NEWYORK - Drug trafficking, once viewed largely as a social and criminal problem, has transformed in recent years into a major threat to the health and security of people and regions. The $61 billion annual market for Afghan…

NEW YORK - Torture is a brutal attempt to destroy a person’s sense of dignity and sense of human worth. It acts also as a weapon of war, spreading terror beyond its direct victims to communities and societies. On the…

Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Starting in 1976, during Argentina’s period of military dictatorship, prison director…

KABUL - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns in the strongest terms the attack at a public hospital in the Azra district in Logar province that took place today resulting in a large number of…

24 June 2011 - The United Nations today announced the construction of 12 additional model police stations in Guinea-Bissau as part of its support to the country's Security Sector Reform (SSR) implementation. Speaking during…

LOGAR - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns in the strongest terms the attack at a public hospital in the Azra district in Logar province that took place today resulting in a large number of…

Nairobi, 23 June 2011 – The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga, congratulates Mr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali on…

NEWYORK - The Secretary-General welcomes President Obama’s announcement to start the drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan as of July 2011. The United Nations views this decision as the beginning of a transition to…

NEW YORK - Global opium poppy cultivation reached some 195,700 hectares (ha) in 2010, a small increase over 2009, shows the flagship report launched today at United Nations Headquarters by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Yury…

Afghanistan is likely to face a significant food shortage in the coming months, following poor rains which have affected this season’s wheat crop. Wheat is the primary food staple for most families. IRIN News “There have been…

KABUL - Sima, a widow for more than a year, is learning to sew at a centre in Kabul in hopes of making enough money to pay her rent and buy pencils and books for her four children. “Widows are very poor,” she told UNAMA. “We…