Sustainable Development Goals

The projection is among the findings of The State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery, published by the World Bank, the UN Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The figure is calculated in present value, representing roughly 14 per cent of current Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It far exceeds the $10 trillion estimates from a year ago, revealing that the impact is more severe than previously thought. Loss ‘morally...

Once used as a prison by the ISIL terror network in Iraq, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency and partners have converted a former grim detention centre into a sunny space for youth. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Iraq Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Governorate of Anbar re-opened on 25 December, the Ramadi Youth Safe Space –in what some saw as a timely Christmas gift. Before ISIL confiscated it in 2014, the building was a House of Youth under the Ministry. During the war...

Fifty-five journalists and media professionals were killed last year, latest UN data showed on Thursday, with nearly nine in 10 killings since 2006 still unresolved. Impunity is “alarmingly widespread”, said the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). “Once again in 2021, far too many journalists paid the ultimate price to bring truth to light”, said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “Right now, the world needs independent, factual information more than...

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on education, laying bare a crisis that was already causing widespread concern well before the spread of the virus. Robert Jenkins, the Director of Education at the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, is calling for a transformation in learning, amid warnings that the current system is failing millions of people. Mr. Jenkins spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News ahead of this year’s International Day of Education, marked on 24 January. He began by...

“Unless we take action, the share of children leaving school in developing countries who are unable to read could increase from 53 to 70 per cent”, António Guterres warned in a video message marking the International Day of Education, on Monday. The UN chief remembered the “chaos” that COVID-19 caused in education worldwide, noting that, at the pandemic’s peak, some 1.6 billion school and college students had their studies interrupted. Despite the improvement, he believes the crisis is...

In remembering the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, along with the Roma and Sinti, and countless other victims of its “unprecedented horror and calculated cruelty”, he reminded that “our very name was coined to describe the alliance fighting the Nazi regime and its allies”. “The United Nations must always be on the frontline of the fight against antisemitism and all other forms of religious bigotry and racism”, underscored the UN chief. Resurgence of hate Today, the world...

More than four in 10 young Lebanese over just a 12-month period, reduced spending on education to buy basic food, medicine and other essential items, and nearly a third, have been forced to stop studying altogether. These are some of the disturbing statistics contained in a new report published on Friday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released on Friday, showing how the crisis is forcing young people to drop out of school and engage in ill-paid, irregular work just to survive and help...

To mark the occasion, the birthday in 1946 of the United Nations Radio service, we reached out to two veteran broadcasters and journalists, who recently retired from UN News. Elena Vapnitchnaia was Chief of our Russian Unit, and Jerome Longue, the former Chief of our French Unit – both have served for many years in UN Radio and later with the integrated UN News Section. On this World Radio Day, we asked them to share some pertinent memories of their work in radio and their views on the...

To better understand this decision, and on the occasion of World Radio Day on 13 February, which is being celebrated under the theme “Radio and Trust”, UN News spoke to the ITU‘s Director of Radiocommunication, Mario Maniewicz, who began by explaining the medium’s importance in Africa. This interview was conducted in French and has been edited and adapted for publication. Mario Maniewicz: In Africa, Radio broadcasting still reigns supreme over other forms of mass media channels. Radio is a...

Camilo Vergara is one of hundreds of young Colombians benefiting from a UN programme aimed at pulling victims of the country’s former conflict out of poverty, and into stable employment. Camilo Andrey Vergara was born in 1989 in a rural area of Antioquia, in western Colombia. Raised among coffee and cocoa plantations, his early life with his parents and siblings was peaceful. But the armed conflict ripped his family apart, when he was still a small child. “When I was small, armed groups...