From women activists feeding thousands of vulnerable families amid the brutal war in Sudan, to young Bangladeshis working to stamp out child marriage, human rights defenders worldwide are helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In fact, they are integral to ensuring that the 17 Goals – which include ending poverty, reducing inequality and protecting the environment – become reality, said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. She was recently in New York to present her latest report to the UN General Assembly. She spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn about her mandate and the need to advocate for human rights defenders, hundreds of whom are killed each year over issues such as land rights. Duration: 14:29 Photo credit: UN Photo

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has published a report on the Misuse of Financial Laws to Pressure, Silence and Intimidate Journalists and Media Outlets. (23 October 2024). Guilherme Canela, chief of the section of Freedom of Expression and Safety of Journalists, discusses some of the main findings. Photo caption: Journalists in Somalia attend a press conference. Photo credit: UN Photo/Fardosa Hussein

• Lebanon crisis: over one million people flee deadly escalation • Algerian court urged to reverse ‘abusive sentence’ against poet • Condemnation for Ukraine hospitals attacks: OCHA Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved.

The developed world must increase support for small island developing States “not as an expression of generosity but of responsibility”, the UN’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction has said. Kamal Kishore – who also heads up the Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) - was speaking to UN News in Antigua and Barbuda as the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) came to a close on Thursday. He told Matt Wells that SIDS have always been “ahead of the curve” in trying to mitigate the impacts of increasingly extreme weather on their vulnerable countries and economies - but they can’t do it alone. Audio credit Matt Wells, UN News Audio 5'11" Photo credit UN News/Matt Wells

More than a year of fighting between Sudan’s rival militaries has the country’s people on the verge of famine and uprooted huge numbers caught up in the crossfire. Now, there’s a new threat - unexploded weapons littering Sudan’s towns and cities, where people have received little training about the very real dangers of these lethal devices. Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the country, tells UN News’s Nancy Sarkis this deadly kind of warfare is new to Sudanese and with access to the capital getting easier, civilians are not waiting for crucial mine clearance to happen. Audio Credit: Nancy Sarkis, UN News-Geneva Photo Credit: UNAMID/Albert González Farran

Emirati Hospital in southern Gaza is one of last functioning maternity facilities in all of Gaza where “there aren’t enough staff and not enough medicine” for women about to give birth, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday. Amid ongoing active conflict that has killed tens of thousands, UNICEF is doing its utmost to help, by delivering essential relief supplies to health teams, formula milk, clothes and food for women too weak to breastfeed. But much more needs to be done to save lives - and ensure greater aid access to the enclave – said UNICEF’s Tess Ingram, who’s just back from a heartbreaking humanitarian mission to Rafah and Khan Younis. Here she is speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations, with the following top stories on Monday, 30 May 2022: - Do more for environment or risk planet becoming ‘human sacrifice zone’: UN-appointed independent rights experts - New #Sudan visit by Special Rapporteur Adama Dieng - Fresh famine alert for Horn Of Africa Audio: Daniel Johnson Photo: UN Photo / Fardosa Hussein

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations, with the following top stories on Monday, 24 January 2022: - ‘No free ride’ for COVID-19: WHO’s Tedros - Misinformation threat to inoculation campaigns - Syria: Condemnation for ISIL detention centre attack Audio: Daniel Johnson, UN News - Geneva Photo: A 70-year-old woman receives her third COVID booster dose in Dimapur, India. © UNICEF/Tiatemjen Jamir

Here are the main audio stories this 28 June, 2021, from the UN News team: - UN rights office highlights policing reforms to address systemic racism - Abuse of rights activists in China remains endemic, says independent expert - UN health agency urges AI to be used in public interest in all countries Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News, Geneva Photo credit: © UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Who wants the death of the UN? This provocative question is the title – translated into English from Qui veut la mort de l’ONU? in French – of a new book by Romuald Sciora and Anne-Cécile Robert, two French journalists and experts in international affairs. In it, they argue that the United Nations is often unfairly held responsible for a lot of the ailments of the world: war, famine, health and environmental crises… For this new edition of The Lid Is On podcast, Yasmina Guerda spoke to them while they were visiting UN Headquarters in New York, about what, in their view, needs to happen to safeguard the Organization’s future. Music credit: Massive Attack, by Podington Bear. Photo: Anne-Cécile Robert (left) and Romuald Sciora (right), authors of "Qui veut la mort de l'ONU: du Rwanda à la Syrie, histoire d'un sabotage", New York, April 2019. Credit: UN Publications/Steven Bornholtz.

Gaza Hospitals unable to feed their own patients, elective surgeries postponed for years – those are just a few examples of what the UN’s Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Jamie McGoldrick, describes as a “collapsing system in freefall”. On Monday, he issued an appeal as part of the Humanitarian Response Plan for next year, for $350 million, to help 1.4 million people in the most need, across the occupied Palestinian territories, chiefly the the Gaza Strip. Our UN News Arabic chief, Reem Abaza, was in Gaza with Mr. McGoldrick several weeks ago, and after they had visited the main hospital there together, she asked him to outline the extent of Gaza’s plight. Audio Credit: Reem Abaza, UN News Photo: Palestinian refugee residing at UNRWA ciollective shelter at Khan Dunoun Camp, Syria (2015). UNRWA/Taghrid Mohammad