f United Nations | Peace, dignity and equality <BR>on a healthy planet
Indigenous woman in the forest.
Indigenous Peoples

Protecting isolated Indigenous Peoples' rights

Around 200 groups of Indigenous Peoples live in voluntary isolation and initial contact. They mainly reside in remote forests in Latin America, Asia, and Oceania. Their survival is intricately linked to their environment, and any habitat disruption or exploitation poses severe risks, including disease exposure due to their lack of immunological defenses. On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the focus is on protecting their rights, which are crucial for the conservation of forests and the diversity of cultures and languages. Spread the message. Join our event.

Nemonte Nenquimo, Indigenous activist and member of the Waorani Peoples from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador.
Photo:@Daniela Aguilar
An UNRWA-run school, which was converted into a shelter, was severely damaged by previous strikes. (file)

‘Another day of horror’: UN rights office condemns Israeli strikes at Gazan school

10 August 2024 — The UN Human Rights Office condemned on Saturday the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on schools, where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced...

Displaced women carry their belongings through a flooded gathering site near Kassala, Sudan.

Sudan’s displaced millions face escalating hardship amid war and floods

9 August 2024 — Millions of displaced people in Sudan, already suffering from the devastating impact of a nearly 16-month-long war, are now grappling with worsening conditions due to heavy...

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses a conference for youth human rights defenders at the UN in Vienna (file)..

UN rights chief ‘shocked and appalled’ by Israeli minister’s comment on starving Gazans to death

9 August 2024 — The UN human rights office, OHCHR, called on Friday for the Israeli authorities to monitor senior officials whose public statements on the Gaza conflict may promote war crimes. ...

UN Sustainable Development Goals

17 Goals to transform our world

The Sustainable Development Goals are a call for action by all countries — poor, rich and middle-income — to promote prosperity while protecting the planet.

hands holding megaphone and speech bubble

ActNow Campaign

ActNow is the UN campaign to inspire people to act for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the lead up to the Summit of the Future, join the 1 Million Actions for our Common Future challenge to contribute to a more sustainable and peaceful world. Find new inspiring actions on the app and at un.org/actnow.

children holding up books

SDG Book Club

Reading and learning are essential to children’s growth and development; stories can fuel their imagination and raise awareness of new possibilities. The SDG Book Club aims to encourage them to learn about the Goals in a fun, engaging way, empowering them to make a difference.

Thomas the Tank engine

Student Resources on the SDGs

Learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals! On our student resources page you will find plenty of materials for young people and adults alike. Share with your family and friends to help achieve a better world for all.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Goal of the month

 

Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies.

More about the UN Sustainable Development Goals

More from the
United Nations

Featured stories from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

Agricultural land unusable as a result of Gaza hostilities. Humanitarian Aid, Agriculture and Food

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza aggravated by limited local food production

A recent satellite analysis by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports widespread damage to agricultural infrastructure across Gaza, including damage to over 57 percent of total cropland, the destruction of 33 percent of greenhouses and significant losses in wells and solar panels. Farmers like Yousef Al-Masri and Mohamed El Yaty are essential to Gaza's food supply. However, they and other farmers, herders and fishers in the Gaza Strip are struggling to maintain their agricultural assets, sources of nutrition and income due to the escalation of hostilities and lack of availability and access to critical agricultural inputs.

Rehana and her baby seating on a chair. Migrants, Human Rights

Healing from the Grip of Exploitation - Rehana's Journey

In 2023, Yemen saw a significant arrival of women and girls from the Horn of Africa, totalling 21,130, including 3,773 girls. Many of these migrants endured severe forms of sexual violence, abuse, and exploitation, inflicted by ruthless traffickers and smugglers. Rehana was one of those who faced these horrors firsthand. Arriving at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) facilities in Aden, many migrants, like Rehana, suffer from injuries, severe dehydration, and abuse. Held by smugglers in abysmal conditions, they endure physical and sexual violence. Rehana, like many others, receives mental health and psychological support at the Migrants Response Point, aiding her emotional recovery.

