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When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, visited UN Headquarters in the 1960s to protest the Viet Nam conflict, the civil rights leader likened the anti-war movement to the struggle for equality for Black people in the US, declaring then what has today become a rallying cry in the continuing battle against racism.

On 15 April 1967, a delegation led by Dr. King held a meeting with the legendary Ralph Bunche and other top UN officials. Mr. Bunche was the first African American to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and Dr. King was the second.

Watch our report from the archives about UN legend Mr. Bunche, here.

During the meeting, Dr. King presented a petition, calling for an immediate and peaceful solution to the Vietnam conflict (1961-1975). Earlier that day, he had marched alongside 125,000 protesters in what was the first of many mass marches in opposition to the war.

Watch UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive episode on the world-renowned civil rights advocate below:

‘No justice without peace, no peace without justice’

Outside UN Headquarters in the spring of 1967, Dr. King read aloud the petition, which even today, echoes calls for peace in ongoing wars around the world.

“From towns and villages, cities, campuses and farms, we have come in tens of thousands to march and rally at the United Nations in New York and at the birthplace of the world organization in San Francisco on the 15th day of April 1967,” he said. “We the participants in today’s unprecedented national peace demonstration, although of many national origins, faiths and shades of political opinion, are united in our conviction of the imperative need for an immediate, peaceful solution to an illegal and unjustifiable war.”

“We are determined that the killing be stopped and that a nuclear holocaust be avoided,” he said. “We rally at the United Nations in order to reaffirm our support of the principles of peace, universality, equal rights and self-determination of peoples embodied in the Charter and acclaimed by mankind, but violated by the United States.”

In terms of the priority of the peace movement and the civil rights movement, Dr. King said “from a content point of view, the issues are inextricably tied together”.

“In the final analysis, there can be no peace without justice, and there can be no justice without peace,” he said.

Inspiring future generations

The civil rights leader continued to advocate for peace throughout the last year of his life before he was assassinated in 1968, exactly one year after he visited UN Headquarters. His anti-war activism reinforced the connection between the conflict abroad and injustice at home in the US.

Dr. King’s lifetime efforts, from the March to Montgomery to his iconic I Have a Dream speech in Washington, have inspired future generations, including his own granddaughter. Earlier this year, 15-year-old activist Yolanda Renee King addressed an audience in the General Assembly Hall at a special commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, marked annually on 25 March.

“I stand before you today as a proud descendant of enslaved people who resisted slavery and racism like my grandparents, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King,” she said from the green marbled podium in the Assembly Hall.

“My parents, Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, have also dedicated their lives to putting an end to racism and all forms of bigotry and discrimination,” said the author of the children’s book We Dream a World, which pays tribute to her celebrated grandparents.

“Like them, I am committed to the fight against racial injustice and to carrying on the legacy of my grandparents who championed social justice and equality,” Ms. King said, calling on young people around the world to take action.

“We must connect via the internet and organise across national boundaries around the world. This will open up new possibilities for global campaigns to advance human rights and social justice in all nations. I hope that my family’s legacy of social justice advocacy will inspire my generation to action and to confront issues affecting our world.”

Watch her full statement below:

Stories from the UN Archive

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Catch up on UN Video’s Stories from the UN Archive playlist here and our accompanying series here.

The measure, issued by the de facto Ministry of Economy on 26 December, enforces a two-year-old decree prohibiting women from working with both national and international NGOs. 

In his statement, Mr. Türk emphasised the devastating impact on the delivery of critical humanitarian aid in Afghanistan the decree will have, where more than half the population lives in poverty.

NGOs, he noted, are essential to the survival of millions of Afghans, offering life-saving support to women, men and children alike.

“This is absolutely the wrong path,” Mr. Türk said, urging the de facto authorities to reconsider what he described as a “deeply discriminatory decree.”

Women’s rights under siege 

Since coming to power, Afghanistan’s de facto authorities have restricted the rights of women and girls, barring them from education, work, healthcare, and movement.

These measures, including the latest crackdown on NGO employment, effectively erase women from public life, undermining Afghanistan’s prospects for progress. 

Mr. Türk emphasised that “no country can progress – politically, economically or socially – while excluding half of its population from public life.”

A plea to rethink the path forward 

The High Commissioner called on Afghanistan’s leaders to rethink their course, not just for the sake of women and girls but for the future of the nation as a whole.  

He also highlighted the broader implications of these policies for the global community, noting that restricting women’s participation in public life exacerbates poverty and hampers efforts to build a stable and resilient society. 

