Week in Review

The trafficking in illegal narcotics, precursor chemicals, timber and wildlife, people and illicit goods across Southeast Asia is being tackled thanks to the support of the specialized UN agency focusing on drugs and crime.

In the summer of 2022, 70 Gambian babies and young children died from kidney failure after ingesting cough syrup spooned out by their caregivers. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a global alert that four tainted paediatric products had originated in India, as local health authorities continue to investigate how this tragedy unfolded.

The world must combat the “toxic tidal wave” of plastic pollution that threatens human rights, two UN independent experts said on Thursday.

This week the UN hosts the 2^nd Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent – the human rights platform which brings together institutions at the UN, civil society and others, to advance equality and fight racism.  

The Forum’s Chair, Epsy Campbell Barr, said it was vital to boost investment to help the poorest of the poor, and meet “elemental demands” for basic services like clean water.

She spoke to UN News’s Pauline Batista in our studio at UN Headquarters in New York.

Racism is a global problem, and every country must take a stance against it, General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi said on Monday, addressing the latest meeting of a UN platform to improve the safety and quality of life of people of African descent worldwide. 

As the crisis in Sudan enters its second month, UN agencies and partners warned on Friday that the conflict between rival military groups since mid-April is fuelling an increasingly “desperate” situation for civilians, especially in the nation’s capital.

With Ukraine’s Children’s Day celebrations on Thursday marred by the death of a girl alongside other civilians in a Russian missile attack in the capital Kyiv, the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country, Denise Brown, said she was “shocked and saddened” by the incident.

Millions of women and girls across the United States have suffered an alarming deterioration in access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, following the US Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Friday.

A veteran diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago was appointed President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday. 

Effective governance of outer space is necessary to propel innovation and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a new policy brief published on Wednesday. 

UN chief António Guterres is “deeply concerned” after Uganda’s president signed into law a punitive so-called “Anti-Homosexuality Act”, the UN Spokesperson said in a statement released late on Tuesday.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to unambiguously support five principles aimed at preventing a nuclear accident amid the war in Ukraine, now in its 15th month.

Global warming’s devastating effects on the world’s sea ice, icebergs and glaciers – part of what is known as the cryosphere – need to be better understood and mitigated, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Hunger is set to worsen in 18 “hotspots” worldwide including Sudan, where fighting is putting people at risk of starvation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a report published on Monday.

Since 1948, more than two million uniformed and civilian personnel have served at UN field missions across the world.  Their contributions are being highlighted on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, observed on Monday.

Every recipe has a story, from Pakistan’s signature chicken korma to kaldu kokot cooked on Indonesia’s Madura Island. The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has set the table for an innovative campaign that brings seven recipes to life, tackling a wave of hate speech against migrants and refugees by serving up the rich diversity of food and culture they bring with them to Malaysia.