Close-up of a man with the palms of his hands next to his head. Racism and Xenophobia, Human Rights

Racism and AI: "Past biases lead to future biases"

Recent developments in generative artificial intelligence and the application of artificial intelligence raise serious human rights concerns, including racial discrimination, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance. Ashwini K.P. warns that there is an enduring and harmful notion that technology is neutral and objective but in a new report she explores how this assumption allows artificial intelligence to perpetuate racial discrimination. The Rapporteur notes that a clear example of how racial bias is reproduced through technological advances is predictive policing.

meeting of World Heritage Committee
Culture, UNESCO

New World Heritage sites inscribed

The UNESCO committee inscribed 26 new properties, bringing the total number to 1223, in 168 countries. These properties benefit from the highest level of heritage protection in the world.

boxer Cindy Ngamba
Sports, Displaced Persons and Refugees, UNHCR

First medal for Refugee Olympic Team

Refugee athlete Cindy Ngamba secured the first-ever medal for the Refugee Olympic Team, after she triumphed in her quarterfinal bout and guaranteed herself a bronze medal. 

Indigenous WFP staff
Food Aid, Climate, Indigenous Peoples, WFP

Indigenous Peoples promoting food security

Across the globe, the way Indigenous Peoples produce, transform and consume food is based on a deep knowledge of the local ecosystems. WFP is tapping into this knowledge to fight hunger.

child at water tap
Water, Indigenous Peoples, UNOPS

Transforming lives with access to clean water

Paraguay’s indigenous communities are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in the world. UNOPS is helping them overcome the everyday challenge of access to safe drinking water.

What we do

Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, including:

A UNIFIL peacekeeper from Spain on a regular patrol in the vicinity of Al Wazzani, south-eastern Lebanon as the sun sets in the horizon. Since 1948, more than a million women and men have served as UN peacekeepers.

Maintain International Peace and Security

The United Nations came into being in 1945, following the devastation of the Second World War, with one central mission: the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN does this by working to prevent conflict; helping parties in conflict make peace; peacekeeping; and creating the conditions to allow peace to hold and flourish. These activities often overlap and should reinforce one another, to be effective. The UN Security Council has the primary responsibility for international peace and security. The General Assembly and the Secretary-General play major, important, and complementary roles, along with other UN offices and bodies.

Students at Butkhak High School in Kabul, Afghanistan, cheer in unison on the last day of Global Action Week, an international campaign advocating free, quality education for all.

Protect Human Rights

The term “human rights” was mentioned seven times in the UN's founding Charter, making the promotion and protection of human rights a key purpose and guiding principle of the Organization.  In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights brought human rights into the realm of international law.  Since then, the Organization has diligently protected human rights through legal instruments and on-the-ground activities.

A child has a meal at a food distribution centre in the Rwanda camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), near Tawila, North Darfur. More than 8,000 women and children living in the camp benefit from nutrition programmes run by the World Food Programme

Deliver Humanitarian Aid

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 operations due to natural and man-made disasters in areas beyond the relief capacity of national authorities alone.

Grace, a farmer from Kipilat village, and a leading member of the forest community in Ainabkoi, Kenya, planting a tree in 2012.

Promote Sustainable Development

From the start in 1945, one of the main priorities of the United Nations was to “achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”  Improving people’s well-being continues to be one of the main focuses of the UN. The global understanding of development has changed over the years, and countries now have agreed that sustainable development offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivers its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures filed by Nicaragua on 11 October 2013 in the case concerning Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River.

