Veteran diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi will be the new Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and League of Arab States for the crisis in Syria, taking over the peace-facilitation role played over the past several months by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, a UN spokesperson said today (17 August). UNTV / UNHCR
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Ministry of Interior of South Sudan, today (17 August) signed a memorandum of understanding on the transformation of South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS)in the capital Juba. UNMISS
Ahead of World Humanitarian Day, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson laid a commemorative wreath today (17 August) at UN Headquarters in memory of those who perished at the 2003 Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. UNTV
Fifteen thousand refugees inSouth Sudanare having to move to higher ground after heavy rains turned parts of Jamam camp into swamps. UNHCR
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today (17 August) said it had received reports that armed groups in northern Maliare increasingly recruiting and using children for military purposes, and called on all parties to keep them out of the way of conflict. CH UNTV
The escalating violence in Syria is continuing to put a strain on the country’s health services, The World Health Organization (WHO) said today (17 August), and the destruction of the sanitation system in Damascus appears to be contaminating water supplies exacerbating health risks. CH UNTV