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<title>Gender Equality: The Key to Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/gender-equality-the-key-to-peace-prosperity-and-sustainability/</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 08:25:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>S. Mona Sinha</dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[On Monday, three decades on from the historic Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly meets to discuss recommitting to, resourcing, and accelerating the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action – an historic agreement which mapped the path to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. This is […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="115" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-opening-session_-300x115.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-opening-session_-300x115.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-opening-session_.jpg 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The opening session of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, 4 September 1995. UN Photo/Milton Grant. The UN marks 30 years since its members adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.By S. Mona Sinha NEW YORK, Sep 18 2025 (IPS) On Monday, three decades on from the historic Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly meets to discuss recommitting to, resourcing, and accelerating the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action – an historic agreement which mapped the path to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

This is a critical moment because, despite the considerable progress that’s been made, it is a sobering fact that not a single country has yet fully delivered against those aims. And with reactionary attitudes increasingly to the fore, many of these hard-won gains are, alarmingly, under threat of reversal.
Even where the heart is willing, the slow pace or absence of change is more often than not put down to budgetary or political barriers. Gender equality is important, just not important enough. We have other problems to fix. We’ll get back to it.
But this is incredibly short-sighted.
While achieving gender equality is first and foremost a matter of human rights, it is also one of the surest ways to help address those other problems, leading to more prosperous economies, more resilient communities, and more sustainable, peaceful societies.
This is not just a matter of opinion. The evidence is clear. 
Closing gender gaps in education, employment and pay would unleash an unprecedented wave of productivity. In 2015, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimated that equal participation of women in the workforce could add up to $12 trillion to global GDP within 10 years. 
That’s more than the economies of Japan, Germany and the UK combined and would have already been achieved if we had acted on it in 2015.
The logic is simple: excluding half of the population from opportunities to explore and achieve their full potential is an extraordinary waste. When women are able to contribute equally, innovation flourishes, productivity rises and household incomes grow. Far from being a drag on resources, equality is a growth multiplier.
Moreover, women’s earnings are more likely to be invested in children’s health, nutrition, and education, breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty. And in agriculture, where women make up nearly half the global workforce, the FAO estimates equal access to resources could boost crop yields by up to 30% and reduce the number of hungry people by more than 100 million.
Perhaps for these reasons, research has shown that the treatment of women is one of the strongest predictors of whether a country is peaceful. Where women’s rights are respected, societies are more stable, less prone to conflict, and more open to cooperation.
Women’s participation in peace processes matters too. Agreements brokered with women at the table are more durable, more inclusive, and more likely to succeed. We have the proof of that as well.
And then there’s the environment. Women and girls, especially in developing countries, are disproportionately affected by climate change. But it’s also true that when included in decision-making, they bring difference-making knowledge and perspectives to the table.
Indeed, a 2019 study in Global Environmental Change showed that countries with more women in parliament adopt more ambitious climate policies and have lower carbon emissions. 
Meanwhile, women-led community programmes in forestry and water management have consistently delivered stronger conservation outcomes. In other words, tackling the climate crisis is not only about technology and finance – it’s also about representation.
Taken together, it’s clear that equality drives prosperity, resilience, peace and sustainability. To deny women equal rights and opportunities is not simply unjust, it’s an act of societal self-sabotage.
At Equality Now, we lead the way in driving the legal and systemic change needed to realise this vision of a just and better world. Since our inception in 1992 we have worked with governments, legal bodies, civil society and other partners to help reform 130 discriminatory laws, improving the lives of millions of women and girls, their communities and nations, both now and for generations to come. 
We were in Beijing in 1995, and we’ll be in New York this week – where to all in attendance our message is clear: 
The world cannot afford to wait. Everyone needs equality now. 
 S. Mona Sinha is Global Executive Director, Equality Now
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>A Meeting of Over 150 World Leaders Under One Roof—& the Day UN Came Under a Terror Attack</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/a-meeting-of-over-150-world-leaders-under-one-roof-the-day-un-came-under-a-terror-attack/</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 08:08:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Thalif Deen</dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[When the high-level meeting of the General Assembly takes place, September 22-30—with over 150 world political leaders in town–the UN will be in a locked down mode with extra tight security. With a rash of threats and political killings in the US—including an attempted assassination of Donald Trump when he was campaigning for the US […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="252" height="300" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/no-drone_-252x300.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/no-drone_-252x300.jpg 252w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/no-drone_-397x472.jpg 397w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/no-drone_.jpg 444w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 252px) 100vw, 252px" />By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Sep 18 2025 (IPS) When the high-level meeting of the General Assembly takes place, September 22-30—with over 150 world political leaders in town–the UN will be in a locked down mode with extra tight security.
With a rash of threats and political killings in the US—including an attempted assassination of Donald Trump when he was campaigning for the US presidency in July 2024– the list continues. 

