The General Assembly on Friday adopted by consensus a resolution on the Secretary‑General’s UN80 Initiative to strengthen and streamline the United Nations system.

In honour of Nelson Mandela International Day on Friday, the United Nations is celebrating with a public service activity, a chamber music concert and a General Assembly meeting, where Secretary-General António Guterres presented the 2025 Mandela Prize.

Colombia has changed profoundly since the 2016 peace deal, but uneven state presence, lingering armed groups and mounting political tensions threaten to erode confidence unless implementation accelerates, the top UN envoy for the country said on Friday.

Mohammed Saad sits with others inside a homemade cart pulled by a car carrying several passengers, waiting to travel to Gaza City in one of the “uncomfortable and extremely expensive” means of transportation used to get around the Strip.

Globally, there are 12.5 billion hours of work that the world never pays for because it barely even sees it.

Major cuts to aid budgets have already left people fleeing wars in Sudan and beyond without the assistance and protection they need, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.

Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.

Almost four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, criminal groups in Ukraine are adapting their business models amid displacement, rising trafficking risks and an increased demand for synthetic drugs, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report published on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, July 17 (IPS) - Over the past several decades, digital technologies have transformed nearly every aspect of human life, revolutionizing developments across multiple sectors, including healthcare, education, and commerce, to name a few. However, these changes have also brought forth new concerns surrounding the preservation of human rights in an increasingly digitizing world.

NEW YORK, July 17 (IPS) - Today, 3.4 billion people live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on health or education. This marks a trembling indication that the United Nations’ promise for the 2030 Agenda could be slipping away.