A fatwa was issed against me; they condemned me for normalizing obscenity and indecency among women by persuading them to come out of their homes. … I said, ‘You should also give a fatwa against Hazrat Khadija (the first wife of Prophet Muhammad) because she was also a trader.’ “God has not made us as weak as we have made ourselves.”

A cross-agency training on gender in communications brought together UN staff from 13 agencies in Nepal last month. The two-day session provided the 25 participants with a range of tools and skills to develop gender-responsive communication materials in their respective lines of work. “There is a need for devising coherent communications plans and strategies that position the United Nations as the torchbearer of incorporating gender in communications,” said Valerie Julliand, UN Resident Coordinator.

On behalf of UN Women I join my colleagues in welcoming you to this Expert Group meeting which is in preparation and intended to feed into the 60th session of the Commission on the status of women. As you know, the Commission which first convened in 1947, will be considering Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development. It does so fully engaged with and informed by the Sustainable Development Goals...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and all of us at the United Nations were shocked to learn of the explosion in Bangkok today close to the Erawan shrine in Rajaprasong. The Secretary-General and the entire United Nations Country Team in Thailand as well as all United Nations personnel join together to expresses our condolences to the bereaved families and to the people and Government of the Kingdom of Thailand. We wish those injured a quick recovery. The United Nations is appalled at the loss of...