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The Ranch Fighting to Save Nigeria’s Endangered Drill Monkeys

Thu, 02/10/2025 - 10:14

A drill monkey in an electric enclosure at the ranch. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

By Promise Eze
BOKI, Nigeria, Oct 2 2025 (IPS)

For the past 23 years, Gabriel Oshie has started his mornings at Drill Ranch in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, Boki, Cross River state, southern Nigeria.

At sunrise, he walks through an electric enclosure at the ranch, giving bananas and other fruits to the over 200 endangered drill monkeys he watches over.

Drill monkeys are among the world’s rarest primates, known for their brightly coloured faces and short tails. They live in large groups led by a dominant male and are found only in parts of Nigeria, southwestern Cameroon and Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea.

However, their numbers have fallen sharply due to deforestation, hunting and the illegal wildlife trade. The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates fewer than 4,000 remain in the wild.

“Wildlife is the beauty of nature,” Oshie said, explaining what motivated him to work at the ranch. “When you see the drill monkeys, the forests, and other animals, you can’t help but appreciate their beauty. But it’s sad that people are destroying wildlife despite its importance.”

Gabriel Oshie has been working at the ranch for the past 23 years. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS

Wildlife Crime

Wildlife crime is the fourth most profitable illegal trade globally, worth billions of dollars each year. Nigeria has become a key hub, with porous borders and weak enforcement enabling traffickers to move ivory, pangolin scales and other endangered species.

Authorities have tried to curb the trade by shutting bushmeat markets and seizing smuggled wildlife. In July, officials announced the country’s largest wildlife-trafficking bust, intercepting more than 1,600 birds bound for Kuwait at Lagos International Airport.

But experts warn these efforts could fail if weak conservation laws, poor enforcement, limited public awareness and the lack of arrests or convictions persist.

“The state of biodiversity in Nigeria is in serious crisis,” said Rita Uwaka, Interim Administrator for Environmental Rights Action. “Much of our forested landscape has been depleted due to industrial plantations expansion, leading to significant loss of plant and animal species with devastating impacts on people and climate. We are also seeing concession agreements awarded to large-scale agro-commodities companies contributing to increased biodiversity loss. They arrive with promises of development, but vast forested areas, family farms, and ancestral lands are handed over to them amidst social, environmental, and gender impacts. In the process, they cut down forests that should serve as vital hubs for ecological conservation.

“The biggest drivers of biodiversity loss in Nigeria are in the agro-commodity sector, where large tracts of forest and wildlife sanctuaries are allocated to corporations at the expense of local communities, especially women and vulnerable groups who suffer differentiated impacts when forests and biodiversity are destroyed,” she added.

Preserving the drills

Two American conservationists, Liza Gadsby and Peter Jenkins, founded Drill Ranch in 1991 through their non-profit group Pandrillus. Now home to over 600 drills, it is the world’s most successful breeding project for the species.

En route to Botswana with only a tourist visa, Gadsby and Jenkins arrived in Nigeria where they learned of a gorilla conservation project in Boki. There, they discovered not only gorillas but also drill monkeys, thought before the 1980s to be nearly extinct outside Cameroon.

“Less was known about drills at the time, and they were more endangered than gorillas across Africa. Of course, the local people knew they were there all along, but the international community had only recently rediscovered them. So, we became quite interested in them,” Gadsby explained to IPS.

For over three years, their tourist journey took a different turn as they travelled across southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon, gathering information and persuading locals to surrender captive drills.

They established a sanctuary in Calabar, the capital of Cross River state, later expanding it into a natural habitat in Boki. They worked closely with 18 Boki communities, each contributing rangers who were often former hunters, to patrol the forests and deter poaching. Their efforts paid off, with locals surrendering as many as 90 drills to the project.

Today, the ranch houses both captive-bred and wild-born drills, each with a name and tattoo number. Alongside the drills, it cares for 27 chimpanzees, a soft-shell turtle and 29 African grey parrots seized from traffickers in 2021. In 2024, 25 parrots were released back into the wild.

The presence of Pandrillus in Boki, one of Nigeria’s largest green canopies, helped drive conservation gains in the area. In 2000, after a decade of lobbying, part of the forest reserve, where the ranch is located, was declared a wildlife Sanctuary by the government.

“We had been lobbying for over ten years, proposing that a portion of the forest reserve be upgraded to wildlife sanctuary status,” Gadsby said.

Bleak Future?

Rehabilitating drills into the wild is the main goal of the project, but rapid deforestation in Boki and Cross River is making this increasingly difficult, said ranch manager Zach Schwenneker.

With the thriving cocoa trade in the region, many people turn to farming for a living, often cutting down forests, including protected areas, for cultivation and exposing drills and other animals in the ranch to poachers.

Government support is also dwindling. Pandrillus once received monthly subventions to care for the animals, but the suspension of this funding has hindered conservation efforts. Today, the ranch relies largely on international aid and individual donations.

Uwaka told IPS that Nigeria’s National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan would have effectively addressed these issues, but she argues that “The problem lies in enforcement. While the laws look impressive on paper, they are often ineffective in practice due to weak monitoring systems. Even where such systems exist, they are insufficient to ensure compliance. Policies should be put in place not to encourage poaching, and there should be strong regulatory frameworks to curb deforestation.”

For Oshie at the ranch, the project can only succeed if people value wildlife and biodiversity and no longer feel the need to hunt drills.

“But I’m here because I want to protect nature. If we are not here, logging activities could take over, destroying the trees and harming the animals,” he said.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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Categories: Africa

Are Youth-led Revolutions in South Asia a Cause for Concern?

Thu, 02/10/2025 - 08:04

Kathmandu’s Singha Durbar in flames

By Jan Lundius
ROME, Oct 2 2025 (IPS)

In the Global South, where people under the age of 18 comprise more than 50 percent of the population, youth activism is increasing rapidly. Youngsters are more agile and volatile than older people, less restrained by family, prestige and work. However, many suffer from marginalisation, lack of employment, and poverty. Furthermore, insecurity and limited life experience make young people an easy target for manipulating and unscrupulous politicians, criminal networks, and religious fanatics.

Students and young citizens come together by using social media to make their presence felt and mount protests in public spaces. The role of new media technologies as an organising tool has led besieged authorities to ban online platforms, though imposed restrictions have rather than contain protests accelerated them.

Rebellious youth generally belong to the Gen Z, which refers to “digital native”, the first generation fully immersed in a digital world, with constant access to internet and social media. An upbringing that has shaped their world view, making them independent, pragmatic and focused on social impact.

South Asia has recently experienced massive protest movements involving crowds of young people. In July 2022, after an economic collapse in Sri Lanka, a rebellion forced its president to flee the country. In July 2024, upheavals ended the long rule of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh, and in September this year, violent protests in Nepal forced Prime Minister Khadga Oli’s government to resign.

Even though specific incidents triggered these upheavals, they were all due to long-term, shared grievances evolving from stark wealth gaps, rampant nepotism, and unlimited corruption. Above all, youngsters protested against members of powerful dynasties, favouring a wealthy and discredited political elite.

Sri Lankans were in 2022 faced with a galloping inflation, daily blackouts, as well as shortages of fuel, domestic gas, food, medicines, and essential imports. Amid massive desperation, huge crowds of mostly young people did on 25 March take to the streets under the slogan Aragalya, Struggle.

Political power had by then become embedded within the Rajapaksa dynasty. From 2005 to 2022, two brothers – Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had alternately shared the presidency and prime minister post, while another brother headed their political party; a fourth was speaker of the parliament, and other relatives occupied influential political positions.

While Gotabaya Rajapaksa served as defence minister, he was credited with ending the twenty-six-year-long civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. After churches and luxury hotels in April 2019 had been targeted by ISIS-related suicide bombers, killing 270 people, Mahinda and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who at the time were in opposition, accused the current government of leniency. When Gotabaya ran for the presidency the same year, he based his campaign on his record as a militant leader, embracing a Sinhalese-Buddhist nationalism inspired by his brother Mahinda’s ethno-nationalist rhetoric, favouring the Buddhist establishment. Gotabaya was elected with an overwhelming majority and six ministries were then headed by members of the Rajapaksa clan.

Most Aragalaya protesters considered their personal hardships to be a result of the mismanagement and corruption of the Rajapaksa-led government. They demanded that the president be deposed and a thorough “system change” brought about. After appointing an astute insider, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as acting president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Singapore. Wickremesinghe’s government refused to hold elections and persistently portrayed Aragalaya as a chaotic movement, captured by militants, fascists, and terrorists.

Several Aragalaya supporters were wary of being used by partisan or militant groups, particularly those with leftist ideologies which had a long history of organizing protests and strikes. One exception could have been the leftist National People’s Power (NPP), established in 2019. The 2024 elections, which Wickremesinghe had been forced to accept, was won by a NPP coalition lead by Anura Dissanayake.

So far, Dissanayake and his NPP coalition have not introduced any radical political or economic changes. They have largely continued the Wickremesinghe government’s economic and foreign policies, raising questions about the extent to which the NPP coalition is willing, or able, to depart from established governance patterns and deliver the systemic change that has been promised. Deep set divisions and ethnic-religious tensions continue to harass the nation and NPP is apparently trying to tread lightly to avoid stirring up any violent disaccord.

The same could be said about Bangladesh, where an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus seems to be cautious not to cause any antagonistic violence. Yunus’ group of personal supporters and experts presides over a nation with a chilling rise in mob violence and political discord; women are often being targeted, as well as there are reports of attacks on religious minorities.

The formerly dictatorial, but secular and highly corrupt political party, the Awami League, has been banned and democratic elections are promised by the interim government in February 2026. Some are optimistic about democratic elections, described by Yunus as becoming the most “beautiful elections ever”. However, others are unsure if elections will actually be held within a political scenario where violence is a common-day affair.

In Bangladesh, it was a quota system for jobs that forced youngsters into the streets. It was mainly students who led the protests. Student politics had for several years been ferocious, especially since religious and political fractions used them as a mobilising force. Violent feuds within educational institutes had killed many and seriously hampered the academic atmosphere.

Student anger became unified through a common resentment of reserved positions in the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS), a cherished field of government service. The reserved positions were destined to “freedom fighters, i.e. veterans from the 1971 liberation war, as well as their children and grandchildren. Protests erupted in full force on 1 July after the Supreme Court in June 2024 had reinstated a 30 percent quota reserved for veteran descendants, generally interpreted as an intent by the governing party to favour its traditional supporters.

Bangladesh became a sovereign nation in December 1971, after a war against Pakistan, which was supported by India. Sheik Mujibur Rahman was until his assassination in 1975 president and prime minister. Following further turmoil with counter coups, General Ziaur Rahman eventually took over as president; he was in May 1981 assassinated in yet another coup. Ziaur Rahman’s widow, Begum Khaleda Zia, served from 1991 to 1996 as the second female prime minster in the Muslim world (after the Pakistani Benazir Bhutto) and again between 2001 and 2006, when Bangladesh, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index was listed as the most corrupt country in the world. Following the end of her government’s term, a military-backed caretaker government charged Khaleda Zia and her two sons with corruption and in 2018 she was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Sheikh Hasinah, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was prime minister between 1996 and 2001, and again from 2009 to 2024, following several controversial elections. Her tenure as prime minister was marked by economic mismanagement, rampant corruption, leading to a rising foreign debt, increased inflation, youth unemployment, banking irregularities and an enormous wealth gap. The Financial Times reported that more than an estimated USD 200 billion was allegedly plundered from Bangladesh during Sheikh Hasinah’s time as prime minister, with a lot of these money ending up in countries such as the UK.

As the case had been in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, several members of the Nepalese political elite considered themselves as privileged and not accountable, while favouring family members and supporters to syphon wealth from overprized building endeavours.

Khadga Prassad Oli, a communist who began his political career as “spokesman for the oppressed”, seemed to be unaware of the anger accumulating around him within a nation where some two thousand men and women daily left to look for livelihoods in other countries (remittances from Nepalis working abroad constitute a third of the country’s GDP). Of those who stayed behind, more than 80 percent work in the informal sector, while youth unemployment in the formal sector is more than 20 percent.

On 4 September this year, the government ordered authorities to block 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, Signal and Snapchat, for not complying with a deadline to register with the country’s ministry of communication. The measure was explained as a means to tackle fake news, hate speech, and online fraud.

By then, youngsters had with increasing anger accessed platforms where politicians’ children posted photos of their opulent existence, awash with designer clothes, luxury holidays, and lavish parties. The close down of all media platforms, except the Chinese TikTok, further inflamed the resentment of Nepalese youth.

Soon Kathmandu was burning – Singha Durbar, i.e. Nepal’s administrative headquarters; the health ministry; the parliament building; the Supreme Court; the presidential palace; the prime minister’s residence, offices of the governing communist party, and the Kathmandu Hilton, were all set ablaze.

Nepal, the oldest sovereign, and until 2008 only Hindu state in South Asia, was for 250 years, under a strict caste system, ruled by the Shah dynasty. After internal power struggles and murders within the “Royal House of Gorkha” the monarchy was abolished and it was only in 1990 that it had ceded partial power to political parties. After that, a series of failing civilian governments gave in 1996 rise to a “Maoist” insurgency, which took sixteen thousand lives.

