As protests continue in Georgia over a proposed draft law on curbing foreign influence, UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk on Thursday urged the authorities to shelve the controversial bill and engage in dialogue. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased obesity in school-aged children in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) office for the region said in a new report issued on Wednesday, sounding the alarm for action. 

An increase in civilian casualties caused by intensifying attacks from the Russian armed forces against Ukraine’s electric power infrastructure and railway system calls for concern, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Monday. 

As deadly attacks in Ukraine continue, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that the number of children killed so far this year has increased by nearly 40 per cent compared to 2023. 

Following the United Kingdom Parliament’s passage of the “Safety of Rwanda” bill, two top UN officials sounded an alarm on Tuesday about its harmful impact on global responsibility-sharing, human rights and refugee protection.

Independent UN experts have expressed concern over the role airlines and aviation authorities could have in the unlawful removal of asylum seekers from the United Kingdom to Rwanda under an agreement between the two governments and the proposed “Safety of Rwanda” bill. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is “a stark reminder” of the challenges to multilateralism and remains the top priority of UN partner the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Security Council heard on Friday. 

Russian attacks on cities and towns across Ukraine, including intense and systematic targeting of the energy infrastructure, “have become a daily destructive pattern” in recent weeks, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Thursday. 

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency reiterated that attacks against nuclear power plants in Ukraine are “an absolute no go”, following direct military action targeting the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on Sunday.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Tuesday called for the fighting and occupation of Ukraine to end, so the country can begin “healing the deep wounds and painful divisions” caused by Russia’s invasion.

Russia must immediately release American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained without evidence for a year, two UN human rights experts said on Thursday. 

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) issued a new report on Tuesday, revealing a surge in credible allegations of torture and executions of captured Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) at the hands of Russian forces.

The UN chief condemned in the strongest possible terms Friday’s deadly terrorist attack at a concert hall outside Moscow.

Top UN officials and agencies on the ground in Ukraine on Friday condemned overnight large-scale coordinated Russian strikes on energy plants across the country that killed at least five people and left 1.5 million without electricity.

Russia has instilled a pervasive atmosphere of fear in the occupied regions of Ukraine, perpetrating egregious violations of international humanitarian and human rights laws in an attempt to cement its control, according to a new report from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, released on Wednesday.

The UN’s top political affairs official on Friday briefed the Security Council and slammed ongoing Russian elections in illegally occupied areas of Ukraine.

Fresh evidence of “horrific…widespread and systematic” abuse and likely war crimes committed by Russian forces against civilians and military detainees in Ukraine emerged on Friday, in a new report by UN-appointed independent rights investigators.

A Russian missile strike on a multi-storey apartment block in central Ukraine that left three dead and around 40 injured on Tuesday has been strongly condemned by the UN’s top aid official in Kyiv, Denise Brown.

A recent sharp rise in deadly attacks against civilians in Ukraine and Russia, including by armed drones, run counter to international law and must end now, top UN officials told the Security Council on Friday afternoon.

The UN Secretary-General addressed the Security Council on Friday, underscoring the fundamental need to honour the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as the full-scale invasion by Russia of the country marks its second anniversary.

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis urged countries to stand with the people of Ukraine “in their quest for justice and peace” during a meeting on Friday to mark two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country. 

When the Russian occupation of Bucha in the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine ended in March 2022, widespread destruction was revealed, and a UN commission concluded that war crimes had been committed against the civilian population. Two years on, life is returning to the town on Kyiv’s outskirts and nearby Irpin, which have been restored with UN support.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, entering its third year, has exacted a “horrific human cost”, inflicting immense suffering on millions of civilians that will be felt “for generations”, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Thursday.

The United Kingdom must take action to end all forms of violence against women and girls, having labelled it a “national threat”, a UN independent human rights expert on the issue said on Wednesday. 

The United Kingdom’s legislative moves to facilitate the prompt removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda run contrary to the basic principles of the rule of law and risk delivering a “serious blow” to human rights, the UN rights chief warned on Monday.

Reports from Russian authorities on Friday that imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died are absolutely shocking, said Mariana Katzarova, the first ever UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert on Russia, prompting her to ask a simple question: “Who is next?”

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday said it was “appalled” over the death announced by Russian authorities of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison, calling for an impartial and transparent independent investigation.

Reconstruction and recovery in war-torn Ukraine is projected to cost $486 billion over the next decade, up from $411 billion estimated a year ago, a UN-backed study published on Thursday has revealed. 

As the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, a senior UN official on Monday voiced deep concern over the escalatory trajectory of the war with intensifying attacks on civilians.