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A young girl standing by her tent in the Warga Dalal camp in Zakho, northern Iraq in October 2014, where an estimated 2.8 million people were in need of food and approximately 800.000 people in urgent need of emergency shelter. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) delivered supplies to that camp such as tent insulation and flooring which would keep refugees warm in the harsh winter months. OCHA/Iason Athanasiadis One of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in its Charter, is "to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character." The UN first did this in the aftermath of the Second World War on the devastated continent of Europe, which it helped to rebuild. The Organization is now relied upon by the international community to coordinate humanitarian relief of emergencies due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone. "Each day I wake up in the hope of bringing about change. A change in the life of someone in need." The psychosocial camp counsellor for Atma IDP camp, herself displaced since 2012, visits displaced families every day to talk about their stresses and offer support to children who have lost their parents. ©OCHA The OCHA’s mandate stems from inter alia, an inter-agency standing committee, consolidated appeals, a central emergency revolving fund and a register of stand-by capacities." 2020: A year of unprecedented ...

A family in Syria pick up their monthly World Food Programme food allowance. Almost 100 million people in around 88 countries receive assistance from WFP every year through food or cash distributions, nutrition support programmes and other activities. The World Food Programme was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. Photo: WFP/Ali Habib The United Nations is part of the UN system, which, in addition to the UN itself, comprises many funds, programmes and specialized agencies, each of which have their own area of work, leadership and budget. The programmes and funds are financed through voluntary rather than assessed contributions. The Specialized Agencies are independent international organizations funded by both voluntary and assessed contributions. The UN coordinates its work with these separate UN system entities, which cooperate with the Organization to help it achieve its goals. UN Specialized Agencies The UN specialized agencies are autonomous international organizations working with the United Nations. All were brought into relationship with the UN through negotiated agreements. Some existed before the First World War. Some were associated with the League of Nations. Others were created almost simultaneously with the UN. Others were created by the UN to meet emerging needs. FAO Headquarters: Rome, Italy The leads international efforts to fight hunger. It is both a forum for negotiating agreements between developing and developed countries and a source of technical ...

Ms. Catherine Haswell is the UN Resident Coordinator for the Republic of Maldives. She presented her credentials to HEP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on 16 February 2020. Ms. Haswell brings 23 years of development and humanitarian experience in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Ms. Haswell previously held programme and management roles with UNICEF in Darfur, the occupied Palestinian territory and Timor Leste. Ms. Haswell holds a master’s in international and public law from the University of Melbourne, Australia. With more than 20 years of experience in development and operations across several different regions and organizations, Mr. Callanan now serves as the Director of UNOPS Multi-Country Office, responsible for UNOPS operations in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Prior to this he served as Director of UNOPS New York office where he managed operations in 110 countries and represented UNOPS in the Executive Board. He has been responsible for planning and managing projects with up to 179,000 personnel, has worked for the private sector, United Nations and the military. With extensive experience in humanitarian, development and post-conflict settings, he has worked in Afghanistan, East Timor, Sudan, Iraq, China, UAE, State of Palestine, Denmark, USA, Nepal, Jordan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He has won UNOPS Executive Director’s award four times, graduated with Honors in Science from UNSW, and as a Sloan Fellow was granted an MBA from MI...

Kuala Lumpur – The UNHCR Operations in Malaysia welcomed the visit of Elizabeth Tan, Director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection as part of her mission to Asia Pacific earlier this month. The aim of her visit was to learn and understand the complex protection environment in Malaysia, while meeting with refugee communities and key Government and civil society stakeholders. UNHCR courtesy call to Dato’ Haji Abdul Halim bin Haji Abdul Rahman, Deputy Secretary General (Security) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, in conjunction with the visit of Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR Director of the Division of International Protection During her visit, Tan was warmly received by senior officials of various Malaysian Ministries in a series of meetings. Courtesy calls were made to Dato’ Haji Abdul Halim bin Haji Abdul Rahman, Deputy Secretary General (Security) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Dato’ Cheong Loon Lai, Deputy Secretary-General of the Department of Multilateral Affairs, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Hamzah bin Ishak, Deputy Director-General of the National Security Council. During these meetings, UNHCR and the Malaysian Government discussed issues related to refugee protection in the country, as well as the way forward in cooperation on managing refugee protection. The Government of Malaysia and UNHCR reiterated their continued commitment to dialogue on refugee protection in the country. UNHCR Director of the Division of International Protection, Elizabeth Tan (...

The UN has been home to hundreds of pieces of art donated by Member States, foundations, and individuals since 1950. The newly launched Art Tour highlights some of these great works and provides context for their significance as a part of the art collection at the UN. Beginning at the UN Plaza, the tour discusses sculptures on display, including Non-Violence by Carl Fredrick Reuterwärd, which Luxembourg gifted to the UN in 1988. It encapsulates the hope, not for victory, but for peace. Tour participants will then walk through the Ark of Return by Rodney Leon, a permanent memorial to honour the enslaved persons who were victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. After the group makes its way to the General Assembly Lobby, visitors can admire the Foucault Pendulum, which gives visual proof of the rotation of the earth, as the French physicist Jean Foucault demonstrated in Paris in 1851. The sphere takes approximately 36 hours and 45 minutes to complete a cycle. The tour then heads to the Meditation Room, donated by Sweden and Friends of the United Nations Marshall Field Foundation. The room opened in 1952 and was described as “a room dedicated to silence in an organization dedicated to the service of peace”. Upstairs, on the third floor, the tour will continue to take an in-depth look at the art on display. This includes the Zanetti Mural, donated by the Guggenheim Foundation, depicting "Mankind’s Struggle for Lasting Peace”, as well as the Norman Rockwell Mosaic symbolizing ...

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Daniel Endres of Switzerland as Assistant Secretary-General to serve as the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for East Africa. Mr. Endres, who has served in a range of senior roles in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters, including as Director of the Division of International Protection, Director of the Division of External Relations and Director of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, brings with him over 32 years of experience in the humanitarian field. Mr. Endres has also served in leadership roles in complex field operations, including as UNHCR Representative in Iraq and as Deputy UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan. Mr. Endres’ career with UNHCR started in 1989 as an Associate Protection Officer in Peshawar, Pakistan, before serving as a Legal Officer in Warsaw, Poland (1991‑1994) and Head of Sub-Office in Aden, Yemen, in 1995. Mr. Endres began his professional career in 1986 as an Assistant at the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) in Munich, Germany. Mr. Endres was born in 1958 and is a fluent English and French speaker, in addition to his native German. He holds doctoral degrees in political science and law from the University of Munich, Germany.

Filippo Grandi is the 11th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He was first elected by the UN General Assembly on 1 January 2016 for a five-year term. The General Assembly has since twice re-elected him to serve, and he will now complete his term on 31 December 2025. Challenges of forced displacement and statelessness have grown in scope, scale and complexity, and displacement numbers reached unprecedented levels. During Grandi's tenure, UNHCR has striven to better protect, empower and seek inclusion and solutions for displaced and stateless people, and to enable a better response to emergencies. This includes strengthened efforts, in the framework of the UNHCR is navigating extraordinarily difficult waters. The combination of multiple conflicts and resulting mass displacement, fresh challenges to asylum, the funding gap between humanitarian needs and resources, and growing xenophobia is very dangerous. – Filippo Grandi, 11th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Grandi was born in Milan in 1957 and has been engaged in refugee and humanitarian work for more than 30 years. From 2010 to 2014, he served as Commissioner-General of Grandi holds a degree in modern history from the State University in Milan, a BA in Philosophy from the Gregorian University in Rome and an honorary doctorate from the University of Coventry.