News from the United Nations

• UN launches gender equality plan: ‘We’re at a turning point’ March 12, 2025
  The UN launched a bold new action agenda to boost rights and achieve gender equality at a high-level event on the sidelines of the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) session at UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
• Afghanistan: Opium prices approach historic peaks, crime syndicates benefit March 12, 2025
  Prices for opium in Afghanistan have increased tenfold since the de facto authorities imposed a drug ban in 2022 following their takeover in Kabul, latest UN data shows.
• Guterres prioritises UN reform to ensure taxpayers’ money reaches those in need March 12, 2025
  The United Nations is prioritising reform to ensure it remains effective, cost-efficient and responsive to the people it serves, Secretary-General António Guterres announced Wednesday, as part of a continued push to modernize the Organization.
• Human Rights Council: Significant increase in child victims of trafficking March 12, 2025
  Children make up almost four in 10 victims of trafficking worldwide, but the true number of youngsters caught up in the illegal practice is likely much higher, a senior UN official warned on Wednesday.
• Bangladesh: Rohingya children’s acute hunger surges amid funding cuts March 11, 2025
  In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts to aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
• In the face of ‘unprecedented pressure’, EU calls for primacy of international law and partnership March 11, 2025
  The European Union remains committed to upholding international law and defending the United Nations Charter amid growing security threats, the bloc’s top diplomat told the Security Council on Tuesday.
• ‘Furious kickback against equality’ must end, UN chief tells women activists as conference adopts landmark declaration March 11, 2025
  At a time of growing backlash against women’s rights, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued a stark call to action on Tuesday to civil society representatives gathered for a town hall meeting – part of the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women.
• ‘Haiti’s survival is at stake,’ says UN expert, warning of worsening crisis March 11, 2025
  Haiti is in freefall. Gangs are tightening their grip on the capital, violence is spreading, and “suffering permeates all social strata” in a nation teetering on the brink, according to the UN human rights office’s designated expert on the country, William O’Neill. 
• ‘What’s next?’ Women-led movements fear for the future March 11, 2025
  Women rights advocates gathered at UN Headquarters for the world’s biggest meeting on gender equality have been sharing their concerns about the growing backlash against feminism, and how major funding cuts from donor countries could threaten programmes aimed at improving the lives of women and girls.
• World News in Brief: Syria families executed, Duterte arrested on ICC warrant, Sudan’s healthcare collapse March 11, 2025
  Days of violence against Syria’s mainly ethnic Alawite communities have included the summary execution of entire families, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, confirmed on Tuesday.