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The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) today reiterated that its peacekeepers responded proportionately to two attacks launched against them by armed men in Kass, South Darfur, this week.

The United Nations Secretary-General today announced the appointment of Peter Jan Graaff of the Netherlands as the Secretary-General&#39s Acting Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

The Secretary-General appealed today to the Government of Indonesia to refrain from carrying out the execution, as announced, of ten prisoners on death row for alleged drug-related crimes.

The United Nations Secretary-General has sent his deepest condolences to the Government of Nepal and to everyone affected by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the country on Saturday.

In a message to mark World Malaria Day today, the United Nations Secretary-General said that better access to insecticide-treated bed nets and greater availability of accurate diagnostics and effective treatment were the main reasons why the UN health agency reported in 2014 that the rate at which people are dying from malaria had halved since the turn of the century.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, convening a meeting on Myanmar today, welcomed the positive direction of its reform process as it continues on its “path of historic transition”, but emphasized that more work remains to be done to address the country’s myriad challenges.

For the first time since the start of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, thousands of health workers are fanning out across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in nationwide immunization campaigns with an aim to protect three million children against preventable but potentially deadly diseases such as measles and polio.

On the eve of the presidential election in Togo, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on all national stakeholders to recommit themselves to ensuring that the election is conducted in a peaceful, free and transparent manner and reflects the will of the people of Togo.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the appointment of Philippe Lazzarini of Switzerland as his new Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon, a spokesperson for the Organization said today.

Militants in South Sudan have handed over to the United Nations Children&#39s Fund (UNICEF) a final group of 283 children in what the agency described as &#8220a small piece of good news in what is otherwise a terrible situation for children in other parts of [the country],&#8221 where many boys and girls have been abducted and forcibly recruited as child soldiers.

The United Nations human rights office said today that civilians are continuing to die in Yemen, with the total number killed between 26 March and 22 April now estimated at 551, including 31 women and at least 115 children.

The Syrian crisis is getting worse and civilians are paying the price, senior United Nations humanitarian officials said today as they called for an end to the &#8220numbness to the senseless violence&#8221, while the Security Council demanded parties to the conflict facilitate expanded aid operations and immediate delivery of life-saving supplies to hard-to-reach and besieged areas.

The United Nations refugee agency welcomed the European Union&#39s (EU) mobilization of resources in response to the ongoing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, while also urging increased efforts aimed at saving lives and integrating asylum seekers in accordance with human rights.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today condemned the “successive horrific incidents” in Libya this past week – ranging from the appalling loss of life in the Mediterranean of those escaping violence, the execution of Christians and the killings of several members of a prominent family by the so-called ‘Islamic State in Libya.’

After decades of “sustained and unrestrained anti-foreigner abuse,” and in the wake of a recent article in the Sun newspaper calling migrants ‘cockroaches,’ the United Nations human rights chief today urged British authorities and media to take steps to curb incitement to hatred by tabloid newspapers, in line with the country’s obligations under national and international law.

A United Nations human rights body has welcomed the decision by the Government of Azerbaijan to allow it &#8220unhindered access&#8221 to places of detention across the Central Asian country while also urging authorities to do more to protect the rights of people in custody.

Peacekeepers with the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) have repelled two attacks by unidentified armed men in Kass, 85 kilometres north-west of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.

At a forum on the role of religious leaders in preventing incitement to violence and atrocities, which opened today in Fez, Morocco, a senior UN rights official stressed the importance of religious leaders worldwide in the prevention, mitigation and resolution of conflicts.

On the heels of a two-day United Nations High-Level meeting on Promoting Tolerance and Reconciliation, Fostering Peaceful, Inclusive Societies and Countering Violent Extremism, President of General Assembly, Sam Kutesa, has called for the defeat of obscurantism and urged faith leaders around the world to denounce those who preach intolerance in the name of religion.

Aiming to attract women to fields “where strong demand is creating global skills shortfall,” the tech community is gearing up to celebrate ‘Girls in ICT Day’ around the world.