The leader of that rebellion, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was in 2008 elected prime minister. However, he and his erstwhile revolutionaries proved incapable of improving Nepalese living standards and soon indulged themselves in corruption. After the September Gen Z-led upheaval a caretaker Prime Minister has been appointed. Sushila Karki, has a good record after being Nepal’s first female Chief Justice, between 2016 and 2017.

While new leaders seem to have emerged in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, the general public is now asking itself if these recently arrived politicians will be more prudent, corruption free and restrained in controversial actions, than their predecessors.

Much of the outcome depends on the “big brother” in the area – The Republic of India, where millions of migrant workers from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka reside and work. Indian democracy has, with all its shortcomings, been characterized by a collective political discourse in which concerns of a diversity of all Indians could find a space. However, under prime minister Modi we now witness the rise of Hindu nationalism, rooted in homogeneity and exclusion, questioning who really belongs in the Hindutva community, while marginalizing those who don’t, among them migrants, Muslims, and many others. A dangerous polarization that could worsen the situation in neighbouring countries, particularly considering the huge number of their emigrants being present in a country prone to discriminate against them, as well as forcing them back to a tumultuous situation in their countries of origin.

This is part 1 of an analysis of the connection between youth movements and political change, part 2 will analyse how youth-led revolutions have changed political scenarios globally.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

West Bank: Record Number of Demolitions over Building Permits as Israel Furthers Annexation Agenda

Thu, 02/10/2025 - 07:33

This two-storeyed residential building was one of 12 structures demolished by Israeli authorities in Area C of Al Judeira village, in Jerusalem governorate, citing the lack of Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain. Credit: community via UNOCHA

By the Norwegian Refugee Council
OSLO, Norway, Oct 2 2025 (IPS)

In less than nine months, Israel has demolished more Palestinian homes and structures in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, over building permits than in the whole of last year.

By 30 September, Israeli authorities had demolished 1,288 structures over building permits, nearly five a day, including 138 funded by international aid. More than 1,400 Palestinians were displaced and nearly 38,000 affected through the loss of livelihood, agricultural and water and sanitation infrastructure.

This marks a 39 per cent increase in demolitions over building permits compared with the same period last year, when 929 structures were torn down due to lack of permits. Israeli authorities demolished a total of 1,281 structures over building permits in 2024.

“Families are being stripped of homes, water and livelihoods in a calculated effort to drive them from their land and make way for settlements,” said Angelita Caredda, NRC’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “This is not accidental destruction. It is a deliberate policy of dispossession.”

The demolitions are rooted in a planning system that denies Palestinians the right to build in Area C, which covers more than 60 per cent of the West Bank and remains under full Israeli control. Palestinians must apply for permits that are almost never granted.

Since October 2023, 282 applications have been submitted. Not a single one was approved.

Israel has also carried out 37 punitive demolitions this year, matching the record set in 2023. These demolitions involve destroying or sealing the homes of Palestinians accused of attacks against Israelis. The practice punishes entire families and constitutes collective punishment, prohibited under international law.

At the same time, Israeli military operations in Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps have left destruction not captured in official demolition figures. The UN reports at least 245 buildings destroyed and 157 severely damaged, with nearly 32,000 refugees displaced. With limited access to the camps, the real toll is likely far higher.

These developments come a year after the UN General Assembly endorsed the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which found Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful and said it must end as rapidly as possible.

In its 18 September 2024 resolution, the Assembly gave Israel 12 months to withdraw and called on states not to recognise annexation, not to aid violations, and to act together to end them. That period has now lapsed, yet Israel has only tightened its grip.

“Instead of ending its occupation, Israel is entrenching it and accelerating its annexation agenda,” Caredda said. “Over 150 states have recognised Palestine, yet the land that state needs to survive is disappearing. Governments must urgently act to protect Palestinians from the relentless erosion of their rights.”

OCHA

• Israeli authorities demolished 1,281 structures citing lack of permits in 2024. (OCHA).

• Since October 2023, 282 applications have been submitted. None have been approved. (Israel Planning Council)

• Between 2016 and 2021, Palestinians in Area C submitted 2,550 requests for building permits. Only 24 were approved, less than one per cent (Bimkom).

• Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, Israeli authorities carried out 37 punitive demolitions of homes belonging to Palestinians accused of attacks against Israelis. This equals the record number set in 2023 (OCHA).

• Israeli authorities have denied humanitarian monitors access to Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps in the northern West Bank, where widespread destruction has occurred during military operations. A UNOSAT satellite assessment recorded at least 245 buildings destroyed, 157 severely damaged, and 750 moderately damaged.

• In 2024, Israeli authorities demolished 452 Palestinian structures during military operations (OCHA).

• Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, the UN verified the destruction of 1,384 Palestinian structures by Israeli authorities in total (OCHA).

• In 2024, Israeli authorities and forces demolished 1,768 structures across the West Bank (OCHA).

• At least 31,919 Palestine refugees have been displaced from Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm camps, based on self-registration by affected families. The real number is likely higher, reflecting displacement on a scale beyond what has been verified (UN).

• Area C comprises more than 60 per cent of the West Bank and remains under full Israeli control.

• Under the Oslo II Interim Agreement, powers in Area C were meant to be gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction within 18 months of the inauguration of the Palestinian Council in 1996. Nearly three decades later, Area C remains under Israeli control.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

International Community, Civil Society Urge Minority Rights and Accountability Amid Ongoing Violence Against Rohingyas in Myanmar

Wed, 01/10/2025 - 19:14

Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, addresses the high-level conference of the General Assembly on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 2025 (IPS)

On September 30, the United Nations (UN) convened a high-level meeting on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar shortly following the end of the 80th session of the General Assembly (UNGA80). The conference was an opportunity to draw global attention once more to the Rohingya refugee situation with dialogue from UN officials, world representatives and civil society organizations.

Since the 2017 military crackdown on the rights and citizenship of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, over one million refugees have fled to Bangladesh, most settling in Cox’s Bazar which became the world’s largest refugee camp. Despite repeated repatriation efforts by the Bangladeshi government, ongoing insecurity in Myanmar makes a safe return impossible, with refugees still at risk of persecution and discrimination.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that Rohingya Muslims and minorities face widespread insecurity and discrimination, especially in Rakhine State. “Minorities in Myanmar have endured decades of exclusion, abuse and violence,” Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray said, delivering Guterres’ statement on his behalf. “The Rohingya have been stripped of their right to citizenship, targeted by hate speech, terrorized with deadly force and destruction, confined to displacement camps in Myanmar, with severely limited freedom of movement and little access to education and health services.”

Rattray added that minorities are routinely subjected to forced displacement, conscription, aerial attacks, and extrajudicial killings. Sexual and gender-based violence remain pervasive, with women and girls facing heightened risks of trafficking, child marriage, and other forms of exploitation.

With humanitarian aid budgets shrinking and conflict escalating in Myanmar, delegates discussed mechanisms to ensure the protection of Rohingya refugees and minorities, as well as strategies to facilitate a safe and dignified return home. Many speakers urged for increased accountability measures, in hopes of addressing the root causes of insecurity in Myanmar and ending the cycle of impunity.

“To create a conducive environment for repatriation, first and foremost we must end this military dictatorship and its atrocities against civilians, and we all need to double every effort to build trust and unity among us,” said Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the UN. “Resolving the situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar will not be possible unless we address the root cause. We can yield results only by acting together to end the military dictatorship, its unlawful coup, and its culture of impunity.”

Numerous member state and civil society representatives also emphasized the need for stronger accountability measures, warning of significant risks to regional stability. Stavros Lambrinidis, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to the UN, noted that tensions have grown considerably between refugees and host communities, with minors often joining armed groups, risking further violence in the region.

“This crisis is not only a Myanmar crisis,” said Nabhit Kapur, the Permanent Observer of the Pan-African Intergovernmental Agency for Water and Sanitation in Africa (WSA) to the UN. “Its implications stretch far beyond borders, affecting regional peace, stability, and trust in the very foundations of multilateralism…The longer uncertainty prevails, the greater the risk of radicalization, human trafficking, and destabilization across the region.”

Several speakers also underscored the urgency of increased funding, particularly for essential services such as food assistance, protection, and education, which are vital in enabling a dignified return to Myanmar. The World Food Programme (WFP) warned that if additional funding is not secured soon, Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh risk falling into acute food insecurity, with monthly food rations potentially being reduced to just USD 6 per person.

Dylan Winder, a representative of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), informed the room about conditions in the Cox’s Bazar settlement, describing the situation as “fragile” and entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance. “Families continue to live in shelters beyond capacity and are exposed to disasters. Protection and security risks are serious and growing. And the hard truth is that shrinking funding is accelerating these risks—threatening food rations, healthcare, including maternal and child health, and water and sanitation services—driving disease, violence, and trafficking, and pushing families toward dangerous coping strategies.”

Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, stressed that Bangladesh cannot bear this burden alone as it already faces the challenge of supporting a densely populated nation and cannot “afford to allow employment of Rohingyas inside Bangladesh”. Refugees continue to face severe shortages of resources along with alongside reoccurring security challenges, such as clashes with host communities. “We are forced to bear huge financial, social and environmental costs. Criminal activities, including narco-flows into Bangladesh through Rakhine, threaten our social fabric,” Yunus said.

Speakers also emphasized the need for a comprehensive political framework that guarantees minority rights and citizenship, and fosters inclusion, particularly for women and children—the most vulnerable among the persecuted population.With Rohingya Muslims rendered stateless and largely silenced, many underscored the urgency of ensuring their meaningful representation in decisions that will shape their future.

“The 2021 military coup halted democratic aspirations of Myanmar’s people and the Rohingya’s hopes to participate in shaping Myanmar’s future,” said the Ambassador for International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) to the UN. “The Rohingya crisis is not only a humanitarian and human rights crisis; it is a crisis of democracy and inclusion…Without inclusion, there can be no reconciliation; without democracy, there can be no justice.”

While this conference was meant to center the direct perspectives of Rohingya refugees from the camps, very few of the speakers were refugees or came from the camps. The conference did not include statements from Rohingya refugees currently living in the camps. In previous years, Bangladesh and the UN had sponsored trips for Rohingya refugees to represent themselves in discussions that could shape their own futures. This year, there were none, with Bangladeshi officials citing difficulty in obtaining clearance and security concerns.

“Peace in Myanmar rests on the recognition that the Rohingya are equal members of Burmese society, equally deserving of education, citizenship, human rights and justice,” said the Representative of the Independent Diplomat to the UN. “True action has been lacking. As diplomatic experts and activists have convened in these halls, the Rohingya have remained stateless, displaced, and denied their own fundamental rights. The gap between our stated principles and our collective responsibility has allowed atrocities to continue with impunity and it deepens the suffering of far too many people.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

UN Conference Recommits to Solidarity With Rohingyas, People of Myanmar

Wed, 01/10/2025 - 15:31

Maung Sawyeddollah, Founder of the Rohingya Students Network, addresses the high-level conference of the General Assembly on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 2025 (IPS)

The international community convened for a high-level meeting at UN Headquarters, this time to mobilize political support for the ongoing issue of the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar.

On Tuesday September 30, representatives from Rohingya advocacy groups, the UN system and member states convened at the General Assembly to address the ongoing challenges facing Rohingya Muslims and the broader context of the political and humanitarian situation in Myanmar.

UN President of the General Assembly Annalena Baerbock remarked that the conference was an opportunity to listen to stakeholders, notably civil society representatives with experience on the ground.

“Rohingya need the support of the international community, not just in words but in action,” she said.

Baerbock added there was an “urgent need for strengthened international solidarity and increased support,” and to make efforts to reach a political solution with unequivocal participation from the Rohingyas.

“The violence, the extreme deprivation and the massive violations of human rights have fueled a crisis of grave international concern. The international community must honor its responsibilities and act. We stand in solidarity with the Rohingya and all the people of Myanmar in their hour of greatest need,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In the eight years since over 750,000 Rohingyas fled persecution and crossed the border into Bangladesh, the international community has had to deal with one of the most intense refugee situations in living memory. Attendees at the conference spoke on addressing the root causes that led to this protracted crisis—systematic oppression and persecution at the hands of Myanmar’s authorities and unrest in Rakhine State.

Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of the interim Government of Bangladesh, addresses the high-level conference on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

The military junta’s ascension in 2021 has only led to further unrest and instability in Myanmar and has made the likelihood of safe and sustained return far more precarious. Their persecution has only intensified as the Rohingya communities still residing in Rakhine find themselves caught in the middle of conflicts between the junta and other militant groups, including the Arakan Army.

At the opening of the conference, Rohingya refugee activists remarked that the systemic oppression predates the current crisis. “This is a historic occasion for Myanmar. But it is long overdue. Our people have suffered enough. For ethnic minorities—from Kachin to Rohingya—the suffering has spanned decades,” said Wai Wai Nu, founder and executive director of the Women’s Peace Network.

“It has already been more than eight years since the Rohingya Genocide was exposed. Where is the justice for the Rohingyas?” asked Maung Sawyeddollah, founder of the Rohingya Student Network.

For the United Nations, the Rohingya refugee crisis represents the dramatic impact of funding shortfalls on their humanitarian operations. UN Secretary-General António Guterres once said during his visit to the refugee camps in Bangladesh back in April that “Cox’s Bazar is Ground Zero for the impact of budget cuts”.

