The interim authorities in Syria have taken important steps in recent weeks to address past violations, the Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the country said on Friday in an update to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The head of UN Peacekeeping affirmed the critical role played by the “blue helmets” in Lebanon and Syria during a press conference at Headquarters in New York.

As the Foreign Ministers of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed a draft peace agreement in Washington this Friday, tensions and violence continue to grip eastern DRC.

A decade after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), development is facing serious headwinds – including what UN officials describe as a “silent crisis” of surging debt service payments in low-income countries.

Three years into the conflict in Sudan, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) continue to pursue a military solution, violating international law and the rights of civilians in the process.

Myanmar is spiralling deeper into humanitarian catastrophe, the UN’s top human rights official warned on Friday, as escalating military attacks, crippling aid restrictions and collapsing international support push millions toward starvation and despair.

Attacks with short-range drones killed at least 395 civilians and injured 2,635 between February 2022 – the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – and April 2025, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) reported on Thursday.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian crisis has reached “horrific proportions” and that the world must not let the suffering of Palestinians be overshadowed by other regional conflicts.

The first delivery earlier this week of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed in their search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil, Jun 26 (IPS) - Living with her neighbours, getting to know them and chatting with them is what Lucila Neves enjoys most in the community orchard of Portal de Ribeirão, a neighbourhood in the south of Florianopolis, considered the most sustainable of Brazil's 27 state capitals.