the conflict risks triggering “the world’s worst hunger crisis”.

The UN independent expert on human rights and the environment on Wednesday called for an urgent and radical shift in how business and the global economy operates to prevent irreversible damage to Earth’s life support system and safeguard human rights.

Amid a mass prison breakout, expanding gang violence and rising hunger, the UN human rights chief on Wednesday urged the international community to act “swiftly and decisively to prevent the Caribbean country’s further descent into chaos”.

In 1953, UN Member States elected India’s political dynamo Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit as the eighth President of the General Assembly, the first woman ever elected to the role. Ahead of International Women’s Day, marked on 8 March, we look back at the huge ...

Following a 17-day visit to Israel, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict reported on Monday that she and a team of experts had found “clear and convincing information” of rape, and sexualized torture being committed against host...

Negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza continued in Egypt for a second day on Monday as the UN’s top rights official warned that the war there risked morphing into a much “wider conflagration” enveloping every country in the Middle East and beyond. 

Having heard a briefing by Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), ambassadors at the General Assembly are discussing the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the critical work of the agency. The meeting f...

The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Ghada Waly has highlighted the threats of transnational organized crime, terrorism, and corruption which is plaguing Somalia.

Dozens of elections taking place this year around the world will likely be “free from hatred” and respect the will of the people, but there are warning signs that several polls may not - from Bangladesh to Chad, Hungary, Russia and Senegal, UN rights c...

A senior official with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for wider and safer humanitarian access in Gaza, where malnourished babies are slowly dying while the world watches.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for action now to protect nature in his message to mark World Wildlife Day on Sunday.

The Gaza conflict “is also a war on women”, who continue to suffer its devastating impacts, the UN agency championing gender equality has said.

More funding is needed to support Small Island Developing States (SIDS) on the frontlines of climate change, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Saturday in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.