Week in Review

Since last year’s military coup in Myanmar, military courts have sentenced more than 130 people to death behind closed doors, the UN human rights chief said on Friday, following the latest convictions announced this week. 

A record $51.5 billion is needed to help 230 million of the world’s most vulnerable people in nearly 70 countries next year, the UN said on Thursday. 

A top UN Human Rights Council-appointed probe into potential rights abuses linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, outlined on Friday the “devastating” impact of the war on the country’s children.

Persons with disabilities face a risk of dying up to 20 years earlier than other sections of society, according to a new report issued by the World Health Organization on Friday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) published a report on Friday aimed at helping stakeholders worldwide end the growing scourge of violence online against children.  

The legacy of the transatlantic slave trade “reverberates to this day”, just as modern-day enslavement is growing, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said.

Holy Week in Guatemala, traditional tea preparation in China, and the artisanal knowledge surrounding France’s iconic daily bread loaf, the baguette, are among the latest cultural practices and expressions to be recognized by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The UN chief is marking World AIDS Day on Thursday with a call to action to end the inequalities which are blocking progress towards stopping the pandemic, and eradicating the virus.

Rising inflation has caused a striking decline in real monthly wages in many countries, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report published on Wednesday, highlighting the urgent need for policies to prevent further poverty, inequality and social unrest. 

Millions of people in the Horn of Africa – a region at the intersection of some of the worst impacts of climate change, recurring humanitarian crises and insecurity – are facing the driest conditions in four decades along with extreme food shortages. The top UN World Food Programme (WFP) official in the region, Michael Dunford, is warning that the situation there is likely to get worse before it improves.

It is estimated that at least 30 per cent of Haitian women between the ages of 15 and 30 years old have been the victims of sexual abuse or violence. The Spotlight Initiative, a global Initiative of the United Nations supported by the European Union to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, is working to transform the lives of Haitian women for the better.

Syria needs less military activity and more focus on the political process, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday, appealing for restraint amid a worrying trend towards escalation. 

Most of the globe was drier than normal in 2021, with “cascading effects on economies, ecosystems and our daily lives”, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.

Monkeypox will now be known as mpox, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, in the wake of reports of racist and stigmatizing language surrounding the name of the disease.