On the International Day for People of African Descent, celebrated each year on 31 August, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for justice, dignity and equality for people of African descent around the world.

WASHINGTON DC, August 29 (IPS) - The decision early this week by the E3 (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom) to initiate the process to snap back UN sanctions on Iran that were modified as part of the 2015 nuclear deal must be paired with an effective diplomatic strategy that restarts talks between the United States and Iran.

UNITED NATIONS, August 29 (IPS) - The 193-member General Assembly, the UN’s highest policy-making body, will make the ultimate decision on the proposed UN restructuring, which will include staff cutbacks, merging or eliminating of departments and relocating UN agencies from high-cost to low-cost locations.

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, August 29 (IPS) - The Youth Circle for Nature Conservation and Community Development is working toward the reforestation of sites where displaced people lived near the town of Goma.

In the occupied West Bank village of Kufr Qaddum, *Yousef stands behind a sealed iron gate, cut off from the olive trees that have sustained his family for generations.

Large-scale attacks by Russia against civilians in Ukraine could see any hopes of a lasting peace deal there rapidly fade, a senior UN official said during an emergency session of the Security Council on Friday.

In Iran, the increase in executions carried out this year indicates that the death penalty is being used as a tool of State intimidation, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday.

In every corner of the world, educators are making choices that echo across generations – influencing everything from the preservation of forests to the writing of poetry, the building of bridges to the holding of peaceful elections.

The UN Security Council met in emergency session in New York on Friday afternoon following overnight strikes early on Thursday by Russia on Ukrainian cities including the capital, which left at least 23 dead, including four children. Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča told ambassadors that diplomatic momentum towards a possible peace deal was “at risk of rapidly fading” if large-scale attacks by Moscow continue. Follow our live meetings coverage below.

Despite the ongoing ban on girls’ secondary education, more than 90 per cent of Afghan adults support girls’ right to be in class, according to a new alert from the UN’s gender equality agency, UN Women.