Week in Review

Gender bias in science has resulted in drug tests that treat the female body as an aberration, and search algorithms that perpetuate discrimination, but the solution is simple: increase the numbers of women working in the field and support the girls hoping to join them one day. 

A second UN aid convoy reached northwest Syria on Friday to help victims of the still-unfolding earthquake tragedy, but humanitarians have warned that far more lifesaving help is needed, and much more quickly.

Time is running out as the world inches closer to meltdown and countries must change course before it is too late, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Monday, presenting his priorities for the year. 

When Monday’s devastating earthquakes struck Türkiye and Syria, killing thousands of people, Olga Borzenkova, a spokesperson for the UN migration agency (IOM), was in Gaziantep, Türkiye, one of the most affected areas. She describes her experience, and the emergency response effort that is underway.

Now is the time to stand up for the people of Türkiye and Syria living in the region of the deadly earthquake disaster, said the UN chief on Thursday, and show them “the same kind of support and generosity” which they have displayed in recent years, aiding millions of refugees and displaced people fleeing conflict.

Calling for a swift crackdown on infant formula corporations’ exploitative marketing tactics, a leading World Health Organization (WHO) scientist said, in a paper published on Wednesday, that nursing mothers need urgent support.

Independent UN human rights experts on Friday expressed grave concern over the deaths early last month of two young Black men in the United States, at the hands of police officers.

Despite leadership losses and diminished cash reserves, the extremist group ISIL, or Da’esh, continues to pose a threat to international peace and security, the UN counter-terrorism chief warned on Thursday in New York. 

Acts of armed violence targeting schools in Haiti have spiked nine-fold in one year amid rising insecurity and widespread unrest, UNICEF warned on Thursday.

Amid the influx of weapons pouring into Ukraine from abroad, all arms transfers must abide strictly by international transit, safeguard and control regimes, and “must not derail the aspiration for peace”, the senior UN disarmament official told the Security Council on Wednesday.

Although investing in school health and nutrition has a positive effect on children’s academic outcomes, one-third of schools worldwide still do not have access to drinking water and basic sanitation facilities, three UN agencies said in a report published on Wednesday. 

Humanitarians are seeking $2.6 billion to assist some 7.6 million people in Somalia this year, the UN and partners announced on Wednesday, together with the Federal and State authorities. 

On Safer Internet Day, observed on Tuesday, UN agencies and partners including innovators in the private sector, are forging a digital path towards boosting safety online for everyone.

Zambia’s police force will get nearly $1 million to boost women’s participation in global peace operations, a UN Women-hosted trust fund announced on Tuesday.

A lack of job opportunities is the leading factor driving people to join fast-growing violent extremist groups in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report released by the UN Development Programme on Tuesday.

Roughly one million Tibetan minority children in China have been separated from their families and placed into Government-run boarding schools, forcing their assimilation into the dominant culture, three independent UN human rights experts said on Monday. 

The UN’s humanitarian affairs chief warned the Security Council on Monday that efforts must improve to reach nearly 18 million in need in war-torn Ukraine, since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.

A UN peacekeeper was killed on Sunday in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after the helicopter he was travelling in came under fire after taking off from the city of Beni.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, some 700,000 fleeing people have passed through neighbouring Moldova, putting a huge strain on the country’s resources. The UN’s migration agency (IOM) is helping the most vulnerable, and the authorities, to navigate this unprecedented situation.