Being transgender is not a mental illness, World Health Organization says
The United Nations health agency announced on Monday the condition, also known as gender dysphoria, has been reclassified as a sexual health condition.
International organizations
This archive collects milestones and solutions-focused stories involving international organizations — bodies such as the United Nations, World Health Organization, and regional alliances working across borders on global challenges. Read about the moments when coordinated international action produced measurable progress.
World Health Organization certifies Paraguay malaria-free
The World Health Organization (WHO) certified Paraguay as having eliminated malaria, the first country in the Americas to be granted this status since Cuba in 1973.
First ‘zero-emissions’ Winter Olympics kicks off in South Korea
The POCOG will aim to make the games environmentally friendly at all stages before during and after the events. The overarching goal is to make the games responsible for their carbon emissions and in the process release zero emissions.
U.N. brokers deal to end use of children in Nigeria’s battle with Boko Haram
Officials hail landmark for child protection as youth vigilante group known as Civilian Joint Task Force pledges to draw a line under recruitment of minors
U.N. conference adopts treaty banning nuclear weapons
The treaty — adopted by a vote of 122 in favour to one against (Netherlands), with one abstention (Singapore) — prohibits a full range of nuclear-weapon-related activities, such as undertaking to develop, test, produce, manufacture, acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, as well as the use or threat of use of these weapons.
World Health Organization hails major progress on tackling tropical diseases
WHO director general says significant strides have been made in fight against sleeping sickness, elephantiasis and other neglected tropical diseases
Eight nations launch the International Coral Reef Initiative to protect reefs globally
The International Coral Reef Initiative launched in December 1994, when eight nations — from Jamaica to Japan — met in the Bahamas and pledged the first global partnership devoted entirely to coral reefs. Reefs cover less than 1% of the ocean floor but shelter roughly a quarter of marine species, and until then, no international body had spoken for them alone.
The Law of the Sea treaty enters into force, governing the world’s oceans
The Law of the Sea treaty entered into force on November 16, 1994, giving the world its first comprehensive legal framework for the ocean. Negotiated by consensus over nearly a decade, it established 200-nautical-mile economic zones and declared the deep seabed the “common heritage of mankind” — a quietly radical idea still shaping ocean governance today.
UN Convention on Biological Diversity enters into force with 168 signatories
The Convention on Biological Diversity became binding international law on December 29, 1993, committing nations to protect the planet’s living systems as “a common concern of humankind.” Born at the Rio Earth Summit a year earlier, it drew 168 signatures — the largest sign-on to any environmental treaty at that point. It reframed conservation from saving single species to safeguarding the full web of life.
86 countries now follow one road safety treaty — and it’s been working since 1968 C.E.
The Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, signed in November 1968, established shared rules of the road across dozens of nations — standardizing driver licensing, vehicle registration, and cross-border recognition in a single international framework. Today, 86 countries operate under its provisions, quietly reducing accidents and bureaucratic friction for millions of travelers. What makes it remarkable is both its durability and its adaptability: a Cold War-era treaty is now being amended to address self-driving vehicles. It remains one of the most consequential — and least celebrated — achievements in international cooperation.