Against the backdrop of the killing of a conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, plus the fire-bombing in early 2025, of the residence of Governor Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, and the killings of Minnesota state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband– the UN is predictably taking extra precautionary measures.
 Asked at a press conference September 15 about security in the wake of recent events in the United States, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters: “The security within the UN complex during the General Assembly sessions is as tight, as it can be”. 
“We are obviously in close contact with the host country authorities, the US Secret Service, the State Department, and, of course, the NYPD (New York Police Department). They will take the measures they need to take outside”. 
Traditionally, diplomats and delegates, do not undergo security checks or walk through metal detectors inside the UN building. 
Asked whether there will be new restrictions this year, Dujarric said: “I don’t know”.
The limits on the movements of accredited journalists during the high-level meetings were spelled out September 17 by the UN’s Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU). The link follows: 
<a href="https://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/unga.shtml" target="_blank">https://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/unga.shtml</a>
Accredited media representatives, including official photographers and videographers, must be escorted by Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit staff at all times in the restricted areas, including the Conference Building and General Assembly Building.
Media pass holders are NOT permitted on the second floor of the Conference Building or General Assembly Building.
But going down memory lane, there were several lapses in security in a bygone era, resulting in a bazooka terrorist attack against the Secretariat building back in 1964—and the only such attack in the history of the UN. 
But last year, the UN security, conscious on the high-tech weapons now deployed in military conflicts, had a sign outside the building declaring the UN a “NO DRONE ZONE.”
<div id="attachment_192284" style="width: 634px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192284" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Ernesto-Che-Guevara_34.jpg" alt="" width="624" height="427" class="size-full wp-image-192284" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Ernesto-Che-Guevara_34.jpg 624w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Ernesto-Che-Guevara_34-300x205.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" />Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Minister of Industries of Cuba, addresses the General Assembly on Dec. 11, 1964. Credit: UN Photo/TC</div>
The streets next week – as in previous years — will be littered with scores of police officers, US Secret Service personnel, UN security officers, the New York Police Department (NYPD), bomb-sniffing dogs, road closures — and a stand-by ambulance in the UN campus ready to cope with any medical emergencies.
In previous years, the Secret Service also had an official chaplain ready to perform last rites in case of any political assassinations in the UN premises.
Meanwhile, hundreds of UN staffers and journalists are double and triple-checked for their photo IDs, reminiscent of security at the Pentagon and the CIA headquarters (where a visitor ID is geared to automatically change colour, if you overstay your visit).
Still, back in 1964, perhaps with relatively less security, the UN building came under a terrorist attack — perhaps for the first time in the history of the world body — from a mis-guided rocket launcher.
When the politically-charismatic Ernesto Che Guevara, once second-in-command to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, was at the United Nations to address the General Assembly sessions in 1964, the U.N. headquarters came under fire – literally.
The speech by the Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary was momentarily drowned by the sound of an explosion.
The anti-Castro forces in the United States, backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), had mounted an insidious campaign to stop Che Guevara from speaking.
A 3.5-inch bazooka was fired at the 39-storeyed Secretariat building by the East River while a boisterous anti-Castro, anti-Che Guevara demonstration was taking place outside the UN building.
According to Wikipedia, the bazooka is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher, widely deployed by the US army, especially during World War II.
But the rocket launcher – which was apparently not as sophisticated as today’s shoulder-fired missiles and rocket-propelled grenades – missed its target, rattled windows, and fell into the river about 200 yards from the building.
One newspaper report described the attack as “one of the wildest episodes since the United Nations moved into its East River headquarters in 1952.”
As longtime U.N. staffers would recall, the failed bombing of the U.N. building took place when Che Guevara launched a blistering attack on U.S. foreign policy and denounced a proposed de-nuclearization pact for the Western hemisphere.
After his Assembly speech, Che Guevara was asked about the attack aimed at him. “The explosion has given the whole thing more flavor,” he joked, as he chomped on his Cuban cigar, during a press conference.
When he was told by a reporter that the New York City police had nabbed a woman, described as an anti-Castro Cuban exile, who had pulled out a hunting knife and jumped over the UN wall, intending to kill him, Che Guevara said: “It is better to be killed by a woman with a knife than by a man with a gun.”
A security officer once recalled an incident where the prime minister from an African country, addressing the General Assembly, was heckled by a group of African students. 
As is usual with hecklers, the boisterous group was taken off the visitor’s gallery, grilled, photographer and banned from entering the UN premises. 
But about five years later, one of the hecklers returned to the UN —this time, as foreign minister of his country, and addressed the world body.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister ACS Hameed had one of his memorable moments when Krishna Vaikunthavasan, a London-based lawyer, campaigning for a separate Tamil state, surreptitiously gate-crashed into the UN and tried to upstage Hameed by walking onto the podium of the General Assembly hall and momentarily took the speaker’s slot—at a time when security was lax.
The incident, perhaps a rarity in the history of the UN, saw the intruder unleashing a diatribe against a member state accusing it of genocide and lambasting the government for committing war crimes against the Tamils fighting for a separate state in northern Sri Lanka.
When the president of the Assembly realized he had an interloper on his hands, he cut off the mike and summoned security guards who bodily ejected him from the hall and banned him from the UN premises. And as Hameed walked up to the podium, there was pin drop silence in the Assembly Hall.
As a member of the Sri Lanka delegation at that time, I was seated behind Hameed. But the unflappable Hameed, unprompted by any of his delegates, produced a riveting punchline: “Mr President”, he said “I want to thank the previous speaker for keeping his speech short,” he said, as the Assembly, known to suffer longwinded speeches, broke into peals of laughter. 
The intruder was in effect upstaged by the Foreign Minister.
This article includes excerpts from a book on the United Nations titled “No Comment – and Don’t Quote Me on That” authored by Thalif Deen and available on Amazon. The link to Amazon via the author’s website follows: <a href="https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/" target="_blank">https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/</a> 
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>Nepal’s Gen Z protest: How Fake News Tried to Rewrite a Revolution</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/nepals-gen-z-protest-how-fake-news-tried-to-rewrite-a-revolution/</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:57:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Diwash Gahatraj and Chandrani Sinha</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Driven by various actors and amplified by sections of Indian and international media, the Nepal protest stories dominated headlines, prime-time debates, and viral reels on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms—framing the movement as a “Gen Z protest” over a social media ban.
In reality, Nepal’s youth were rallying against something far deeper: decades of entrenched corruption and a demand for genuine accountability from those in power.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="216" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/nepal-protest-graphic-300x216.png" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Banner headlines and flawed interpretations of Nepal's protests have characterized media coverage. Graphic: IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/nepal-protest-graphic-300x216.png 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/nepal-protest-graphic.png 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Banner headlines and flawed interpretations of Nepal's protests have characterized media coverage. Graphic: IPSBy Diwash Gahatraj and Chandrani Sinha KATHMANDU & NEW DELHI, Sep 18 2025 (IPS) Claims that Ravi Laxmi Chitrakar, wife of former Nepali Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal, was burned alive in her home—fake. The reports of an angry mob destroying and vandalizing the Pashupatinath Temple—fake. Allegations that protesters were demanding a Hindu nation in Nepal—fake. As Kathmandu and other Nepali cities erupted in unrest last week, the fire of fake news spread just as fiercely across Nepal and into neighboring India and the rest of the world.
These sensational claims, widely circulated during <a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/nepal-faces-political-crisis-after-deadly-gen-z-protests/">Nepal’s recent unrest</a>, proved to be misinformation. Driven by various actors and amplified by sections of Indian and international media, the stories dominated headlines, prime-time debates, and viral reels on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms—framing the movement as a “Gen Z protest” over a social media ban. 
In reality, Nepal’s youth were rallying against something far deeper: decades of entrenched corruption and a demand for genuine accountability from those in power.
On a sunny September morning, Nepal’s Generation Z poured into the streets of Kathmandu in what would become the country’s most significant youth uprising in decades. What began as peaceful demonstrations demanding jobs, government accountability, and digital freedoms soon swelled into a nationwide revolt that ultimately toppled Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli. The protests turned deadly on September 8, 2025, when police opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least 19 people on the first day alone, with hundreds more injured. The unrest spread rapidly from Kathmandu to major cities, including Pokhara, Biratnagar, Butwal, Bhairahawa, and Bharatpur, as young Nepalis rallied against corruption and a sweeping social media ban.
The crisis reached its peak when protesters stormed and set fire to the parliament building, forcing Oli’s resignation and prompting the military to take control of the streets. The political upheaval culminated in the appointment of Nepal’s first female prime minister, former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, as interim leader.
As the dust settles on one of South Asia’s most dramatic youth-led revolutions, the full extent of the casualties and destruction across Nepal continues to emerge, with the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/death-toll-nepals-anti-corruption-protests-raised-72-2025-09-14/">latest reports</a> indicating at least 72 deaths and at least 2,113 injured nationwide.
<div id="attachment_192280" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192280" class="size-full wp-image-192280" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Flames-engulf-the-Nepal-Supreme-Court-building-in-Kathmandu.-Photo-by-Barsha-Shah.jpg" alt="Flames engulf the Nepal Supreme Court building in Kathmandu. Credit: Barsha Shah/IPS" width="630" height="460" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Flames-engulf-the-Nepal-Supreme-Court-building-in-Kathmandu.-Photo-by-Barsha-Shah.jpg 630w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Flames-engulf-the-Nepal-Supreme-Court-building-in-Kathmandu.-Photo-by-Barsha-Shah-300x219.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />Flames engulf the Nepal Supreme Court building in Kathmandu. Credit: Barsha Shah/IPS</div>
Chaos of Misinformation
Amid the swirl of rumors and misinformation during the protests, one story that shocked the people was that of Ravi Laxmi Chitrakar, wife of former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal. News started circulating that she was burnt to death inside her house. The false report spread fast, picked up by big YouTubers like Dhruv Rathee and even reported by the Indian daily <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/nepal-violence-ex-pm-khanals-wife-dies-after-house-torched-president-urges-calm-dialogue/articleshow/123791004.cms">Times of India</a>, amplifying the claim to millions. “In reality, she had suffered serious burn injuries during an attack and was taken to Kirtipur Burn Hospital in critical condition—but she is alive,” said Rohit Dahal, a Gen Z member and close observer of the movement.
Later, Indian fact-checking outlet Alt News published a <a href="https://www.altnews.in/media-misreport-nepal-gen-z-protest-former-pm-jhalanath-khanal-wife-rajlaxmi-dies-in-the-fire/">story</a> debunking the misinformation.
Initially, many media outlets reshaped the protest’s narrative, reducing it to a youth backlash against the social media ban. Kathmandu-based freelance journalist, researcher and fact-checker Deepak Adhikari says the movement started with young people sharing videos contrasting the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children, also called ‘Nepo Kids,’ with the daily struggles of ordinary citizens but soon became a major flashpoint for misinformation.
“The most common falsehoods were claims of attacks on politicians and their properties and rumors that leaders were fleeing the country. While some of this misleading content originated on Nepali social media, Indian television channels and users amplified it, turning it into a much bigger problem,” says Adhikari, who heads Nepal Check, a fact-checking platform dedicated to exposing misinformation and protecting public discourse.
Adhikari adds that unfounded claims about sacred sites also went viral. On September 9, a Facebook page called Corporate Bazaar posted a video claiming protesters had reached Pashupatinath Temple and attempted vandalism. The clip showed people climbing the temple gate—but a <a href="https://nepalfactcheck.org/2025/09/pashupatinath-viral-video/">fact-check </a>later revealed it was originally uploaded nearly two months earlier by a TikTok user during the Vatsaleshwori Jatra festival. YouTubers also amplified such rumors, Adhikari shares. For instance, a U.S.-based Nepali creator, Tanka Dahal, claimed police had detained 32 children inside Nepal’s parliament, fueling even more dramatic—and false—claims that the children had been killed there.
Indian Inputs
As Nepal’s youth fought for their future, Indian broadcasters and social media influencers reframed the movement. Dainik Jagaran, a popular news outlet, ran a <a href="https://www.jagran.com/news/national-nepal-crisis-army-takes-control-sushila-karki-proposed-as-interim-pm-24042755.html">front-page story</a> claiming the Gen Z protests were demanding a Hindu Rashtra. This became a clear example of how misinformation can hijack a movement. While Nepal has seen <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/09/asia/nepal-monarchy-protests-hnl-intl/index.html">pro-monarchy demonstrations</a> in the past, calling for the reversal of the country’s secular status, the current protests did not include such demands. Instead, the Gen Z movement focused on highlighting the country’s stark wealth gap, rampant nepotism, and a migration crisis that forces nearly one in 10 Nepalis to work abroad. Politicians’ children flaunt luxury while most citizens struggle to make ends meet.
Asked how Indian media and social media users amplified false narratives about Nepal’s protests, BOOM Live deputy editor Karen Rebelo explained that large-scale anti-government movements often attract misinformation, especially when they draw attention beyond national borders.
“Misinformation thrives on uncertainty. In the vacuum created by incomplete reporting, people either invent stories or recycle old information to go viral,” she said.
Rebelo noted that social media determines who controls the narrative—authorities, protesters, or other actors. In Nepal’s case, many Indian outlets misreported the protests as solely a reaction to the social media ban. In reality, Gen Z demonstrators were protesting systemic corruption, nepotism, and inequality, with the ban only highlighting deeper frustrations.
Rebelo also pointed out how some right-wing outlets framed the protests as efforts to restore the monarchy or establish a Hindu nation—narratives that misrepresented the genuine concerns of Nepali youth. “These stories were amplified online and distorted what was actually happening on the ground,” she said.
Similarly, one of the crucial groups part of the Gen Z protest is Hami Nepal, a non-profit dedicated to supporting communities and individuals in need. According to the Nepal Times, “The group played a central role in guiding the demonstrations, using its Instagram and Discord platforms to circulate protest information and share guidelines.
Interestingly, the group’s leader, Sudan Gurung, became another victim of misinformation. As Nepal’s Gen Z protests gained momentum, misinformation quickly complicated the story. Upendra Mani Pradhan, a journalist and political analyst based in Darjeeling and editor-at-large at The Darjeeling Chronicle, pointed to this case.
“A major gaffe that almost painted the Gen Z revolution as ‘India-sponsored was the case of Sudan Gurung,” Pradhan said. He explained that Indian news channels—News18 and Zee News—published photos of Sudhan Gurung from Darjeeling, claiming he was a key architect of the Gen Z movement and leader of the Hami Nepal group. “The problem was both outlets, perhaps in their rush to report, failed to do their due diligence. They typed ‘Sudhan Gurung activist’ and not ‘Sudan Gurung, Nepal’ and used the first image they found online,” Pradhan said.
Coincidentally, Sudhan Gurung from Darjeeling is also an anti-corruption activist. He was assaulted a month earlier, allegedly by political goons in the Darjeeling hills of India, for exposing the Teachers’ Recruitment scam in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.
Newspaper The Telegraph, published from Kolkata, <a href="http://telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/sudhan-vs-sudan-row-amid-gen-z-unrest-confusion-brings-in-uninvited-commotions-prnt/cid/2123066">wrote about this confusion</a> and the backlash faced by the Nepali Sudan, with many questioning his credibility.
Tensions over media coverage of the protests spilled into a visible backlash against Indian journalists. On September 11, an Indian reporter was reportedly manhandled by protesters chanting anti-India slogans.
“It is very unfortunate that the journalist had to face this,” says Rebelo. “But this backlash did not come out of nowhere. Reckless reporting and misinformation by some Indian media outlets created the anger. We could have covered the story with much more care and responsibility.”
Rebelo highlighted a deeper issue, saying the incident reflects how little many in India understand their neighboring countries. “This lack of nuance makes misinformation even more damaging,” she added, noting that sensational reporting often worsens the situation.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<li><a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/nepals-gen-z-protest-how-fake-news-tried-to-rewrite-a-revolution/" >Nepal’s Gen Z protest: How Fake News Tried to Rewrite a Revolution</a></li>
</ul></div> Excerpt: Driven by various actors and amplified by sections of Indian and international media, the Nepal protest stories dominated headlines, prime-time debates, and viral reels on Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms—framing the movement as a “Gen Z protest” over a social media ban.
In reality, Nepal’s youth were rallying against something far deeper: decades of entrenched corruption and a demand for genuine accountability from those in power.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Loss and Damage at COP30: Indigenous Leaders Challenge Top-Down Finance Models</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/loss-and-damage-at-cop30-indigenous-leaders-challenge-top-down-finance-models/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 15:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[<img src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/COP30-poster-100.jpg" alt="" width="100" height="71" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-181966" /> Indigenous activists continue to fight for a seat at the table in solving climate change, asking for self-determination and financial agency. ]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Final-negotiations-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Activists demand loss and damage reparations outside the hall where the COP29 negotiators were concluding their negotiations. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Final-negotiations-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Final-negotiations-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Final-negotiations-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-629x420.jpg 629w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Final-negotiations-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth.jpg 799w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Activists demand loss and damage reparations outside the hall where the COP29 negotiators were concluding their negotiations. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kiara WorthBy Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 2025 (IPS) As climate-induced disasters continue to devastate the Global South, nations are steadily mounting pressure at the United Nations for wealthier countries to deliver on long-promised climate reparations through the Loss and Damage Fund. For Indigenous peoples, whose territories are often the most ecologically intact yet most damaged by climate change, these negotiations define survival, sovereignty and recognition as rights-holders in global climate governance.
After the fund’s operationalization at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Baku last fall, developing countries say that the pledges so far—approximately USD 741 million—fall drastically short of the trillions needed to recover from climate devastation.
This low number is acutely felt in Indigenous communities, whose local economies rely on thriving ecosystems.
“A lot of rich biodiversity, carbon sinks and the most preserved parts of the world are within indigenous territories,” said Paul Belisario, Global Coordinator for the Secretariat of the <a href="https://www.ipmsdl.org/">International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)</a>, in an interview with IPS. “Without recognizing Indigenous people’s right to take care of it, to govern it and to live in it so that their traditional knowledge will flourish, we cannot fully address the climate crisis.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed this sentiment in Baku, <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2024/sgsm22448.doc.htm#:~:text=The%20creation%20of%20the%20loss,In%20the%20name%20of%20justice.&text=For%20information%20media.,Not%20an%20official%20record.">saying</a>, “The creation of the Loss and Damage Fund is a victory for developing countries, for multilateralism and for justice. But its initial capitalization of USD 700 million doesn’t come close to righting the wrong inflicted on the vulnerable.”
These “wrongs,” Indigenous leaders argue, must include the exclusion of traditional and tribal knowledge in decision-making. In light of pushback to make climate action a legal responsibility rather than a political agreement, many are hopeful that COP30 will yield a more successful negotiation for adequate compensation.
The call for action is led by coalition blocs including the <a href="https://www.aosis.org/">Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)</a> and G77, an alliance of developing countries with China as its primary political and financial supporter. Both alliances represent the countries most vulnerable to climate-related natural disasters. <a href="https://www.g77.org/">G77</a> was particularly vocal during COP29, where their rejection of the deal was <a href="https://climatenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/G77_China-FINAL-with-sigs-1am.pdf">backed</a> by a number of climate and civil society organizations who criticized the negotiating text for giving developed countries too much leeway to shirk their climate finance obligations.
For Indigenous groups, this criticism stems from concerns that funding will not successfully reach their communities due to bureaucracy or geographical and political isolation.
<div id="attachment_192275" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192275" class="wp-image-192275" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/SG-and-COP-president.png" alt="Secretary-General António Guterres meets with André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, President-designate of COP 30, the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Belém, Brazil. Credit: UN Photo" width="630" height="415" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/SG-and-COP-president.png 744w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/SG-and-COP-president-300x198.png 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/SG-and-COP-president-629x414.png 629w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />Secretary-General António Guterres meets with André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, President-designate of COP 30, the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Belém, Brazil. Credit: UN Photo</div>
Janene Yazzie, director of policy and advocacy at the <a href="https://ndncollective.org/">NDN Collective</a>, spoke about the importance of Indigenous involvement in funding distributions, <a href="https://thetenurefacility.org/article/loss-and-damage-fund-not-enough-and-where-is-it-going/">saying</a>, “What we’re advocating for is to ensure that these mechanisms… are accessible to Indigenous Peoples, uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and can be utilized towards solutions and responses that are designed and prioritized by Indigenous Peoples.”
Last year, countries eventually <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/cop29-un-climate-conference-agrees-to-triple-finance-to-developing-countries-protecting-lives-and">settled</a> on mobilizing USD 300 billion annually by 2035 to developing countries for climate finance—far below the USD 1 trillion experts say is the <a href="https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/cop-climate-change-conference/">minimum</a> for effective mitigation and adaptation. The financial commitment is voluntary, meaning that countries can withdraw without consequence and no protections exist to ensure the money is distributed with regard for Indigenous governance systems.
The <a href="https://www.fscindigenousfoundation.org/">Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Indigenous Foundation</a> noted that groups without formal land titles could be excluded entirely, despite their role in stewarding biodiverse landscapes.
However, a recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) report has created new legal pathways. The court <a href="https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/187/187-20250723-sum-01-00-en.pdf">placed</a> stringent obligations on states to prevent significant climate harm and tackle climate change, stating that failure to do so triggers legal responsibility. Scientific evidence can link emissions to specific countries, allowing those affected by climate change to seek legal action, which could include getting money back, restoring land, improving infrastructure, or receiving compensation for financial losses.
<div id="attachment_192276" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192276" class="wp-image-192276" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/indigenous-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth.jpg" alt="Indigenous activists at COP29. Credit: UN Climate Change/ Kiara Worth" width="630" height="420" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/indigenous-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth.jpg 799w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/indigenous-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/indigenous-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/indigenous-Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Kiara-Worth-629x420.jpg 629w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />Indigenous activists at COP29. Credit: UN Climate Change/Kiara Worth</div>
This legal opinion opens new pathways for seeking restitution—not only in money but also in land recovery, infrastructure for adaptation, and guarantees of political participation.
This legal shift comes at a crucial time. In April 2025, thousands of Indigenous Brazilians marched in the capital ahead of COP30 in Belém, demanding land rights and decision-making influence. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.opiac.org.co/">National Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC)</a> also <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NVpERqDqnrlrAxtwYHyKBMSNy8WEkR26/view">issued</a> a statement about the summit for Deforestation of the Amazon. They outline an action plan to end deforestation, strengthen land rights and phase out oil and gas exploration.
After indigenous groups were denied a co-presidency for COP30, Conference President André Corrêa do Lago <a href="https://cop30.br/en/brazilian-presidency/letters-from-the-presidency/letter-from-the-brazilian-presidency">pledged</a> to establish a “Circle of Indigenous Leadership” within the conference. Many leaders found the arrangement insufficient—the FSC Indigenous Foundation called instead for “co-governance models where Indigenous Peoples are not just consulted but are leading and shaping climate action.”
<div id="attachment_192277" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192277" class="wp-image-192277" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Around-The-Venue-2Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Lara-Murillo.jpg" alt="Indigenous people make their message clear during COP29. Credit: Photo- UN Climate Change/Lara Murillo" width="630" height="421" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Around-The-Venue-2Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Lara-Murillo.jpg 530w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Around-The-Venue-2Photo-UN-Climate-Change-Lara-Murillo-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />Indigenous people make their message clear during COP29. Credit: UN Climate Change/Lara Murillo</div>
Other groups were more explicitly critical. The <a href="https://csd-i.org/climate-change/indigenous-climate-action-plan/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22537238542&gbraid=0AAAAADt1TeEm6oZ0Uge-0SfFj42l01mhj&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuKnGBhD5ARIsAD19RsaRwh2KsmHIt3Q8G9DjVdxnDY7kYeI4inchF_juUEEPHT7ED7R1QSYaAi3oEALw_wcB">Indigenous Climate Action</a> co-authored a statement at the end of COP29 <a href="https://www.indigenousclimateaction.com/entries/iipfcc-cop29-closing-statement">saying</a>, “There is nothing to celebrate here today… While we urgently need direct and equitable access to climate finance for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage across all seven socio-cultural regions… we reject the financial colonization that comes from loans and any other financial mechanisms that perpetuate indebtedness of nations that have contributed the least to climate change yet bear the brunt of its tragedies.”
Belisario frames the funding question as a matter of justice rather than charity.
“This funding is not just corporate social responsibility or compensation,” he told IPS. “This is historical justice.”
However, without Indigenous influence in the distribution of money from the Loss and Damage Fund, it remains unclear how effective this aid will be in combating climate change based on Indigenous knowledge and science. Many activists advocate for more localized approaches to climate action.
Belisario acknowledges the limitations of international negotiations.
“It’s been a running joke that we will negotiate until COP100, and we might not have that long. What we would really like to get out of COP30 is to meet many communities to discuss the common problems and make them realize that this COP is just a part of how we would like to solve our climate crisis,” he said. “We really believe that more radical ways to enact accountability and responsibility will start with movements in people’s own countries, in their own localities.”
As the FSC Indigenous Foundation concluded, “Indigenous Peoples must lead the design, management, and oversight of financial mechanisms that affect their lands, lives, and futures. Climate justice will only be possible when Indigenous Peoples are recognized as rights-holders and partners in decision-making.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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</ul></div> Excerpt: <img src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/COP30-poster-100.jpg" alt="" width="100" height="71" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-181966" /> Indigenous activists continue to fight for a seat at the table in solving climate change, asking for self-determination and financial agency. ]]></content:encoded>
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<title>UN Independent Commission Finds That Israeli Forces Have Committed Genocide in Gaza</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/un-independent-commission-finds-that-israeli-forces-have-committed-genocide-in-gaza/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:03:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Oritro Karim</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[On September 16, the Israeli military began its ground offensive in Gaza City, accompanied by intensified bombardment of residential areas and a surge in civilian displacement. Concurrently, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued a report in which it found that Israel is […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Gazan-children-standing_-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Gazan-children-standing_-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Gazan-children-standing_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Gazan children standing in the rubble of their demolished home in Rafah. Credit: UNICEF/Eyad El BabaBy Oritro Karim UNITED NATIONS, Sep 17 2025 (IPS) On September 16, the Israeli military began its ground offensive in Gaza City, accompanied by intensified bombardment of residential areas and a surge in civilian displacement. Concurrently, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> in which it found that Israel is responsible for committing genocide in Gaza, citing deliberate efforts to destroy Palestinian life, carried out with near-total impunity.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission. “The Commission also finds that Israel has failed to prevent and punish the commission of genocide through failure to investigate genocidal acts and to prosecute alleged perpetrators.”
The Commission found that Israeli forces have repeatedly disregarded orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as well as warnings from UN Member States, human rights groups and civil society organizations. Israeli officials have dismissed the Commission’s findings, accusing it of bias and refusing to cooperate with its investigations.
In response to the Commission, Israeli President Isaac Herzog <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-inquiry-finds-top-israeli-officials-incited-genocide-gaza-2025-09-16/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> journalists, “While Israel defends its people and seeks the return of hostages, this morally bankrupt Commission obsesses over blaming the Jewish state, whitewashing Hamas’s atrocities, and turning victims of one of the worst massacres of modern times into the accused.”
The Commission described its report as the “strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date”, while noting that it operates independently from the UN and does not speak on its behalf. Currently, the UN does not categorize Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, but has been under increasing pressure from its agencies to do so. Back in August, over 500 staff from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) urged UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk to explicitly recognize the situation as a genocide. “OHCHR has a strong legal and moral responsibility to denounce acts of genocide,” said the letter signed by the UNHCR Staff Committee in Geneva. “Failing to denounce an unfolding genocide undermines the credibility of the U.N. and the human rights system itself.”
Humanitarian experts project that ongoing bombardments will result in an immense loss of human life and eliminate the remaining prospects of survival for those still in the enclave. The UN Human Rights Council (HCR) noted that controlled detonations in Gaza City have leveled entire neighborhoods and are in the process of wiping out “the last viable element of civilian infrastructure’ essential for survival.
The Commission reports that since October 7, 2023, Israel has repeatedly bombarded densely populated residential areas, often relying on explosive weapons with wide-area impacts. One spokesperson for the Israeli security forces told the Commission that they were “focused on what causes maximum damage”. The Commission has documented numerous instances of Israeli forces targeting high-rise buildings and residential apartment blocks, leading to the destruction of entire neighborhoods and the deaths of almost all civilians involved.
Additionally, the Commission observed that the number of bombs used by Israel in the past two years is unprecedented in comparison to other world conflicts, noting that Israel drops in less than a week the number of bombs the United States used in Afghanistan over an entire year —concentrated in a much smaller and more densely populated area.
Airstrikes and shellings on critical civilian infrastructures have disrupted nearly all aspects of life for Palestinians in Gaza. According to the report, damage to agricultural lands across the entire enclave poses significant long-term risks to food production and accelerated food insecurity, leading to famine.
As of February 2025, 403 school buildings in Gaza have been damaged by Israeli bombardment, including eighty-five that have been completely destroyed and seventy-three left only partly functional. The Commission warns that the strikes have effectively collapsed Gaza’s education system, disrupting schooling for over 658,000 children. Without urgent intervention, thousands are expected to suffer long-term psychological harm and stunted cognitive development due to the loss of education and psychosocial support services.
Furthermore, the widespread destruction of hospitals and the immense number of traumatic injuries from Israeli attacks have overwhelmed hospitals and healthcare centers across Gaza, leading to the collapse of the healthcare system. The siege has led to severe shortages in fuel and electricity, while also causing the looting and damaging of life-saving medical supplies and medications. As a result, patients with chronic illnesses and infections from diseases have been deprioritized, leading to a sharp increase in the number of preventable deaths and complications. Medical experts told the Commission that the targeting of healthcare facilities has severely restricted access to care for thousands of Palestinians, with children being among the most affected.
According to the report, between October 2023 and July 2025, approximately 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed as a direct result of Israeli military operations. The Commission reports that Palestinians in Gaza were also attacked in their homes, in hospitals, as well as shelters, such as schools and religious sites. Israeli forces also repeatedly targeted journalists, healthcare personnel, humanitarian workers, and other protected individuals, sometimes even during ceasefire periods and without warning.
The report also documents Israeli forces targeting Palestinians in evacuation routes and designated safe zones, finding that women and children were most often directly targeted and killed, often while alone and in areas not experiencing active hostilities. In every case reviewed, the Commission found that Israeli forces were aware of civilians’ presence but opened fire regardless. Many of the victims were children carrying makeshift white flags , including toddlers who were reportedly shot in the head by snipers.
Furthermore, the report underscores that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was largely ineffective in providing direct relief to struggling Palestinians and has been linked to a surge in civilian deaths. As of July 31, at least 1,373 Palestinians had been killed while trying to access food, with 859 killed near GHF sites and 514 along convoy routes—with most fatalities attributed to the Israeli military.
Furthermore, Israeli forces have effectively hindered humanitarian operations through routine bombardments and shellings. From October 2023 to July 2025, the Commission recorded at least 48 staff and volunteers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) that were killed. Additionally, medical personnel also informed the Commission that Israeli forces deliberately shelled ambulances, with many workers stating that they believed that they had been intentionally targeted.
The Commission also found that Israel weaponised the withholding of life-sustaining necessities, such as food, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid, leading to a sharp increase in preventable civilian deaths. According to the report, families in Gaza have less than one liter of water per person per day for drinking, cooking, and hygiene, which is far below international minimum standards for daily water consumption.
Moreover, water shortages have led to a deterioration of the sanitation system, which is particularly pronounced in displacement camps, where nearly 400,000 kilograms of waste piles up each day. This has led to the rampant spread of infectious diseases such as Hepatitis A.
Additionally, more than ninety percent of the population in Gaza has faced acute food insecurity since October 2023, with the most severe cases being concentrated in northern Gaza. According to figures from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), as of July 2025, food consumption has fallen far below the famine threshold in most areas of the enclave and malnutrition has reached the famine threshold in Gaza City.
The report found that Israeli forces were responsible for deliberately starving and depriving civilians in Gaza of resources that are paramount for human survival, with PRCS stating that Gaza is “unable to sustain life in its current state as civilians find their basic needs unmet”.
The Commission warns that the near-total impunity that Israeli forces and officials have emboldened the continuation of atrocities in Gaza, with global pressure mounting from the international community which urgently calls for an immediate de-escalation of hostilities, unimpeded humanitarian access, and credible mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable.
“The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity,” said Pillay. “Every day of inaction costs lives and erodes the credibility of the international community. All States are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza,” she added.
Following the report’s release, the leaders of twenty aid agencies working in Gaza, including Oxfam International, CARE and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), issued a joint statement also urging member states to take action to “prevent the evisceration of life in the Gaza Strip”.
“All parties must disavow violence against civilians, adhere to international humanitarian law and pursue peace. States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action,” the statement reads.
“The UN enshrined international law as the cornerstone of global peace and security. If Member States continue to treat these legal obligations as optional, they are not only complicit but are setting a dangerous precedent for the future. History will undoubtedly judge this moment as a test of humanity. And we are failing. Failing the people of Gaza, failing the hostages, and failing our own collective moral imperative.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>‘The Authoritarian Regime Uses Collective Punishment to Discourage Any Challenge to Its Authority’</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:12:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>CIVICUS</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[  CIVICUS discusses the deaths of Indigenous activists in custody in Tajikistan with Khursand Khurramov, an independent journalist and political analyst. Five Indigenous Pamiri activists have died in Tajikistan’s prisons in 2025, reportedly after being denied adequate medical assistance. Since 2021, around 40 Pamiris have been killed and over 200 activists arbitrarily detained. Civil society […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[By CIVICUS Sep 17 2025 (IPS)   
CIVICUS discusses the deaths of Indigenous activists in custody in Tajikistan with Khursand Khurramov, an independent journalist and political analyst. 

