Heavily loaded truck transporting goods and people in the Sahara Desert, Chad.
Migrants

Act today: You could be part of the solution

Unlocking migration’s potential is key to accelerating efforts to meet the significant challenges of the 2030 Agenda. People on the move are powerful drivers for development in both their origin and destination countries, serving as workers, students, entrepreneurs, family members, artists, and much more. On International Migrants Day (18 December), we celebrate and reflect on the contributions of millions of migrants worldwide. Every person can make a difference. Every person can be an agent of change. Our collective actions today will prepare us for a better tomorrow.

Because of climate change, conflict and pronounced economic disparity, many people have little choice but to find safety and livelihoods elsewhere by moving.
Photo:Adobe Stock/Torsten Pursche
People fleeing fighting in Gaza continue to search for safe places to shelter in the enclave.

Gaza hospital destroyed, WHO chief reiterates ceasefire call

18 December 2023 — The head of the UN health agency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has spoken out against the “effective destruction” of a hospital in northern Gaza by Israeli forces over the weekend...

The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 is getting underway in Australia & New Zealand including at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

‘Illegal betting is the number one factor fuelling corruption in sports’, UN conference hears

16 December 2023 — The global problem of illegal sports betting, the fraudulent manipulation of competitions, and the involvement of organized crime in the sporting world has been tackled at a UN...

UNHCR distributes relief items to returnees at a transit centre in Renk, South Sudan.

Global Refugee Forum ends with bold pledges, solutions for displaced

15 December 2023 — While some of the world’s poorest countries are welcoming refugees “with great hospitality”, the international community must match that generosity with far greater solidarity,...

UN Sustainable Development Goals

17 Goals to transform our world

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries — poor, rich and middle-income — to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

Thomas the Tank engine

Student Resources on the SDGs

Learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals! On our student resources page you will find plenty of materials for young people and adults alike. Share with your family and friends to help achieve a better world for all.

children holding up books

SDG Book Club

Reading and learning are essential to children’s growth and development; stories can fuel their imagination and raise awareness of new possibilities. The SDG Book Club aims to encourage them to learn about the Goals in a fun, engaging way, empowering them to make a difference.

Act Now

ActNow Campaign

ActNow is the United Nations campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs can improve life for all of us and everyone can join the global movement for change. To log your actions, download the app.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Goal of the month

 

Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

Reduce inequality within and among countries

 

More about the UN Sustainable Development Goals

More from the
United Nations

Featured stories from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

COP28 attendees applauding after reaching an agreement to move away from fossil fuels. Climate Change, Natural Resources and the Environment

Agreement at COP28 marks the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) concluded with an agreement that sets the stage for a “swift, just and equitable” transition away from fossil fuels and towards deep cuts in emissions and increased financing. The conference also established a 'global stocktake' to track climate action before the end of the decade and keep the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach. The stocktake recognizes the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by 2030 and calls for a tripling of renewable energy capacity and doubling of energy efficiency improvements by 2030. Parties are encouraged to set ambitious emission reduction targets in their next round of climate action plans (known as nationally determined contributions) by 2025.

A trafficking survivor and his service dog meet with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. OHCHR, Slavery and Human Trafficking

Trafficking survivor: “For six long months, I was sold to the highest bidder”

Suamhirs Piraino-Guzman was 14 years old when he was trafficked from his native Honduras and smuggled by his captors into California. He was held prisoner and regularly drugged, alone in a dark and windowless room where he endured unimaginable suffering. Today, almost 20 years later, as an adult male survivor of child sexual exploitation and trafficking he has become an outspoken public advocate and an active member of survivors’ networks. He has also entered his second year as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. For 30 years, the Trust has been accompanying survivors by donating money to grassroots organizations that provide healthcare, shelter, food, legal aid, vocational training, education, income-generating activities and other support. In 2023, the Fund has aided more than 7,000 people.

A community ranger monitoring wildlife in Kyrgyzstan’s Baiboosun Nature Reserve. UNEP, Wildlife, Climate Change

Restoring wildlife and flourishing forests guard against climate change

In Kyrgyzstan's Tien-Shan mountains, locals work as community rangers to protect the Baiboosun Nature Reserve. This micro-reserve conserves local flora and fauna, including the elusive snow leopard and ibex populations. Since its establishment, sustainable tourism and green businesses have emerged, offering economic opportunities to the community such as running guest houses, producing cheese and crafting felt souvenirs. The Baiboosun Nature Reserve is part of a multi-country initiative to restore ecosystems in mountain regions, coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Mountain Partnership Secretariat of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Carpathian Convention.

Disaster Relief, WFP

Diary from Gaza: “We are starving.”

Hind Khoudary, bears witness to the suffering befalling Gaza and how she and others are surviving. Seven weeks of relentless bombardment has left 1.8 million people displaced and acutely hungry.

SDG 13: Climate Action, UNOPS

Decarbonizing buildings is vital to climate action

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions caused by building materials and construction is vital in the fight for global climate action.

Health Interventions, WHO

Road safety remains urgent global issue

The latest WHO report details the scale of global road traffic deaths, and progress in advancing laws, strategies and actions to reduce them around the world.

