As International Youth Day events kicked off worldwide today, at a special event in Iraq, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, pledged to do everything in her power to ensure the voices of youths, including those working to build peace, are heard. “Today, thousands of young women and men work tirelessly, often under very […]
Decades of conflict and under-investment have placed a huge strain on Iraq’s healthcare system – with pregnant women and their babies paying for it with their lives, according to three United Nations agencies. “Although progress has been made to lower maternal mortality rates, there has been slow headway in reducing the mortality rates for children […]
Ten years after the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, progress in several countries has been made in formally recognizing indigenous peoples, but overwhelmingly they continue to face discrimination, marginalization and major challenges in enjoying their basic rights. “While indigenous peoples have made significant advancements in advocating for their rights in international […]
The United Nations refugee agency has expressed a grave concern over the deteriorating conditions for refugees and asylum seekers at Australia’s offshore immigration processing facility on the Manus Island of Papua New Guinea. The Government of Australia has announced the closure of the Manus Regional Processing Centre, seeking to relocate people in detention to Lorengau […]
The Government of Kenya should urge all parties to maintain the highest standards of behaviour before, during and after Tuesday’s general elections to avoid a repeat of the violence that took place in 2007, three United Nations human rights experts have said. “We call on the Kenyan authorities to do their utmost to ensure peaceful elections, […]
With the presence of some 15,000 nuclear weapons on earth, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today urged all States to intensify their efforts in the shared pursuit of a nuclear-weapons-free world. “Our dream of a world free of nuclear weapons remains far from reality,” said Mr. Guterres in his message delivered on his behalf by High Representative for Disarmament […]