<div id="attachment_192265" style="width: 276px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192265" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Khursand-Khurramov.jpg" alt="" width="266" height="266" class="size-full wp-image-192265" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Khursand-Khurramov.jpg 266w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Khursand-Khurramov-100x100.jpg 100w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Khursand-Khurramov-144x144.jpg 144w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px" />Khursand Khurramov</div>Five Indigenous Pamiri activists have died in Tajikistan’s prisons in 2025, reportedly after being denied adequate medical assistance. Since 2021, around 40 Pamiris have been killed and over 200 activists arbitrarily detained. Civil society organisations condemn these deaths in custody and the state’s broader pattern of systematic repression against the Pamiri ethnic minority, who make up less than three per cent of Tajikistan’s population.
What’s the background to the state’s persecution of Pamiri people?
The Pamiris are an Indigenous minority who have lived on their land for thousands of years. Throughout history, they have been part of various empires – from the Achaemenids and Alexander the Great to the Arab Caliphate and the Timurids – but have always retained de facto autonomy. At the end of the 19th century, the Pamir region was divided between the British and Russian empires, and the Pamiri people found themselves separated by the borders of modern states – Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Tajikistan – while retaining their cultural and linguistic characteristics and, importantly, their historical attachment to their land.
In Tajikistan, the Pamiris live in an area called Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO). The Soviet period was favourable for them in terms of demographic, economic and technological progress. The region had good transport links with Kyrgyzstan, while the road to the central regions of Tajikistan was only accessible seasonally.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, civil war broke out in Tajikistan in 1992. The Pamiris supported the United Tajik Opposition and became victims of mass repression. Many were murdered, with the number of victims unknown to this day. Following the war, the authorities continued to persecute former opponents, including the Pamiris, and several military operations have been carried out in the region, resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests.
This means the Pamiri identity formed <a href="https://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/tajikistan/tajikistan-end-systematic-repression-of-pamiri-people" target="_blank">amid difficult conditions</a>, largely in response to state pressure. Tajik authorities apparently fear recognition of Pamiri identity will lead to separatism, although there have never been any calls or demands for separatism within the Pamiri community.
It’s clear the authoritarian regime perceives Pamiri people’s desire for democratisation and freedom as a bad example for the rest of Tajikistan’s population, and it uses collective punishment to suppress any challenge to its authority.
What led to the recent wave of deaths in custody?
In November 2021, Tajikistan’s security officers carried out an <a href="https://cabar.asia/en/what-explains-the-endless-protests-in-gbao" target="_blank">operation in GBAO</a>, in which a local resident was killed. This sparked mass protests, which in Tajikistan are prohibited by law and therefore extremely rare. Activists tried to hold those responsible to account by cooperating with law enforcement agencies. But instead of investigating, the authorities launched a large-scale crackdown on protesters, instrumentalising the law to justify violence by security forces.
In 2022, when protests flared up again, the authorities classified them as terrorist acts, allowing security forces to use firearms against protesters. As a result, around 40 people were killed. They also conducted mass arrests of activists. Some 300 people were imprisoned with sentences of over 15 years, and 11 received life sentences. Considering the entire Pamiri population is only about 220,000, these numbers represent a catastrophic scale of persecution. Prison conditions are extremely harsh, with relatives of prisoners repeatedly reporting overcrowding, lack of access to medical care and systematic psychological pressure. In 2025 alone, five men from GBAO aged between 35 and 66 have died in Tajikistan’s prisons.
How has the crackdown on civic freedoms affected GBAO?
Restrictions on civil liberties affect the whole of Tajikistan, but GBAO is subject to particularly harsh repression. In 30 years of independence, not a single independent media outlet has existed in GBAO. International media outlets such as the BBC and Radio Liberty have been unable to obtain accreditation to cover events in the region. As a result, most of what happens in GBAO remains unknown to the public, and state propaganda interprets events in a light favourable to the authorities, demonising Pamiri people in the eyes of the rest of the population.
At the national level, these restrictions take the form of a ban on political activities, a complicated procedure for registering associations and informal bans on the creation of parties and movements within the country and abroad. Any political or civic activity outside Tajikistan seems to be viewed by the authorities as a potential threat. Until 2022, Pamiris had a fairly powerful informal youth diaspora structure in Russia, but this has been effectively destroyed with its key figures arrested and returned to Tajikistan. The main reason for this was a rally they organised in November 2021 outside the Tajik embassy in Moscow.
Now even likes of social media posts by opposition groups are classified as extremism. According to the Tajikistan Prosecutor General’s Office, 1,500 people have been convicted for this, including nine journalists and bloggers. Many of them were not involved in politics at all. Their posts were exclusively about social rather than political issues.
How are Russia and other states in the region involved?
Russia and other post-Soviet states play a role in this process as political allies of the Tajik government. For Russia, the regime is an important partner in the areas of security and labour migration, so it tries to prevent the strengthening of forces that could threaten the status quo. As a result, it supports Tajikistan’s official position, including in international organisations, and often returns wanted political activists and opposition figures to Tajikistan.
Some post-Soviet states share a similar political logic, because they fear recognising ethnic or regional diversity within their borders. By supporting Tajikistan in suppressing Pamiri identity, they are consistent with their domestic policies of denying minority rights. Russia and the other member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – cooperate on security matters, exchanging data and coordinating operations against opposition activists, including Pamiris. This is a mutually beneficial practice that strengthens authoritarian solidarity and reduces the risks of alternative centres of political influence emerging in the region.
What role can civil society and the international community play in holding the government accountable?
In Tajikistan, civil society in the classical sense has practically ceased to exist. Even those organisations that continue to operate are forced to coordinate their activities with the government. Although on paper these organisations may address civic space or human rights issues, their activities are largely formal: they function more as a facade than a mechanism for protecting rights within an authoritarian system. Over the past decade, any human rights work has been effectively <a href="https://eusee.hivos.org/document/tajikistan-ee-baseline-snapshot/" target="_blank">equated</a> with political activity, which carries serious risks.
Outside Tajikistan, diaspora civil society is also underdeveloped, with no strong institutions yet in place. However, the main thing activists and the diaspora can do is to draw international attention to the problem, talking about it as often as possible in different forums and in different languages. Only then can we expect the international community to put pressure on the Tajik authorities.
Despite these efforts, the situation for Pamiri people in Tajikistan has remained virtually unchanged. Authorities continue to deny the existence of their distinct identity. In prisons, people continue to die from torture, disease and inhumane conditions, but these facts are silenced and their deaths are presented as natural deaths.
The international community must move beyond statements to tangible action by strengthening monitoring and reporting through the European Parliament, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United Nations. They must impose personal sanctions on officials responsible for repression and torture, and condition aid, loans and grants on Tajikistan’s compliance with human rights obligations. Support for the diaspora and independent media is also essential to provide alternative information channels and prevent the regime isolating GBAO.
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SEE ALSO 
<a href="https://www.civicus.org/index.php/media-resources/news/7795-tajikistan-end-systematic-repression-of-pamiri-people" target="_blank">Tajikistan: end systematic repression of Pamiri people</a> CIVICUS 04.Aug.2025 
<a href="https://lens.civicus.org/interview/authorities-silence-dissent-by-accusing-activists-of-extremism-terrorism-and-spreading-false-information/" target="_blank">Tajikistan: ‘Authorities silence dissent by accusing activists of extremism, terrorism and spreading false information’</a> CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Leila Seiitbek 20.May.2025 
<a href="https://monitor.civicus.org/explore/tajikistans-crackdown-on-dissent-erosion-of-rights-and-civic-space/" target="_blank">Tajikistan’s crackdown on dissent: erosion of rights and civic space</a> CIVICUS Monitor 17.Feb.2025
 