“For the future of Afghanistan, the de facto authorities must change course,” Mr. Türk concluded. 

In November, following several failed attempts, politicians of all stripes approved a bill to overhaul legislation that has been in effect since 1887, reflecting a deep-rooted practice that violates the rights of children and adolescents: according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). one in five girls aged between 14 and 18 is in a union.

“This approval has been possible because we have gathered the consensus of all political parties, highlights Senator Clara López. “It not only implies prohibition but also a robust public policy that reflects changing customs and raises awareness among the population about the great harm done to children and adolescents with marriages and unions”.

Advancing children’s rights

“We want to congratulate Colombia on the magnificent news,” says Bibiana Aido Almagro, the head of UN Women in Colombia.

“These practices severely affect the rights to life, health, education, and integrity of women and girls and negatively impact their development.”

Andrea Tague Montaña, gender and development officer at UNICEF in Colombia, agrees that the decision is a positive move.

“Child marriages and early unions are understood as harmful practices that not only lead to gender violence but also cause the victims, especially girls, to fall into poverty,” she warns. “They reinforce discrimination and the idea that the best thing that can happen to them is to marry and have children”.

By entering into an unequal power relationship with older partners, explains Ms. Montaña, girls have few opportunities to decide if they want to have sexual relations, how many children they want to have, or what kind of life they want to lead.

“They enter scenarios where, in many cases, they start fulfilling adult women’s roles. Child labour, domestic work, and caregiving become their almost daily tasks,” adds the UNICEF official.

“These are girls who stop studying, who lose their rights by entering an early union. It is important to call on society to stop normalizing early unions; this is a violation of rights. Girls do not stop being girls because they are living with a man”.

The bill also establishes actions to strengthen national public policy on childhood and adolescence, including measures to restore the rights of children and adolescents affected by underage marriages and unions, with a special emphasis on remote rural areas – ensuring that indigenous peoples and other vulnerable communities can take part.

The new law comes into effect once it is signed by President Gustavo Petro. 

Regina De Dominicis – who also heads the agency’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office – issued her plea for action after another small boat sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on New Year’s Eve.

“Among the seven survivors is an eight-year-old child whose mother is among those unaccounted for. The boat reportedly sank as it approached the shore,” she said.

The deaths follow another deadly incident off the island earlier in December which left an 11-year-old girl as the sole survivor.

2,200 deaths in the Mediterranean

“The death toll and number of missing persons in the Mediterranean in 2024 have now surpassed 2,200, with nearly 1,700 lives lost on the central Mediterranean route alone,” said Ms. De Dominicis.

“This includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five of all people migrating through the Mediterranean. The majority are fleeing violent conflict and poverty.”

The UN children’s agency is calling on all governments to use the Migration and Asylum Pact to prioritise safeguarding children, which includes ensuring safe, legal pathways for protection and family reunification.

The Pact also demands the establishing of coordinated search and rescue operations, safe disembarkation, community-based reception, and access to asylum services.

“We also urge increased investment in essential services for children and families arriving via dangerous migration routes, including psychosocial support, legal aid, healthcare, and education,” she continued.

“Governments must address the root causes of migration and support the integration of families into host communities, ensuring children’s rights are protected at every stage of their journey.”

Just days ahead of the inauguration of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, top independent rights investigators have urged the country’s authorities to allow peaceful protests to go ahead “without fear of reprisal”.

The appeal from the Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, which reports to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, follows the violent repression of demonstrators after last July’s Presidential elections that returned Mr. Maduro to power.

“We remind security forces responsible for maintaining public order that they should adhere to the strictest international standards on the use of force,” said Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.

Echoing her statement, fellow human rights expert Francisco Cox warned that Venezuela’s “repressive apparatus remains fully operational”.

Mr. Cox said that in the five months to last December, the authorities had detained at least 56 political opposition activists, 10 journalists and one human rights defender.

‘Criminal responsibility’

“Those who order arbitrary detentions and the imposition of torture or other ill-treatment, as well as those who carry them out, bear individual criminal responsibility,” he said.

According to the Venezuela Public Prosecutor’s Office, around 1,300 of the more than 2,500 individuals detained during the post-electoral security round-up were released – although the Fact-Finding Mission noted that these figures could not be corroborated.

The Mission’s experts said that according to the non-governmental organization Foro Penal, “1,849 people remain in detention for political reasons, facing multiple irregularities and restrictions affecting their rights to food, health, and access to essential legal guarantees in ongoing legal processes”.

