News

KABUL - Staffan de Mistura, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, today met, at their request, with several representatives of the Wolesi Jirga candidates backed by the court set up…

NANGARHAR - Until recently the barren desert land in parts of Nangarhar province was littered with unexploded ordinances. Now, however, the township is thriving. Trees are part of this success story. Beginning five years ago…

KABUL - Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy was appalled to learn today of the use of a young girl as an unwitting suicide bomber in the Char China District of…

GARDIZ - In rural areas where cultural constraints and poor security prevent girls from enrolling in schools, the Ministry of Education is working with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), community elders and…

NEWYORK - Drug trafficking, once viewed largely as a social and criminal problem, has transformed in recent years into a major threat to the health and security of people and regions. The $61 billion annual market for Afghan…

NEW YORK - Torture is a brutal attempt to destroy a person’s sense of dignity and sense of human worth. It acts also as a weapon of war, spreading terror beyond its direct victims to communities and societies. On the…

Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Starting in 1976, during Argentina’s period of military dictatorship, prison director…

NEWYORK - The Secretary-General welcomes President Obama’s announcement to start the drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan as of July 2011. The United Nations views this decision as the beginning of a transition to…

NEW YORK - Global opium poppy cultivation reached some 195,700 hectares (ha) in 2010, a small increase over 2009, shows the flagship report launched today at United Nations Headquarters by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Yury…

Afghanistan is likely to face a significant food shortage in the coming months, following poor rains which have affected this season’s wheat crop. Wheat is the primary food staple for most families. IRIN News “There have been…

KABUL - Sima, a widow for more than a year, is learning to sew at a centre in Kabul in hopes of making enough money to pay her rent and buy pencils and books for her four children. “Widows are very poor,” she told UNAMA. “We…

NEWYORK - This first International Widows’ Day is an occasion to call attention to the many “firsts” that women must face when their husbands die. In addition to coping with grief, they may find themselves for the first time…