Funding cuts to agencies like UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) have undermined their capacity to reach people in need. WFP has warned that their food assistance in the refugee camps will run out in two months unless they receive more funding. Yet as of now, the 2025 Rohingya Refugee Response Plan of USD 934.5 million is only funded at 38 percent.

Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, addresses the high-level conference of the General Assembly on the situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

“The humanitarian response in Bangladesh remains chronically underfunded, including in key areas like food and cooking fuel. The prospects for funding next year are grim. Unless further resources are forthcoming, despite the needs, we will be forced to make more cuts while striving to minimize the risk of losing lives: children dying of malnutrition or people dying at sea as more refugees embark on dangerous boat journeys,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

As the host country of over 1 million refugees since 2017, Bangladesh has borne the brunt of the situation. Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus said that the country faces its own development challenges and systemic issues with crime, poverty and unemployment, and has struggled to support the refugee population even with the help of aid organizations. He made a call to pursue repatriations, the strategy to ensure the safe return of Rohingyas to Rakhine.

“As funding declines, the only peaceful option is to begin their repatriation. This will entail far fewer resources than continuing their international protection. The Rohingya have consistently pronounced their desire to go back home,” said Yunus. “The world cannot keep the Rohingya waiting any longer from returning home.”

Along with the UN, Myanmar and Bangladesh, neighboring and host countries also have a role to play. Regional blocs like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are also crucial in supporting the Rohingya population as well as leading dialogues with other stakeholders across the region.

“In my engagements with Myanmar stakeholders, I have emphasized that peace in Myanmar will remain elusive until inclusive dialogue between all Myanmar stakeholders takes place,” said Othman Hashim, the special envoy of the ASEAN Chair on Myanmar. “For actions within Myanmar, the crucial first step is stopping the hostilities and violence. Prolonged violence will only exacerbate the misery of the people of Myanmar, Rohingya and other minorities included.”

“Countries hosting refugees need sustained support. Cooperation with UNODC [UN Office of Drugs and Crime], UNHCR, and IOM [International Organization for Migration] must be deepened,” said Sugiono, Indonesia’s foreign minister.

Supporting the Rohingya beyond emergency and humanitarian needs would also require investing resources in education and employment opportunities. Involved parties were encouraged to support resettlement policies that would help communities secure livelihoods in the long-term, or to extend opportunities for longterm work, like in Thailand where they recently granted long-staying refugees the right to work legally in the country.

“Any initiative for the Rohingya without Rohingya in the camp, from decision making to nation-building is unsustainable and unjust. The UN must mobilize resources to empower Rohingya. We are not only victims; we have the potential to make a difference,” said Sawyeddollah.

As one of the few Rohingya representatives present that had previous lived in the camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Sawyeddollah described the challenges he faced in pursuing higher education when he applied to over 150 universities worldwide but did not get into any of them. He got into New York University with a scholarship, the first Rohingya refugee to attend. He reiterated that universities had the capacity to offer scholarships to Rohingya students, citing the example of the Asian University of Women (AUW) in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where it has been offering scholarships to Rohingya girls since at least 2018.

The conference called for actionable measures that would address several key areas in the Rohingya refugee situation. This includes scaling up funding for humanitarian aid in Bangladesh and Myanmar, and notably, pursuing justice and accountability under international law. Türk and other UN officials reiterated that resolving the instability and political tensions in Myanmar is crucial to resolving the refugee crisis.

Kyaw Moe Tun, Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the UN, blamed the military junta for the country’s current state and called for member states to refuse supporting the junta politically or financially. “We can yield results only by acting together to end the military dictatorship, its unlawful coup, and its culture of impunity. At a time when human rights, justice and humanity are under critical attack, please help in our genuine endeavour to build a federal democratic union that rooted in these very principles.”
IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Drought-hit Tanzania’s Villages Confront Harshest Reality of Climate Change

Wed, 01/10/2025 - 12:10

A resident of Bahi, Dodoma, in Tanzania adopts drip irrigation to grow vegetables as part of a climate change adaptation scheme. Credit: Zuberi Mussa

By Kizito Makoye
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, Oct 1 2025 (IPS)

The dust was already swirling when Asherly William Hogo lifted himself from a makeshift bed before dawn. The 62-year-old pastoralist, lean from a lifetime of walking these plains, slipped into his sandals and stepped outside. Stars glittered over Dodoma, but the air was warmer than it used to be, Hogo swears. He whistled for his cows. Years ago, this hour meant an arduous trek to distant waterholes.

“Sometimes we’d find only mud,” Hogo recalls.

Today, though, his herd drinks from a solar-powered borehole that hums quietly behind Ng’ambi village. Nearby, a rain-fed reservoir gleams faintly under the moonlight.

“Now we don’t go far like we used to,” he says.

This change is part of a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative rewriting the story of survival in Tanzania’s drought-hit Dodoma region—while offering a potent message for global negotiators heading to COP30 in Brazil: climate justice is not an abstract slogan. It is a water trough filled close to home, a tree shading a schoolyard, and a beehive buzzing with possibility.

A Land of Extremes

Dodoma’s landscape is a mosaic of brittle acacia trees and windswept soil. Droughts here are not new, but villagers say they have grown harsher and less predictable. The Tanzania Meteorological Agency reports rainfall across the central plateau has declined by 20 percent over the last two decades. When rain does arrive, it often falls in violent bursts that tear through gullies and sweep away topsoil.

In April, parched pastures turned to tinder, and cattle carcasses littered the plains. Then came the deluge: flash floods drowned fields, destroyed homes, and contaminated water sources.

“This year is the biggest wake-up call we have seen in Tanzania in terms of what climate change is doing to rural families,” says Oscar Ivanova, Liaison for Africa, Global Adaptation Network. “We need fast action on mitigation and adaptation. Otherwise, it won’t only be the climate that is breaking down but also the communities themselves.”

For Hogo’s neighbour, 48-year-old farmer and father of five Mikidadi Kilindo, the crisis is grim. “The situation is very scary. The drought kills our crops, and when the rain comes it washes everything away,” he says.

A technician inspects solar panels in Bahi, Dodoma, Tanzania. Credit: Zuberi Mussa

The UNEP-led Adaptation Programme

Launched in 2018 and funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) with support from Tanzania’s government, the UNEP-led Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Rural Resilience project has helped thousands of smallholder farmers build resilience to climate change.

Since its launch, the programme has drilled 15 boreholes—12 powered by solar energy—bringing clean water to over 35,000 people, built earthen dams with capacity to trap three million cubic metres of rainwater, planted 350,000 trees to restore 9,000 hectares of degraded forest and rangeland, placed 38,000 hectares under sustainable land management, and trained thousands of farmers, particularly women and youth, in drought-resilient farming and alternative livelihoods.

“When villagers no longer have to fight over a single muddy waterhole, you ease conflicts and give people hope,” says Fredrick Mulinda, a project coordinator with the National Environment Management Council (NEMC). “Most of the conflicts have been settled.”

Water as Justice

Water is an important resource in Dodoma. Women once trekked more than five kilometres with jerry cans on their heads. Children skipped school to fetch water.

“Before, we would leave at sunrise and return at noon,” says Zainabu Mkindu, who grows vegetables near a borehole in her village. “We are very thankful to those who brought this project to us.”

The boreholes are solar-powered, eliminating the need for polluting, costly diesel pumps. Engineers laid underground pipes to protect water lines from vandalism and evaporation. Villagers formed committees to collect small fees for maintenance to ensure sustainability.

Restored reservoirs now double as micro-ecosystems, replenishing groundwater, attracting birds, and even supporting small fish farms.

“We can irrigate without fuel pumps, and now my children eat fish we never had before,” says Hogo.

Healing Communities

Tanzania loses about 400,000 hectares of forest each year—one of Africa’s highest deforestation rates—as impoverished farmers cut trees for charcoal and firewood, intensifying droughts and floods.

UNEP’s project taught villagers to manage tree nurseries and plant drought-tolerant species like baobab, acacia, mango, and orange.

“We plant more trees to create shade and attract rain. The dam became completely silted because farmers cultivated too close,” says Paul Kusolwa, who supervises tree planting at Bahi village.

Globally, UNEP notes that restoring ecosystems can provide up to 30 percent of the climate mitigation needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.

Women at the Forefront

In these traditionally patriarchal communities, women have long been confined to domestic chores. But the project deliberately placed women in leadership positions—on borehole committees, tree nursery groups, and even livestock health teams.

Mary Masanja, 34, learned to build fuel-efficient brick stoves, a craft once reserved for men. “I’m happy to be a craftswoman. Women are no longer denied certain jobs because of gender,” she says.

In Bahi, women manage beehives and earn income from honey sales. They also run block farms, rotating through plots of drought-resistant tomatoes, onions, and plantains. The farm supplies markets across Dodoma.

Despite promising projects, uncertainty looms over Dodoma as rising temperatures—forecast to climb 0.2–1.1°C by 2050—threaten crops, livestock, and food security. Warmer conditions fuel pests, disease, and crop.

For villagers like Hogo, the conversation at COP30 may feel distant—but its outcome could decide whether his grandchildren inherit a viable livelihood.

“We don’t need promises,” he says. “We need water, trees, and respect for our knowledge.”

Note: This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Excerpt:

Farmers in Tanzania’s drought-hit Dodoma region offer a potent message for negotiators heading to COP30 in Brazil: climate justice is not an abstract slogan. It is a water trough filled close to home, a tree shading a schoolyard, and a beehive buzzing with possibility.

Categories: Africa

It’s Past Time to Make Polluters Pay

Wed, 01/10/2025 - 06:56

Marinel Ubaldo, climate activist from the Philippines, speaks at a Climate Week event hosted by Oxfam in New York City. Credit: Karelia Pallan/Oxfam

By Marinel Ubaldo
NEW YORK, Oct 1 2025 (IPS)

I was 16 years old when Super-Typhoon Haiyan tore through my community in Eastern Samar in the Philippines. It remains one of the deadliest storms in history, killing more than 6,000 people and displacing millions. My community lost everything: Loved ones, family homes and land, our ways to earn a living and rebuild, and our sense of safety all vanished overnight.

That storm did not happen in a vacuum. Fossil fuel companies have exacerbated the climate crisis, and with it, the destructive power and frequency of natural disasters. The fossil fuel companies, however, did not pay for the damage – instead they have raked in record profits, while it was our families, our government, and international donors who bore the costs.

That experience shaped my life.

Since Haiyan, I have worked with survivors, youth, and frontline communities across the Philippines and beyond. I have seen up close how climate disasters strip away homes, food security, and dignity.

I have also seen how fossil fuel corporations continue to rake in record profits while we pay the price. That is why I’ve joined campaigns like Make Rich Polluters Pay. Because what we are demanding is not charity – it is justice and accountability.

The science is clear: fossil fuel companies are responsible for around 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. They have known for decades that burning oil, gas, and coal would destabilize the climate, yet they still choose to deceive the public and delay action. Today, their profits remain astronomical. In 2022 alone, fossil fuel companies made nearly $600 billion in after-tax profits.

Our demand is simple: tax these polluters for the damages they have caused, and channel those revenues to the communities least responsible yet hit hardest by the climate crisis. Such a tax would not only correct a historic injustice, but also mobilize desperately needed resources for adaptation, loss and damage compensation, and a just energy transition.

And it is not only fossil fuel companies that must be held accountable. Oxfam research has found that the richest 1% percent of humanity contribute more to climate breakdown than the poorest two-thirds combined.

A wealth tax on millionaires and billionaires, alongside a permanent polluter profits tax, could raise trillions each year to fund renewable energy, support farmers facing drought, and relieve the crushing debt burdens of countries like mine.

It’s important to note that this is not just an activist demand. A recent survey commissioned by Oxfam and Greenpeace, conducted across 13 countries covering nearly half the world’s population, show overwhelming support for taxing fossil fuel companies. Some key takeaways include:

Even in the United States, with a climate denier in the White House, there is broad and bipartisan support: 75% of people surveyed support taxing oil and gas companies for climate damages – including 63% of Republicans.

In my own country, the Philippines, support is even higher: 84% back taxing fossil fuel companies. For us, the reason is clear. We know what it means to lose everything in a storm while watching corporations grow richer from the fuels that heat our planet.

And momentum for action is building. Last week, nearly 40 former heads of state and government – including former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former presidents Mary Robinson (Ireland), Vicente Fox (Mexico), and Carlos Alvarado (Costa Rica), among many others – issued an open letter urging governments to adopt permanent polluter profit taxes.

They argue that fossil fuel companies must contribute their fair share to finance the global energy transition and support those most at risk.

Oxfam analysis shows that a polluter profits tax on oil, gas, and coal companies could raise up to $400 billion in its first year alone. That is enough to provide major support for renewable energy expansion, climate adaptation, and relief for countries drowning in debt.

We also know this approach is feasible. During the 2022 oil price crisis, several governments implemented windfall taxes. In the United States, states like Vermont and New York have passed legislation requiring fossil fuel companies to pay into funds that support adaptation and disaster response. These examples prove that taxing polluters is possible and popular.

As world leaders return home after this year’s UN General Assembly to prepare for upcoming G20 talks in South Africa and COP30 in Brazil, the question before them is not whether this is possible. It is whether they will listen to scientists, to the public, to former presidents and prime ministers, and to frontline voices like mine.

