Source : Thenational.ae / 26 June 2013

The UAE is the happiest Arab country and the 17th happiest in the world, a UN-commissioned report says.

The World Happiness Report, published by the University of Columbia's Earth Institute, indicates the happiest countries "tend to be high-income countries that also have a high degree of social equality, trust, and quality of governance".

Source : BBC / 13 June 2013

At least 93,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the conflict, according to latest United Nations figures.

This represents a rise of more than 30,000 since the UN last issued figures covering the period to November 2012.

Source : Al Arabiya / 23 May 2013

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), will launch two new initiatives to improve maternal health in some of the most-hard-to-reach areas around the world, according to a statement on Wednesday.

Source : Arab news / 16 Mar 2013

The number of registered Syrian refugees jumped 10 percent in just one week to more than 1.1 million, a UN aid official said yesterday.

Fighting in Syria has escalated in recent months, with the regime stepping up attacks on opposition strongholds. The UN refugee agency said the number of Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries has risen to 8,000 a day from 3,000 in December.

Source : Reuters / 11 Mar 2013

U.N. Refugee Agency chief Antonio Guterres says the current level of Syrian refugees could go up to two or three times the current level by the end of 2013 if the present flow continues.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said on Sunday (March 10) there could be two or three times the one million registered Syrian refugees outside the country by the end of 2013 if the rise in numbers continues at its current rate.

By AFP / 7 Mar 2013

One million Syrians have fled their homeland since a revolt erupted two years ago, the UN said on Wednesday, as fighting between rebels and loyalists raged across central and northern battlefields.

“With a million people in flight, millions more displaced internally, and thousands of people continuing to cross the border every day, Syria is spiralling toward full-scale disaster,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement issued in Geneva.

By Reuters / 20 Feb 2013

Typhoid has broken out in an opposition-held region of Syria due to people drinking contaminated water from the Euphrates River, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

An estimated 2,500 people in northeastern Deir al-Zor province are infected with the contagious disease, which causes diarrhea and can be fatal, the United Nations agency said.

Source : BBC / 19 Feb 2013

The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan has fallen for the first time in six years, a UN report says.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) documented 2,754 civilian deaths in 2012, a 12% drop, and 4,805 injuries, a slight rise.

The reduction was attributed to less fighting on the ground, and a decline in suicide attacks and air operations.

But the report also expressed concern about the re-emergence of armed groups, particularly in Afghanistan's north.

By AFP / 12 Feb 2013

A UN committee has expressed “alarm” over reports that hundreds of children have been killed by US military forces in Afghanistan in the past five years.

US forces in Afghanistan (USFOR-A), which leads the NATO fight against Taliban insurgents, dismissed the committee’s concerns as “categorically unfounded”.

The Geneva-based Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the deaths were “due notably to reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force”. It gave no precise statistics.

By AFP / 9 Feb 2013

Syrians living in areas affected by the nearly two-year conflict have seen their water supplies cut by one third, putting children at especially high risk of disease, the United Nations said on Friday.

The results of the first U.N. Fund for Children nationwide assessment of water and sanitation since hostilities began revealed that populations in contested areas have only 25 liters (5.5 gallons) of water a day, compared with 75 liters two years ago.