On December 2, 2015, torrential rains in Chennai, India triggered the region's worst flood in over 100 years, killing 300 and leaving the city of 4.8 million people underwater. 

The Chennai disaster is being called a 'perfect storm,' a shining example of what can happen when climate change meets poor urban planning, wrote Sreedhar Potarazu, founder of a software company focused on providing data science applications to assess health care delivery, in an op-ed on CNN.com. 

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) invites young people from around the world who are members of youth led organizations/networks/initiatives to apply to the Youth Event at the 7th UNAOC Global Forum in Baku on April 25-27, 2016. The event, entitled Living Together in Inclusive Societies is an amazing opportunity for participants to interact with key stakeholders, experts and other youth involved in social action and to contribute to shaping the global narrative on social inclusion. 
  

On 12 December, 195 nations adopted an historic, legally binding agreement to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low carbon, resilient and sustainable future.  The Paris agreement for the first time brings all nations into a common cause based on their historic, current and future responsibilities.

Amid large-scale atrocities and widespread abuses across the world, Human Rights Day should rally more concerted global action to promote the timeless principles that we have collectively pledged to uphold. –Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General

This Thursday, 10 December, is Human Rights Day, a day that commemorates the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. 

Each hour nearly 140 people die from AIDS-related causes. There are nearly 37 million people living with the disease and there were 2 million new infections reported in 2014. Much has been done to address the AIDS epidemic in the last 10 years, but there is still work to do to halt the spread of HIV, ensure that people have access to life saving medications and address HIV/AIDS within the larger framework of the Global Sustainable Development Goals.

Today 150 heads of state from around the world are meeting in Paris to take on one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change.  The meeting marks the 21^st Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) , or COP21. This year presents an historic and unprecedented opportunity to bring the countries and citizens of the world together to decide and embark on new paths to improve the lives of people everywhere by reaching a new universal agreement to protect the planet and its people. .

25 November marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.

Violence against women and girls has been described by the World Health Organization as a global public health pandemic, with 1 in 3 women around the world experiencing physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. 

Did you know:

An international day devoted to toilets?  Many people around the world think you're joking when you tell them that 19 November is World Toilet Day. But access to clean water and sanitation is no laughing matter.

A few facts:

Dr. Rima Salah [Second Row Center], Member of the Secretary General's High Level Panel on Peace Operations with students, faculty and Administration from the University of Bridgeport  [Photo by Triton Marks].

The UN that I lived

When, in August 1, 2010, I arrived to New York as the new Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations, my to do list was full of unavoidable tasks, but it also included a loose aspiration: to write a book about my experiences in the Organization.