For me, and for millions already living in the heart of this crisis, the call is clear: it is past time to make polluters pay.

Marinel Ubaldo is a climate activist from the Philippines who advocates for climate justice, and is a founding partner, of Oxfam’s “Make Rich Polluters Pay” campaign.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

UNGA80: Lies Spread Faster Than Facts

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 20:24

By Ben Malor
NEW YORK, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

DANGER – WARNING – ALARM: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa is warning that lies are being weaponized deliberately to manipulate people around the world. Big, profit-oriented, and technology-enabled companies are now disregarding or trampling over the sanctity and veracity of facts and information to speed up disinformation, (using AI) in ways that quickly erase truth and leave people manipulated.

Even democratic elections are getting manipulated to the extent that some 72 per cent of the world is now living under illiberal or authoritarian regimes that have been “democratically” elected. Journalism, fact-checking, and public trust are under attack from this deliberate subversion of information integrity.

Enjoy this interview I conducted with Ms Ressa, (produced, directed and edited by my UN News and Media colleagues, Paulina Kubiak and Alban Mendes De Leon).

Ben Malor is the Chief Editor, UN Dailies, at UN News.

Categories: Africa

Historical Expansion and Sustainability in Chile’s Main Port

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 15:22

The current port of San Antonio, on the central coast of Chile, on a day of full activity with its cranes deployed and loading two container ships with products for export. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

By Orlando Milesi
SAN ANTONIO, Chile, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

The port of San Antonio, Chile’s main port, is promoting a historic and sustainable expansion with its own investment and that of international consortiums, aiming to improve its current ninth place among the largest and busiest ports in Latin America.

The port, located in the Valparaíso region, 110 kilometers north of Santiago and in the municipality of the same name, San Antonio, is state-owned and currently operates with five concessions granted to private operators, receiving container ships carrying millions of products.

In 2024, it handled 23 million tons of import and export goods worth US$42.766 billion. It received 1,024 ships and 1.8 million TEUs, the unit of cargo in maritime transport equivalent to the capacity of a standard 20-foot container.“The most important thing is for the project to be inaugurated when demand requires it. We trust that, regardless of the government that comes in from next March, this project will follow the desired schedule. We are working as quickly as possible”–Juan Carlos Muñoz

For several years now, San Antonio’s cargo movement has tripled that of the historic port of Valparaiso, located 100 kilometers to the north, and serves an area stretching from the regions of Coquimbo, north of Valparaiso, to Maule, south of the Santiago metropolitan region.

This is a strip of land where 63% of Chile’s 19.7 million people live and where 59% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of this long South American country, which narrows between the Andes mountain range and the Pacific Ocean, is produced.

Chile has free trade agreements with 34 countries or trading blocs, representing 88% of global GDP. In 2024, its exports reached a record US$100.163 billion, and imports amounted to US$84.155 billion.

The San Antonio Outer Port project, which represents a major expansion of the current port, is key to strengthening international openness and solidifying connections with the main routes to and from Asia, the Americas, and Europe.

Copper, fruits, wine, salmon, fruit pulp, and other products are shipped out through San Antonio, while grains, vehicles, machinery, technological equipment, and chemicals are brought in.

“When you project Chile’s cargo movement, especially in the central macro-zone, you realize that by the years 2035-2036, the installed capacity in San Antonio and Valparaiso will be exceeded. Therefore, we must work on a port expansion because otherwise, we will have significant congestion of trucks and ships,” explained the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz, to IPS.

Such congestion, he added, “is an inefficiency we cannot afford because it would significantly affect the country’s competitiveness.”

The Outer Port is a strategic and emblematic project for Chile’s development, according to Muñoz.

The major expansion includes two new semi-automated terminals, 1,730 meters long and 450 meters wide, with eight berthing fronts.

By 2036, when the expansion is fully operational, eight state-of-the-art 400-meter-long container ships will be able to dock simultaneously, and move six million containers annually. This capacity will double the current one.

San Antonio was chosen as the most suitable location for this unprecedented port expansion.

Currently, the project is progressing through environmental approval and a bidding process for the breakwater, along with updates to the infrastructure for protecting its docks from winds and waves—a fundamental aspect for the installation of concessionaires for the next 30 years.

Regarding the potential impact of the November presidential elections, Muñoz reminded IPS that “in this project, we are taking the baton from those who came before. And we plan to hand it over improved and advanced to those who come next, regardless of political color.”

“The most important thing is for the project to be inaugurated when demand requires it. We trust that, regardless of the government that comes, this project will follow the desired schedule. We are working as quickly as possible,” he explained.

Map showing the projected location of the Outer Port of the port of San Antonio, the main port in Chile, on the central coast of the Pacific Ocean. The expansion will almost triple its current capacity and will be fully operational in 2036. Credit: Courtesy of the San Antonio port

Key Definitions

The Exterior Port includes the construction of an L-shaped breakwater nearly four kilometers long. Two kilometers will extend out to sea, and the other two will follow the coastline.

The total investment will be US$4.45 billion, of which $1.95 billion will be contributed by the state-owned San Antonio Port Company and US$2.5 billion by the private sector.

The transfer capacity will be expanded to six million TEUs per year.

In March, the project obtained a US$150 million credit from the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, CAF, to finance enabling works such as the construction of the breakwater and to implement environmental compensation measures.

On Wednesday, September 24, Eduardo Abedrapo, president of the San Antonio port, confirmed during a visit to the port facilities by international journalists, including IPS, that two other consortia were prequalified, raising the number of bids for the initial works to five.

The tender process will close the receipt of bids in January 2026 and will award the contracts two months later.

The first contracts are for building the breakwater, carrying out the dredging, and related works.

The preliminary works are new access roads and a railway station to transport project construction material. Next comes the construction of the breakwater and the deep dredging (18.5 meters) of the harbor basin.

The breakwater will be 1,230 meters facing the sea and 2,700 meters extending inland and requires 16 million cubic meters of rock.

The companies prequalified so far are Van Oord (Netherlands), Jan de Nul (Belgium), China Harbour Engineering Company CHEC (China), Acciona-Deme (Spain-Belgium), and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (South Korea).

The container ship Valentina, 366 meters long, docked at pier 1 of the Chilean port of San Antonio in the middle of loading operations. Less than 10 minutes pass from when the truck arrives alongside the ship until it leaves the port having delivered the container. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Environmental Sustainability

The project aims to ensure port operational quality through execution that is sustainable with the social and environmental surroundings.

“Chile has a very sophisticated and complex environmental assessment system. Obviously, these works have a set of impacts in their construction and operation phases,” Abedrapo told IPS.

He emphasized that “the port will be 100% electric. From the point of view of particulate matter pollution, it will be the opposite, as it will strongly contribute to decarbonization.”

However, he admitted that a port emits noise and has other impacts on the marine ecosystem or life in the surrounding areas.

He explained that as a result of meetings with the San Antonio municipality and social and environmental organizations, it was decided to protect two water bodies located in the new port facility by declaring them urban wetlands. They had emerged naturally 50 years after the original port was established in 1912.

“This is a demonstration of the company’s commitment to safeguarding biodiversity in the area and coastal land. It means that major infrastructure developments can be perfectly compatible and harmonized with the safeguarding and improvement of environmental conditions,” he asserted.

The removal of 16 million rocks to build the breakwater, for example, includes their reuse. Part of the environmental efficiency involves using the removed material to fill in other platforms.

Trucks move among dozens of already unloaded containers that are waiting for customs procedures before being sent to their destination. In 2024, 23 million tons of products passed through the Chilean port of San Antonio. Credit: Orlando Milesi / IPS

Progress of the Major Expansion

The environmental qualification resolution for the Outer Port is still being processed, awaiting technical reports from the involved public services and the conclusion of a citizen consultation.

Abedrapo believes that in October 2025 the environmental assessment service will issue a report that must be responded to by those responsible for the San Antonio port.

“The environmental assessment service could, towards the first half of next year, make a decision regarding the environmental qualification resolution for the project,” he estimated.

Abedrapo maintains that the Outer Port will ensure the sustainability and modernization of Chile’s public port infrastructure with high levels of efficiency and modern equipment.

He highlights direct benefits for Chilean foreign trade, lower-cost imported goods, and a competitive logistics chain.

Meanwhile, in the operation of the current port, the improvement of the breakwater, built last century, has been completed with the placement of 5,100 cubic meters of concrete and 3,400 cubic meters of prefabricated blocks. The parapet wall was raised from 10.6 to 11 meters.

Ten million dollars were invested to increase the safety of port operations relating the effects of climate change.

The work, which began last May, also included the installation of 2,300 cubic meters of large-tonnage rockfill.

The Chancay Port in Peru

Minister Muñoz dismissed any concerns about potential competition with the port of Chancay in Peru, funded by China in Chile’s northern neighbor and located near Lima.

“Rather than generating competition between different ports and countries, there is instead complementarity. It is good for us that Peru has ports of this level because there are ships that visit several ports to make a route along a certain coastline attractive,” he claimed.

He insisted that the demand projections in Chile require investing in a large-scale port that anticipates them.

He added that Chile can also attract cargo from other South American nations through the proposed bioceanic corridors.

“The existence of other ports of similar scale in other countries on the Pacific coast means that shipping lines visiting this part of the world can have more than one port of call. Ports like those being developed by our brother country Peru are an attractive complement to the project we are carrying out here, in San Antonio,” he concluded.

Categories: Africa

Beijing+30: A Culmination of International, Intergenerational Dialogue

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 13:38

Participants at the Non-Governmental Organizations Forum meeting held in Huairou, China, as part of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, on 4-15 september 1995. Credit: UN Photo/Milton Grant

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

Thirty years since the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the resolve that defined and united the world toward a global agenda for gender equality make it just as relevant in 2025.

The Beijing Conference represents a turning point for the global movement in gender equality. It is marked by the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which is still held up as a landmark document in presenting a comprehensive blueprint to achieve gender equality.

The Beijing Conference was just “one stop in a long and continuing journey of feminist advocacy,” said Sia Nowrojee, a Kenyan women’s rights advocate with more than thirty years’ experience.

“Even though it’s thirty years later, it’s absolutely relevant. It was the culmination of twenty years of advocacy and gender equality.” Nowrojee is the UN Foundation’s Associate Vice President of their Girls and Women Strategy division.

The Beijing Conference was the first time that the international community integrated gender equality into the global development and rights agenda. It was recognition that securing the rights and dignities for all women and girls would be integral to achieving widespread development. This was key for the countries that had emerged in the post-colonial era.

Sia Nowrojee, UN Foundation’s Associate Vice President of Girls and Women Strategy. Credit: UN Foundation

The leadership of advocates from the Global South was instrumental to the Beijing PoA. Representatives from Africa, Asia, and Latin America pushed for the measures that make the framework as inclusive as it is. Nowrojee gave the example of girls’ rights being recognized thanks to the efforts of African feminists in the lead-up to Beijing.

Hibaaq Osman, a Somali human rights activist and founder of El-Karama, considers that the Global South activists had been uniquely prepared to participate as they had lived through their countries’ great political upheavals against colonialism and racism.

Osman attended Beijing 1995 as part of the Center of Strategic Initiatives of Women, a civil society network.

Hibaaq Osman, a Somali human rights activist and founder of El-Karama. Credit: UN Foundation

“For me, as a young woman, I was shocked by the things that I heard. I was raised to believe that everything was a privacy. But to hear a woman speaking for herself and sharing things that I never thought you could share with others, including violence against women… It absolutely opened my eyes and made me see, ‘Oh my god, I can actually share things with other women,’” Osman told IPS.

For Osman, the Beijing conference represented the possibilities of what could be achieved through a shared agenda and a shared sense of hope. The unique energy from that conference drove her advocacy work through groups like the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) and then El-Karama, which is working to end violence against women in the Arab region and South Sudan.

General view of the opening session of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Credit: UN Photo/Milton Grant

Beijing 1995 also provided the expectation of accountability from governments and policy makers if they did not implement the PoA. “That had never happened before. There was a mechanism for the first time…,” said Osman. “You can hold governments and policymakers accountable. But you also have the connection with grassroots. That it was no longer the individual woman that could claim that she was the leader, but having accountability to your own people, I think that whole thing was fantastic.”

“I think the legacy of Beijing 1995 honestly, it gave us a legacy of getting out of our corners and just wide open to the rest of the women. And I think that vision, that framework is still working.”

Delegates working late into the night to draft the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Credit: UNDP/Milton Grant

The success of the Women’s Conferences also demonstrated the UN’s role as a space to build up the gender equality movement, Nowrojee remarked. The UN has also served as a platform for emerging countries to raise their issues to the international community and to shape global agendas on their terms.

Prior to Beijing, the UN World Conference on Women had previously been held in Nairobi (1985), Copenhagen (1980) and Mexico City (1975). These were also key forums for people from all parts of the world to build relationships and for there to be a “cross-pollination of ideas and experiences”, laying down the groundwork for what was later achieved in Beijing.

Nowrojee was 18 years old when she attended the Nairobi 1985 Conference as part of a school/youth delegation. The experience was formative in listening to women’s activists from the region impart their wisdom and insights.