Health Interventions, Displaced Persons and Refugees, IOM

Reclaiming dignity for Afghan women

Investing in Afghan women and girls’ menstrual health, preserves their dignity, whose vulnerabilities are exacerbated by displacement and risks of gender-based violence.

What we do

Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, including:

A UNIFIL peacekeeper from Spain on a regular patrol in the vicinity of Al Wazzani, south-eastern Lebanon as the sun sets in the horizon. Since 1948, more than a million women and men have served as UN peacekeepers.

Maintain International Peace and Security

The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices and bodies.

Students at Butkhak High School in Kabul, Afghanistan, cheer in unison on the last day of Global Action Week, an international campaign advocating free, quality education for all.

Protect Human Rights

The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization.  In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law.  Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.

A child has a meal at a food distribution centre in the Rwanda camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), near Tawila, North Darfur. More than 8,000 women and children living in the camp benefit from nutrition programmes run by the World Food Programme

Deliver Humanitarian Aid

One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character."  The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild.  The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

Grace, a farmer from Kipilat village, and a leading member of the forest community in Ainabkoi, Kenya, planting a tree in 2012.

Promote Sustainable Development

From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”  Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that sustainable development offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures filed by Nicaragua on 11 October 2013 in the case concerning Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River.

Uphold International Law

The UN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained."  Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization.  This work is carried out in many ways - by courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security, if it deems this necessary.  These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty.  As such, it is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.  The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Structure of the
United Nations

The main parts of the UN structure are the General Assembly, the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation.

Security Council

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.

Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America).

Secretariat

The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs.

More about the structure of the United Nations

Learn more

Climate Change

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and now is the defining moment to do something about it. There is still time to tackle climate change, but it will require an unprecedented effort from all sectors of society.

Women at UN CSW63 Side Event - “Take the Hot Seat”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Gender Equality

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is greeted on his visit to the Central African Republic

Ending Poverty

While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions still lives on less than US$1.90 a day — the internationally agreed poverty line, and millions of others live on slightly more than this daily amount.

A young girl holds a smiling infant at the Zaatari Refugee Camp

Our Common Agenda

Following up on a pledge made by UN Member States at the UN’s 75th anniversary, the report Our Common Agenda looks ahead to the next 25 years and represents the Secretary-General’s vision on the future of global cooperation. It calls for inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond to humanity’s most pressing challenges.

Watch and Listen

Video and audio from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

Hello Future: S2EP03 - Natural Ally

UNDP presents its 3 episode of season two, Hello Future; The nature and climate crisis is rapidly transitioning from the theoretical and distant to the very real and immediate. Yet transformational change is still possible – and already happening in some places.

A climate solution rap battle

Brooklyn-based rapper Dex McBean, explores the argument on how to avoid a climate carastrophe. 

Human Rights are for everyone

Nobel Literature Laureate Wole Soyinka delivered an address in 1993 to the World Conference on Human Rights as a ‘special guest’ of the UN Secretary-General.

UN Podcasts

Alice holds a notebook while she observes an indoor space

Haunted by Tales of Torture

"There is an increase in the use of torture worldwide. It's partly correlated to the fact that [...] we have more wars going on in this world since 1945. The International Committee of the Red Cross says there are 100 armed conflicts currently going on. And regrettably, with armed conflict comes an uptick in the use of torture and other forms of inhuman treatment."

Dr. Alice Jill Edwards spends many of her days listening to the testimonies of torture victims. Now the UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, she works towards a world in which torture is finally a thing of the past.

"I rebuke the argument that it's a natural coalescence because I think disciplined troops do not torture."

In this episode, Dr. Alice Jill Edwards reflects on the challenge of holding states to their commitments, the visible and invisible scars torture leaves behind, and on the need to recharge without guilt.

Photo: ©United Nations

Latest Audio from UN News

The United Nations in Pictures

Images from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

An 8-year-old Palestinian boy sits in the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip.
Photo:UNICEF/UNI463724/Eyad El Baba

Gaza: Amid conflict and devastation, a child is still a child

Thousands of children have been killed and even more injured across the Gaza Strip, since the beginning of Israel’s offensive against Hamas. Children are still being held hostage. Their basic rights to life and health are being denied, day after day. The loss and trauma they are experiencing will be borne out for generations to come. Children bear no responsibility for war, but they suffer its deepest scars. And they pay the highest price. These are the voices of children in Gaza. To respond to the situation for children in Israel and the State of Palestine, UNICEF is calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all abducted children and the prevention and end to any grave violations against children, including killing and injuring.

A woman harvesting Pearl Millet after a morning gathering Marula fruit to make traditional beer and oil.
Photo:© Jonathon Rees

International Photo Contest: Unleashing the potential of millets

The International Year of Millets 2023 Photo Contest has received hundreds of great pictures from over 50 countries around the world. The images demonstrate the many benefits of millets, from their diversity to the variety of nutritious dishes they can produce, their ability to thrive on arid lands, and their market potential. The contest jury had a tough time deciding on the first prize, which went to Jonathon Rees from South Africa. The picture shows a woman harvesting Pearl Millet after a morning gathering Marula fruit to make traditional beer and oil. The second prize will be chosen from four candidates, which you can vote for on Facebook.

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