Happy Friday, families! 🎉
News from the United Nations
- Stigmatised for being deaf: Zénabou's story June 7, 2025In the Central African Republic, disability carries a deep-rooted stigma, and persons with disabilities often find themselves excluded from almost every avenue of life. Zénabou, who is deaf and non-speaking, has suffered from prejudice, but a UN-backed educational programme offers a glimmer of hope.
- US decision to sanction ICC judges ‘deeply corrosive’ to justice: UN rights chief June 6, 2025The US Government’s announcement of sanctions against four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday has been condemned by Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as “deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice.”
- Humans can't survive without a healthy Ocean: UN envoy June 6, 2025The Ocean is in deep crisis. Factors such as acidification, declining fish stocks, rising temperatures and widespread pollution are contributing to a catastrophic decline in biodiversity: over half of marine species are at risk of extinction this century.
- Green gold beneath the waves: How seaweed – and one man’s obsession – could save the world June 6, 2025As world leaders gear up for the Third UN Ocean Conference in Nice, one policy expert is making waves with an ancient marine organism he believes could help feed the planet, clean the air, and transform coastal economies.
- Number of aid workers killed in Gaza conflict, highest in UN history: Guterres June 5, 2025The United Nations paid tribute on Thursday to the 168 staff members who lost their lives in 2024. They include 126 personnel killed in Gaza, all but one of whom served with the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
- From summits to street art to schools: Here’s how we’re marking World Environment Day June 5, 20255 June marks the 52nd World Environment Day, led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and hosted by Jeju, South Korea, under the theme #BeatPlasticPollution.
- World News in Brief: Women’s health in Sudan, childhood wasting, Belarus trade unions, Guatemala child rights violation June 5, 2025As hostilities rage in Sudan, access constraints and devastating funding cuts are isolating rape survivors and pregnant women from essential health services, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA said on Thursday.
- AIDS still killing one person every minute as funding cuts stall progress June 5, 2025AIDS-related deaths have dropped to their lowest level since 2004, but progress remains precarious, with the disease still claiming one life every minute. The impact of funding cuts is severe, causing widespread disruption to HIV services and threatening hard-won gains.
- UN hails new era of cooperation over Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile – but concerns persist June 5, 2025The UN’s top disarmament official has welcomed signs of increased cooperation from Syria’s interim authorities in efforts to eliminate the country’s chemical weapons once and for all, as preparations move forward for a third round of inspections by international experts.
- ‘It is an elephant’: Ukraine’s unexploded mine problem June 5, 2025In Ukraine, overnight attacks continued into Thursday morning, resulting in 45 casualties and significant damage to civilian infrastructure, the UN has reported.