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Global perspective Human stories

Social media: Age-related bans won’t keep kids safe, UNICEF warns

A social media ban for children under 16 came into effect in Australia on Wednesday, marking a global first. 

10 December 2025

Five climate trailblazers: UNEP’S 2025 Champions of the Earth

Global temperatures rises are projected to surpass 1.5°C (2.7°F) within the next decade, underscoring the urgency of the climate crisis.

10 December 2025

UNESCO urges a modern rethink of the right to learn

Despite major gains in access to schooling since 1960, widening inequalities driven by the climate crisis, conflicts and rapid technological change are leaving millions behind. 

10 December 2025

Afghanistan’s crisis deepens as human rights recede and aid funding falls

Afghanistan’s worsening humanitarian crisis is being driven by the accelerating erosion of fundamental rights – especially for women and girls – alongside mass displacement, economic decline and shrinking aid, senior UN officials warned on Wednesday.

10 December 2025

Global campaign reveals how human rights ‘are the basis of our existence’

To commemorate this year’s Human Rights Day, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, invited members of the public to write in their most cherished values and everyday essentials.  

10 December 2025

World News in Brief: Gaza winter storm, $7 billion UNICEF appeal, support for emergency response fund

As another winter storm hits the Gaza Strip, low temperatures and rains are putting the lives of newborns and other vulnerable groups at risk, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Wednesday. 

10 December 2025

‘We won’t stop’: Afghan women keep businesses alive despite sweeping rights abuses

In Afghanistan, where sweeping restrictions have pushed most women out of public life, thousands are refusing to give up on work. 

10 December 2025

Peace proves relative in Gaza with no let-up in deadly airstrikes

In Gaza, as airstrikes, shelling and gunfire continued to kill and maim Palestinians, UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Wednesday rejected suggestions by the Israeli military that the so-called “Yellow Line” of concrete blocks it has erected inside the enclave represented a new border.

10 December 2025

Traditional medicine is now a global reality: WHO

The vast majority of World Health Organization (WHO) member States say 40 to 90 per cent of their populations now use traditional medicine.  

10 December 2025

Eastern DR Congo fighting kills scores, cuts food aid and drives mass displacement

Intensifying fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has claimed more than 70 civilian lives, displaced over 200,000 people and cut thousands off from food assistance, prompting UN warnings of a rapidly expanding humanitarian emergency spilling across borders.

10 December 2025