News

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…

KABUL - The United States Committee for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) today presented its annual Julia V. Taft Award to UNDP’s Afghanistan-based office for its exceptional work in helping the country to…

With 2.6 billion people still without access to a toilet or latrine, sanitation is one of the Millennium Development Goal targets that is lagging farthest behind. To accelerate action on expanding improved sanitation, build…

NEWYORK - This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention. It is also 60 years since UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, was established. In that time the work of helping the world’s refugees and other forcibly…

The United Nations is set to unveil a report highlighting the vital work of midwives in ensuring that millions of women and newborn children do not die needlessly at a time when many countries still lack enough skilled staff…

NEWYORK - The Security Council today voted unanimously to split sanctions it has imposed on Al-Qaida and those against the Taliban, creating two lists of individuals and organizations so that they can be treated separately…

More civilians were killed in Afghanistan in May than in any other month since 2007, raising fears of a further escalation during the summer with serious humanitarian implications, according to Georgette Gagnon, the human…

The people who live in the arid lands, which occupy more than 40 per cent of our planet, are among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable to hunger. Frequently, they depend on land that is degraded and where productivity has…