New Security Council members take their seats

Five elected members of the Security Council officially began two-year terms on Thursday, with five others leaving the world’s premier body for peace and security.

The incoming members are Denmark, Greece, Pakistan, Panama and Somalia, selected to serve by the UN General Assembly last June.

The outgoing members are Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique and Switzerland. There are 10 elected members of the Council who serve alongside the five permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The flags of the countries who will serve during 2025 and 2026 were installed during a special ceremony outside the chamber.

The Security Council president for the month of January, Algeria’s Ambassador Amar Bendjama, thanked the outgoing members and warmly welcomed the newcomers, describing it as an “immense privilege” to serve as well as “a huge responsibility”.

“The world is facing many challenges that are threatening international peace and security. The situation in the Middle East is highly concerning,” he said.

He urged all Council members to work tirelessly and effectively “and to uphold the values of multilateralism”.

UN Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari from the UN political and peacebuilding affairs department said membership of the Council was a “solemn responsibility” and reflected the trust placed on them by the larger membership and organisation.

He praised the increasingly prominent role being played by elected members to reshape the working methods of the Council.

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stressed that no place and no one in Gaza has been safe since the war began in October 2023.

“As the year begins, we got reports of yet another attack on Al Mawasi with dozens of people killed and injured,” he said, calling this “another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone let alone a ‘safe zone’”.

He warned that “every day without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy.”

Media under attack

Separately, UNRWA recalled that the Israeli authorities continue to prevent international media from operating and reporting inside Gaza. 

“Access to international journalists to report freely from Gaza must be granted,” the agency said.

Relatedly, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said it is deeply concerned by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) suspension of the operations of the Al Jazeera news network in the occupied West Bank.

The Qatar-based channel was accused of broadcasting “inciting materials” that were “deceiving and stirring strife”, according to international media reports which cited the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The development comes amid the “troubling trend” of suppressing freedom of opinion and expression in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, OHCHR said, urging the PA “to reverse course and respect its international law obligations.”

Rights experts deplore ‘blatant disregard’ for health 

Meanwhile, two independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council appealled for an end to what they called “the blatant disregard of the right to health in Gaza” following the raid last week on Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north and the arbitrary arrest and detention of its director.

Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health, and Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, voiced their concerns in a statement issued on Thursday.

“For well over a year into the genocide, Israel’s blatant assault on the right to health in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory is plumbing new depths of impunity,” they said.

Healthcare under fire

The experts were “horrified and concerned” by reports from North Gaza, “especially the attack on health workers including the last remaining of 22 now destroyed hospitals: Kamal Adwan Hospital.”

They expressed grave concern over the fate of the hospital’s director, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, describing him as “yet another doctor to be harassed, kidnapped and arbitrarily detained by the occupation forces, in his case for defying evacuation orders to leave his patients and colleagues behind.”

They said such action “is part of a pattern by Israel to continuously bombard, destroy and fully annihilate the realisation of the right to health in Gaza.”

Concern for hospital director

The experts noted that before Dr. Abu Safiya was kidnapped, his son was killed in front of him.  

Furthermore, the doctor “was recently injured while on duty as a result of Israel’s genocidal acts,” yet “continued to provide care while the hospital was under continuous bombardment and threat.”    

“More disturbing reports indicate that Israeli forces allegedly conducted extrajudicial executions of some people in the vicinity of the hospital, including a Palestinian man who was reportedly holding a white flag,” they added.

Not a target

More than 1,057 Palestinian health and medical professionals have been killed so far and many have been arbitrarily arrested, according to the independent experts.

“The heroic actions of Palestinian medical colleagues in Gaza, teach us what it means to have taken the medical oath. They are also a clear signal of a depraved humanity that has allowed a genocide to continue for well over a year,” they said.

Stressing that medical personnel enjoy special protections under international humanitarian law, the rights experts said “they are not legitimate targets for attack, nor can they legitimately be detained for exercising their profession.”

End assaults and arbitrary arrests

The experts called on Israel, as the occupying power, to respect and protect the right to life and to health in Gaza and the whole Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“They must also ensure the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, and all other arbitrarily detained healthcare workers. May they be the last arbitrarily arrested Palestinians, and may the new year begin under different auspices.” 

About UN rapporteurs

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. They are mandated to monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues.

These experts are not UN staff, do not receive a salary, and serve in their individual capacity, independent of the UN Secretariat.