“To see the world’s women come to my home and talk about the fact that we mattered was life-changing for me,” Nowrojee said. “I made friends who I still work with and love and see today. And I think there is that sort of personal part, which is both personally sustaining, but it’s a critical part of feminist movement building.”

Each conference built up momentum that saw no sign of slowing down. Osman and Nowrojee explained that as gains were being made at local, national and global levels, this encouraged those in the movement to act with urgency and go further. This provided them the spaces to learn how to refine the messages for local contexts.

Delegates at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995. Credit: UNDPI /UN Women

The gains towards gender equality should be noted: the codification of women’s rights around the world, their increased participation in politics and in peace negotiations. Evidence has shown that investing in women’s participation in society through health, education and employment leads to economic growth and prosperity. More women in the workforce mean greater economic gains and stability. Increased social protections for women lead to more stability in communities.

And yet, there was backlash to the momentum. Recent years have seen the rise of anti-rights and anti-gender movements gain greater traction, combined with increasing attempts to strip women of their rights. UN Women has warned that one in four countries are reporting a backlash to women’s rights.

Nowrojee remarked that the autocratic leaders that champion these movements target women’s rights because it threatens their own agenda. “If you are silencing half the human family, and you are hampering their ability to make decisions about their bodies, to participate in political process… these are very, very effective ways of undermining democracy, development, peace and the achievement of all the goals and values that we hold dear.”

“They understand that if you bring women down, you are bringing society down, because women are the core of society,” Osman added.

The modern movements are also well-funded and well-organized. But there is an irony to it in that they use the same tactics that feminist movements have been using for decades by organizing at the grassroots level before moving their influence up to the national level and beyond. But this should not be where activists fall to despair. Instead they should understand, Osman and Nowrojee remarked, that women in this space already know what actions need to be taken to regain lost momentum.

“I’m sure that Sia and I and many, many others who were part of that are also thinking about today and what’s happening, and we know the space for civil society is shrinking,” Osman said. “The space for democracy, human rights, justice, reproductive rights, for all of that, there is absolutely a rollback, But it’s not going to delay us. We are just going to be more sophisticated and ask ourselves “Where are the blocks, how do we build… diverse constituencies?”… So it is hard, but we are not slowing down whatsoever.”

Today, it may seem the pursuit of gender equality is an ongoing struggle that faces the threat of autocratic movements that sow distrust and division. For the people who championed the women’s rights movement and can recall a time before the Beijing PoA, they are all too aware of what is at stake. The leaders in modern movements today need to look back to the past to take lessons, and to take courage.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Food Inflation: a Key Challenge To Sustain the Achievements of Latin America and the Caribbean

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 12:40

Reaching a healthy diet requires USD 5.16 PPP per day, an amount out of reach for 182 million people in the region. Credit: Max Valencia / FAO

By Máximo Torero
Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

Just a few years ago, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of families in Latin America and the Caribbean did not know whether they would have enough food for the next day. The shutdown of economies, massive job losses, and the sharp rise in prices pushed food insecurity to levels not seen in decades.

And yet, the region surprised the world: between 2020 and 2024, the prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity fell from 33.7% to 25.2%, the largest reduction recorded globally. It was a remarkable achievement, made in a global context marked by overlapping crises.

However, behind this progress lies a silent enemy that does not appear in harvest photos or market openings yet erodes the purchasing power of millions of households every day: food inflation. This is not just a temporary rise in prices, but a persistent trend that threatens to reverse hard-won progress and deepen inequalities.

Latin America and the Caribbean have shown that, with sound policies and political will, it is possible to reduce hunger even in an adverse global context. But food inflation reminds us that progress is fragile, and structural vulnerabilities can erode it quickly

During 2022 and 2023, food prices systematically rose faster than general inflation across the region. South America recorded a peak of 20.8% in April 2022, Central America 19.2% in August, and the Caribbean 15.3% in December.

In January 2023, the regional food price index rose to 13.6% year-over-year, compared to an overall inflation rate of 8.5%. This gap hits hardest the poorest households, where a large share of income is spent on food.

The adjustment of labor incomes to this increase has been uneven. In Mexico, wages followed a trend similar to food prices, partially protecting purchasing power. But in most countries, real incomes contracted, reducing families’ ability to access sufficient and nutritious diets. This is not merely a short-term issue: it reflects structural weaknesses that amplify the impact of any external shock—whether economic, climatic, or geopolitical.

Although the post-pandemic expansionary policies, the war in Ukraine, rising fertilizer costs, disrupted trade routes, and extreme climate events created a “perfect storm” for food security, the problem runs deeper.

The region has been experiencing low economic growth, high dependence on commodity exports, and limited productive diversification. Added to this, there is a worrying decline in public and private investment in agriculture over the past two decades, weakening the sector’s productivity and resilience.

The SOFI 2025 warns that a 10% increase in food prices can lead to a 3.5% rise in moderate or severe food insecurity, a 4% increase in the case of women, and a 5% increase in the prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under five. In other words, food inflation is not just an economic issue: it has direct effects on the health, well-being, and future of millions of people.

On top of this is the high cost of a healthy diet. In 2024, more than 2.6 billion people worldwide could not afford it. In Latin America and the Caribbean, this diet costs 9% more than the global average, and in the Caribbean, 23% more.

In absolute terms, reaching a healthy diet requires USD 5.16 PPP per day, an amount out of reach for 182 million people in the region. This means that even in countries with low hunger prevalence, access to nutritious food remains a luxury for a large share of the population.

In light of this scenario, the SOFI 2025 outlines a roadmap to safeguard achievements and build resilience. First, strengthen social protection systems to cushion the impact of prices on the most vulnerable. Cash transfers, targeted subsidies, and school feeding programs can serve as effective shields if well-designed and delivered on time.

Second, transform and diversify agrifood systems to reduce dependence on a narrow set of commodities and strengthen local production of nutritious foods. This requires investments in logistics, storage, and transport infrastructure to reduce costs borne by final consumers.

Third, maintain open, predictable, and rules-based international trade. Trade restrictions exacerbate volatility and make food even more expensive, so they must be avoided, especially in times of crisis.

Fourth, strengthen market information and monitoring systems to anticipate inflationary pressures and enable rapid, evidence-based responses.

And fifth, promote climate resilience and macroeconomic stability through sustainable farming practices, expanded access to agricultural insurance, and effective risk management, alongside responsible fiscal and monetary policies.

The region has the experience, capacity, and productive potential; what is needed now is strategic investment, regional coordination, and renewed commitment so that the right to adequate food ceases to be an unfulfilled goal and becomes a tangible reality for all.

Excerpt:

Máximo Torero Cullen is Chief Economist of FAO and Regional Representative ad interim for Latin America and the Caribbean

Categories: Africa

From Reforestation to Low-Emission Food, Climate Action Starts with Seeds

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 10:02

Marceline, a farmer from the Gwiza Cooperative in Rwamagana district, Rwanda, shows her beds of newly planted cabbage. Credit: ISF/Henry Joel

By Michael Keller
NEW YORK, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

When you think of climate action, images of wind farms, solar panels, bicycles or electric vehicles may come to mind. Perhaps lush forests or green landscapes. What you may not think of is the humble seed.

Yet seeds are among our most powerful tools to cut emissions, adapt to rising temperatures, and reduce food waste and loss. They underpin reforestation efforts, and have the power to unlock climate-resilient, lower-emission, longer-lasting crops.

If the world is to meet its climate goals while feeding a growing population in a hotter, less predictable world, it must unleash the full potential of the seed industry. That means supporting innovation, investment, and strong collaboration between the public and private sectors.

The strong engagement at Climate Week NYC helped set the stage for the discussions we must now advance on the road to COP30 in November to fully harness the potential of seeds for a climate-resilient future.

Global temperatures continue to rise, driving more frequent extreme weather events and straining ecosystems. The fallout is global. Food security, health, migration and economic stability are all impacted, especially in the poorest nations, which have contributed the least to the problem.

Agriculture is often hit the hardest, as crops depend on stable weather, yet droughts, floods and heatwaves devastate harvests, while warmer and more humid temperatures fuel germs, spoilage and food loss. Already, one fifth of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted before people consume it.

Yet one of the most powerful tools to adapt, cut emissions, and reduce hunger remains underutilized: improved seeds. Compelling examples of the potential impact of seeds can be found scattered around the world, waiting to scale and take root.

For example, in Brazil, dedicated orchards of native trees, such as the Araucaria, are meticulously managed through a process of raising seedlings in nurseries and planting them in restoration sites. This crucial work is foundational for climate-resilient reforestation, ensuring that future forests are diverse, robust and stable in the face of changing environmental conditions.

Further afield, in Mexico, the agricultural landscape has been significantly transformed through the development and widespread adoption of climate-adapted hybrid maize varieties. This innovation has revolutionized the country’s maize production, contributing to food security and economic stability.

Simultaneously, in Rwanda, sustainable seed systems are being built from the ground up, with newly tested varieties demonstrating remarkable improvements, yielding up to nine times more than traditional seeds. These efforts highlight the power of localized, tailored seed solutions.

Looking into the future, scientific advancements are continuously pushing boundaries. Researchers are actively developing new varieties of staple crops, such as tomatoes, utilizing cutting-edge CRISPR technology. This innovative approach aims to increase the shelf life of produce and significantly limit food waste, addressing critical challenges within the global food supply chain.

To get the most out of seeds, they need to move from the margins to the mainstream of climate action to the front of people’s minds. This shift is crucial for unlocking their full potential in building a more sustainable and resilient future.

Firstly, mainstreaming seeds in climate finance would accelerate the development and delivery of climate-resilient low-emission varieties. This involves directing significant investment towards research, breeding, and distribution programs that focus on developing crops capable of thriving in changing climatic conditions while minimizing environmental impact. This can be a part of a long overdue reinvestment in agrifood systems, which currently receive just 4 per cent of climate finance.

Second, integrating seed innovation into national strategies and Nationally Determined Contributions, would ensure countries see seeds as the critical infrastructure they are. By acknowledging seeds as fundamental to food security and climate adaptation, governments can prioritize their development and deployment in national development plans, agricultural policies, and climate action frameworks.

More public-private partnerships would help to drive innovation at scale, with governments, researchers and the private sector driving towards solutions. These collaborations, like ISF’s with CGIAR, can pool resources, expertise, and technologies, fostering a dynamic ecosystem where cutting-edge research translates into practical, scalable solutions for farmers worldwide.

In 2025 — following the hottest year ever recorded — we can’t afford to overlook one of our most effective tools for climate action: seeds. These tiny powerhouses hold immense untapped potential to help us adapt to rising temperatures, cut emissions, improve carbon sequestration, and minimize waste across agricultural systems.

But to truly unlock that potential, they must be given the spotlight on global stages, where consequential decisions are being made and long-term priorities are set for the planet’s future.

As we enter the second half of this crucial decade for climate action, the message from the seed sector is clear and urgent: we are ready to continue contributing to the fullest of our potential.

It is imperative that policymakers and stakeholders plant the seed of a climate-resilient future now, before it is too late to reverse the devastating impacts of a warming world.

IPS UN Bureau

Excerpt:

Michael Keller is Secretary General of the International Seed Federation

Categories: Africa

Nuclear Testing Threats are Returning & Saber Rattling is Getting Louder, warns UN Chief

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 08:15

A nuclear test is carried out on an island in French Polynesia in 1971. Credit: the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO)

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

Is the unpredictable Trump administration toying with the idea of resuming nuclear tests?

The New York times reported April 10 that some of Trump’s senior advisers had proposed the resumption of “test denotations for the sake of national security”. The last such US explosion took place in 1992.

But former US Representative Brandon Williams, (Republican-New York), the new administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which plays an integral role in the nation’s $1.7 trillion nuclear weapons modernization effort, testified last April before the Senate Armed Services Committee he would not recommend the re-start of nuclear weapons testing.

The last confirmed full-scale nuclear explosive test was conducted by North Korea in September 2017—with perhaps more to come.

Speaking at a meeting, September 26, on “the international day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned “nuclear testing threats are returning, while nuclear saber rattling is louder than in past decades.”

Hard-won progress – reductions in arsenals, the cessation of testing – these are being undone before our eyes. We are sleepwalking into a new nuclear arms race, Guterres warned,

“I call on every State to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, ending once and for all and for all the dark legacy of nuclear tests.

And every State must support the victims of nuclear use and testing – and confront the enduring harm: poisoned lands, chronic illness, and lasting trauma” declared Guterres.

Meanwhile, the devastating after-effects of past nuclear tests from a bygone era are still lingering.

During the British nuclear weapons tests in Australia between 1952 and 1963, Indigenous voices were systematically ignored, resulting in severe health and cultural devastation, according to a published report.

Through decades of relentless campaigning, survivors and their descendants have forced a belated official acknowledgement of the harm caused. However, the fight for full justice continues to this day, with the voices of many still unheard.

For years, both governments dismissed or covered up the health dangers associated with the tests, despite Aboriginal communities reporting severe health issues like rashes, blindness, and cancers. A 1956 letter from an Australian government scientist mocked a patrol officer for prioritizing the safety of a “handful of natives” over the British Commonwealth.

Despite state-sanctioned ignorance, Aboriginal survivors and their advocates refused to be silenced, ensuring their experiences were recognized.

Dr M.V. Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and Director pro-tem, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, told IPS a resumption of nuclear weapon testing by the United States will most likely lead other countries like Russia, China, India, and North Korea to test their nuclear weapons.

