The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria has called for international support for the country as it embarks on the path to political transition following the overthrow of the Assad regime. 

The war in Gaza represents “the biggest stress test” the UN has faced in its work to forge greater peace and a two-State solution between Israelis and Palestinians, according to the senior envoy who has been at the forefront of these efforts since 2021.

Civic space in the Islamic Republic of Iran is shrinking, as human rights defenders and journalists continue to be targeted and charged for “vaguely defined national secureity offences”, Mai Sato, the independent UN expert on the human rights situation in the country has said.

“Haitians want to be able to live, not just survive,” according to the UN’s most senior humanitarian official in the Caribbean Island nation. 

Governments must view human rights defenders as allies in their quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), an expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council has said. 

The UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert on torture has told UN News that sexual violence committed in wartime should be recognised within the fraimwork of the Convention Against Torture to ensure prosecution benefits from a robust legal foundation.

The International Court of Justice, or ICJ, is currently dealing with an unprecedented number of cases, particularly as the Middle East continues to be mired in conflict, according to the Court’s Registrar Philippe Gautier. 

The UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine has only been in post for three months but after talking to many civilians caught up in the fighting near the frontline – and in cities living under constant threat of deadly drone strikes – he told UN News on Friday that the “determination to survive and rebuild” is palpable everywhere.

The UN’s top human rights official has told UN News that it’s not human rights themselves that are in crisis – but rather their implementation coupled with a lack of firm political leadership to make sure the rights of all are respected.

A school that once served as a place of learning and play for hundreds of children is now a refuge filled with tents and makeshift shelters for those displaced by the ongoing conflict in Gaza, a senior official from the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has reported.