28 August 2015 – The United Nations refugee agency said today that the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe has surpassed 300,000 this year, up from 219,000 during the whole of 2014.
28 August 2015 – With Guinea-Bissau facing political turbulence barely a year after the re-establishment of constitutional order, the top United Nations official there expressed hope today that political leaders would rise to their “historic responsibility” to preserve the gains made so far in the interest of the country and people.
28 August 2015 – For the fifth International Day against Nuclear Tests, United NationsSecretary-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.
28 Aug 2015 - This week's top stories from the UN News Centre features video footage of the European migrant crisis, the peace agreement in South Sudan, and the appointment of Novak Djokovic as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
See the stories of the week in photos.
27 August 2015 – As a significant step towards preserving the world’s most important ancient crops for future generations, the head of the United Nations agriculture agency, together with scientists and delegations from Peru, Costa Rica and Norway, today witnessed a ceremony during which potato seeds were deposited to the “safety box” in Arctic seed vault.
27 August 2015 – The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that it is strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene services to accelerate progress in eliminating and eradicating neglected tropical diseases by 2020 that affect more than 1 billion of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations.
27 August 2015 – Deeply disturbed by continuing reports of the use of chemical weapons, as well as the use of toxic chemicals as a weapon in Syria, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned any such use by any party to the conflict and stressed that the entire international community has the responsibility to hold the perpetrators to account.
26 August 2015 – Commending France’s “exemplary leadership” on efforts to tackle climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today affirmed that the international community is now at a stage where the final elements of the new climate agreement are being negotiated.
Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole.
Novak Djokovic, the world’s top ranked tennis player, was appointed Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Children’s Fund, after having served as the agency’s Serbia Ambassador and promoting children’s rights within his own private foundation. Since becoming a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia in August, the tennis star has continued to champion the cause of child rights – speaking out for some of the most vulnerable children in Serbia.
As the global focus shifts to the Sustainable Development Goals, and achieving universal access to water and sanitation, there will clearly be a need to mobilize private capital to help finance the necessary infrastructure. The Global Water Practice at the World Bank has been working with key public and private sector partners in over ten countries to mobilize domestic credit and address operating inefficiencies which negatively impact on the delivery of water and sanitation.
