The Security Council has been briefed by some of the world's top AI executives on the huge benefits and huge risks the frontier technology presents. With warnings mounting that the world may be losing its grip on systems built to outthink us, Yoshua Bengio, a recipient of the prestigious Turing Award and one of the godfathers of machine intelligence, said the dangers of AI beyond human control represent an unprecedented threat for countries “that none can contain alone and that does not respect the borders we defend”.
From deadly floods in the Himalayas to wildfires and extreme heat across Europe, 2026 has brought a succession of stark reminders of a changing climate. The task is immediate: Protect people from the impacts already unfolding while rapidly cutting the emissions of harmful gasses driving climate change. World leaders have been meeting on Wednesday to discuss how to turn those priorities into action.
Five years of war. Another winter closing in. Today, the Security Council once again debates a path to peace – though any resolution still runs up against the veto of Russia, one of its own permanent members, whose objections have repeatedly stalled any consensus. As world leaders take the floor, the gap between diplomatic process and battlefield reality appears to be stark.
More than 130 days into the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), health experts said on Wednesday that response efforts have been scaled up significantly and “the first encouraging signs of progress” are now being seen.
UN News - Global perspective Human stories | Human Rights
The first generation to grow up with AI may also be the last one anyone thinks to ask about it – and that has to change, the UN's top human rights official said on Tuesday.
Compare two children born in the same year: one in a country with functioning schools, social services, fair elections and a dynamic economy and the other in a nation devastated by poverty, conflict, climate change or corruption.
Over 1,000 cases of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine have been documented from the start of Russia’s invasion to the end of July this year.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran confirmed that civilians in the country suffered serious human rights violations and “crimes against humanity committed by their government,” while finding "reasonable grounds" to believe that the United States committed “war crimes” in the context of its ongoing conflict with the Islamic Republic.
UN News - Global perspective Human stories | Law and Crime Prevention
Sitting in her Vienna office ahead of a pivotal UN gathering in Abu Dhabi, Monica Juma is focused on a simple reality: crime has evolved faster than many of the institutions designed to combat it.
The Security Council met to mark 25 years since the 9/11 attacks with a briefing on counter-terrorism as ambassadors take stock of a threat that has morphed dramatically since resolution 1373 built the council's counter-terrorism machinery in 2001. Briefers highlighted militants' growing use of artificial intelligence, drones and encrypted platforms for recruitment and attack planning.
About 20 million children aged 12 to 17 – one in five across 21 countries – were sexually exploited by perpetrators using technology such as social media, according to a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report released on Thursday.
