Content about United Nations

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but starting this week we can march a thousand days forward into a new future.

On April 5th, the world will reach a vital moment in history’s largest and most successful anti-poverty push — the 1,000-day mark before the target date to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Rebels in the Central African Republic seized the riverside capital Bangui in fierce fighting, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee and sowing confusion over who rules the mineral-rich heart of Africa.

At least nine South African soldiers were killed trying to prevent the rebels taking Bangui, a Reuters witness said, dealing a blow to Pretoria's attempt to stabilize the chaotic central African nation and assert its influence in the region.

This year’s UN Human Development Report is simply titled “The Rise of the South”. It illustrates the immense power of a bloc of countries whose economic prowess is now chiefly responsible for propelling the world economic engine.

China, India and Brazil are the big players, but represented in that South bloc are 40 developing countries whose growth has been an antidote to the economic malaise infecting the developed North.

A new video widely believed to be released on Monday by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea shows images of what appears to be an imagined missile attack on White House. The video appears to send a message that the Korean Peninsula has been pushed to the brink of war.

The third nuclear test conducted by the DPRK in February and its threat to nullify the Korean Armistice Agreement, along with the unanimous UN Security Council resolution on March 7 to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang have intensified tensions on the peninsula.

Representatives from almost 200 United Nations member states have gathered in New York City to hammer out a binding international treaty that will end unregulated sales of conventional arms.

If approved, the treaty will become the first global attempt to regulate the world's $70 billion trade of all conventional weapons.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a pact that "regulates international transfers of both weapons and ammunition and provides for common standards for exporting states", Reuters reported.

Wu Hongbo, United Nations under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, gives a speech at a luncheon hosted by the China Energy Fund Committee in Hong Kong on Monday. Wu said that, with the people’s collective wisdom, Hong Kong can find the most suitable political system for the city’s long-term development. 

The Philippines remains committed to deploying troops in UN peacekeeping hotspots despite the brief hostage-taking of 21 Filipino soldiers, who were welcomed back to freedom in Jordan with a traditional military feast, military officials said on Sunday.

In a speech titled “Japan is back” during his visit to Washington, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to reinvigorate Japan’s economy and said: “Japan is not, and will never be, a tier-two country.”

Abe’s economic revival recipe has received mixed response. But one thing is for sure that economic strength alone does not make a first-tier country.

On Tuesday, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea threatened to nullify the Armistice Agreement inked in 1953, an apparent move to exert pressure on the United Nations Security Council while the latter was busy discussing new sanctions against Pyongyang.

But the DPRK's threat is not meant to "resume" the war. On the contrary, observers in Beijing feel it is a desperate effort to bring the United States back to the negotiation table.

The United Nations is expected to vote on Thursday on a resolution imposing tougher sanctions on Pyongyang following its third nuclear test.

Analysts urged a restart to negotiations to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula after the Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on Tuesday it will nullify the Korean War armistice.

During a closed-door meeting in New York on Tuesday, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice circulated the draft text of a resolution, proposed by the US, to the other 14 members of the Security Council.

As we commemorate International Women's Day, we must look back on a year of shocking crimes of violence against women and girls and ask ourselves how to usher in a better future.

One young woman was gang-raped to death. Another later committed suicide out of a sense of shame that should have attached to the perpetrators. Young teens were shot at close range for daring to seek an education.

These atrocities, which rightly sparked global outrage, were part of a much larger problem that pervades virtually every society and every realm of life.