UN News Centre

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for the laying down of arms and a 24-hour cease-fire on 21 September, which is observed around the world each year as the International Day of Peace. The United Nations General Assembly established the International…

28 August 2015 – For the fifth International Day against Nuclear Tests, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed voluntary moratoria on testing imposed by nuclear-armed states but stressed that these cannot substitute for a legally-binding treaty. “The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban…

A new United Nations ‘Free & Equal’ campaign video highlighting the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community is being shown today on the massive screens in New York’s Times Square ahead of International Day against…

21 January 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today encouraged the world’s sole multilateral forum for disarmament negotiations to live up the international community’s expectations and resume substantive work aimed at ridding the globe of weapons of mass destruction. “My message…

New HIV infections among children have been reduced by 50 per cent or more in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations agency spearheading the global AIDS response said today. Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia have reduced…

Documentation on Holocaust victims, a collection of Buddhist scriptures written on stones from Myanmar, two rare manuscripts from Nepal and diaries belonging to Ernesto Che Guevara, are among 54 new additions to the UN educational and cultural agency’s Memory of the World…

Developing countries rich in natural resources can make huge gains towards universal schooling if they managed resource revenues better and devoted a significant share to education, according to a United Nations study released today. The Education for All Global Monitoring Report study,…

A United Nations expert group today urged global clothing brands to work with Bangladesh, international organizations and civil society to improve working conditions in the country’s garment sector, following the collapse last month of a factory that left hundreds dead…

In an increasingly interconnected world where trillions of dollars worth of goods and services are traded annually, the rapidly expanding market for low-carbon and environmentally friendly products will create new opportunities, the United Nations environmental agency today reported. The report, Green…

The Security Council today approved a 12,600-strong United Nations peacekeeping operation to take over from the African-led mission in Mali on 1 July and authorized the blue helmets “to use all necessary means” to carry out security-related stabilization tasks, protect…