A week of strikes has begun in France in response to new labour reforms introduced without parliament’s approval. Though the reforms have already been forced through, supporters of industrial action remain undeterred.

A criminal court in Cairo sentenced Ali Abdeen, a photographer for the news website El-Fagr, to two years in jail. Abdeen, who was sentenced on May 14 alongside 50 others, was convicted of inciting illegal protests, obstructing traffic, and publishing false news.

The rise of violent extremism, the effects of forced displacement, extreme weather events and other challenges are taking a heavy toll on the health and integrity of families in crisis situations, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, marking the International Day of Families with a call for Governments to support the crucial role of families in all their diverse forms.

A new report addressing the situation of refugees and migrants in Greece and «the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia» was published on 11 May by Special Representative on Migration and Refugees of the Council of Europe’s Secretary General Tomáš Boček.

French trade unions decided to conduct mass strikes and protest meetings against labour reform on 17 and 19 May. They called the draft law which eases conditions for laying off workers, reducing wages, and increasing the 35-hour week, «historic throw-back» and called on the French authorities to refuse the controversial reform.

On 9 May, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon via video message announced the launch of the Permanent Forum’s 15th session on Indigenous Issues in New York. Disappearing of indigenous language will be one of the topics discussed.

As world leaders prepare to gather for a first World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey later this month, the United Nations humanitarian coordinators for the Middle East and North Africa today called on the international community to assume its responsibility in finding solutions to end the widespread conflict and humanitarian crises in the region.

Some 75 million school-age children in crisis areas around the world are in desperate need of educational support, according to a new report by UNICEF which comes ahead of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on 23 and 24 May.

3 May 2016 – With increasing wartime assaults on and patterns of systematic destruction of health facilities in countries affected by conflict, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution today to strengthen protection for health care workers, the sick and wounded, hospitals and clinics, in war zones.

China’s National People’s Congress adopted on 28 April a fundamentally flawed law governing Foreign NGOs and their domestic partners. The new law will have severe consequences for freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, which are already sharply curtailed under existing laws and policies.