Corruption and its staggering costs have hobbled sustainable development in all countries, but fresh efforts are making inroads, the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) said on Tuesday at a special meeting to tackle the scourge and give the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a much-needed boost.

Health systems in most countries have started showing the first major signs of recovery three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, which has left millions dead and hundreds of millions infected, according to a new UN report launched on Tuesday.

Disinformation, hate speech and deadly attacks against journalists are threatening freedom of the press worldwide, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, calling for greater solidarity with the people who bring us the news.

The UN chief has pledged that the Organization “will never be silent” when women and girls’ rights are under attack, as they are today in Afghanistan, and declared that the Taliban ban on Afghan women doing lifesaving humanitarian work is putting millions of lives in jeopardy there.

PARIS, May 01 (IPS) - Freedom of the press is the cornerstone of democratic society. Without a debate of ideas, without verified facts, without diversity of perspectives, democracy is a shadow of itself; and World Press Freedom Day was established to remind us of this.

BALTIMORE, Maryland / DENVER, Colorado, May 01 (IPS) - Studies consistently show that women have lower rates of agricultural productivity compared to men in the region, but it’s not because they’re less efficient farmers.

UNITED NATIONS, May 01 (IPS) - The United Nations has consistently been a vociferous advocate of freedom of the press – and, most importantly, the right of journalists to report without fear of reprisals.

But regrettably, the UN is also one of most opaque institutions where transparency is never the norm.

Peacekeepers working for the United Nations in some of the world’s most dangerous environments are “ordinary people striving to achieve extraordinary outcomes” according to a new exhibition marking 75 years of UN peacekeeping operations.

Over 2,000 delegates from around the world gathered at the UN in Geneva on Monday to discuss how best to curb chemical pollution, which has had increasingly dire consequences for health and the environment.

A new photo exhibit on UN Peacekeeping opened at Headquarters on Monday, honouring the service and sacrifice of uniformed and civilian peacekeepers as it marks its 75th anniversary.