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The Tobacco Industry is Aggressively Marketing New Products – Here is How We Can Combat Their Actions and Save Lives

The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) can help protect our children from the negative health effects of tobacco and nicotine use. Photo credit: Secretariat of the WHO FCTC / Vlad Sokhin
Bright colours are deliberately used to disguise dangerous products as fun and harmless, but no matter the colour, tobacco is deadly.

Tobacco use kills millions of people each year, and the introduction of new nicotine products has created new threats, particularly for young people.

Intersectional Solidarity: We Are All the United Nations

When women have acted in solidarity to end human suffering, and when young people who have been denied their rights have raised their voices in protest against systemic forms of oppression, change seems to have been inevitable.

In a Warming World, Agriculture Must Be at the Heart of Climate and Clean Air Action

 A rice paddy field in Angkor, Cambodia, 17 August 2013. Diego Delso/delso.photo/CC BY-SA

Sustainable practices, more efficient systems and cleaner alternatives in agriculture can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, while also improving yields, lives and livelihoods.

Girls Must Drive the Next Chapter of Digital Change

Girls in ICT Day 2019 organized by ITU at the African Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 25 April 2019 © ITU/M.Tewelde
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union.
Girls in ICT Day in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November 1, 2019 © ITU Pictures

As we mark International Girls in ICT Day, let’s make sure that every young woman and girl has the chance to be meaningfully connected with ample opportunities to become digital transformation leaders.

The Power of Voice to Inspire Change

A view of pamphlets during the event “International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2023: Scoring for People and the Planet”. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten
Maher Nasser (centre) with participants in the South Asian Media and Cultural Studies Conference, held at Florida State University (FSU), Tallahassee, Florida, 30-31 January 2025. Credit: Sophia Ferraro/FSU

Stories and narratives matter, which is why they have been an important part of the communications strategy at the United Nations.

Leveling the Playing Field: Inspiring Change through Sport

UNICEF Montenegro Dusko Miljanic
UNESCO © Chris Cardoza

Sport diplomacy moves beyond the competitive element of sport to leverage sport’s spirit of collaboration and shared commitments. 

Reflections on the Tenth Anniversary of the Ark of Return

The Ark of Return memorial (foreground) on the United Nations Visitors Plaza, United Nations Headquarters, New York. Credit: Rodney Leon
Inside the Ark of Return memorial. Credit: Rodney Leon
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurates Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade--the Ark of Return--on the Visitors Plaza, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 25 March 2015. Credit: Rodney Leon

Visitors are meant to pass through the Ark of Return—the Permanent Memorial in Honour of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade—to intimately experience three primary elements addressing the past, present and future.

Forests and Foods: Nourishing People, Sustaining the Planet

Indigenous Mbuti communities in the Ituri Forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo sustainably harvest wild meat and forest products, maintaining their traditional way of life. FAO/Thomas Nicolon

The future of forests and food security affects the well-being of every individual on this planet; integrated and concerted efforts to protect forests are, therefore, crucial.

The Urgent Need to Preserve Glaciers in a Warming World

Worker installing stakes on one of the key benchmark glaciers of Rikha Samba Glacier Mustang, Nepal. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has been doing this annually for 13 years. Photo: Tenzig Chogyal Sherpa
Team conducting DGPS survey at Rikha Samba Glacier in Nepal. Photo: Tenzing Chogyal Sherpa

Climate change and other drivers have accelerated glacier melt, threatening water security, biodiversity and regional economies.

The Beijing Platform for Action at 30: Marking Progress and Addressing Challenges in Pursuit of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Town Hall Meeting with Civil Society during the sixty-ninth Session of the Commission on Status of Women (CSW), United Nations General Assembly Hall, New York, 11 March 2025. UN Photo/Evan Schneider

The status of women has improved significantly since the first Beijing conference in 1995, yet there is still much work to be done to achieve true equality.