Thousands of diplomats and climate experts are heading to Belém, in Brazil’s Amazon, for COP30 – the latest round of UN climate talks. Their task couldn’t be clearer: turn promises into action and agree on tougher plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. After decades of pledges and annual summits from Kyoto to Sharm el-Sheikh, the planet keeps getting hotter and […]
Since 1990, the number of people using modern contraception methods has doubled globally but despite this, nearly 224 million women in mainly developing regions still do not use safe and effective family planning methods, according to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA. The increased use reflects a major health success that has allowed millions […]
As global challenges deepen, governments, civil society and international partners convened in Doha on Monday November 3, 2025 to highlight concrete solutions to advance social development and confront some of today’s most urgent crises – from widening hunger and poverty to growing inequality and climate-driven instability. The discussions took place at the Doha Solutions Forum for […]
Against a quiet morning sky, the flags of the United Nations and the State of Qatar rose together in Doha on Sunday, ahead of the Second World Summit for Social Development. The ceremony marked the United Nations’ official assumption of the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) as the venue where world leaders will work to […]
Twenty-five years ago, the international community agreed a new approach to women’s inclusion in peace processes in what came to be known as the Women, Peace and Security Agenda (WPS), outlined in the landmark Security Council resolution 1325. The resolution “was a real game-changer,” says Laura Flores, Americas Division Director at the Department of Political and […]
More details continued to emerge on Friday of atrocities committed during and after the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia in Sudan’s Darfur region. Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN human rights office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, […]
Funding cuts are dismantling the frontline organisations working to end violence against women and girls, the UN’s gender equality agency warned on Monday October 27, 2025. A new UN Women report, At Risk and Underfunded, based on a global survey of 428 women’s rights and civil society groups, finds that one in three have suspended or shut down […]
As Sudan’s destructive war – now in its third year – grinds on, the challenges to health systems are immense and women giving birth have been particularly impacted. In the heart of Sudan’s White Nile State, to the south of the country’s capital, Khartoum, Kosti Maternity Hospital handles thousands of deliveries a year, but the […]
Women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are trapped in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and face rampant insecurity, a senior United Nations official warned on Tuesday October 21, 2025 following a visit to the country. Speaking to journalists at the UN Office at Geneva, Shoko Arakaki, director of […]
Women and girls do 16 billion hours of unpaid care every day – powering families, communities, and economies. Yet, this work remains largely invisible, undervalued and unequally distributed. Every day, women around the world do 16 billion hours of unpaid care work. Cleaning, cooking, fetching water, looking after children and the elderly – these are just […]