In turn, this will increase the likelihood of an accelerated nuclear arms race, and a greater likelihood of nuclear weapons being used somewhere in the world with catastrophic consequences.

But even without nuclear war, the people who live close to these test sites, which in many cases have included indigenous communities, will suffer from exposure to radioactive contamination and other environmental effects.

The only countervailing force that one can place some hope on under these circumstances is the peace and disarmament movement, that might be able to catalyze public opposition to testing, declared Dr Ramana.

Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation, Oakland, California, told IPS: It is somewhat reassuring that the new head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, Brandon Williams, during his confirmation hearings said he would advise against resuming explosive nuclear tests.

“However, the second Trump regime’s likely nuclear policy is spelled out in a manifesto by Project 2025, which proposes that a second Trump administration prioritize nuclear weapons programs over other security programs, accelerate the development and production of all nuclear weapons programs, increase funding for the development and production of new and modernized nuclear warheads, and prepare to test new nuclear weapons,” she pointed out.

Separately, Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security advisor during his first term, wrote in Foreign Affairs, that in order to counter China and Russia’s continued investments in their nuclear arsenals, the U.S. should resume nuclear testing.

“And we must keep in mind that Russell Vought, one of the architects and co-authors of Project 2025, is now the Director of the powerful Office of Management and Budget,” said Cabasso.

Since 1945, she said, there have been 2,056 nuclear weapons tests by at least eight countries. Most of these tests have been conducted on the lands of indigenous and colonized people.

The United States conducted 1,030 of those tests in the atmosphere, underwater, and underground, while the USSR carried out 715 nuclear test detonations.

“Not only did these nuclear test explosions fuel the development and spread of nuclear weapons, but hundreds of thousands of people have died and millions more have suffered—and continue to suffer—from illnesses directly related to the radioactive fallout from nuclear detonations in the United States, islands in the Pacific, in Australia, China, Algeria, across Russia, in Kazakhstan, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and elsewhere,” said Cabasso.

According to an AI extract: Some of the major nuclear test sites include:

• Pacific Proving Grounds: A U.S. site in the Marshall Islands where numerous high-yield tests, including the 1954 Castle Bravo shot, caused extensive radioactive contamination.

• Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan: A major Soviet test site where 456 tests exposed as many as one million people to radiation, leading to high rates of cancer and birth defects.

• Novaya Zemlya, Russia: The Soviet Union’s test site for the largest nuclear explosion in history, the Tsar Bomba, in 1961.

• Lop Nor, China: The location for all of China’s nuclear tests.

• Reggane and Ekker, Algeria; Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls, French Polynesia: French nuclear test sites.

• Maralinga, Emu Field, and Montebello, Australia: British test sites.

Environmental and health effects include:

• Increased cancer rates: Long-term exposure to radioactive fallout has been linked to increased rates of various cancers, including thyroid cancer, leukemia, and other solid tumors. The highest risks are often seen in communities living downwind of test sites and in those exposed during childhood.

• Acute radiation sickness: Individuals near test sites who were exposed to high levels of radiation suffered from immediate symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and hair loss.

• Soil and water contamination: Radioactive particles can contaminate soil, water, and air for decades, entering the food chain and posing long-term risks.

• Disruption of ecosystems: Radioactive fallout can cause genetic mutations and death in animal populations, leading to wider ecological disruption.

• Psychological impact: Survivors and affected communities have also experienced profound psychological trauma, anxiety, and fear.

• Downwinder compensation: In the U.S., the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was established in 1990 to provide compensation to “Downwinders” who contracted specific cancers and diseases from fallout exposure from the Nevada Test Site.

This article is brought to you by IPS NORAM, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

Multilateralism Minus the People: 80 Years of the UN’s Broken Promise

Tue, 30/09/2025 - 07:57

Credit: United Nations

By Jesselina Rana
NEW YORK, Sep 30 2025 (IPS)

Last week, the United Nations (UN) marked its 80th anniversary against the backdrop of an unprecedented global crisis. With the highest number of active conflicts since 1946, trust in multilateralism is faltering.

Yet the UN’s founding vision, rooted in the principle of ‘We the Peoples,’ remains as urgent as ever; affirming that peace, human rights, and development cannot be achieved by governments alone. From the very beginning, civil society has been integral to this vision, a role formally recognised in Article 71 of the UN Charter, which underscores the value of NGOs in shaping international agendas.

“Article71: The Economic and Social Council may make suitable arrangements for consultation with non-governmental organisations which are concerned with matters within its competence. Such arrangements may be made with international organisations and, where appropriate, with national organisations after consultation with the Member of the United Nations concerned.”

Yet despite this important provision, multilateral processes have increasingly become state-centric, turning global governance into a top-down exercise detached from the people it is meant to serve.

Excluding civil society and global citizens from policy-making not only produces laws and policies out of touch with local needs but also undermines community-driven practices that are often best placed to identify challenges and craft solutions.

At worst, silencing those who hold governments accountable empowers authoritarian regimes to flout international law, restrict human rights, and erode the rules-based international order. While the UN may recognise the role of civil society in principle, why does practice remain so distant from this commitment?

One area for reflection is the extent to which international spaces mirror national realities. Many see the multilateral system as an all-powerful body safeguarding humanity from the scourge of war. In reality it is a regrouping of national actors, the same ones responsible for shrinking civic space at home.

According to the CIVICUS Monitor, more than 70 percent of the global population lives in countries where freedoms of expression, association, and assembly are severely restricted. For many human rights defenders (HRDs), even raising their voices at the UN has led to reprisals at home, including surveillance and imprisonment.

By privileging repressive states and sidelining accountability actors, multilateral institutions replicate domestic restrictions globally, leaving abuses unchecked and defenders excluded.

A second challenge is how money dictates priorities. The collapse of the global aid sector has forced many to confront this reality again. The UN is funded largely by member states through mandatory and voluntary contributions. Over time, earmarking of funds and shifting UN priorities have led to chronic underinvestment in human rights.

Today, the human rights pillar receives just five percent of the UN’s regular budget, and with the upcoming UN80 budget cuts, this already underfunded area faces further risk. When human rights are deprioritised through budget cuts and underfunding, the message to member states is clear- resources and political will are better placed elsewhere. This dynamic discourages collaboration with civil society and reinforces their marginalisation.

A third challenge is the unequal access granted to civil society at UN headquarters. Negotiation rooms are closed to most organisations, and draft resolutions are often circulated only among those with close ties to diplomats, leaving others without privileged access unable to provide timely input. Meaningful participation is impossible without timely information.

During high-level weeks in New York, even side event spaces can only be booked through a member state, effectively controlling who speaks and what is discussed. Major processes such as the Summit of the Future or Financing for Development rarely engage civil society at the national level in time to influence outcomes.

Even when hundreds of civil society organisations submit feedback on policy documents, there is little transparency on how their contributions are used. These opaque practices erode trust and leave committed groups questioning whether investing their scarce time and resources in multilateral spaces is worthwhile.

Despite these glaring challenges, which have turned the system into “we the member states,” the UN is not without tools to ensure it is inclusive of the people it was created to serve. First, existing tools such as the UN Guidance Note on the Promotion and Protection of Civic Space provide a clear framework for action through the “three P’s”: participation, protection, and promotion. To move this document beyond paper, the task force assigned to implement it must act urgently.

Accreditation processes may get civil society past the security desk after years of hurdles, but it does not guarantee meaningful engagement. What matters in the long run is meaningful participation across the UN system, not just at headquarters, in order to achieve political and practical impact.

Second, a focus on accountable leadership. When funding is slashed and political will abandoned, the UN inadvertently strengthens authoritarian regimes, enabling them to silence voices, restrict rights, and openly flout international law. This erosion of support for human rights contributes to shrinking civic freedoms worldwide and leaves many losing trust in the multilateral system.

In this context, civil society engagement is not optional, it is key to steering the UN’s future leadership toward defending human rights and global freedoms.

With conversations on the next Secretary-General already gaining momentum, civil society’s role must be a central test for every candidate. Town halls with nominees should be used to demand clear commitments to meaningful participation of civil society, as well as sustained funding and protection for human rights programmes.

This is not about tokenistic symbolism; meaningful civil society engagement is a fundamental condition for development progress, the protection of human rights, and the survival of a rules-based international order- including multilateral organisations like the UN.

As the UN enters its ninth decade, its relevance depends on accountability to the people, not just the states. Civil society must be recognized as independent partners, with their constructive input embedded across decision-making, financing, and oversight. Only by centering people and their rights can the UN restore trust, strengthen multilateralism, and truly fulfill its founding promise: a world grounded in peace, development, and human rights.

Jesselina Rana, a human rights lawyer, is the UN Advisor at CIVICUS’ New York Hub.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

‘The North Korean Human Rights Movement Is Facing Its Greatest Crisis since It Began in the 1990s’

Mon, 29/09/2025 - 20:32

By CIVICUS
Sep 29 2025 (IPS)

CIVICUS discusses North Korea’s closed civic space with Hanna Song, Executive Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB). Based in Seoul, South Korea, NKDB documents systematic human rights violations in North Korea through testimonies from escapees, and has built the world’s largest private database of such abuses.

Hanna Song

North Korea’s complete isolation and denial of access to independent monitors makes civil society documentation efforts the sole source of credible information on human rights abuses. However, recent funding cuts threaten to dismantle decades of work to preserve survivor testimonies and hold the regime accountable.

What North Korean human rights violations has NKDB documented?

When NKDB first began documenting violations in 2003, testimonies focused overwhelmingly on survival during the ‘Arduous March’ of the 1990s, a period of severe famine that killed hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. People described the collapse of the food distribution system, with families torn apart and entire communities struggling with famine. At the time, violations were framed through the lens of survival – the right to food and life – revealing the state’s neglect of basic needs.

Over time, as more escapees shared their experiences, it became clear these violations weren’t limited to famine periods but were part of a systematic pattern of abuse. The landmark 2014 United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry report solidified this understanding. It documented widespread violations, from political prison camps to enforced disappearances, persecution on political and religious grounds and torture, and concluded that crimes against humanity were – and continue to be – perpetrated by the North Korean state.

There has been little improvement in the years since. The government has tightened information restrictions, further isolating people from the outside world. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this isolation, closing borders, worsening economic hardship and reducing the already small number of defections, making testimony collection harder. Most recently, the regime’s decision to dispatch young soldiers to Russia has raised additional alarm, as it has exposed minors and young adults to forced labour and potential involvement in armed conflict.

Despite evolving circumstances, the underlying reality remains unchanged: North Korea continues to operate a system of control that denies people the most basic rights and freedoms.

How does NKDB monitor human rights violations?

North Korea permits no independent human rights monitoring or reporting within its borders. Even the UN has never been granted investigative access despite repeated requests. This complete isolation means monitoring organisations must rely on escapee accounts, making testimonies from defectors and refugees indispensable windows into a society the regime keeps hidden.

NKDB conducts secure and confidential interviews with escapees after they have resettled in South Korea. There are around 34,000 people. We document experiences ranging from arbitrary detention and torture to forced labour and religious persecution. Although the sharp decline in recent defections has reduced new testimonies, the information we collect remains critical. When combined with satellite imagery, open-source intelligence and other remote monitoring tools, these first-hand accounts allow us to identify patterns of repression and preserve survivor voices for history and accountability.

Through this work, we’ve built the largest private database on North Korean human rights abuses, containing over 88,000 documented cases based on interviews with more than 20,000 people. This database forms the foundation for UN reports, government policy and international advocacy, and lays the groundwork for future transitional justice processes.

But we don’t stop at documentation. We have in-house counsellors and social welfare workers who provide psychosocial support to escapees after they share their testimonies. For many, recounting traumatic experiences is retraumatising. We don’t abandon them after the interview process, but provide them ongoing counselling and practical support to help them process their experiences, heal and rebuild their lives. In this way we have preserved critical evidence while preserving the dignity and wellbeing of those who entrust us with their stories.

How has civil society documentation influenced policy and international awareness?

Civil society documentation has profoundly influenced international attention and responses to North Korea’s human rights situation. For instance, NKDB’s research on overseas workers has highlighted the critical intersection between security and human rights. While the focus is often on sanctions or weapons proliferation, our work ensures North Korean people’s rights aren’t forgotten, even amid emerging Russia-North Korea ties.

By documenting how North Korean workers are exploited abroad – through wage confiscation, movement restrictions and state surveillance – we provide evidence for human rights-based policy approaches. In a context as closed as North Korea, civil society testimonies and evidence form the foundation for major human rights reports by governments, UN special rapporteurs and international bodies. Without this documentation, there would simply be no reliable record of the scale, scope or persistence of human rights abuses in North Korea. Our work preserves truth, amplifies the voices of survivors and keeps the international community accountable to its responsibility to act.

What has been the impact of recent US funding cuts?

US withdrawal has caused a huge crisis. For two decades, the USA played a unique role in sustaining the global movement for truth, justice and accountability for the people of North Korea. It was the only government that provided consistent and large-scale support for documenting human rights abuses in North Korea. In the absence of alternative funding, this support enabled much of the North Korean human rights movement to exist. Now that movement is facing its greatest crisis since it began in the 1990s.