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<title>Struggle For Water Continues Following Israeli Attacks on Lebanon</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 08:55:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Ed Holt</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Just under a year into a fragile ceasefire, 150,000 people in southern Lebanon continue to deal with the potentially lethal aftermath of Israeli bombing, highlighting the devastating long-term effects of conflict. A report published late last month (AUG) by Action Against Hunger, Insecurity Insight, and Oxfam said that at least 150,000 people remain without running […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="248" height="300" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-4-Maisat-water-pumping-station-248x300.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Damage to the water tank at the Maisat water pumping station. Credit: WaSH Sector Lebanon" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-4-Maisat-water-pumping-station-248x300.jpg 248w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-4-Maisat-water-pumping-station-390x472.jpg 390w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-4-Maisat-water-pumping-station.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 248px) 100vw, 248px" />Damage to the water tank at the Maisat water pumping station.
Credit: WaSH Sector LebanonBy Ed Holt BRATISLAVA, Sep 17 2025 (IPS) Just under a year into a fragile ceasefire, 150,000 people in southern Lebanon continue to deal with the potentially lethal aftermath of Israeli bombing, highlighting the devastating long-term effects of conflict.
A <a href="chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:/insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/PUBLIC1.pdf">report</a> published late last month (AUG) by Action Against Hunger, Insecurity Insight, and Oxfam said that at least 150,000 people remain without running water across the south of Lebanon after Israeli attacks had damaged and destroyed swathes of water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities since the beginning of the conflict in Lebanon. 
The report, When Bombs Turn the Taps Off: The Impact of Conflict on Water Infrastructure in Lebanon, laid bare both the immediate and long-term effects of repeated attacks on Lebanese water infrastructure between October 2023 and April 2025.
It said that more than 30 villages were without any connection to running water, leading to long-term disruption to supplies of fresh water, fueling dependence on water trucking that many people cannot afford and, according to the World Bank, losses estimated at USD171 million across the water, wastewater and irrigation sectors.
A severe rainfall shortage in recent months has exacerbated the problem, increasing risks of outbreaks of waterborne diseases as vulnerable communities are forced to resort to utilizing unsafe or contaminated water sources for their daily needs.
But groups behind the report warn that without mitigating action, the situation could become even worse.
“We can see there is the potential for some severe long-term repercussions of these attacks. There are 150,000 people without running water at the moment, but that number could rise in the future,” Suzanne Takkenberg, Action Against Hunger’s country director, told IPS.
Among the groups’ biggest concerns is the effect of the destruction on local agriculture.
In villages near the southern Lebanese border, farmers’ irrigation networks have been destroyed, cutting off vital water supplies to farms. Trucked-in water supplies have not been sufficient to replace this and allow them to irrigate land or give drinking water to their livestock, farmers say.
Meanwhile, farmers have also been unable to access their land due to security concerns—a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah has held only partly, with violations reported regularly—compounding problems with food production.
“One of our major worries is the mid- to long-term effects of the difficulties for farmers to irrigate their land,” explained Takkenberg.
“They have been struggling to irrigate their land since October 2023, due to security concerns hindering access to their land, as well as water problems. We have seen as a consequence of these attacks that food prices have increased and food productivity has decreased.”
Another concern is the growing reliance on trucked-in water for communities.
“Worryingly, people are becoming dependent on using water that is trucked in. This is sometimes ten times more expensive than using water from a public network, and the checks on that water are not the same as those carried out on public water supply networks,” said Takkenberg.
“Water quality after any kind of conflict is a concern and we are definitely worried about it in southern Lebanon after these attacks,” she added.
Illness and disease related to water quality and shortages are major concerns.
<div id="attachment_192260" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192260" class="size-full wp-image-192260" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-6b-Images-of-the-water-pumping-station-in-Tyre-South-governor.jpg" alt="Destroyed water pumping station in Tyre following an airstrike in November 2024.Credit: Insecurity Insight" width="630" height="473" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-6b-Images-of-the-water-pumping-station-in-Tyre-South-governor.jpg 630w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-6b-Images-of-the-water-pumping-station-in-Tyre-South-governor-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Figure-6b-Images-of-the-water-pumping-station-in-Tyre-South-governor-200x149.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />A destroyed water pumping station in Tyre, Lebanon, following an airstrike in November 2024. Credit: Insecurity Insight</div>
While the report states that waterborne and water-related illnesses were not reported by people interviewed, some highlighted the limited resources available for testing water quality and possible contamination. There are also worries that water may have been contaminated by white phosphorus, the use of these munitions in Lebanon having been verified by Human Rights Watch.
Meanwhile, there are further concerns that residents may resort to using unsafe water sources due to limited supplies, a situation exacerbated by low rainfall and water shortages at critical reservoirs.
Local officials interviewed for the report also highlighted damage to sewerage networks in some areas. This, combined with the known large-scale damage to water infrastructure and the possibility that damaged sewerage infrastructure has contaminated water sources, ramps up the potential of negative long-term effects on health if the water supply crisis is not adequately addressed, the report states.
It also points to evidence from Ethiopia, Ukraine and the Middle East, demonstrating clear links between damage to water and sanitation infrastructure during conflict and adverse public health outcomes.
“People are cutting back on their water use, which can have an effect on health and hygiene and raises disease risk—cholera is already epidemic in Lebanon and this situation could exacerbate that. Other diseases could also be spread. We have already seen cases of watery diarrhea, which is bad not just in itself, but also because in children it can cause problems with malnutrition as their bodies struggle to absorb nutrients,” Takkenberg said.
But while the potential long-term impact of the damage and destruction to water infrastructure is severe, early action could mitigate the worst possible outcomes, experts say.
“There is an urgent need to repair systems and while this is ongoing, to track water into the area. The consequences of water system destruction are rarely immediate. Most often, the impacts accumulate over time. It is the combination of destroyed infrastructure with the failure to repair it, insufficient water trucking, or lack of access to trucked-in water that eventually produces devastating outcomes for individuals and communities,” Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight, told IPS.
“This is why the destruction of infrastructure demands close attention: if not effectively mitigated, cascading consequences are inevitable. People may be forced to leave, adding to the numbers of displaced populations, or they may fall ill. Yet there is also an opportunity—by addressing damaged infrastructure early—to prevent the worst outcomes of displacement and disease and to save lives,” she added.
But while repairing and rebuilding water infrastructure is essential to preventing the most severe long-term impacts on local communities, implementing it is a different matter.
Authorities have managed to carry out some limited repairs to some networks, but issues around the continued presence of Israeli forces and concerns about ongoing conflict violence have prevented wider-scale or more extensive reconstruction. Finances for repairs are also under strain amid the socio-economic crisis the country has faced since 2019.
“Disease outbreaks are very predictable and the cost of not dealing with them is much worse than dealing with them now. The health ministry has been good in warning [of potential health risks] but there is a limit to what the government can do with the resources that are available after years of economic crisis. It is a very difficult situation,” said Takkenberg.
The report ends with a call for, among others, all parties to the conflict to strictly comply with the ceasefire agreement and adhere to international humanitarian law (IHL) and ensure the protection of civilians, health workers, and essential infrastructure.
It urges humanitarian programmers and donors to support the rehabilitation and operationalization of conflict-affected water infrastructure and ensure temporary access to safe water and basic sanitation services through the provision of water trucking, emergency water points, and safe wastewater discharge.
The report also says UN member states should push for the establishment of independent, impartial, and transparent investigations into all allegations of IHL violations.
Satellite imagery shown in the report indicates that in at least several incidents the damaged or destroyed facilities were located in large open areas without clearly identifiable military targets, suggesting that in some cases they may have been specifically and deliberately targeted.
The authors of the report point out that under IHL, parties to a conflict must always distinguish between lawful military targets and civilians and civilian objects and that deliberately targeting civilians and civilian objects is prohibited and amounts to a war crime. The various kinds of water infrastructure are protected as civilian objects under IHL and must never be attacked.
“Determining whether each incident deliberately targeted water infrastructure would require access to confidential military decisions, which is not available, as well as information on whether any military objectives were present at the time of the attacks. Our data is limited to the observable effects on the ground following the attacks. Nevertheless, the scale and nature of the observed damage raise serious questions regarding compliance with international humanitarian law, which governs the conduct of hostilities,” said Wille.
While it may not be possible to determine whether the attacks were deliberate, their impact is clear and highlights the need to look at not just the direct but also indirect effects of conflict, said Wille.
“Conflict deaths are not only direct (caused by weapons) but also indirect, when the destruction of systems produces cumulative and deadly consequences. The more complex and interconnected our societies become, particularly in securing food and water, the more vulnerable they are to such systemic shocks. At the same time, it becomes harder to trace devastating outcomes back to a single act of destruction.
“This is why we must learn to examine conflicts through the lens of systems and interconnectivity and to apply this knowledge to our legal analysis of the conduct of warfare,” she said.
“The public needs to ask more direct questions about the conduct of warfare and how the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution are being applied. We need a broader debate on how these principles should be interpreted in today’s conflicts. Modern societies rely on highly interconnected and complex infrastructure to secure basic needs such as food and water, while warfare is increasingly conducted remotely through advanced technologies. In this context, what counts as proportional? And what kinds of precautions are necessary in today’s world?” she added.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>Better Use of the World’s Expertise in Navigating the Polycrisis</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 08:52:55 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Peter Bridgewater and Rakhyun Kim</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Other articles in this series on clustering conventions that are addressed by the Triple Environmental Crisis of pollution (Stanley-Jones), biodiversity (Schally) and climate change (Azores) I have touched on the idea of clustering not only conventions but the science-policy bodies established separately to serve them. We address the question of the negative consequences of maintaining […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="136" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-iconic-blue-whale_-300x136.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-iconic-blue-whale_-300x136.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-iconic-blue-whale_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The iconic blue whale looms over the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History. Credit: UN Photo/Mark GartenBy Peter Bridgewater and Rakhyun Kim SHEFFIELD, UK / UTRECHT, The Netherlands, Sep 17 2025 (IPS) Other articles in this series on clustering conventions that are addressed by the Triple Environmental Crisis of pollution (<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/07/how-clustering-multilateral-environmental-agreements-can-bring-multiple-benefits-to-the-environment/" target="_blank">Stanley-Jones</a>), biodiversity (<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/07/how-clustering-multilateral-environmental-agreements-can-bring-multiple-benefits-to-the-environment/" target="_blank">Schally</a>) and climate change (<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/un-80-clustering-the-climate-conventions/" target="_blank">Azores</a>) I have touched on the idea of clustering not only conventions but the science-policy bodies established separately to serve them. We address the question of the negative consequences of maintaining status quo and identify how “consolidating knowledge” might make a difference.

