UN News Today 23 September 2025 |

UN chief warns ‘impunity is the mother of chaos’ as General Assembly opens

At the UN General Assembly in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres warned that “impunity is the mother of chaos” as world leaders gathered to mark its 80th anniversary.

Mr. Guterres said cooperation is “a practical strategy for survival, not an act of naiveté,” but cautioned that the principles of peace and progress are being eroded by war, inequality and climate chaos.

“Around the world, we see countries acting as if the rules don’t apply to them. We see humans treated as less than human. And we must call it out. Impunity is the mother of chaos – and it has spawned some of the most atrocious conflicts of our times.”

He stressed that just as in 1945, when the UN was created in the aftermath of the Second World War, countries today must once again choose law over lawlessness, and peace over conflict.

To watch all the week’s proceedings in New York live, go to webtv.un.org and you can follow all our live pages on news.un.org.

Ukraine: UN report finds widespread torture of civilians in Russian detention

UN human rights monitors in Ukraine have detailed a systematic pattern of torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian civilians detained by Russian authorities since the 2022 full-scale invasion.

Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said that at least 18,000 people are still in custody.

A new report by the human rights team documents 508 cases, including 216 interviews with released detainees.

More than nine in 10 of those interviewed described suffering beatings and electric shocks, mock executions and sexual violence.

Here’s Ms. Bell now:

“One detainee described to us being beaten so severely with a baseball bat that he begged to be shot. Civilians also described dire conditions of detention, including overcrowding, food shortages and very limited or no access to medical care, poor hygiene and extreme isolation. One woman described being detained for more than a year in a rat-infested cell with almost zero time outside of her cell.”

The report also documents 90 extrajudicial executions of civilians and 38 other deaths in custody linked to torture, poor conditions or lack of care.

On the Ukrainian side, the human rights office reviewed more than 2,000 conflict-related cases and found 117 credible accounts of torture or ill-treatment, mostly in 2022 during initial interrogations.

As of July this year, 2,258 people were being held in official facilities on charges including treason or collaboration.

Sudan: WHO steps up cholera response in Darfur with mass vaccination

The World Health Organization says that Sudan’s cholera outbreak has now spread to all 18 states, with more than 113,000 cases and at least 3,000 deaths.

Darfur is among the hardest-hit regions, with more than 12,700 cases and over 350 deaths recorded.

Speaking from Port Sudan, Hala Khudari, Acting Deputy WHO Representative, said a long-delayed vaccination drive has finally begun:

“After weeks of preparation and planning to overcome access, transport and logistical challenges, the cholera vaccination campaign kicked off this Sunday, 21 September, aiming to protect 1.86 million people in six priority localities of the Darfurs.”

WHO says the campaign is critical to halting the epidemic, despite ongoing civil war, blocked roads and displacement.

Sudan has been at war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, leaving millions displaced and basic services in collapse.

Katy Dartford, UN News