For escapees who depend on civil society organisations (CSOs) for therapy, counselling and reintegration support, this freeze has meant a loss of essential services. It has also weakened the ability of survivor empowerment groups and information dissemination organisations to train defectors as advocates, challenge the regime’s information blockade and bring credible evidence to the international community. In our case, the suspension of funding threatens the infrastructure we have built since 2003.

The impact is also symbolic: it sends North Korean escapees and victims who have risked everything to tell their stories the chilling message that their voices don’t matter.

Impacts go far beyond civil society. Human rights documentation challenges the secrecy, denial and impunity on which authoritarian regimes thrive. It provides credible evidence that informs international pressure, prevents the regime rewriting history and generates the intelligence needed to understand the regime’s inner dynamics in the absence of conventional diplomacy. All that infrastructure –databases, testimonies, training programmes and survivor networks — is at risk of being dismantled.

How are you adapting and finding alternative resources?

Faced with declining funding and challenging conditions, NKDB and other CSOs have adopted multiple adaptation strategies. Collaboration is central: by working together with other CSOs, academic institutions and advocacy groups, we pool expertise, share methodologies and sustain initiatives despite disruptions.

We’ve also actively engaged with the public to build grassroots support. Our public exhibition in Seoul makes North Korean escapee stories tangible for residents and international tourists. By translating statistics into human-centred experiences, the exhibition reminds visitors of the issue’s urgency while encouraging broader community engagement and cultivating supporters who can advocate and contribute in the long term.

What urgent actions should the international community take?

Given these critical realities, the international community must prioritise restoration and expansion of funding for advocacy, documentation and research. Adequate support ensures CSOs maintain capacity, pursue high-impact initiatives and respond to emerging crises like young soldiers’ deployment to Russia.

Beyond funding, capacity development support is crucial, including training in digital security and evidence verification. The international community must facilitate access to decision-making forums where civil society findings directly inform policymaking through UN bodies and diplomatic engagements.

Critically, human rights and security are deeply intertwined. Documentation provides real-time intelligence on North Korea’s internal dynamics, essential for informed diplomacy. The international community should ensure human rights remain central in broader diplomatic efforts.

Finally, cross-border collaboration among CSOs, governments and academic institutions must be strengthened. This amplifies credible evidence while sustaining networks capable of long-term monitoring. It ensures the human rights ecosystem survives political uncertainty and funding disruptions. To prevent years of progress unravelling, the international community must act decisively, strategically and urgently.

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North Korea: ‘Since Kim Jong-un came to power, the surveillance and security system has increased dramatically’ CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Bada Nam 18.Oct.2023
North Korea: ‘It is time for the international community to adopt a ‘human rights up front’ approach’ CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Greg Scarlatoiu 06.Oct.2023
North Korea: ‘Many women escape to experience the freedoms they are denied’ CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Kyeong Min Shin 07.Nov.2022

Categories: Africa

Climate Finance Will Be the First Casualty of Rising Militarism: Ali T. Sheikh Warns Ahead of COP30

Mon, 29/09/2025 - 09:56

In an exclusive interview, Pakistan’s leading climate expert Ali T. Sheikh talks about the geopolitical undercurrents shaping COP30, why climate finance is under threat, and how Pakistan can reclaim its voice on the global stage.

Categories: Africa

Empower Her, Empower Us: A Call to Empower UN Women Now

Mon, 29/09/2025 - 08:05

General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock of Germany addresses the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the thirtieth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women. Only the fifth woman to preside over the UN General Assembly in its 80-year history, she praised the courage of those “who fought for every phrase, every word in the Beijing Declaration,” marking the 30th Anniversary of the pivotal international conference on women’s empowerment. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

By Shihana Mohamed
NEW YORK, Sep 29 2025 (IPS)

In her opening statement, Annalena Baerbock (Germany), President of the 80th UN General Assembly, only the fifth female to hold this position over 80 years, stated, “Our future as an institution will also be shaped by the selection of the next Secretary-General. And here we must pause and reflect. In nearly eighty years, this Organization has never chosen a woman for that role. One might wonder how out of four billion potential candidates, there could not be found a single one. … Like 80 years ago, we are standing at a crossroads.”

As the United Nations approaches its next appointment of a Secretary-General in 2026, the world is rallying behind a long-overdue milestone: the possibility of a woman leading the UN for the first time in its 80-year history. The momentum is undeniable.

Civil society campaigns like “1 for 8 Billion” are gaining traction, and 92 Member States have expressed strong support for a woman Secretary-General, with 28 of them formally called for female candidates. This is more than a symbolic gesture—it is a chance to reshape global leadership.

This moment is not just politically significant — it is foundational. The UN Charter, adopted in 1945, enshrines gender equality at its core, pledging “faith in fundamental human rights… and the equal rights of men and women.” That promise must now be fulfilled not only in principle but in practice.

But as the spotlight intensifies on the quest for a female Secretary-General, another critical issue risks fading into the shadows: the dilution of the UN Women mandate. This paradox must be addressed head-on. Because, while breaking the glass ceiling at the top is vital, it means little if the institution responsible for advancing women’s rights across the globe is quietly losing its power.

Empowering Women globally: UN Women’s Unique Mandate

The creation of UN Women was the culmination of years of negotiations among Member States and advocacy by the global women’s movement. In July 2010, the UN General Assembly unanimously voted to establish a new, dynamic UN Entity – UN Women – to strengthen, accelerate, and elevate the UN’s efforts in promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality. Then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the decision, calling it “a truly watershed day”.

UN Women was formed by consolidating four UN entities dedicated to gender equality: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues (OSAGI), and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW).

UN Women was designed to be a force multiplier—mainstreaming women’s rights across peace building, development, and human rights.

Over 15 years, UN Women has brought unmatched expertise and coordination to the global stage—supporting inclusive policies, empowering grassroots movements, and embedding gender equality across UN initiatives. From ending gender-based violence to advancing women’s leadership, it has become a driving force for transformative change.

Yet today, it faces chronic underfunding, limited political influence, and a shrinking mandate. In many cases, it is treated as a symbolic entity rather than a strategic one.

Merging at a Cost: Diluting UN Women’s Mandate

Now, a new proposal within the broader UN80 reform agenda threatens to further dilute the impact of UN Women: the potential merger of UN Women with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

While both agencies work on overlapping issues, particularly around reproductive health and women’s rights, their mandates are distinct. UN Women focuses on systemic change, policy advocacy, and institutional reform towards advancing the status of women and girls across the world. UNFPA, by contrast, centers on sexual and reproductive health and population dynamics.

A merger could offer some operational benefits such as streamlined programming, reduced administrative overhead, and stronger coordination in areas like gender-based violence. It might even amplify advocacy efforts where reproductive health and women’s rights intersect. But these gains come with serious risks and irreversible consequences.

This merger proposal has raised concerns among civil society groups and gender equality advocates like me, who fear that merging UN Women with a more service-oriented agency like UNFPA could dilute its policy leadership and weaken its systemic mandate.

If the merger is rushed or imposed from the top, decades of institutional knowledge, technical expertise, and trusted partnerships— built separately by UN Women and UNFPA—could be lost. It risks sidelining UN Women’s policy leadership, weakening its accountability role, and shifting resources from structural change to service delivery. In short, it could turn a transformative agenda into a technocratic one.

Consolidating mandates could increase political vulnerability, leaving contentious issues like abortion and comprehensive sexuality education more exposed to donor-driven political interference and budget cuts.

Women-led organizations, already under strain from funding challenges, could face further instability. Additionally, while aimed at improving efficiency, the merger risks increasing bureaucracy and coordination costs.

This is not just an internal UN issue — it is a global one. Women’s rights are foundational to solving the world’s most pressing challenges, from climate change to conflict resolution.

Championing a female Secretary-General while weakening UN Women sends a dangerous message: that representation at the top is enough, even when institutions lack the power to drive real change.

Beyond Rhetoric: Toward Real Change

At the opening of the 69th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged the urgency of the moment, warning: “Women’s rights are under siege. The poison of patriarchy is back—and it is back with a vengeance.

Slamming the brakes on action; tearing-up progress; and mutating into new and dangerous forms. But there is an antidote. That antidote is action. Now is the time for those of us who care about equality for women and girls to stand up and to speak out.”

This call to action should not be ignored. The antidote is not only symbolic leadership—it is institutional strength. To ensure that the UN’s commitment to women’s rights is not reduced to symbolism, the following steps are essential:

Safeguard UN Women’s Autonomy

Any restructuring must preserve UN Women’s distinct mandate. Mergers that dilute its policy leadership or reduce its visibility must be rejected. Women’s empowerment is not a subset of health—it is a global priority.

Strengthen Funding and Influence: Member States must increase core funding for UN Women and support its integration across all UN agencies. Political backing must match rhetorical support.

Institutionalize Feminist Leadership: The next Secretary-General—especially if she is a woman, as we strongly hope—must champion feminist principles in practice. That means elevating UN Women, embedding gender analysis across UN operations, securing its resources, and holding the system accountable for tangible results.

Mobilize Civil Society: Feminist movements and grassroots organizations must remain vigilant to ensure that women’s empowerment is not reduced to optics or absorbed into narrower agendas. They are the watchdogs and visionaries of global gender justice. Their voices must shape reform—not be sidelined by it.

Demand Transparency in Reform: The UN80 Task Force and other reform bodies must engage openly with stakeholders. Decisions affecting UN Women’s future must be transparent, inclusive, and grounded in human rights—not just cost-efficiency.

The UN was founded on the promise of dignity and equality for all. That promise cannot be fulfilled by elevating one woman while sidelining the institution meant to empower millions.

The appointment of a female Secretary-General would be historic — but it must be matched by a commitment to strengthen UN Women. Its mandate must be protected, not merged, or diluted.

UN Women must lead. It must set the agenda, hold agencies accountable, and speak with authority and conviction for women and girls worldwide. The UN has a choice: treat women’s empowerment as transformative—or reduce it to a footnote.

Headlines make history visible. Institutions make it real. Now is the time to act. UN Women must be empowered.

Shihana Mohamed, a Sri Lankan national, is a founding member and Coordinator of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion (UN-ANDI) and a US Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project and Equality Now on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls. She is a dedicated human rights activist and a strong advocate for gender equality and the advancement of women.

She had the opportunity to work under the leadership of Ms. Angela King, the first Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Assistant Secretary-General (OSAGI). She also works in close partnership with UN Women as a member of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality and the Global Gender Focal Points Network.

The author expresses her views in this article in an entirely unofficial, private, and personal capacity. These views do not reflect those of any organization.

IPS UN Bureau

Categories: Africa

UN80: Three Tests to Make Reform About People, Not Spreadsheets

Fri, 26/09/2025 - 22:30

Credit: Forus - UN High-Level Political Forum 2025

By Sarah Strack and Christelle Kalhoulé
NEW YORK, Sep 26 2025 (IPS)

This September the UN turns 80, but the lessons of peace, justice, and cooperation are still unfinished. The world today faces the flames of inequality, conflict, ecological collapse and growing digital threats. In short, the very problems the UN was created to solve are once again staring us in the face.

That’s why the UN’s latest reform push, “UN80,” matters. Launched this spring, it promises to make the multilateral system more inclusive and accountable. But here’s the real question: can it align with 21st century’s needs? Will it be remembered as a budget drill or the start of a renewal that truly delivers for people where they live?

If this moment is going to count, three things must happen.

First, reforms must put people at the center, and we must avoid a reform by spreadsheet.

The UN is under financial strain. Geopolitical tensions are sky-high, negotiations are gridlocked, Member States are late on dues and membership fees, arrears run into the billions, and the UN’s mandate, efficiency, and effectiveness are under question.

“In a polycrisis world, shrinking the UN’s capacity is like cutting the fire brigade during wildfire season,” warns Christelle Kalhoulé, Forus Chair and civil society leader in Burkina Faso. “Reform cannot be about cutting corners. It must be about giving people the protection, rights, and solidarity they are being denied today.”

The UN80 Initiative marks the most sweeping reform effort in decades, with three tracks: streamlining services and consolidating IT and HR systems, reviewing outdated mandates, and exploring the consolidation of UN agencies into seven thematic “clusters.”

On paper, these reforms could bring overdue coherence. But the process has too often felt opaque, with key documents surfacing via leaks and staff unions flagging limited transparency and consultation.

Increasing the use of tools like AI is among the “solutions” being floated to “flag potential duplication” and shorten resolutions — yet without clear guardrails, there’s a risk of automating cuts and reinforcing bias rather than empowering people-first innovation. And the debate has too often been framed around cash flow, back payments, and cuts. The United States alone owes $1.5 billion in dues. Major donors are cutting ODA, and several UN humanitarian agencies are planning double-digit reductions in 2025 in their budgets.

As Arjun Bhattarai, Executive Director of the NGO Federation of Nepal warns: “Reform cannot be a synonym for austerity. Cutting budgets may make spreadsheets look tidy in New York, but it leaves communities in Kathmandu, Kampala, Khartoum, or Kyiv without support when they need it most.”

The danger is a reform focused on management efficiencies instead of reimagining what the UN must be to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

Second, a better compass exists.

Despite its flaws, multilateralism remains indispensable. Without the UN, the world would be poorer when it comes to peace, cooperation, and collective problem-solving.