Azores notes the progressive evolution of environmental challenges and their governance from the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, resulting in today’s institutional landscape – a complex web of multilateral agreements aiming to foster sustainable development, living in separate spaces with inefficient coordination mechanisms. 
From 1945 onwards establishment of the UN and its specialised agencies including UNESCO and FAO, saw increased focus on the knowledge needed to address environmental issues. From its founding in 1974 UNEP also became increasingly active in this area.
UNESCO established a range of research agendas in biodiversity, earth sciences and water with a range of human-environment links, as did FAO for its areas of responsibility. This research pointed to the interconnected nature of global environmental challenges. 
The links between climate adaptation, mitigation and biodiversity were identified in the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (ipbes) “Nexus” assessment (ipbes 2024a). 
Both Azores and Schally cite the successful clustering of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm agreements demonstrating that formalised arrangements can enhance operational efficiencies, scientific coherence, and policy alignment. 
They also suggest similar clustering of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the ipbes, and the nascent Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution (ISP-CWP) could similarly enhance better links between the knowledge – policy links in resolving the polycrisis of climate change, biodiversity and pollution. 
Yet the question remains can such science-policy bodies be clustered easily, or is it preferable to seek ways to enable them to work more effectively?
The science-policy bodies.
Since its establishment in 1988, the IPCC has delivered six Assessment Reports at approximately seven-year intervals. Each of the reports is on climate change and approaches to mitigation and adaptation, yet with changing overall themes. 
An independent science-led exercise on status and trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services funded by UNEP with support from UNESCO, UNCCD, the Ramsar Convention and a wide range of scientific support was launched in 2000. This Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was designed to help not only the CBD make more informed policy choices, but also influence all biodiversity-related Conventions, including UNCCCD. 
But while it was always to be a “one-off”, the Millennium Assessment led to pressure for a “biodiversity counterpart to the IPCC”, resulting in an intergovernmental meeting that established ipbes in 2012. 
Since its establishment, ipbes has developed in ways that are different from IPCC – producing a range of thematic, regional and global assessments on issues including; pollination, land degradation, regional and a global assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services status and trends, sustainable use of wildlife, invasive species, and the values of nature. 
Its most recent products are an assessment on how to achieve transformative change in managing the environment and an assessment of the nexus between climate change, biodiversity, human health, food and water. Crucially, it has embraced a range of knowledges beyond science.
The third Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel – on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution (ISP-CWP) was officially established on June 20, 2025, by UNEA Resolution 5/8: The ISP-CWP Secretariat is Hosted by UNEP, with its first Plenary Expected in 2026. 
After extensive negotiations, governments have agreed its role is to provide policy-relevant scientific advice to support sound management of chemicals and waste in the environment and to prevent chemical pollution and protect human health and ecosystems.
So, there are now three science-policy platforms dealing with apparently very different issues. Yet as the ipbes nexus report details there are multiple synergies between the topics covered, and the role for the ISP-CWP alludes to including ecosystems in its work. 
The existence of a report from a workshop in 2021, sponsored by IPCC and ipbes, on biodiversity and climate suggested changes might be afoot, but thus far each silo remains resolutely separate.
How do the Science-policy bodies work?
The IPCC uses a rigorous, consensus-driven process where assessment drafts undergo multiple rounds of expert and government review to ensure accuracy and neutrality. In similar vein ipbes has drafts that are subject to a range of external reviews, culminating in the government- member plenary carefully reviewing the Summary for Policy Makers draft before approving it. 
Both use a range of subsidiary bodies to manage technical and political issues. And both use scenarios and modelling in developing the assessments. Ipbes has had more emphasis on bringing a range of knowledges to bear in its assessments, and there is some evidence IPCC is embarking on a similar pathway. 
It is not yet fully clear how ISP-CWP will operate, but it seems more focus will be on horizon scanning and links with the corporate world.
All three have a range of constraints: weak funding structures; the need to build capacity in the global south; the elaborate and frustrating approval processes; ensuring material is “confidential’ over the life of the assessment, which inhibits the flexibility needed in managing todays environmental pressures; managing data gaps; dealing with rapidly developing novel issues; balancing transparency while ensuring rigour; and avoiding capture by any particular sectoral voices. 
Despite the activities of these global science-policy bodies, individual conventions have been producing “global outlooks”. The UNCCD has its own science-policy interface, with an unfortunate result that its first Global Land “outlook” was released at the same time as the ipbes assessment on Land degradation and restoration, a considerable duplication of effort. 
The CBD has produced five Global Biodiversity Outlooks since 2001, the last in 2020. And the Ramsar convention has produced two Global Wetland Outlooks, one in 2018 and the most recent in 2025. A State of the World’s Migratory Species Assessment was published in February 2024 under the CMS. 
While it could be argued that the more information available to inform policy development and implementation the better, this is not an evident result. Rather, production of the outlooks resembles “zombie activity” – producing material for its own sake, without reference to the wider global situation.
Do we need three separate Science-policy Bodies?
It can be argued that we already know which policies need implementation, yet many nations still argue strongly for the need to inform policy development through the best available knowledge. IPCC reports inform UNFCCC & its COPs, ipbes assessments inform CBD, and other biodiversity-relevant conventions, while ISP-CWP aims to support the “chemicals conventions” cluster and guide global regulation of chemicals and waste.
A major player is UNEP-GEO (Global Environment Outlook) that has been in operation since 1995. It has become more all-embracing in recent years and strives also to be a science-policy interface. Inevitably it covers some ground also covered by the IPCC, ipbes and the putative ISP-CWP. 
GEO operates a more flexible approach, offering continuing assessment processes with regular reporting to provide updates on the changing environmental situation, the effectiveness of policy actions, and the policy pathways that can ensure a more sustainable future, with increasing focus on using a full range of knowledges. 
How can this be made more efficient and this effective?
Clustering of the chemicals conventions was achieved relatively easily, resulting in considerable savings on efforts. Schally has alluded to the desirability of clustering the “ biodiversity regime” to replicate the practical synergies achieved in the chemicals and waste cluster – to avoid missed outcomes during a critical decade for nature. Should such clustering occur, there would be argument for greater synergy, if not fusion, between science-policy bodies.
Given the urgency of the polycrisis, time is of the essence, there are several possible ways co-operation between the bodies can be enhanced without full clustering. Such cooperation can lead to products that are policy-helpful, rather than simply policy-relevant, using, rejuvenating, and refining structures already agreed and in place, without damaging and time-consuming reorganisations. UNEP, through its GEO work, and with guidance from the UNEA, is certainly well placed to foster and manage such cooperative arrangements.
<ul>– Firstly, given the strength of links between Climate change, biodiversity, food water and human health demonstrated in the ipbes nexus report (ref), the biodiversity-related convention liaison group (BLG) should be strengthened by the addition of UNFCCC, UNCCD, FAO, WHO and UNESCO and meet regularly (at least 6 monthly) at secretariat level. 
– Secondly, Chairs of the Scientific Advisory Bodies of the biodiversity-related conventions (CSAB) originally met as a sub-group of the BLG. However, CSAB met only five times before disbanding due to lack of resources, leaving coordination efforts solely to the secretariats. To ensure full co-ordination and buy-in from government, CSAB should be regenerated, and expanded to include the Chairs of the subsidiary bodies of UNFCCC, UNCCD, and the of the bureaux of IPCC, ipbes, ISP-CWP and GEO, with this group chaired by Deputy Executive Secretary of UNEP. This body should resolve overlaps and duplication and highlight crucial up-coming knowledge needs.
– Thirdly, continuous reporting should be adopted as the norm by all assessment bodies, with CSAB being the body that shapes the direction of assessments, with the concurrence of the plenaries of each organisation involved. GEO could supply horizon-scanning/Foresight to enable this work.
– Fourthly, the rationale for continued production of “outlooks” from conventions must be questioned, with efforts directed towards developing one key source of knowledge to assist policy development and implementation.</ul>
UN80 enables an opportunity of addressing how best science can support the Triple Environmental Crisis. Adopting these four strategies would decrease duplication, improve the quality and information in the assessment products, without upsetting the existing frameworks and systems that have been in place over a range of time periods. 
This would allow also fusion and regrouping at a pace and direction that plenary members are comfortable with, without losing momentum. It can also help the UN system deliver transformative change as outlined in the ipbes Transformative change report (ipbes 2024b), and in the context of UN80.
Peter Bridgewater is an Associate Researcher at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.; Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia; a former Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences in UNESCO; and Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
Rakhyun Kim is Associate Professor in Earth System Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Ipbes 2024a Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Interlinkages among Biodiversity, Water, Food and Health of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13850289" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13850289</a>.
Ipbes 2024b Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11382230" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11382230</a>
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<title>When Civil Society is Kept Outside, We Should Build a Bigger Room</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2025 05:05:35 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Harvey Dupiton</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[The recent IPS article, “UNGA’s High-Level Meetings: NGOs Banned Again,” served as a stark and painful reminder of a long-standing paradox: the United Nations, an organization founded on the principle of “We the Peoples,” often closes its doors to the very communities it was created to serve. Yet, after sharing this article with our members, […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="136" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/When-Civil-Society_-300x136.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/When-Civil-Society_-300x136.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/When-Civil-Society_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Credit: UN Photo/Loey FelipeBy Harvey Dupiton NEW YORK, Sep 17 2025 (IPS) The recent IPS article, “<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/ngos-on-a-virtual-blacklist-at-un-high-level-meetings-of-world-leaders/">UNGA’s High-Level Meetings: NGOs Banned Again</a>,” served as a stark and painful reminder of a long-standing paradox: the United Nations, an organization founded on the principle of “We the Peoples,” often closes its doors to the very communities it was created to serve.

