A new pan-European WHO survey of schoolchildren reveals that the proportion of 15-year-olds who first smoked at the age of 13 has fallen significantly since 2010. The report goes on, however, to warn that while 80% of respondents report generally high rates of life satisfaction, differences between genders and socioeconomic status are adversely affecting many young people’s health, well-being and lifestyle choices at a critical stage in their development.

Submit Your Climate Solution and be Celebrated at the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco

GENEVA (15 March 2016)  – A Russian woman who was denied employment at the helm of a boat because the job was on a list of banned occupations for women in the Russian Federation suffered gender-based discrimination,  UN experts have found.

Report highlights the enormous challenges women continue to face in finding and keeping decent jobs around the world.

(ILO News) – Despite some modest gains in some regions in the world, millions of women are losing ground in their quest for equality in the world of work, according to a new report prepared by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as part of the ILO’s Women at Work Centenary Initiative. 

Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO's efforts – to make sure people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. 

Our three main goals are: the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition; the elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and social progress for all; and, the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

            As a boy growing up in post-war Korea, I remember asking about a tradition I observed: women going into labour would leave their shoes at the threshold and then look back in fear. “They are wondering if they will ever step into those shoes again,” my mother explained.

Global efforts to protect wildlife are gathering force.  Last year, United Nations Member States adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which include specific targets to end poaching.  The General Assembly also unanimously agreed a resolution to limit illicit trafficking in wildlife.  These powerful expressions of political determination to end these highly destructive crimes are now being translated into actions on the ground through collective efforts by countries around the world.

Embrace diversity, understand and respect our differences, support one another

GENEVA, 25 February 2016 — On 1 March, people around the world will be joining together to celebrate Zero Discrimination Day. This year’s theme is Stand Out and encourages everyone to stand for fair and just societies.

The World Day of Social Justice highlights the imperative of building a future of dignity for all.

Guided by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the international community has pledged to end poverty by 2030 through effective integrated social, economic and environmental policies.

These landmark blueprints for a better world provide invaluable tools and a powerful vision to meet the needs of today’s generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.

AMMAN – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Jordan launched today an innovative iris scan payment system, allowing Syrian refugees living in camps to purchase food items from local shops using the scan of their eye instead of cash, vouchers or credit cards.

Today, a Syrian refugee at King Abdullah Park refugee camp in northern Jordan walked into a supermarket to redeem her monthly food assistance and instead of using her usual prepaid electronic card at the checkout, she looked into an iris scan camera, and paid for her shopping in the twinkling of an eye.