UN News Centre

The United Nations health agency today announced that the South-East Asia Region has completed five years without any case of wild poliovirus, a highly infectious disease that invades the nervous system and for which there is still no cure. “This is a remarkable achievement in view of the continued threat… »

As United Nations officials gave on-site accounts of the “horrible and terrible” situation in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, from 400 critically ill people facing death without immediate medical care to a kilo of rice costing $300, the first emergency evacuation took place today – a five-year-old girl rushed… »

A humanitarian convoy has finally reached the besieged Syrian town of Madaya with life-saving health and food supplies from the United Nations and its partners for the 42,000 desperate residents after reports of people starving to death under encirclement by pro-Government forces. “Crowds of hungry kids around,” Office of the… »

Pressenza publishes here the statement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to mark the international day of nonviolence. This year, as we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the United Nations, the International Day of Nonviolence has special importance. At a time of escalating conflicts, violent extremism, displacement and humanitarian need,… »

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for the laying down of arms and a 24-hour cease-fire on 21 September, which is observed around the world each year as the International Day of Peace. The United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Peace in 1981 as an opportunity… »

28 August 2015 – For the fifth International Day against Nuclear Tests, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed voluntary moratoria on testing imposed by nuclear-armed states but stressed that these cannot substitute for a legally-binding treaty. “The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is essential for the elimination of nuclear weapons,”… »

A new United Nations ‘Free & Equal’ campaign video highlighting the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community is being shown today on the massive screens in New York’s Times Square ahead of International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. The Day, marked Sunday, 17 May in… »

21 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged the world’s sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations to live up the international community’s expectations and resume substantive work aimed at ridding the globe of weapons of mass destruction. “My message is clear. Do not wait for others to move. »

New HIV infections among children have been reduced by 50 per cent or more in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations agency spearheading the global AIDS response said today. Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia have reduced new HIV infections among children by half since 2009,… »

Documentation on Holocaust victims, a collection of Buddhist scriptures written on stones from Myanmar, two rare manuscripts from Nepal and diaries belonging to Ernesto Che Guevara, are among 54 new additions to the UN educational and cultural agency’s Memory of the World Register. “The items presented by Israel, Myanmar, Nepal are… »