Restraint is required to create the environment Iraq needs to consolidate hard-won stability and realize sustainable progress, the senior United Nations official in the country told the Security Council today, amidst United States air strikes in Iraqi territory on 2 February and the ongoing conflict in nearby Gaza.

A spate of recent attacks on United States facilities and personnel in three Middle Eastern countries and Washington, D.C.’s retaliatory air strikes, alongside the ongoing Red Sea crisis, threaten to further exacerbate an already volatile regional situation, a senior United Nations official today warned the Security Council.

Inclusive economic growth is key to social development and poverty eradication, requiring policies and programmes created by collaboration, such as economists strategizing alongside mothers, corporate executives engaging with the unemployed and political leaders consulting youth, speakers told the Commission for Social Development at the opening of its sixty-second session.

In Abyei, located along South Sudan’s border with Sudan and which has been the site of violence recently, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners have been providing food and shelter materials to displaced men, women and children, despite major access and logistical challenges.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, observed on 6 February:

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The new Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, Héctor Enrique Vasconcelos y Cruz, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

The Peacebuilding Commission plays a vital role in connecting “the dots” between the United Nations work streams on peace and development, its new Chair said today, as he laid out the 31-member body’s priorities for 2024.

The massive humanitarian needs of over 2 million people in Gaza risk deepening, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will likely be forced to close operations by the end of the month if donor funding remains suspended, UNRWA Head Philippe Lazzarini warned today.