UN News Today 20 November 2025 |

Ukraine: Spike in Russian attacks highlights need to extend refugee protections, says UNHCR

We start in Ukraine, where the recent deadly spike in Russian attacks from east to west has highlighted that those who need to seek safety abroad do not have their asylum claims rejected, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday.

Some countries have rejected claims for asylum and assistance on the grounds that parts of Ukraine are safe and that they could shelter there, the agency added.

But Wednesday’s devastating aerial attack on Ternopil, Western Ukraine – which had been relatively unscathed by the full-scale Russian invasion so far – demonstrates clearly that no part of the country should be considered safe, UNHCR said.

WHO warns over failures in helping victims of gender-based violence

Many girls and women who are victims of gender-based violence are being let down when they seek medical help – often because systems are not in place to provide what they need – the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

In a new report from the UN agency’s European office, it said that nearly three in 10 women and girls over 15 will experience physical and/or sexual abuse across the region.

Health services “are often the first – and only – point of contact for survivors”, and yet key assistance is not being provided, especially time-sensitive post-rape services and access to safe abortion, WHO maintains.

According to data from 53 European countries, only seven offer safe abortion services, the agency found.

With more details, here’s WHO’s Melanie Hyde:

“When we look at the kinds of care that needs to be provided, so the basic components of rape, post-rape care, so emergency contraceptive, post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV, sexually transmitted infection prevention, mental health assessments and referrals and safe abortion services; we see that less than 40 per cent of our Member States across the 53 member states of the WHO European region actually have this at a policy level…what we find is if it’s not in policy, then it’s not going to be at the front line.”

WHO is calling this a public health crisis which has a significant negative impact on individuals in terms of their mental and physical health, but also to families and wider society.

Youth Activists Summit celebrates hope over hate and ‘humanity over hostility’

Finally, some welcome good news from a youth summit in Geneva on Thursday, where activists have been sharing their positive stories of change, that have helped tens of thousands of people all over the world.

Among the inspiring individuals at this year’s Youth Activists Summit was Marina El Khawand, who set up a global platform for surplus medicines from scratch.

She took the decision in the aftermath of the deadly port explosion in Beirut in 2020, when she struggled to find prescription drugs for an elderly survivor who needed them to breathe properly.

Marina’s lightbulb moment came after she searched multiple pharmacies without success, before asking for help on her social media account.

Within hours, a stranger donated 12 boxes of medicines and it wasn’t long before her online platform – Medonations – was born – as she tells UN News:

“She’s crying because she saw her basic right to health, which is her medication. That is the only thing that can keep her alive and keep her breathing. Like, it was the happiest and the saddest moment. Because I knew that time that our lives, unfortunately, doesn’t matter. We’re just numbers. If we live, if we  survive, suffer, no one cares about us. It was unacceptable.”

Marina shared her story at the summit along with four other young activists from Brazil, Ivory Coast, India, Japan, all with their own solutions to drive global change.

Representing the UN, communications chief Melissa Fleming urged the young audience and all those online to transform social media noise and negativity into action, creativity and hope.

“Movements don’t start with institutions, they start with individuals,” she said, before encouraging everyone to log their actions on the UN Act Now Campaign app, as 28 million people around the world have done already.

Daniel Johnson, UN News