Countries must do everything to ensure that free and independent news reporting can thrive, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday in a message to mark World Press Freedom Day. 

"After losing my leg in the war, I returned to photojournalism not just for work, but because I have loved photography since childhood," said Palestinian reporter Sami Shahada.

More than a month after two powerful earthquakes devastated Myanmar, the country is spiralling deeper into crisis as continued military attacks, obstructed aid access and widespread displacement leave nearly 6.3 million people in urgent need.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have followed through on decrees aimed at erasing women from public life in the country and restricting their freedom of movement, the UN mission to the country (UNAMA) said in its latest human rights report published on Thursday covering the first quarter of 2025.

More than 500 civilians have been killed in North Darfur state, Sudan, over the past three weeks, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday. 

Marked by mass killings, abductions and sexual violence during the first quarter of 2025, the human rights situation in Haiti remained extremely concerning, the UN said in a report published on Wednesday.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is becoming less common worldwide, but when it does occur, it is increasingly performed by professional healthcare workers, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Monday.

Grim details continued to emerge on Thursday in the aftermath of a wave of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital and other cities overnight, with early reports indicating that at least nine people were killed and dozens injured.

Teenage pregnancy remains the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 to 19, which countries could help prevent by allowing them to remain in school and ending child marriage, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.  

The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to have devastating consequences, particularly for women and children, who face an increased risk of conflict-related sexual violence.

Too many Indigenous Peoples are still being excluded from decisions that directly affect their lands, territories, cultures, and the future of their communities, a top UN forum heard on Monday.

Two centuries to the day after France imposed a crippling debt on Haiti in exchange for its independence, a UN forum has heard calls for the restitution of what has long been described as a “ransom” extorted under the threat of force from the Caribbean nation that still bears the scars of colonialism and slavery.

The number of civilians in South Sudan harmed by conventional parties to the conflict and other armed groups increased by 51 per cent in 2024, the UN Mission in the country (UNMISS) said on Thursday. 

Israeli military operations in Lebanon have continued to claim civilian lives and destroy vital infrastructure, the UN human rights office warned on Tuesday, raising alarm over mounting violations since a ceasefire agreement took effect last November.

The calls for reparatory justice can no longer be ignored, speakers at the fourth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on African Descent in New York said on Tuesday. 

As Sudan’s devastating war enters its third year, UN rights investigators are warning that its “darkest chapters” may still lie ahead, following the massacre of more than 100 people at displacement camps in Darfur over the weekend.

The fourth session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent opened on Monday at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  

Military operations continue in Myanmar despite ceasefires declared after the recent earthquake that killed more than 3,600 people, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday. 

More than three years on from the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian civilians continue to face the devastating consequences of war, with March 2025 proving to be another deadly month.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Sunday for an investigation into the Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih which reportedly killed 18 people, including nine children.