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More than half a million people have now been uprooted by escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) the UN said on Thursday, warning that the M23 rebel offensive is driving a rapidly worsening humanitarian emergency.

More than a month after Hurricane Melissa slammed the Caribbean, devastated communities still require assistance, the regional director for the World Food Programme (WFP) told journalists at UN Headquarters on Thursday. 

Pregnant women took shelter in a bunkerised maternity unit in the Ukrainian city of Kherson last week, after a hospital was struck just 1.5 km from the frontline.

Gaza’s health system for mothers and newborns has been “decimated”, the UN said on Thursday, with Israeli attacks destroying almost all hospitals, cutting off medical supplies and driving sharp rises in maternal deaths, miscarriages and newborn fatalities amid mass displacement and hunger.

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee has again confirmed that there is no causal link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), following a new review of global scientific evidence.

Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) has been implicated in a decade-long pattern of killings, arbitrary detentions, torture and sexual violence targeting protesters and opponents of President Nicolás Maduro, according to a new report from UN-appointed investigators on Thursday.  

The vast majority of World Health Organization (WHO) member States say 40 to 90 per cent of their populations now use traditional medicine.  

Intensifying fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has claimed more than 70 civilian lives, displaced over 200,000 people and cut thousands off from food assistance, prompting UN warnings of a rapidly expanding humanitarian emergency spilling across borders.

As another winter storm hits the Gaza Strip, low temperatures and rains are putting the lives of newborns and other vulnerable groups at risk, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Wednesday. 

To commemorate this year’s Human Rights Day, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, invited members of the public to write in their most cherished values and everyday essentials.  

Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian crisis is being driven by the accelerating erosion of fundamental rights – especially for women and girls – alongside mass displacement, economic decline and shrinking aid, senior UN officials warned on Wednesday.

Global temperatures rises are projected to surpass 1.5°C (2.7°F) within the next decade, underscoring the urgency of the climate crisis.

Despite major gains in access to schooling since 1960, widening inequalities driven by the climate crisis, conflicts and rapid technological change are leaving millions behind. 

A social media ban for children under 16 came into effect in Australia on Wednesday, marking a global first. 

In Afghanistan, where sweeping restrictions have pushed most women out of public life, thousands are refusing to give up on work. 

In Gaza, as airstrikes, shelling and gunfire continued to kill and maim Palestinians, UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday rejected suggestions by the Israeli military that the so-called “Yellow Line” of concrete blocks it has erected inside the enclave represented a new border.

From a walk in the woods, to spending time with family in the comfort of home, human rights are a lot more than sentences on paper.

The UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) prestigious Nansen Award is shining a light on the people proving that compassion and solidarity with displaced communities remain strong – even in some of the most difficult places on earth.

Adopting a fresh approach to protecting planetary health would deliver stronger economies, fewer deaths and less poverty, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) insisted on Tuesday, as it released its most comprehensive assessment of environmental pressures facing the world.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk has voiced concern over reports that “draconian security laws” in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China are being used to clampdown on people calling for a probe into the deadly fire at an apartment complex last month. 

Supporting colleagues facing potential sexual exploitation or abuse (PSEA) in the workplace, may start with small acts of recognition but can have lasting positive impacts, according to a UN member of staff working in the Southeast Asian country, Lao People's Democratic Republic.

From salt made by hand on a Philippine island, to ceremonial dances in Kenya and ancient textile traditions in Belarus, the UN cultural agency has added a diverse range of living traditions to its global lists of culture at risk, highlighting both the richness of expression and the urgent need to safeguard heritage.

With temperatures plunging below freezing and cities facing long, daily power cuts, Ukrainian civilians are again bracing for winter under fire, as UN officials warned the Security Council that intensified attacks on energy infrastructure and shrinking aid budgets are taking a major toll.

Countries rallied at UN Headquarters on Tuesday to shore up a key humanitarian fund that provides timely assistance for millions worldwide when conflict and climate-related disasters strike. 

Nahed was visiting Sudan’s capital Khartoum with her family to celebrate Eid, a major Islamic holiday, when the war broke out between the rival armies vying for control of her homeland.

The Security Council is meeting in New York for a high-stakes briefing on Ukraine, called by six members amid rising civilian casualties and renewed strikes on energy infrastructure as winter sets in. It comes as Washington’s 28-point peace proposal is being revised following pushback from Kyiv and European allies, and after talks in Moscow and Florida failed to deliver concrete progress. Today’s meeting will gauge where diplomacy stands. Follow live below and UN News app users can click here. For in-depth meetings coverage, go here.

Mothers who’ve been left starving in Gaza are now giving birth to underweight or premature babies who die in intensive care units or struggle to survive as they endure acute malnutrition, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.

Civilians in Ukraine are facing almost daily attacks and growing hardship as Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches the four-year mark, UN human rights investigators said in a new report issued on Tuesday. 

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) chief on Monday urged the UN Security Council to uphold core principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and human rights, warning that Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to undermine European security. 

The world is witnessing an alarming erosion of respect for international law, with conflicts increasingly targeting civilians and heightening the risk of atrocity crimes, warns the United Nations’ newly appointed Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.