15 August 2018 — For four years, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been taking governments across the world to task, exposing human rights violations and robustly advocating for the rights of victims.
15 August 2018 — With the death toll rising after days of intense fighting for the Afghan city of Ghazni, south-west of Kabul, the Head of the United Nations mission in the country (UNAMA) said on Wednesday that the situation was “unacceptable” and called on warring parties to lay down their arms and seek a political solution to the conflict.
14 August 2018 — As the world’s problems grow, multilateralism represents to best path to meet the challenges that lie ahead, said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday, launching his annual report.
14 August 2018 — Libyan militias have forced nearly 2,000 people from an ethnic minority likely targeted for their alleged links to the former Gadaffi Government, to flee long-established shelters in the capital Tripoli, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.
13 August 2018 — Attacks against children caught in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen must stop, the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, appealed on Monday.
13 August 2018 — In a report released on Monday, the United Nations urged Somalia to take steps to ensure future elections are not marred by the human rights violations and abuses committed during the 2016-2017 electoral process.
10 August 2018 — The United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday approved the nomination of former two-time President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, effective from 1 September.
9 August 2018 — UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday condemned an air strike by pro-Yemini Government coalition forces, which killed scores of children who were on board a bus travelling through a busy market area in the northern province of Saada.
At a time of unprecedented human mobility, indigenous women are on the move too, often fleeing violence, environmental disasters and land encroachments that have eaten into their sources of food, water and way of life. The positive economic spin-offs of migration don’t always reach them. Theirs is a move also for justice, as they mobilize to make their voices heard, demand punishment for perpetrators and reparations to restore their dignity. UN Women works with indigenous women around the world as they strive for rights, protection and their rightful seat at any table where decisions impacting their lives are being made.
There are currently 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in the world. This is the largest youth population ever. But 1 in 10 of the world’s children live in conflict zones and 24 million of them are out of school. Political instability, labour market challenges and limited space for political and civic participation have led to increasing isolation of youth in societies. 12 August was first designated International Youth Day by the UN General Assembly in 1999, and serves as an annual celebration of the role of young women and men as essential partners in change, and an opportunity to raise awareness of challenges and problems facing the world’s youth. #YouthDay
This World Humanitarian Day we continue to bring attention to the millions of civilians affected by armed conflict every day. People in cities and towns struggle to find food, water, and safe shelter, while fighting drives millions from their homes. Children are recruited and used to fight, and their schools are destroyed. Women are abused and humiliated. As humanitarian workers deliver aid, and medical workers treat the wounded and sick, they are directly targeted, treated as threats, and prevented from bringing relief and care to those in desperate need. Join the #NotATarget movement and demand world leaders to do everything in their power to protect all civilians in conflict.
Mina Baghat, 26, is a refugee with an intellectual disability living in Almere, in the Netherlands. He won two bronze medals in the short-track speed skating at the 2017 Special Olympics. Before leaving the Middle East in 2009, Mina was bullied for being different. In Almere, Mina found a welcome in the non-profit organization Super COOL!, which gives young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the opportunity to live their lives as fully as possible. “Special Olympics gave me a new home,” said Mina. “When I heard the cheers in the stadium, I thought, ‘People want me here. I belong.’ Now, my dream is to compete in the Olympics!” UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says there are 7.7 million refugees living with a disability, with about half a million living with an intellectual disability.
UNDP has joined the Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a consortium of companies, academics, and NGOs working to ensure that AI is developed in a safe, ethical, and transparent manner. Founded in 2016 by the tech giants - Amazon, DeepMind/Google, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft - it has since been joined by industry leaders, as well as non-profit organizations, such as UNICEF and Human Rights Watch. Through the partnership, UNDP’s Innovation Facility will work with partners and communities to responsibly test and scale the use of AI to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The Innovation Facility provides technical support and funding to UNDP teams around the world to test frontier tech and apply new approaches to deliver better results.
