• Africa Week is being celebrated at the United Nations from the 15th to the 19th of October. It is happening as NEPAD, the New Partnership for Africa's Development, marks its 10th anniversary. NEPAD is a programme designed by African leaders to promote political and socio-economic transformation on the continent. UNICEF supports birth registration in [...]
Adultery should not be classified as a criminal offense at all, says the UN expert group on women's human rights. While adultery may constitute a civil offence with legal consequences in certain countries and circumstances, it should not be a crime punishable by severe bodily harm or death, says the UN Working Group on the [...]
Five countries have been elected to serve as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda will begin their two-year terms in January 2013. The decision follows a vote in the General Assembly on Thursday. Dianne Penn reports. The General Assembly is where all 193 UN member [...]
People who commit rape and other acts of sexual violence against women during conflicts must know that they have no place to hide anywhere in the world. That's the message that has been stressed by Zainab Bangura, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. Ms. Bangura told reporters in Geneva on [...]
A UN expert group on women's rights is calling for countries to repeal laws that criminalize adultery. It says that under some penal codes, women and men are not treated equally for the offence, with women sometimes receiving harsher sanctions including fines, imprisonment or being put to death. Professor Frances Raday is vice-chair of the [...]
More than 60 years after United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt articulated what he called "The Four Freedoms," his words remain a guide post for people worldwide. That's what UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday at the dedication of a New York City park honouring the late President who was instrumental in the founding [...]
UNICEF is supporting birth registration to facilitate access to social services and combat such abuses as child trafficking and early marriage in Malawi. The south-eastern African country has made much progress in reducing child mortality, which has dropped by some 60 percent in the last twenty years. By implementing the birth registration programme together with [...]
Building strong partnerships to eradicate hunger is the main objective of a project launched by Germany, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The project aims to strengthen existing policies and programmes among the 15 ECOWAS countries as they work to fight hunger through agricultural development. Charles [...]
The conflict in Syria is likely to descend into an all out sectarian conflict, as the international community remains divided on how to end the 18 month crisis, the UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has warned. Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, Ms. Pillay said the memories of what happened in Bosnia were [...]
The situation of children in some parts of the world has been described by a senior United Nations official as a "nightmare" that must be ended. The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui says it is not acceptable that children are paying the heavy price for war. According to Ms. [...]
Men and boys are increasingly becoming victims of sexual violence in conflict situations, according to the UN Special Representative on Sexual violence Zainab Hawa Bangura. She says sexual violence in conflict was no longer a gender issue as perpetrators seek to dehumanize their victims into submission. Speaking in Geneva, Ms. Bangura said the elimination of [...]