Uphold International Law

The UN Charter, in its Preamble, set an objective: "to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained."  Ever since, the development of, and respect for international law has been a key part of the work of the Organization.  This work is carried out in many ways - by courts, tribunals, multilateral treaties - and by the Security Council, which can approve peacekeeping missions, impose sanctions, or authorize the use of force when there is a threat to international peace and security, if it deems this necessary.  These powers are given to it by the UN Charter, which is considered an international treaty.  As such, it is an instrument of international law, and UN Member States are bound by it.  The UN Charter codifies the major principles of international relations, from sovereign equality of States to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations.

Structure of the
United Nations

The main parts of the UN structure are the General Assembly, the
Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the International Court of Justice, and the UN Secretariat. All were established in 1945 when the UN was founded.

General Assembly

The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation.

Security Council

The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to comply with Council decisions.

Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as implementation of internationally agreed development goals.

Trusteeship Council

The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government and independence.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America).

Secretariat

The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs.

More about the structure of the United Nations

Learn more

Climate Change

Climate change is the defining issue of our time and now is the defining moment to do something about it. There is still time to tackle climate change, but it will require an unprecedented effort from all sectors of society.

Women at UN CSW63 Side Event - “Take the Hot Seat”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Gender Equality

Women and girls represent half of the world’s population and, therefore, also half of its potential. Gender equality, besides being a fundamental human right, is essential to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and sustainable development.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is greeted on his visit to the Central African Republic

Ending Poverty

While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000, one in ten people in developing regions still lives on less than US$1.90 a day — the internationally agreed poverty line, and millions of others live on slightly more than this daily amount.

A young girl holds a smiling infant at the Zaatari Refugee Camp

Our Common Agenda

Following up on a pledge made by UN Member States at the UN’s 75th anniversary, the report Our Common Agenda looks ahead to the next 25 years and represents the Secretary-General’s vision on the future of global cooperation. It calls for inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond to humanity’s most pressing challenges.

Watch and Listen

Video and audio from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

How are chemical weapons destroyed?

Learn how the OPCW has verified the destruction of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles. The OPCW is the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. With 193 Member States and a Technical Secretariat, the OPCW is responsible for implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention. In 2023 OPCW verified that all declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed. This video explains how this historic milestone was achieved.

Newborn health warning signs every parent must know

Learn about some of the most important newborn health warning signs. For more expert tips visit UNICEF Parenting.

What can we do to protect athletes from extreme heat during the Olympics?

The Rings of Fire 2024 report offers vital recommendations for sporting authorities to prevent disruption and minimize heat risks.

UN Podcasts

Science in 5 radio interview, host and guest

Dementia: when to worry

Is dementia a normal part of ageing? Someone suffers from dementia every three seconds. What are the causes? Can we prevent it? Is there a cure?

Dr Katrin Seeher explains in this episode of Science in 5. 

See more on WHO's work on dementia.

Latest Audio from UN News

The United Nations in Pictures

Images from across the United Nations and our world-wide family of agencies, funds, and programmes.

Matse woman and man pose for the camera in the Peruvian Amazon.
Photo:UNDP

Defending Earth's Defenders

Worldwide, there are approximately 200 groups of Indigenous Peoples currently living in voluntary isolation or making their first contact with the outside world. While there is no formal, legal definition of this status, ‘Indigenous Peoples in isolation’ are typically villages with little or no contact with other peoples or communities. The Matsés native community, comprised of 3,200 people, live in voluntary isolation in the Amazon Forest along the Javari River in Peru. Their ancestral territory, spanning 512,000 hectares, was officially recognized in December 2020, making the Matsés the first indigenous community in Peru to achieve this status.

 

Female Ukrainian anesthesiologist-reanimatologist walking between ambulances.
Photo:UNFPA Ukraine/Masha Kholodziinska

Meet the women saving lives on Ukraine's front line

The war in Ukraine continues to take a heavy toll on millions of women and girls, as well as on those providing essential services on the front line and beyond. Find out what motivates the women in the health force – people who dedicate their lives to helping others survive, recover and find moments of joy – and hear their personal reflections on life and work during war.

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