UNITED NATIONS, Jun 29 (IPS) - The World Drug Report 2018, launched this week by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), highlighted the importance of gender in drug consumption and behaviour, suggesting it is essential to provide different types of health-care and legal solutions.

LONDON, Jun 28 (IPS) - Fred Carver is Head of Policy & Ben Donaldson, Head of Campaigns, United Nations Association – UKUN Secretary-General António Guterres is about to make one of the most important decisions of his tenure – one that will directly impact communities worldwide: the appointment of the next High Commissioner for Human Rights.

ROME, Jun 28 (IPS) - As Yemen's people struggle to survive amid what has been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, the stranglehold by both government coalition forces and rebels over the country's main ports of entry and distribution is cutting off a lifeline of support to 22 million people.

LIMA, Jun 28 (IPS) - Most laborers in Peru are forced into a vicious cycle by circumstance. Faced with low-paying, high-intensity work, they have no choice but to make their children work as well. Having spent their lives neglecting education for labor, those children in turn grow up with no options for income besides low-paying, high-intensity positions  - and so on. But in classrooms across one region, a handful of teachers are trying to break that cycle while the children are still young.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jun 27 (IPS) - Kul Chandra Gautam, a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, is author of a forthcoming memoir: "Global Citizen from Gulmi: My Journey from the Hills of Nepal to the Halls of United Nations"Pele's example has inspired millions of young people to join the ‘beautiful game' and contribute to building a peaceful and prosperous world fit for all our children.

JUAZEIRO, Brazil, Jun 26 (IPS) - "Our main challenge is to get the project back on track," agreed the administrators of two affordable housing complexes, where a small solar power plant was installed for social purposes in Juazeiro, a city in northeast Brazil.

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Jun 26 (IPS) - The West African nation of Guinea may be a signatory of the Paris Agreement, a global undertaking by countries around the world to reduce climate change, but as it tries to provide electricity to some three quarters of its 12 million people who are without, the commitment is proving a struggle.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (IPS) - António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, in an address to the Security Council on the Situation in the Middle East & North Africa I thank the Russian Federation Presidency for convening this debate at a crucial juncture for the people of the Middle East and North Africa. The region faces profound divisions, troubling currents and a tragic shredding of its diverse religious, ethnic and cultural fabric.

WASHINGTON DC, Jun 26 (IPS) - MARTIN MÜHLEISEN is director of the IMF's Strategy, Policy, and Review Department.Digital platforms are recasting the relationships between customers, workers, and employers as the silicon chip's reach permeates almost everything we do—from buying groceries online to finding a partner on a dating website.

GENEVA, Jun 26 (IPS) - The world is "basically at odds with itself," International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Director General William Swing said Monday, June 25, describing the critical state of human migration between countries and continents.