Sustainable Development Goals

In an interview with UN News, senior policy analyst from the GEM report team Anna D’Addio said the issue of technology in education was examined through a gender lens. She said the report highlights progress in the reversal of discrimination against girls over the past two decades, but also exposes the negative impact of technology on girls’ education opportunities and outcomes. Harassment online “Girls on social media are much more exposed to different forms of harassment. Cyberbullying...

23 April 2024Culture and Education Book by book and page by page, Türkiye’s booklovers are bringing life back to cities ravaged by the deadly 2023 earthquakes through the power of reading, with help from cash grants from the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM). Ahead of World Book and Copyright Day, marked annually on 23 April, Miko Alazas of IOM caught up with a bibliophile in Adiyaman, Türkiye, who is helping to heal his community through the power of books. Muhammed...

UN Secretary-General António Guterres celebrated the achievements and contributions of people of African descent from across the world, while addressing the forum via video message, but also acknowledged existing racial discrimination and inequalities Black people continue to face. He said the establishment of the Permanent Forum shows a dedication from the international community to address these injustices. Still, it needs to be backed by significant change for people of African descent...

Rokaya needed time to recover after illness forced her to quit as a live-in maid in Malaysia and return home to Indramayu, West Java. However, under pressure from her agent who claimed two million Rupiah for her initial placement, she accepted an offer of work in Erbil, Iraq. There, Ms. Rokaya found herself responsible for taking care of a family’s sprawling compound—working from 6 a.m. until after midnight, seven days per week. As exhaustion worsened the headaches and vision problems that...

28 March 2024Migrants and Refugees The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and partners on Thursday appealed for $1.4 billion this year to support more than two million South Sudanese refugees in five African countries and local communities hosting them. Since the start of the conflict in South Sudan over 10 years ago, growing humanitarian needs compounded by dire food shortages, continued insecurity, and the impacts of climate change, have kept refugees in exile and prompted new displacement...

26 March 2024Migrants and Refugees One in three migrant deaths happens while people flee conflict, the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Tuesday. More than two in three migrants whose deaths have been documented remain unidentified. Last year was the deadliest on record, with 8,541 migrant victims. Nearly 60 per cent of deaths were linked to drowning. So far in 2024, the trends are just as alarming. Along the Mediterranean sea route alone – while arrivals this year are significantly...

23 March 2024Culture and Education In the face of escalating conflicts and humanitarian crises, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is set to embark on his annual Ramadan solidarity trip, commencing this weekend in Cairo, Egypt. The trip, which coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, takes place amid turbulent times, particularly with the ongoing conflict in Gaza. In a tradition that started when he served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to shine a light on Muslim...

21 March 2024Culture and Education On World Poetry Day, marked on 21 March, and #ThrowbackThursday, we looked at some poetry in motion in the General Assembly’s Third Committee on social, humanitarian and cultural affairs. UN rumour has it that the unofficial tradition began almost 40 years ago, when a delegate from the United Kingdom requested the floor to make a point of order at the end of an intense months-long session. The now annual tradition is flush with ribald diplomatic...

They live in the village of Ankilinanjosoa in Anosy, a region which has suffered a series of droughts leading to the failures of multiple harvests. Twenty-five women formed a grower’s association which has access to water as part of a project supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Tenefo Votsirasoa is a member of a women’s growers association in the village of Ankilinanjosoa. It’s hoped a reliable way to irrigate their crops will not only help to build their resilience to the...

In an alert, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said that this increase had been fuelled by the growing number of people forced to work illegally, but also by higher profits. ILO senior research officer Federico Blanco told journalists in Geneva that traffickers and criminals make close to $10,000 per victim, around $1,700 more than they did in 2014. “The human toll is also incalculable. These illegal profits represent wages, resources, livelihoods, effectively stolen from...