Togolese girl addressing UN Special Session on Children. Will the world be fit for Africa's children?	Invest in us, African children tell world leaders UN Africa Recovery, New York -- It is not every day that presidents and prime ministers are lectured to by children and listen respectfully. It is rarer still for the lecturers and the lectured to be Africans, given the deference to elders expected of African youth. But on 9 May a group of African youngsters met with their leaders at the UN Special Session on Children and lambasted them for failures ranging from ignoring their parliaments to not hiring enough teachers. Past promises to children have not been met, noted Gael Mbemba, a 17-year-old youth from Chad. "The result is not what you said," he told the presidents. "Listen to the children not with you ears, but with your hearts." FULL FEATURE

Pataki, Annan and Giuliani at 'ground zero' (18/09/01)

Tremors from the devastating explosions at the World Trade Center on 11 September did not jolt the foundation of another famous New York landmark some 50 blocks north of ground zero - the United Nations complex. But the horrifying terrorist attack against the United States sent shock waves throughout the UN - from Secretariat offices to Member States' capitals - triggering an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy and support for the city and the country, a torrent of condemnation for the conspirators and a groundswell of resolve to bring them to justice. FULL TEXT

Spotted pigs	From spotted pigs to rare trees: how a UN-backed organization in Poland is fighting poverty and saving the environment New York, June 2001 -- Gold-speckled swine and ancient fruit orchards may not be the first things that spring to mind when thinking of the global fight against poverty, but in a small village in western Poland, breeding pigs and planting trees are just two ways a United Nations-supported organization has empowered one of the country's most underprivileged populations.

Mobile health teams	Mango tree investigators fight sleeping sickness Democratic Republic of Congo, June 2001 -- Thousands of people in Sub Saharan Africa are dying and being damaged by a disease thought banished 30 years ago. Now in the war-scarred lands of the Democratic Republic of Congo, health workers are fighting back and hoping the outbreak of peace in the human war will let them do more.

UN 'Global Compact' principles appearing in international labour accords
New York, March 2001 -- Sixteen thousand oil workers in 23 countries -- including Vietnam, Venezuela, Angola and Azerbaijan -- are now covered by a pact which not only guarantees respect for their labour rights and for their health and safety on the job, but also holds their employer to a commitment to promote human rights, environmental and labour standards in their respective communities....Click here for full feature

With peace agreements signed, the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea gets under way
Addis Ababa/Asmara, December 2000 – It is a pageant of humanity - colours, faces, ages. Several thousand people singing, ululating, waving homemade signs saying "We Want Peace." Old men in fedoras, women in white netselas, exuberant children testing the limits of local crowd control. Secretary-General Kofi Annan slowly makes his way from his helicopter into the public square of the Eritrean town of Adi Keyh, surrounded by journalists and an entourage of blue....Click here for full feature

• "Pill popping culture" grows as people use drugs to change image and behaviour - 23/02/01

• Drug traffickers exploit the Internet to avoid national anti-narcotics laws - 22/02/01