Yet, after sharing this article with our members, we were reminded of a powerful truth: in spite of these physical barriers, the NGO community is “better together” and remains a potent force capable of shaping the decisions of governments.
The ban, far from silencing us, has only amplified our resolve. As we speak, hundreds of NGOs are organizing side events outside the UN, participating with willing governments and continuing our vital work.
We are often told that access is restricted “for security.” IPS quotes voices across civil society who have heard that refrain for years. But the net effect is to marginalize the very partners the UN relies upon when crises break, when schools need rebuilding, when refugees need housing, when women and youth need pathways into the formal economy.
If the room is too small for the people, you don’t shrink the people—you build a bigger room.
This ban also speaks to the very heart of why our NGO Committee is so deeply involved in the 2025 UNGA Week (September 22-30) of International Affairs initiative. We are committed to expanding UNGA beyond the walls of the UN and into the vibrant communities of the Tri-State area and beyond.
Our goal is to transform this week into an “Olympic-caliber” platform where diplomacy connects directly with culture, community, and commerce.
As a private-sector committee of NGOs, we recognize we are sometimes perceived as being “on the side of governments” because we emphasize jobs, investment, and a strong economy. That has spared us some of the blowback that human rights and relief NGOs bear every September.
But proximity to government doesn’t mean complacency. Where we part ways with business-as-usual—both in some capitals and within parts of the UN system—is on the scale of joblessness that goes uncounted.
Official series routinely understate the lived reality in many communities. In Haiti and across segments of the LDC bloc, our coalition’s fieldwork and partner surveys suggest joblessness well above headline rates—often exceeding 60% when you strip away precarious, informal survivalism. If you don’t count people’s reality, you can’t credibly fix it.
That is why our 2025 agenda is jobs-first by design. Our Global Jobs & Skills Compact is not just a proposal; it is a declaration of our commitment to a jobs-first agenda, aligning governments, investors, DFIs, and diaspora capital around a simple test: does the money create decent work at scale—and are we measuring it?
We are mobilizing financing tied to verifiable employment outcomes, building skills pipelines for the green and digital transitions, and hard-wiring accountability into the process so that “promises” translate into paychecks.
Accountability also needs daylight. During the General Debate we will run a Jobs-First Debate Watch—tracking job and skills commitments announced from the podium and inviting follow-through across the year.
The point is not to “catch out” governments but to help them succeed by making the public a partner. Anyone who has walked with a loved one through recovery knows the first step is honesty. Denial doesn’t heal; measurement does. That is as true for addiction as it is for unemployment.
IPS rightly reminds us that NGOs are indispensable to multilateralism even when we are asked to wait outside. We agree—and we’ll add this: if the UN is “We the Peoples,” then UNGA Week must be where the peoples are.
In 2025, that means inside the Hall and across the city—on campus quads and church aisles, in galleries and small businesses, at parks and public squares. We’ll keep inviting governments to walk that route with us, shoulder to shoulder.
Until every door is open, we will keep building bigger rooms. And we will keep filling them—with jobs, skills, investment, and the voices that make multilateralism real.
Harvey Dupiton is a former UN Press Correspondent and currently Chair of the NGO Committee on Private Sector Development (NGOCPSD).
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<title>Why the Awaza Declaration Could Rewrite the Future for the World’s Landlocked Nations</title>
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<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 13:11:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Kizito Makoye</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[The theater of diplomacy can be more revealing than the speeches. Under a scorching Caspian sun in Awaza, two marines lowered their flags with the precision of a ballet. The green silk of Turkmenistan, folded into a neat bundle before the UN’s blue-and-gold standard, fluttered briefly and vanished into waiting hands. Delegates squinted in the […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="225" height="300" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/LLDCs-final-225x300.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Uniformed marines hand over UN and Turkmenistan flags to UN special representative on LLCDs Rabab Fatima and Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov during a flag lowering ceremony in Awaza. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/LLDCs-final-225x300.jpg 225w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/LLDCs-final-354x472.jpg 354w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/LLDCs-final.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />Uniformed marines hand over UN and Turkmenistan flags to UN special representative on LLCDs Rabab Fatima and Turkmenistan's Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov during a flag lowering ceremony in Awaza. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPSBy Kizito Makoye AWAZA, Turkmenistan , Sep 16 2025 (IPS) The theater of diplomacy can be more revealing than the speeches. Under a scorching Caspian sun in Awaza, two marines lowered their flags with the precision of a ballet. The green silk of Turkmenistan, folded into a neat bundle before the UN’s blue-and-gold standard, fluttered briefly and vanished into waiting hands.
Delegates squinted in the glare. A security guard, drained after days of marathon negotiations, whispered, “We made it.” The applause that followed carried an implicit bet that geography would no longer condemn 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) to economic stagnation. 
“This is not the end,” Rabab Fatima, the UN’s top envoy for LLDCs, told the assembled diplomats. “It is the beginning of a new chapter for the LLDCs. LLDCs may be landlocked, but they are not opportunity-locked.”
Her words capped four days of bargaining that produced the Awaza Political Declaration and a ten-year Programme of Action—promising structural economic transformation, regional integration, resilient infrastructure, climate adaptation, and the mobilization of financing partnerships. But whether these ambitions become asphalt, fiber-optic cable, and trade corridors depends on what happens next—starting with the LLDC Ministerial meeting on September 26, on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly.
“For the first time, we have a programme of action for the LLDCs, which includes a dedicated priority area on climate action and disaster resilience,” Fatima said. “As we all know, digital technology is reshaping how the world learns, trades, governs and innovates. The Awaza Programme of Action puts digital transformation at its core through investment in science, technology and affordable infrastructure for e-learning, e-governance and e-commerce.”
The geography tax
Being landlocked remains one of development’s oldest handicaps. More than 600 million people live in LLDCs. Their exports must cross at least one international border—and often several—before reaching a port. Transport costs can be twice as high as those of coastal economies, eroding profit margins and discouraging investment.
Dean Mulozi, a delegate from Zambia, put it bluntly: “It’s not just that we’re far from the sea. It’s that the world’s arteries don’t reach us easily. We are always waiting—for fuel, fiber-optic cable, containers, investment.”
The Declaration seeks to unblock those arteries: freer transit, harmonized customs, integrated transport corridors, and digital transformation—policies designed to cut border delays, lower costs, and attract investors. For countries such as Rwanda and Burundi, this is not rhetoric. Rwandan coffee growers lose profits as trucks crawl over narrow mountain roads toward Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam port. Burundian tea producers navigate customs regimes that can turn a week’s delay into financial ruin.
Ambition Versus Reality
The Awaza Programme includes a proposed Infrastructure Investment Finance Facility, with a headline USD 10 billion commitment from the <a href="https://www.aiib.org/en/index.html">Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank</a>. In theory, this could carve reliable corridors linking East Africa’s heartlands to the African Continental Free Trade Area. In practice, similar pledges have evaporated in the past when political will or money ran dry.
Five priorities dominate the blueprint: doubling manufacturing output and services exports; deepening trade integration; building transport links; embedding climate resilience; and mobilizing partnerships with development banks and private investors. Fatima called it “a blueprint for action, not just words,” but the distance between the two is long.
Rwanda and Burundi: Land-Linked Potential
Consider Rwanda, which has embraced digital innovation and ranks among Africa’s top reformers in business climate. Yet moving a container from Kigali to Dar es Salaam costs more than shipping it from Dar es Salaam to Shanghai. Blockchain pilots between Rwanda and Uganda have already reduced border clearance times by 80 percent, but scaling such reforms requires regional cooperation—the very essence of Awaza’s call for “land-linked” thinking.
Burundi faces even starker challenges. Political instability has disrupted transit agreements with neighbors. Poor road maintenance and limited rail options mean Burundian manufacturers pay a hidden geography tax on every exported item. A coordinated East African transport corridor—funded under Awaza’s financing facility—could halve transit times and cut spoilage for perishable goods.
Testing the Promise Divine
The first test comes on September 26, when ministers meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. They are expected to name national coordinators, align budgets, and press for LLDC concerns at COP30 and UNCTAD XVI. As Turkmenistan’s foreign minister, Rashid Meredov, warned, the network of coordinators will make or break implementation.
The Climate Conundrum
LLDCs are among the most exposed to climate shocks: droughts paralyze Sahelian farmers, cyclones sever southern Africa’s trade routes, and glacial melt threatens Central Asia’s water supplies. Rwanda and Burundi, reliant on rain-fed crops, can see a single flood wipe out a season’s earnings. Awaza’s plan for an LLDC Climate Negotiating Group aims to amplify their voice at global talks. Shared hydropower grids and renewable energy corridors, if built, could stabilize supply chains and keep factories running.
Digital Detours
Physical infrastructure is not the only hurdle. Maria Fernanda, a Bolivian tech entrepreneur, captured the digital struggle: “Sometimes it feels like the internet is slower here because it has to climb mountains like we do.” Fiber-optic networks and regional data hubs—central to the Awaza agenda—could level the digital playing field. Rwanda’s ambition to be East Africa’s data hub and Burundi’s expansion of mobile banking are previews of what “land-linked” economies could look like.
The Politics of Pipelines
Awaza was also about geopolitics. Turkmenistan used its role as host to burnish its neutrality and to tout hydrogen energy schemes, circular economy frameworks, and Caspian environmental projects. Landlocked development, it signaled, is not merely a technical problem but a diplomatic one. Transit states and inland economies must cooperate, not compete, over corridors and pipelines.
As one UN development official observed, “Land-linked flips the narrative: inland countries become bridges, not barriers. With AfCFTA, LLDCs can turn geography into a competitive edge—moving goods, services, and data faster and more affordably across Africa and beyond.”
Bringing Civil Society and Youth to the Table
One innovation at LLDC3 was the deliberate inclusion of youth and grassroots activists “not outside the halls, but right here in the meeting rooms.” This multistakeholder approach could ensure that local voices—such as Rwandan farmers’ cooperatives or Burundian women traders—shape the policies affecting them. But inclusion must be sustained beyond Awaza’s photo ops.
From Awaza to Action
The Ministerial meeting will likely spotlight three urgent tasks:
Operationalizing the Finance Facility—Without timely disbursements, promised corridors and digital highways will remain on paper.
Integrating LLDC Priorities into Global Agendas—Ensuring COP30 and UNCTAD XVI address LLDC vulnerabilities.
Ensuring Accountability and Transparency—Regular progress reports, perhaps modeled on climate COP stocktakes, could keep momentum alive.
Fatima’s closing words resonate: “Let us make the promise of ‘land-linked’ not only a phrase but a new way of life.”
A Fragile Opportunity
For Mazhar Amanbek, the Kazakh trucker whose apples rot at customs, and for Burkinabe grain shipper Mohamad Oumar, Awaza’s words must become tarmac and telecoms. For Rwandan cooperatives betting on premium coffee exports, or Burundian entrepreneurs seeking markets beyond their borders, the declaration could mean the difference between subsistence and prosperity.
The UN will be pressed to broker the deals and financing that can make LLDCs competitive. These inland nations are not short of resources or ambition—minerals, fertile soils, and human talent abound. The challenge is converting potential into prosperity.
As the blue UN flag was folded under the Caspian sky, the marines’ boots clicked on the promenade, and the heat bent the air into shimmering waves. Awaza’s delegates boarded planes carrying a slender sheaf of paper with an outsized ambition: to turn geography’s oldest curse into an engine of shared growth.
The world’s attention will now shift to New York, where LLDC ministers must prove Awaza was not a mirage. If they seize the moment, the next decade could see East African trucks rolling on new highways, fiber cables humming under deserts, and landlocked nations from Bolivia to Burundi trading on equal terms. If not, the folded flags of Awaza will join the archive of fine promises that melted under a scorching sun.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>AfDB Commits 11 Billion Dollars To Support Early Warning Systems, Food Security in Rural Africa</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/afdb-commits-11-billion-dollars-to-support-early-warning-systems-food-security-in-rural-africa/</link>
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<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:59:32 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Farai Shawn Matiashe</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[As increasingly frequent droughts and devastating floods are affecting agricultural productivity, leaving millions of people food insecure in Africa amid a lack of climate finance, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed USD 11 billion to support various climate-resilient and infrastructure projects in rural areas. Climate change-induced humanitarian emergencies are materializing in every corner of […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="225" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/AFDB-climate-summit-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe-300x225.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Participants at the AfDB pavilion at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPSParticipants at the AfDB pavilion at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/AFDB-climate-summit-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/AFDB-climate-summit-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe-200x149.jpg 200w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/AFDB-climate-summit-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Participants at the AfDB pavilion at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPSBy Farai Shawn Matiashe ADDIS ABABA, Sep 16 2025 (IPS) As increasingly frequent droughts and devastating floods are affecting agricultural productivity, leaving millions of people food insecure in Africa amid a lack of climate finance, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed USD 11 billion to support various climate-resilient and infrastructure projects in rural areas.
Climate change-induced humanitarian emergencies are materializing in every corner of the world. Often, more frequently than predicted. Over the past few years, many countries have been experiencing extreme weather events almost every month. Poor countries like those in Africa emerged as the worst affected, bearing the brunt of climate change. 
Africa warmed faster than the rest of the world, according to a report released last year by the <a href="https://wmo.int/">World Meteorological Organization (WMO)</a>. The Horn of Africa, as well as Southern and Northwest Africa, suffered from exceptional multi-year droughts recently, while other African countries reported significant casualties due to extreme precipitation leading to floods in 2023.
Targeting Climate Action Projects
James Kinyangi, coordinator of the Climate and Development Special Fund and the Climate Action Window at <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en">AfDB</a>, said they are providing funding for various climate adaptation and mitigation projects across Africa.
“AfDB has several ways in which they are tackling climate challenges and integrating finance for climate action in its portfolio. Last year, we had total approvals for projects in African countries for about USD 11 billion,” he told IPS in an interview at the AfDB Pavilion during the<a href="https://africaclimatesummit2.et/"> Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2)</a> held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 8 to 10 September. The summit took place in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP30), in Belém, Brazil, scheduled for November 2025.
“Out of that, close to half was mainstream climate finance. Of the nearly USD 5 billion that went to climate finance, nearly 65 percent was adaptation finance. The remaining was mitigation.”
Kinyangi said they have a mainstream of climate finance for climate action in their main portfolio, making sure that all of the lending of the bank responds to climate action.
“We also screen our projects. Now, nearly 100 percent of all new approvals of the bank are mainstream with climate action. They are climate-informed designs of projects,” he said.
Kinyangi, an AfDB early warning expert, says they also have various special funds and trust funds that respond to climate change.
“One that is visible is through our major constitutional lending window, the African Development Fund. We have created the Climate Action Window, which has mobilized a total of USD 500 million as climate finance,” he said. “That has now been programmed for 37 low-income African countries that benefit from the resources of the African Development Fund. We have about 41 projects that are adaptation and we have another 18 projects that are mitigation.”
The cost of climate adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa would be between USD 30 and 50 billion annually over the next decade, according to the WMO. This is a huge blow to a continent where 118 million extremely poor people have a daily income of less than USD 1.90 per day. If adequate climate funding is not secured in time, farmers in the rural areas will be poorer by 2030 as national budgets continue to be diverted.
AfDB’s investments in Africa cut across energy, agriculture, water resources and sanitation, forestry, climate information systems, and green projects seeking finance to help transform mitigation pathways. Kinyangi said several of these projects are designed to support rural communities, including early warning systems, climate-smart agriculture and clean cooking solutions.
In the Sahel region, AfDB is supporting a project called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), a low-cost, sustainable approach where farmers protect and manage the natural growth of trees and shrubs on their agricultural lands, rather than planting new ones. The practice restores degraded soil and increases agricultural yields, improving food security.
As part of their climate-smart agricultural projects, AfDB is supporting 20 million farmers across Africa. Kinyangi said AfDB is supporting technologies like drought insurance for the management of risks associated with losses of livestock and crops due to drought. He said the result is a whole host of technologies they are financing in rural communities across Africa, supporting farmers with water harvesting and renewable energy.
In Zimbabwe, for instance, AfDB is working with the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a United Nations agency working to eliminate poverty and hunger in rural areas and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to support school feeding programs for children.
“This includes improving cooking equipment in schools and improving the delivery of vaccines and other medications through rural dispensaries by use of cold chains powered by solar, ” said Kinyangi. Across Africa, AfDB is revamping irrigation projects, changing from diesel-powered to solar-powered systems to reduce emissions.
Bridging the Financing Gap for Countries in Debt Distress
Several African countries that are exposed to extreme weather events like droughts and floods divert their national budgets to respond to these disasters. These are funds meant for the health and education sectors, which are diverted to support affected communities and rebuild destroyed infrastructure. To fill the financing gap, they turn to multinational lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which leaves them in debt.
Efforts have been made in the past to restructure debt through the G20 Common Framework, which was created during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 as a debt relief effort. But African leaders say it is slow and creditor-driven. Five years after it was established, only Ghana and Zambia have managed to restructure their debt under the G20 Common Framework.
Between 2010 and 2020, Africa’s external debt increased more than fivefold and accounted for almost 65% of Gross Domestic Product in 2023. Even though Africa’s average debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to decrease to 60% in 2025, the continent faces an escalating debt crisis, according to the African Union. Statistics from the IMF and World Bank’s Debt Sustainability Framework show that African countries in distress, or at high risk of debt distress, have risen from 9 in 2012 to 25 in 2024.
Kinyangi said the AfDB Climate Action Window was established to help countries in debt distress.
“For example, countries like Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe are exposed to tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean. So, they divert national resources to combat the negative impacts of tropical cyclones. That leaves them in a budget hole. Sometimes they have to borrow to leave that budget hole.”
Kinyangi said AfDB’s aspirations are to ensure that it channels more climate finance to vulnerable countries to cushion those countries against having to divert important national budgets to combat the impacts of climate change. He said climate finance is supposed to go directly to building resilience against the negative impacts of extreme weather events while preserving the national budget that is meant to create education systems and promote health and infrastructure.
The AfDB was among the African banks that have committed to mobilizing USD 100 billion to fund green industrial projects at the ACS2. While a copy of the final declaration from the three-day Addis Ababa Summit is yet to be released, African leaders set a new goal to raise USD 50 billion annually for climate solutions. In 2023, about USD 26 billion was mobilized at the ACS1 in Nairobi, Kenya, but it is not clear how much funding has been disbursed. The continent needs USD 1.3 trillion per year to finance its climate adaptation plans, according to the AU.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>The Cruel Deceptions of Peace in Palestine</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/the-cruel-deceptions-of-peace-in-palestine/</link>
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<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:13:51 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>James E. Jennings</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[In a long past due move, the UN General Assembly voted 142-10 to approve a plan called “The New York Declaration” that hopes to revive the long dead Two State Solution for Palestinian Independence. Many observers may see it as a welcome initiative to curtail Israel’s century-long colonial project in Palestine. The declaration was proposed […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="136" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/General-Assembly-voted-_-300x136.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/General-Assembly-voted-_-300x136.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/General-Assembly-voted-_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />UN Photo/Loey Felipe
   
The UN General Assembly voted on the “New York Declaration,” a resolution endorsing the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. 12 September 2025. Of the 193 UN Member States, 142 countries voted in favour of <a href="https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/ltd/n25/239/44/pdf/n2523944.pdf" target="_blank">a resolution</a> backing the document. Israel voted against it, alongside nine other countries – Argentina, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga and the United States – while 12 nations abstained. <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165835" target="_blank">https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165835</a>By James E. Jennings ATLANTA, USA, Sep 16 2025 (IPS) In a long past due move, the UN General Assembly voted 142-10 to approve a plan called “The New York Declaration” that hopes to revive the long dead Two State Solution for Palestinian Independence.

