Palestine refugees had suffered unimaginable hardship, including obstacles to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and those in Syria had been twice displaced, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today as it concluded its general debate on the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Taking action for the first time during the seventy‑first session, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today unanimously approved three resolutions on literacy, crime prevention, and alternative development programmes, and heard the introduction of a draft text on obstetric fistula.

A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) finds that the world must urgently curb emissions by 25 per cent from the predicted 2030 levels, and that even with the Paris Agreement, the world is still headed for a temperature rise of between 2.9 to 3.4 degrees centigrade this century.

Strongly condemning repeated ceasefire violations in Mali by armed groups over the last few months, the Security Council urged those factions, as well as the Government to expeditiously carry out all their commitments under the 2015 Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation for the country.

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, observed on 6 November:

The Committee on Relations with the Host Country provided an open environment where members and interested delegations could raise any relevant concerns, the Sixth Committee (Legal) heard today during its consideration of that body’s report.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at the award ceremony for the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, in New York today:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, on receiving the Founders Award from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, in New York today:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Refugees were at the centre of political attention for the first time in decades, the new United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today as it began its general debate on humanitarian questions.