United Nations

Hala, 9, receives treatment at a makeshift hospital following Syrian government bombardments on rebel-held town of Saqba, in Eastern Ghouta, on Thursday.

World News

U.N. Security Council Passes Syria Cease-Fire After Hundreds Killed In Bombing Siege

5:39pm February 24, 2018

by Laurel Wamsley

Airstrikes, shells and barrels filled with TNT are being dropped on neighborhoods where civilians have no way to escape. More than 120 of those killed in the past week are children.

A Palestinian schoolgirl protests against a funding gap at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City, in 2015.

World News

'Half A Million Children' Are At Risk If The U.S. Cuts Palestinian Aid: U.N. Agency

4:34pm February 08, 2018

by Michele Kelemen

NPR spoke to the director of U.N. relief operations in the West Bank about how he makes the case for America's continued assistance in the region.

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Blue Helmet peacekeepers are seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2016. According to a U.N. report, 56 U.N. peacekeepers died in 2017, the highest number of deaths since 1994.

World News

Why U.N. Peacekeepers' Job Has Become More Dangerous In The Past 5 Years

10:30pm January 28, 2018

by Michel Martin

Last year saw the highest number of deaths of United Nations peacekeepers since 1994. Former U.N. peacekeeper Conor Foley says "the line between peacekeeping and war-fighting is getting very blurred."

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United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks at the U.N. headquarters on January 16.

U.N. Head Lists His Top Global Concerns For 2018

4:06pm January 17, 2018

by Malaka Gharib

The new secretary-general hoped to make 2017 a year of peace. But in a speech yesterday, he said that the world had gone in the "reverse" direction.

The U.S. says it's sending money to sustain schools and health services for Palestinian refugee. In this 2016 photo, schoolgirls dance at a summer camp organized at a U.N. Relief and Works Agency school in Gaza City.

World News

U.S. Freezes More Than Half Of Aid To U.N. Agency For Palestinian Refugees

12:33pm January 17, 2018

by Bill Chappell

The funding freeze comes weeks after the U.S. was soundly rejected in its attempts to block a resolution in the U.N. that called for countries not to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

Farmer Adi Nacoba began diversifying her crops and spreading out plantings after a cyclone destroyed her farm in 2016.

After Devastating Cyclone, Fiji Farmers Plant For A Changed Climate

10:29am January 09, 2018

by Sonia Narang

As the Pacific island archipelago of Fiji faces a warming planet, the country's farmers are turning to more climate-resilient techniques that other storm-prone communities worldwide could model.

The U.N. headquarters in New York City is seen here in 2003.

Trump Administration Touts A Smaller U.N. Budget (And Takes Credit For It)

1:11pm December 26, 2017

by Laurel Wamsley

The language in the U.S. mission's announcement led some to misinterpret it as meaning that Washington would reduce its own contribution by $285 million next year.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told the General Assembly on Thursday: "To its shame, the United Nations has long been a hostile place for the state of Israel."

U.N. Votes Overwhelmingly To Condemn U.S. Decision On Jerusalem

2:40pm December 21, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

By a 128-9 vote Thursday, the General Assembly rejected a U.S. decree that recognized the disputed city as Israel's capital. "The United States will remember this day," Ambassador Nikki Haley warned.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned that the U.S. "will take note of each and every vote" on a resolution on the decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

'US Will Be Taking Names' Of U.N. Votes On Jerusalem Resolution

6:27pm December 20, 2017

by Laurel Wamsley

"We're watching those votes," Trump said, threatening to cut aid to countries that vote in favor of the resolution. "Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care."

Yanghee Lee, U.N. human rights special rapporteur to Myanmar, talks to journalists during a news briefing in Yangon, Myanmar, in July.

World News

U.N. Human Rights Investigator Barred By Myanmar

5:39am December 20, 2017

by Scott Neuman

Yanghee Lee, the U.N.'s human rights special rapporteur to Myanmar, was told that she will not be allowed to enter the country for the rest of her term. Lee had been scheduled to visit in January.