Many observers may see it as a welcome initiative to curtail Israel’s century-long colonial project in Palestine. The declaration was proposed by France, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Canada and a gaggle of other countries as way to establish a Palestinian state on the West Bank of the Jordan River. 
But it is a cruel deception. 
Just last year the UN General Assembly demanded that Israel end its so-called “security operations” in Gaza before the end of this month of September, 2025. Israel has ignored the deadline and has no intention of complying.
Nothing approaching peace for Palestine is likely to happen, no matter the overwhelming vote at the UN General Assembly. Why? Because creating a virtual state in Palestine is not a real state and therefore does not solve the problem.
The clever leaders from this group of countries, most of them apparently sincere, have figured out a way—in the absence of a realistic plan to restrain Israel—to merely kick the can of peace down the road. But it doesn’t mean it will happen. 
It may be designed to attenuate Palestinian suffering and limit Israel’s endless denial of human and political rights, but it cannot succeed by prolonging the already decades-long and miserably failed “Peace Process.” The Oslo process took thirty years, and peace is farther away than ever.
You either have peace, or you don’t. It cannot be a process. Although post-war peace negotiations are sometimes long and tedious, if intentions are sincere the shape of an agreement takes only minutes to define and outline. Any meaningful agreement, whether between individuals or nations, requires a straightforward statement of goals and adherence to the principles of equality, and justice.
Yet despite UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ frequent statements that Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank Is illegal under international law and must stop, and bombing civilians is illegal and must stop, those standards are not being faced honestly by the coalition of nations operating now as “The New York Declaration.” 
None of the great nations involved in this latest initiative are calling for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and the West Bank, much less to stop the genocide immediately. Why not?
The intent of this diplomatic maneuver led by France, the UK, Canada, and other countries is to avoid these pressing demands, not implement them. Rather, if the UN vote does succeed in getting Israel to temporarily stop bombing the hapless civilians in Gaza, the world can expect a great follow-up hubbub about a “Peace Process” for Palestine that may last years but will in fact sideline the principled demands of the General Assembly’s September 12 Resolution.
That in fact may be the point of this initiative, as sincere as President Macron and the others may be. The threat of UK Prime Minister Starmer to recognize a Palestinian state in September is hollow and just the same: to distract from the UN General Assembly’s demands by signing on to a “process” that will never end. It’s a good guess that, like Lucy in the Peanuts Cartoon, he will pull the football away in the nick of time, leaving Palestine like Charley Brown flat on the ground.
Creating a virtual state, not a real one, is just playing into Netanyahu’s hands. The key nations leading the agreement have not labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide as they should or called for an immediate halt to the killing and starvation. 
Neither have the three leading military suppliers, Germany, the UK, and France, stopped sending weapons and technical military support components to Israel.
And for what? Not for advancing justice or even humanity, much less Palestinian political rights, but to smoothly guide the international community to an endorsement of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its military control of the entire Middle East. 
They imagine that the countries of the Middle East, led by Saudia Arabia’s murderous crown prince Muhammad bin Salman, aka MBS, will eventually allow the Western powers to confirm Israel’s military hegemony in Gaza and the West Bank.
The vision endorsed by these leading countries fails to call Israel to account for its genocide in Gaza or its de facto takeover of the West Bank. If implemented, the people of Palestine will become merely “hewers of wood and drawers of water,” in the Biblical phrase, for Israel’s triumphant military umbrella over the Middle East region. 
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States will be free to make money, and the US will pay for Gaza’s reconstruction. The world can expect a great hubbub about the “Peace Process” in the coming months that will sideline the principled demands of the General Assembly’s Resolutions. 
What will happen to the people in Gaza is left out of the calculation. Be warned. Pay attention. It is a cruel deception.
James E. Jennings is President of Conscience International, a former aid worker in Gaza, and a longtime advocate for Palestinian human and political rights. 
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>Closing the US$1.5 trillion Gap: How FDI can Help Achieve SDGs in Asia & the Pacific</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/closing-the-us1-5-trillion-gap-how-fdi-can-help-achieve-sdgs-in-asia-the-pacific/</link>
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<pubDate>Tue, 16 Sep 2025 06:54:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Heather Lynne Taylor-Strauss and Eiichiro Takinami</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Over the past two decades, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been the single largest and most stable source of external development capital in Asia and the Pacific (see Figure). In 2022 alone, FDI flows into the region exceeded US$300 billion, outpacing official development aid (ODA), remittances and portfolio investment flows. Even in 2023, when global […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="203" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Windmills-are-at_-300x203.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Windmills-are-at_-300x203.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Windmills-are-at_.jpg 589w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Windmills are at the backdrop of a highway in Ninh Thuận, Vietnam. Governments should invest in renewable energy and infrastructure as part of financing for development to close SDG gaps in Asia and the Pacific. Credit: Unsplash/Moc DiepBy Heather Lynne Taylor-Strauss and Eiichiro Takinami BANGKOK, Thailand, Sep 16 2025 (IPS) Over the past two decades, foreign direct investment (FDI) has been the single largest and most stable source of external development capital in Asia and the Pacific (see Figure).

In 2022 alone, FDI flows into the region exceeded US$300 billion, outpacing official development aid (ODA), remittances and portfolio investment flows. Even in 2023, when global investment slowed under higher interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty, FDI into the region remained close to $290 billion.
Figure: External capital inflows to developing countries in Asia and the Pacific 
<div id="attachment_192239" style="width: 628px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192239" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/External-capital-inflows_.jpg" alt="" width="618" height="279" class="size-full wp-image-192239" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/External-capital-inflows_.jpg 618w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/External-capital-inflows_-300x135.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px" />Source: Created by ESCAP based on World Development Indicators, UNCTAD, and IMF data.</div>
For a region facing a $1.5 trillion annual financing gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this is more than a statistic. It is a reminder that the future of development finance and achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development depends on whether countries can effectively attract and channel FDI.
From <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=400&nr=2051&menu=35" target="_blank">the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA)</a> in 2015 to the most recent <a href="https://docs.un.org/en/A/CONF.227/2025/L.1" target="_blank">Sevilla Commitment</a> agreed at the <a href="https://financing.desa.un.org/ffd4" target="_blank">International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4)</a>, the global community is aligned to leveraging FDI for sustainable development. In fact, the Sevilla Commitment elevated the role of FDI.
While the AAAA positioned FDI as complementary to public finances for sustainable development, the Sevilla Commitment identified FDI as a key source of development capital, devoting an entire subsection to scaling up FDI. 
ODA, portfolio investments and remittances all play important roles. But none match the stability, scale or transformative power of FDI. While ODA is vital for humanitarian and social priorities, donor budgets are increasingly squeezed by competing demands such as defence spending and climate adaptation. 
Portfolio investments represent a large volume but are more susceptible to global economic events and often seek short-term returns. Personal remittances are stable and sustain household welfare. However, remittances are primarily consumption-oriented and often are not channelled to building productive capacity. FDI is different. It can build renewable energy plants, expand digital infrastructure, and create jobs. It is not just money flowing in; it is productive capital tied to long-term development.
Nonetheless, not all FDI is equal. Its impact depends on whether investments are effectively channelled towards SDG priorities. To accomplish this, investment promotion agencies (IPAs), with their mandates to promote, attract, and facilitate FDI, play a crucial role. With the right strategies and tools, IPAs can ensure that the FDI contributes to sustainable development needs. 
The following three areas are particularly important for action by the IPAs.
1. Aligning and implementing IPA’s investment attraction strategies with SDGs.
IPAs need to create medium-term investment promotion and attraction strategies that are aligned with their SDG priorities. This involves IPAs finding their country’s “niche” target sectors to attract investments. 
Aligning strategies with the SDGs is essential because many corporate investors now value alignment as part of their ESG investment criteria. Over the past several years, ESCAP has supported its member States in developing and implementing practical, targeted investment promotion and attraction strategies. These projects have enabled IPAs to narrow their focus, identify niche opportunities, and connect with high-potential investors.
2. Leveraging regional cooperation on investment promotion.
While IPAs often compete for investors, regional cooperation can be even more powerful—especially in attracting cross-border investments that require scale. By pooling markets and aligning promotion efforts, countries can present themselves not as fragmented destinations but as part of a larger, integrated investment destination. This approach not only makes the region more attractive to global investors but also enables each country to highlight its comparative strengths within wider value chains.
ESCAP has been at the forefront of advancing such cooperation. In South East Asia, <a href="https://asean.org/asean-launches-regional-investment-promotion-action-plan-2025-2030/#:~:text=The%20ASEAN%20Regional%20FDI%20Action,and%20the%20Pacific%20(UNESCAP)." target="_blank">the ASEAN Regional Investment Promotion Action Plan (RIPAP) 2025–2030</a> was endorsed by all ASEAN member States as the first region-wide initiative to jointly promote investment opportunities. 
In Central Asia, ESCAP and the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation launched <a href="https://www.unescap.org/news/international-islamic-trade-finance-corporation-and-escap-join-forces-effort-grow-export" target="_blank">the Boosting Exports through FDI programme</a>, which helps countries attract investment that strengthens regional value chains and to become more competitive. Regional collaboration of this kind demonstrates that cooperation—not just competition—can unlock larger, more sustainable flows of FDI.
3. Developing impact measurement tools.
Developing and utilizing impact measurement tools can help IPAs demonstrate how their work is contributing to advancing the SDGs. With database systems and tools, IPAs can track growth in sectors like green industries or progress on digital transformation, making their impact more visible. For example, Investment Fiji has tailored its Customer Relationship Management system to more effectively monitor how the investment they have helped facilitate contributes to the SDGs. 
As traditional development aid budgets plateau, FDI remains the most stable and transformative capital for building productive capacity. FDI has already been instrumental in driving SDGs in areas such as transitioning to clean energy, accelerating digital connectivity, and generating decent jobs needed for inclusive growth. But to fully realize this potential, governments and IPAs must be strategic, collaborative and impact-driven.
ESCAP stands ready to support its member States and their IPAs in developing and implementing FDI promotion and attraction strategies aligned with SDGs.
Heather Lynne Taylor-Strauss is Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP; Eiichiro Takinami is Junior Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP.
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>Most of This Population Wants Immigrants, But Not the Government</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/most-of-this-population-wants-immigrants-but-not-the-government/</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:15:58 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Joseph Chamie</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Most of the population in this country wants immigrants, but the current government does not share the same sentiment. The country in question is the United States, often referred to as “a nation of immigrants”, home to more immigrants than any other country worldwide, having received over 100 million immigrants since its founding in 1776. […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrantsfeatured-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrantsfeatured-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrantsfeatured.jpg 629w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Opinion polls show that the majority of the U.S. population holds positive views on immigration. Credit: Shutterstock.By Joseph Chamie PORTLAND, USA, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) Most of the population in this country wants immigrants, but the current government does not share the same sentiment. The country in question is the United States, often referred to as “<a href="https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/us-and-the-holocaust/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-land-of-immigrants#:~:text=Many%20people%20have%20described%20the,many%E2%80%94has%20defined%20US%20history.">a nation of immigrants</a>”, home to <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/statistics-us-immigration-2025#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20has%20long,reached%2047.8%20million%20in%202023.">more immigrants</a> than any other country worldwide, having received over <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/over-100-million-immigrants-have-come-america-founding">100 million</a> immigrants since its founding in 1776.
Opinion polls show that the majority of the U.S. population holds positive views on immigration. A national <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx">survey</a> conducted in June revealed a record high of 79% of U.S. adults considering immigration beneficial for the country, with 17% viewing it negatively (Figure 1).
 
<div id="attachment_192232" style="width: 639px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192232" class="size-full wp-image-192232" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants1.jpg" alt="" width="629" height="488" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants1.jpg 629w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants1-300x233.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants1-608x472.jpg 608w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" />Source: Gallup Poll.</div>
 
The poll also found that 62% of U.S. adults disapprove of the president’s hardline immigration enforcement measures. Specifically, a <a href="https://www.nilc.org/press/new-poll-shows-voters-oppose-immigration-arrests-in-hospitals-clinics-other-protected-areas/">majority</a> of the U.S. public opposes immigration arrests in protected areas such as places of worship, schools, hospitals, and clinics.
Opinion polls show that the majority of the U.S. population holds positive views on immigration. A national survey conducted in June revealed a record high of 79% of U.S. adults considering immigration beneficial for the country, with 17% viewing it negatively 
It is estimated that the current government authorities have deported at least <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/21/us/trump-deportations-summer-data-immigration-arrests.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">180,000</a> people so far. By the start of August, the number of deportations is reported to have reached close to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/08/21/us/trump-deportations-summer-data-immigration-arrests.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">1,500</a> people per day.
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/21/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/">Analyses</a> of recent census data show that in the first seven months of 2025, the U.S. foreign-born population declined significantly, estimated to be between <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/21/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/">1.5 million</a> and <a href="https://cis.org/Report/Overall-ForeignBorn-Population-Down-22-Million-January-July#:~:text=Analysis%20of%20the%20CPS%20data,to%20July%20of%20this%20year.">2.2 million</a>.
The foreign-born population decreased from 53.3 million immigrants, a record high representing <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/21/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/">15.8%</a> of the U.S. population, to 51.9 million immigrants or 15.4% of the country’s population, with other estimates of the decline even lower at <a href="https://cis.org/Report/Overall-ForeignBorn-Population-Down-22-Million-January-July#:~:text=Analysis%20of%20the%20CPS%20data,to%20July%20of%20this%20year.">51.1 million.</a> The drop in the foreign-born population marked the <a href="https://calmatters.org/justice/2025/08/immigrant-population-declines/#:~:text=In%20January%202025%2C%20the%20immigrant,immigrant%20population%20since%20the%201960s.">first decline</a> in the country’s immigrant population since the 1960s.
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/03/26/americans-views-of-deportations/">Many</a> in the U.S., estimated to be about <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/17/americans-have-mixed-to-negative-views-of-trump-administration-immigration-actions/#:~:text=impact%20the%20country.-,How%20should%20the%20country%20handle%20undocumented%20immigrants%20now%20living%20in,31%25%20of%20Americans%20overall).">a third</a> of the population, have expressed agreement with the general principle of deporting undocumented migrants, especially those who have committed violent crimes.
However, a national <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/has-ice-gone-too-far-in-enforcing-immigration-laws-heres-what-a-poll-found/ar-AA1HPSjy">opinion poll</a> conducted in late June found that the majority of the U.S. population, 54%, believe the government’s immigrant enforcement program has “<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/has-ice-gone-too-far-in-enforcing-immigration-laws-heres-what-a-poll-found/ar-AA1HPSjy">gone too far</a>” with their methods and tactics being <a href="https://partnershipfornewamericans.org/as-ice-goes-rogue-in-our-cities-new-poll-suggests-americans-reject-extreme-enforcement-and-executive-overreach/">extreme</a>, aggressive, and heavy-handed.
Additionally, <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx">78%</a> of the U.S. population favor providing pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already living in the country, with the <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx">proportion</a> rising to 85% for immigrant children.
The <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx">proportion</a> of U.S. adults who want immigration to remain at its current level is 38%, while 26% would like to see it increased. In contrast, 30% prefer a reduction in immigration (Figure 2).
 
