News stories

KABUL - Tens of thousands of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan are vulnerable to cold-related diseases but have little or no access to health services, according to aid agencies. IRIN story Over 350,000…

KABUL - The United Nations envoy on children and armed conflict today met with Afghan human rights leaders and members of the international community before wrapping up a two day visit to Kabul to co-sign a child protection…

27 January 2011 - The United Nations Development Program office (UNDP) in Guinea-Bissau today signed a $30,000 grant agreement with Bissau-Guinean Civil Society National Movement to assist the organization in implementing a…

KABUL - Afghanistan’s Lower House of Parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, convened today as its 249 members were sworn in by President Hamid Karzai. This is the country’s second Parliament to be inaugurated since 2001. There are 69…

KABUL - Pro-government militias in parts of Afghanistan are believed to be recruiting underage boys and sometimes sexually abusing them in an environment of criminal impunity, local people and human rights organizations say…

20 January 2011 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Gana Fofang of Cameroon as the new deputy United Nations envoy for Guinea-Bissau. Mr. Fofang will also serve as the UN Resident Coordinator and the Resident…

KABUL - Soaring opium prices may induce more farmers to grow opium, warned the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its full 2010 Afghanistan Opium Survey released today. The high prices are based on…

KANDAHAR - Kandahar’s rise in cricket continues as the team beat out players from 21 other provinces to win the national championships in Nangarhar for a second year in a row. Each team played two-day matches against three…

KABUL - Taliban insurgents and other armed groups as well as criminal gangs in Afghanistan have been deliberately targeting demining NGOs, particularly in the volatile southern provinces, says the Afghanistan NGO Safety…

BAMYAN - The challenges and opportunities for young leaders in Afghanistan was among the main discussion topics at a political outreach workshop attended this week by 40 civil society representatives in the central region of…