The aid situation in Syria—which has been dire ever since the start of the civil war—reached a desperate new low in May, with reports of government forces starving the residents of Homs to force a ceasefire, and with the NGO Mercy Corps revealing last week that the Assad regime had kicked its workers out of Damascus in retaliation for the group’s work in rebel-controlled areas. The United Nations has also publicly admitted that it has been threatened with imminent expulsion from the capital if it seeks to deliver aid elsewhere in the war-torn country.

UN Women today launched a major campaign in the lead-up to the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the historic Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. A year of activities around the world will aim to mobilize governments and citizens alike to picture a world where gender equality is a reality and to join a global conversation on empowering women to empower humanity.

“International humanitarian law requires that parties to the conflict at all times distinguish between civilians, civilian objects and military objectives,” she said. “Sustained rocket and barrel-bomb attacks on populated areas of Aleppo are being carried out in grave violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The upcoming summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia ( CICA ) will promote preventive action , UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday .As far as CICA is concerned , UN is an observer , Ban said , stressing the principles enshrined in the UN charter , such as peaceful resolution of crisis , promoting dialogue and trust , promoting development and upholding human rights , which are fully respected by CICA .

Trafficking, forced labour and modern slavery are big business generating profits estimated at $150 billion a year, the UN labour agency said Tuesday.The report by the International Labour Organization finds global profits from involuntary workers — an estimated 21 million of them — have more than tripled over the past decade from its estimate of at least $44 billion in 2005. "We need to strengthen social protection floors to prevent households from sliding into the poverty that pushes people into forced labour," he said.

The World Health Organization declared a recent spread of polio to new countries to be an international public-health emergency, warning that it could undermine a lengthy and expensive eradication effort.

On April 22nd in Washington DC, the Diplomatic Courier, United Nations Foundation, and the Digital Diplomacy Coalition held an event exploring the future of public diplomacy in the digital age. People around the world joined the conversation through Twitter and Livestream, bringing questions and insights from countries such as Nigeria, Australia, Mexico, and Turkey.

This month, Brazil marks a particularly grim moment in its history. Fifty years ago, the country’s military took power in a coup that ushered in two decades of brutal dictatorship. President Dilma Rousseff, who as a young leftist guerrilla fighting the generals was jailed and tortured, marked the occasion with a speech at Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão airport earlier this month.