What makes the UN matter most, however, are not the halls of New York or Geneva, but the people and communities it exists to serve.

The UN was created “for the people and by the people”. Protecting, safeguarding and promoting healthy sustainable lives for communities must remain the core priority.

Our measure for reform is simple: a transformed UN must reduce inequalities, ensure fairer and more inclusive representation across its governance structures, deliver public goods fairly with accountability, and protect people better, faster, while safeguarding rights.

As Moses Isooba, Executive Director of the Uganda National NGO Forum, puts it: “A reformed UN must stand closer to the people than to the corridors of power. It must be measured not by the length of resolutions, but by the depth of hope it restores and the changes it makes for communities worldwide.”

If UN80 becomes a technocratic exercise in “doing less with less,” we will emerge with a smaller, weaker UN at precisely the moment we need it most.

If instead it becomes a justice-driven reimagining — linking architecture and finance to a clear vision of protection, equity, participation, and decentralization — it could renew the UN’s capacity to act as a backbone of international cooperation.

As Justina Kaluinaite, Policy and advocacy expert at the Lithuanian NGDO Platform, stresses: “The UN will survive another 80 years only if it learns to listen. True reform is not about doing more with less, but about doing better with those who have been left out.”

Third, put reforms through three simple tests.

When leaders meet in New York, we challenge them to have every reform proposal answering three questions:

1. The Inequality Question:

2. The Localisation Question: Does it move money, decisions, and accountability closer to communities, with transparent targets and timelines?

3. The Rights Question: Does it strengthen — not dilute — protection, gender equality, and human rights?

As Christelle Kalhoulé, sums it up: “The measure of UN80 should not be how much paper it saves, but how many lives it protects. History and the legacy we leave to future generations will not ask whether the UN balanced its budget in 2025; it will ask whether it stood with people.”

If leaders embrace this moment, the UN can emerge sharper, stronger, and more inclusive, with a justice-driven renewal of multilateralism, reclaiming its place as the backbone of global cooperation. If not, UN80 may go down in history as the moment when multilateralism chose retreat over renewal.

If UN80 is going to matter, it must prevent crises before they explode, deliver for both people and planet, give underrepresented countries and communities a real voice, keep civil society free and strong, and fix financing so money reaches those on the frontlines. The real test isn’t how tidy the org chart looks, it’s whether lives are saved, trust is rebuilt, and the UN proves it can still rise to the moment and be fit to serve this 21st century world.

IPS UN Bureau

Excerpt:

Sarah Strack is Forus Director and Christelle Kalhoulé is Forus Chair and civil society leader in Burkina Faso

Categories: Africa

UN Member States Convene To Discuss Urgent Need for Equity in NCD and Mental Health Responses

Fri, 26/09/2025 - 20:05

Annalena Baerbock (centre), President of the eightieth session of the United Nations General Assembly, addresses the fourth UN High-Level Meeting on the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health (NCDs) titled “Equity and integration: transforming lives and livelihoods through leadership and action on noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of mental health and well-being. Credit: UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2025 (IPS)

World leaders convened in New York to deliberate over the efforts needed to address non-communicable diseases.

On September 25, the United Nations (UN) convened a high-level meeting on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the promotion of mental health and well-being during the 80th session of the General Assembly (UNGA80).

Organized in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the conference brought together numerous heads of state and government, many of whom acknowledged that progress toward the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of reducing premature mortality from NCDs by one-third by 2030, will most likely not be achieved. Most participants also stressed the urgency of stronger global cooperation and financing to advance health promotion and disease prevention, while addressing the economic, social, and environmental factors driving premature NCD mortality.

According to figures from WHO, NCDs are the leading cause of premature deaths worldwide, claiming more than 43 million lives last year, with 18 million of these deaths occurring prematurely. Amina Mohammed, the Deputy-Secretary General of the UN, informed the panel that approximately one person under the age of 70 succumbs to an NCD every two seconds. Additionally, about 1 billion people globally live with mental health conditions and 2.8 billion more can’t afford a healthy diet. Roughly three-quarters of all NCD deaths are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, with conflict and crisis-afflicted areas being the most vulnerable in the world.

“Every premature death from NCDs is lost potential,” said Lok Bahadur Thapa, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). “Every untreated mental health condition is a missed opportunity for inclusion and dignity. If we place solidarity, equity, and investment at the core of our response we can reverse current trends and ensure that NCDs and mental health conditions are no longer barriers to sustainable development, but drivers of shared progress for humanity.”

In recent years, progress in tackling NCDs and mental health challenges has slowed considerably, leading to the deepening of inequities around the world. In response, the UN announced three new targets: 150 million fewer global tobacco users, 150 million more people with access to mental health care, and 150 million more individuals with hypertension under control.

“To achieve these targets we must strengthen primary healthcare as the foundation of universal health coverage,” said Mohammed. “We must work across sectors and partners to address the social, economic, and environmental determinants and the market forces that shape how people live. We must elevate psychosocial care in crisis settings. We must place people living with NCDs at the center of our efforts. We must be accountable for our commitments.”

Several speakers highlighted systemic weaknesses in national health systems, particularly the misallocation of funding for response efforts. Many emphasized that a key priority for future NCD-response efforts should be greater investment in disease awareness and prevention rather than treatment. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever remarked that prevention places a far lighter burden on national budgets than treatment and delivers high returns on investment by reducing productivity losses and alleviating pressure on healthcare systems.

“We must remember that health does not start in clinics and hospitals. It starts in homes, schools, streets and workplaces,” said Director-General of WHO Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “In the food people eat, the products they consume, the water they drink, the air they breathe, and the conditions in which they work.”

Additionally, mental health services remain particularly underfunded, with global expenditure averaging just USD 2 per capita, falling to below 25 cents per capita in some developing countries. Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka informed the panel that mental health challenges affect nearly every Fijian family, with trauma, stress, and substance abuse particularly concentrated among youth, significantly hindering social development.

“Mental illness is one of the most persistent NCDs yet too often it remains invisible,” said Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua. “Its burden on health productivity and dignity is greater than any other chronic illness but stigma silences voices and delays urgent care. We are focused on transforming mental health from a whispered concern to national priority moving from outdated institutions and practices to modernized education and collaborative partnership…Our government alone cannot solve this issue so we are using an all of society approach as we engage families, community associations, churches and regional neighbors.”

Prime Minister of the Bahamas Philip Davis underscored the vulnerability of healthcare systems in low-lying coastal communities, noting that a single hurricane can wipe out years of economic growth in parts of the Bahamas, severely undermining the capacity of health systems to respond when they are needed most. Moreover, limited funding and support for gender-specific research often leave women and girls—who are disproportionately affected by NCDs and mental health challenges in developing countries—overlooked in response efforts.

Several speakers also underscored the importance of promoting healthy lifestyle habits as a key strategy for controlling NCDs and improving mental health. For example, President of Suriname Jennifer Geerlings-Simons urged for stricter limits on screen time and social media usage, warning of their damaging effects on mental health and social development, particularly for young girls.

Glenn Micallef, the European Commission’s Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture, and Sports, emphasized the role of arts and culture in preventing and managing NCDs, noting their links to social cohesion, reduced loneliness, and improved mental wellbeing among young people. He also highlighted the potential of emerging tools such as artificial intelligence and digital assistive technologies to expand access to the arts.

Furthermore, another key aspect of the high-level meeting was to promote physical activity as a course of action against NCDs and mental health challenges. According to the President of the International Olympic Committee and double Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry, eighty percent of adolescents and one-third of adults are not doing enough physical activity, which risks 500 million new cases of preventable diseases by 2030.

Physical activity is recognized as one of the most effective, low-cost, and high-impact forms of disease prevention and mental health management, saving millions of lives each year. “At a young age I was diagnosed with asthma and my parents did not want to put me on the number of drugs that was recommended,” recalled Coventry. “We went to another doctor who suggested swimming, and it worked. It taught me how to control my breathing, how to grow my lung capacity, and I never had to go on the level of dosage that was recommended when I was 2 years old.”

“This multiplier effect is being recognized,” added Coventry. “Development banks worldwide have pledged ten billion dollars by 2030 for sport and sustainable development projects. Their commitment reflects a growing recognition that investing in sport can generate ripple effects for health, education, inclusion, youth empowerment and so much more.”

During the meeting, member states deliberated over a political declaration on NCDs and mental health. The text calls encourages stakeholders to fast-track efforts to accelerate progress on NCDs and mental health and identified clear goals to achieve by 2030, including reducing the premature NCD mortality rate by one-third, 150 million fewer people using tobacco and 150 million more people with hypertension. This declaration is also among the first to clearly include mental health in its language.

Although there was strong consensus for the declaration from member states and regional alliances, it ultimately failed to receive a formal endorsement by the end of the meeting, with some member states voicing their objection, including a veto from the United States. The declaration will now be put to vote at the General Assembly.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Categories: Africa

UNICEF Climate Advocate Urges World Leaders To ‘Include Children’ in Climate Discussions

Fri, 26/09/2025 - 14:55

Zunaira, a UNICEF Youth Advocate, speaks at an event in UNICEF House at the sideline of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. Credit: Tadej Znidarcic/UNICEF

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 2025 (IPS)

The UN General Assembly High-Level Week (22-30 September) has been an opportunity for the world to convene on the most pressing issues of the day, from multilateralism, global financing, gender equality, non-communicable diseases, and AI governance.

Climate change is also a key issue this year as countries present their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ahead of COP30 in November. At this year’s Climate Summit, held on September 24, over 114 countries spoke at the General Assembly to present their NDCs before the UN Secretary-General and leaders from Brazil, the hosts of COP30.

While these climate action plans are an indication of their commitment to climate change, countries must go further demonstrate their commitment through action.

For some young people, like 15 year-old Zunaira, there is a disconnect between the statements made by leaders and the actions they actually take. Even in climate forums like COP29, “there [were] only policies made… only declarations made, but there [was] no real action.”

“In every country it’s like this, you know; they only speak empty words, and empty promises are made with us as young people and children,” she told IPS.

UNICEF‘s Children’s Climate Risk Index (CCRI) measures the climate risk to children, focusing on both their exposure to climate and environmental hazards and their underlying vulnerability. The index evaluates 56 variables across 163 countries to determine which nations place children at the highest risk from climate impacts. It estimates that about 1 billion children currently reside in these high-risk countries.

Zunaira believes that world governments and leaders need to include children’s voices and perspectives when planning effective climate policies. She observed that perhaps only three percent of the member states that attended COP29 actually included and listened to children’s voices in their policy discussions.

This is not a new demand either, as she remarked that other youth climate advocates have called for increased child engagement in previous conferences, but this was hardly reflected in negotiations.

Zunaira is in New York to participate in UNGA through UNICEF’s Youth Advocates Mobilization Lab, an initiative which recognizes the achievements of UNICEF’s youth advocates, providing child advocates the opportunity to network and share ideas and experiences.

UNICEF’S climate advocate, 15-year-old Zunaira, is with others during high-level discussions at UNGA80 in New York. Credit: UNICEF/Instagram

The 15 year-old climate advocate from the Balochistan province of Pakistan shared her research into the impacts of flooding on girls’ education, based on her experiences in 2022.

The 2022 Pakistan floods, which affected over 33 million people and killed 647 children, devastated communities that were not built to adapt to the extreme changes brought on by climate change. The link between extreme weather and climate change is apparent to Zunaira and other young people like her, even if some members in the community don’t recognize it right away and write it off as just a natural phenomenon.

Through a policy research programme hosted by UNICEF Pakistan, Zunaira investigated the impact of the floods on girls’ education when she was only 12 years old. She visited Sakran, one of the flood-prone areas in the state, where she interviewed people at a nearby village in the Hub district of Balochistan. Here she spoke to 15 secondary school-aged girls. She described how the devastation of the floods literally washed away the huts that used to be their schools.

According to UNICEF, her findings “highlighted that floods had exacerbated educational inequalities” and “[forced] girls into temporary shelters and disrupting their education.”

“The study also highlighted some promising interventions and called for better disaster preparedness in schools and flood-resistant infrastructure to safeguard girls’ education. The research underscored the urgent need for integrated strategies that combine climate resilience with gender equity.”

Zunaira remarked that with the devastation brought on by the floods, for many children there was no school to return to. She and many other students lost out on schooling because of the disruptions. In some cases, the next closest school would be up to 25 miles away from where some students lived, so there is seemingly little justification for sending them back to school.

There is also the need to invest in building up climate-resilient infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather conditions like flooding. Local communities need both the investments and resources to fulfill this, otherwise there may be little reason to build up a new school again only to see it get washed away again.The need for climate adaptation is something the international community must support, as seen with the Fund for for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).

Zunaira’s message to world leaders is that they must encourage and include children and youth in climate discussions. They also should not reduce the lived experiences to statistics and should be conscientious of the lives forever changed or lost because of a climate disaster.

“You should think of this… it is not just a statistic. It’s something that life has lost, and thousands of homes and thousands of people, you know, have been displaced and lost their lives. So this is something that the world leaders must know: that they are not only statistics; they are real lives.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

Excerpt:

UNICEF’S climate advocate, 15-year-old Zunaira, believes that children’s voices and concerns should be integrated into country’s NDCs. Children she says are not a statistic, they are ‘real people’ and need to be front and center of climate planning.

Categories: Africa

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