<div id="attachment_192233" style="width: 639px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192233" class="size-full wp-image-192233" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants2.jpg" alt="" width="629" height="487" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants2.jpg 629w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants2-300x232.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants2-610x472.jpg 610w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" />Source: Gallup Poll.</div>
 
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/17/americans-have-mixed-to-negative-views-of-trump-administration-immigration-actions/#:~:text=60%25%20of%20Americans%20disapprove%20of,Just%209%25%20approve.">Another survey</a> found that 60% of the U.S. population disapprove of the suspension of most asylum applications and the termination of Temporary Protected Status. Many have <a href="about:blank">objected</a> to the administration’s steps to block access to the asylum process, which is in violation of U.S. law.
Additionally, on his first day in office, the U.S. president issued an <a href="https://www.aila.org/library/president-trump-signs-executive-order-protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship">executive order</a> aimed at ending birthright citizenship for babies of undocumented immigrants and individuals with temporary status in the country.
If birthright citizenship were to end in the U.S., it would impact an <a href="https://www.niussp.org/migration-and-foreigners/america-struggles-with-birthright-citizenship/">estimated 6%</a> of the country’s annual births, or about 225,000 babies born in the country each year.
However, a national survey conducted in June revealed that <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/birthright-citizenship-polls-american-views-2091884">68%</a> of registered U.S. voters actually support birthright citizenship, which was established by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1868.
Section 1 of the amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”. The president’s executive order ending birthright citizenship has become a significant legal battle for the country and will likely be decided by the Supreme Court.
The current administration considers all undocumented immigrants living in the country as <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/01/28/trump-immigrants-criminals-white-house-briefing">criminals</a> and has <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/01/28/trump-immigrants-criminals-white-house-briefing">falsely claimed</a> that undocumented migrants are responsible for the rise in crime, despite data showing crime rates have been <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/08/12/violent-crime-harris-trump-election">decreasing</a>.
It is important to note that being in the United States illegally is a <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/immigration-prosecutions/">civil violation</a>, not a criminal one. Many undocumented immigrants who have been arrested have <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/65-people-taken-ice-had-no-convictions-93-no-violent-convictions#:~:text=My%20back%2Dof%2Dthe%2D,all%20types%20in%20FY%202024.">not been convicted</a> of a crime.
In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration could resume <a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/heres-where-trumps-deportations-are-sending-migrants">expedited deportations</a> of migrants to countries that are not their places of origin, referred to as third-country deportations. The administration has reached <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn02eezlykdo">agreements</a> with countries like Honduras, Rwanda, and Uganda to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-deportation-agreements-honduras-uganda/">accept deported</a> migrants who are not their own citizens.
These agreements allow for redirecting asylum-seekers to countries that are not their own if the U.S. government believes these nations can fairly assess their claims for humanitarian protection.
Confusingly, the U.S. president recently <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/07/trump-census-undocumented-immigrants.html">ordered</a> a “new” population census that excludes undocumented immigrants.
This is a historic demand, considering the U.S. has counted every person in its <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/census-constitution.html">census</a> for over 230 years, dating back to 1790. During his first term, the president tried to alter the country’s decennial population census by adding a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/us/trump-census-citizenship-question.html">citizenship question</a> to the 2020 census, but the Supreme Court blocked it.
The U.S. <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2023/population-projections.html">Census Bureau</a> projects that approximately one million immigrants per year will drive the country’s population growth throughout the rest of the 21st century. The nation’s fertility rate, at <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr038.pdf">1.63 births</a> per woman in 2024, is expected to remain well below the replacement level in the coming decades.
By mid-century, immigration is expected to contribute twice as many people to the U.S. population as natural increase. According to the main series population projection, by 2080, the current U.S. population of 342 million is projected to reach <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2023/population-projections.html">nearly 370 million</a> (Figure 3).
 
<div id="attachment_192234" style="width: 639px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192234" class="size-full wp-image-192234" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants3.jpg" alt="" width="629" height="457" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants3.jpg 629w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/populationwantsimmigrants3-300x218.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" />Source: U.S. Census Bureau.</div>
 
However, without future immigrants and fertility remaining below replacement, the U.S. population is projected to decline as deaths soon begin to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/10/trump-ice-big-beautiful-bill-immigration">outnumber</a> births. The Congressional Budget Office expects deaths to exceed births by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/u-s-population-growth-will-slow-even-more-cbo-says-75f1c14a">2031</a>.
By the end of the 21st century, the Census Bureau estimates that without immigration the country will experience nearly <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2023/population-projections.html">2 million</a> more deaths than births. The U.S. population in the zero immigration scenario is expected to decline to about 226 million, or approximately <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2023/demo/popproj/2023-alternative-summary-tables.html">116 million</a> fewer people in 2100 than today.
The United States is currently experiencing a significant <a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/leverage-immigration-address-us-labor-shortages">need for workers</a> across various sectors of the economy, including <a href="https://www.fticonsulting.com/insights/articles/us-agriculture-navigating-labor-challenges-finding-solution">agriculture</a>, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/us-sees-foreign-born-population-plummet-2115566">construction</a>, healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing.
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/08/essential-isnt-a-strong-enough-word-loss-of-foreign-workers-begins-to-bite-us-economy-00443021">Immigrant workers</a> are seen as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/us/immigration-decline-united-states-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare">crucial</a> in filling these labor shortages, especially for jobs such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/opinion/immigration-farmworkers-agriculture-groceries.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20250826&instance_id=161273&nl=today%27s-headlines&regi_id=26794078&segment_id=204643&user_id=238d32f2dc633f67c3b731d28b9421f3">farmworkers</a> that the native-born U.S. population typically <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/10/a-majority-of-americans-say-immigrants-mostly-fill-jobs-u-s-citizens-do-not-want/">does not want</a> to do.
Many <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/02/08/2024/immigration-is-expected-to-add-7-trillion-to-the-us-economy-by-2034">economists</a> have emphasized that immigration is a vital component of a healthy U.S. economy. The president’s deportation and tariff policies are believed to be contributing to an <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-171794098">inflationary shock</a> to the economy.
Immigration can help <a href="https://www.bakerinstitute.org/research/leverage-immigration-address-us-labor-shortages">reduce</a> inflation, strengthen manufacturing and increase employment rates. The chair of the Federal Reserve has indicated that the president’s stricter immigration policies are one of the reasons U.S. economic growth <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2025/06/25/fed-chair-says-trump-immigration-policies-slowing-economic-growth/">has slowed</a>.
In addition to filling job vacancies, immigrant workers also contribute to the growth of the country’s economy and boost tax revenue. The Congressional Budget Office <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60569">estimates</a> that immigration growth will add $1.2 trillion in federal revenue over the period from 2024 to 2034.
The U.S. population is <a href="https://www.census.gov/topics/population/older-aging.html">expected</a> to undergo significant demographic ageing in the coming decades. By 2035, the number of people in the U.S. aged 65 years or older is projected to exceed the number of children under the age of 18.
<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/03/united-states-confronts-demographic-piper/">As the U.S. population ages</a>, the <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/what-will-americas-population-look-like-by-2100/">number</a> of working-age individuals per retired person is decreasing. In 1975, the potential dependency ratio of those aged 20 to 64 years old per person aged 65 years or older was slightly over five. Currently, the dependency ratio is about three and is expected to decline to two by 2075. Without future immigration, the U.S. dependency ratio is projected to be approximately 1.5 by 2075.
In summary, it is clear that the majority of the population in the United States supports immigration, while the government does not. Despite the widespread backing for immigration and the substantial demographic, economic, and social impacts of immigration, the new administration is concentrating on significantly <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/trump-reinstates-immigration-policies/">decreasing immigration</a>. They have put in place policies, initiated programs, and issued executive actions to achieve this objective.
Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division, and author of various publications on population issues, including his recent book, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-22479-9?source=shoppingads&locale=en-jp#toc">“Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”</a>.
 
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<title>Mexico Experiments With Residential Solar Panels, But They Are Still Insufficient</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/mexico-experiments-with-residential-solar-panels-but-they-are-still-insufficient/</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:10:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Emilio Godoy</dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Development & Aid]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[Over the past four months, Mexican researcher Nicolás Velázquez has paid around US$23 for electricity, thanks to the photovoltaic system installed in his home in the northern city of Mexicali. “You can see the direct benefit. My neighbor received a bill over US$400. The problem is the high temperatures, which double demand” from March to […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="154" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-1-300x154.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="A wind farm in the state of Baja California, in Northwestern Mexico. This territory depends on fossil fuels for electricity generation, while the contribution of renewables is still low, but it is gradually moving towards residential solar generation. Credit: Sempra" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-1-300x154.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-1-768x394.jpg 768w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-1-629x323.jpg 629w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-1.jpg 976w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A wind farm in the state of Baja California, in Northwestern Mexico. This territory depends on fossil fuels for electricity generation, while the contribution of renewables is still low, but it is gradually moving towards residential solar generation. Credit: SempraBy Emilio Godoy MEXICO, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) Over the past four months, Mexican researcher Nicolás Velázquez has paid around US$23 for electricity, thanks to the photovoltaic system installed in his home in the northern city of Mexicali.
“You can see the direct benefit. My neighbor received a bill over US$400. The problem is the high temperatures, which double demand” from March to August, said Velázquez, coordinator of the <a href="http://institutodeingenieria.uabc.mx/index.php/tecnologias-limpias-y-medio-ambiente/145-dr-nicolas-velazquez-limon"> Center for Renewable Energy Studies at the Engineering Institute</a> of the public Autonomous University of Baja California.
Due to the high temperatures in cities such as Mexicali, capital of the northwestern state of Baja California, people need air conditioning systems during the summer, which increases electricity consumption in a state with 3.77 million inhabitants, affected by a shortage of infrastructure and generation.“Distributed generation is better for us. It is done by Mexican companies. We import the technology, but there is a chain of Mexican participation. We participate from engineering onwards, activating the economy to a certain level, helping the residential sector”–Nicolás Velázquez.
In late August, residents of several neighborhoods in Mexicali blocked the highway between that city and neighboring Tijuana due to a lack of electricity.
In an attempt to alleviate the situation, the Mexican government launched the <a href="https://techosolarbienestar.energia.gob.mx/">Techos Solares del Bienestar</a> (Solar Roofs for Welfare) program in March, aimed at low-income homeowners who pay high rates and consume between 400 and 1,000 kilowatt hours between July and August, so they receive solar panels for their homes in Mexicali and the neighboring municipality of San Felipe.
It is one of the steps to relaunch the energy transition to less polluting sources that the previous government halted in 2018.
The initial plan is to install solar panels in 5,500 homes in Mexicali with an investment of around US$10 million. The ultimate goal is to cover 150,000 homes by 2030. The scheme promises to reduce electricity bills from 49% to 89%.
For Velázquez, the central question revolves around the advisability of resorting to centralized or distributed generation, which consists of electricity production by systems of many small generation sources close to the end consumer.
“Distributed generation is better for us. It is done by Mexican companies. We import the technology, but there is a chain of Mexican participation. We participate from engineering onwards, activating the economy to a certain level, helping the residential sector,” he said from Mexicali.
In his opinion, “there has to be a balance between centralized and distributed generation, because there will not be a single solution. More energy justice is achieved through distributed generation.”
In Mexico, home to some 129 million people, there are at least 12,000 communities without electricity and some 9,000 homes without connection to the national grid, a quarter of which are located in Mexicali, which had 1.05 million inhabitants according to the 2020 census.
Small-scale or distributed generation is on the rise in the country.
Since 2007, the government’s Energy Regulatory Commission has authorized 518,019 licenses for a distributed energy generation capacity of 4,497 megawatts (MW). In 2024, it approved 106,934 interconnections for 1,086 MW.
The western state of Jalisco and the northern states of Nuevo León and Chihuahua top the list, while Baja California ranks 14th among the 32 Mexican states.
In July, the government’s National Energy Commission updated the regulations for interconnected self-consumption for installations between 0.7 and 20 MW, which expands the margin for distributed generation, also known as citizen generation.
<div id="attachment_192211" style="width: 639px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192211" class="wp-image-192211" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-2.jpg" alt="Solar panels in a community in the municipality of Ensenada, in the northwestern state of Baja California. The existing microgrid in that town provides electricity to the small community. Credit: Secihti" width="629" height="273" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-2.jpg 976w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-2-300x130.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-2-768x333.jpg 768w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-2-629x273.jpg 629w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" />Solar panels in a community in the municipality of Ensenada, in the northwestern state of Baja California. The existing microgrid in that town provides electricity to the small community. Credit: Secihti</div>
More promises
The energy policy of president Claudia Sheinbaum, in office since October 1, has so far been marked more by proposals than by concrete actions, and Baja California is no exception to this dynamic.
Her government will allocate US$12.3 billion for electricity generation, US$7.5 billion for transmission infrastructure, and US$3.6 billion for decentralized photovoltaic production in homes.
The plan would add 21,893 MW to the national energy matrix, reaching 37.8% clean energy from the current 22.5%, so that the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) would hold 54% of the market, with the rest going to private and individual entities.
On August 26, the president announced the construction of two solar thermal plants in the state of Baja California Sur, which shares a peninsula with Baja California, with a public investment of US$800 million to generate more than 100 MW. The territory is also isolated from the national grid and suffers from a chronic energy deficit.
Solar thermal energy converts solar radiation into electricity using mirrors to generate steam and drive turbines, as well as enabling energy storage.
The CFE plans to tender phase II of the Puerto Peñasco photovoltaic plant, in the town of the same name in the northern state of Sonora, with a capacity of 300 MW and 10.3 MW of battery backup. The first 120 MW phase of this facility has been operating since 2023. Completed in 2026, it will contribute 1,000 MW at a cost of US$1.6 billion.
However, the Mexican government continues to promote fossil fuels, despite the urgency of phasing them out, as it seeks to strengthen the CFE and the state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos.
All of this impacts places such as Baja California, where 16 public and private power plants operate, with an installed capacity of 3,461 MW, including three wind farms with more than 300 MW of capacity and three solar farms with 50 MW.
The private company Sempra Infraestructura, a subsidiary of the US company Sempra, is building a wind farm with a capacity of 300 MW, which is expected to be operational in 2026. In addition, CFE operates a 340 MW geothermal plant.
Despite its shortcomings, the state exports around 1,100 MW to the neighboring US state of California and imports around 400 MW. Baja California could produce 6,550 MW of solar power, 3,495 MW of wind power, and 2,000 MW of geothermal power.
In addition, CFE is building two combined-cycle power plants in Baja California that burn gas and generate steam to drive turbines, which would reduce blackouts.
The country faces insufficient production to meet annual demand growth of about 4% and an obsolete power grid.
In the first half of 2025, the country generated 310.49 terawatt-hours, virtually the same as during the same period last year. Some sources, such as gas, hydroelectric, wind, and photovoltaic, increased, but others, such as thermoelectric and nuclear, decreased.
In Mexico, electricity generation depends mainly on fossil gas, followed by hydroelectricity and nuclear energy. Renewable sources have a capacity of 33,517 MW, but only contribute one-fifth of the electricity produced.
<div id="attachment_192212" style="width: 639px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192212" class="wp-image-192212" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-3.jpg" alt="Energy map of the northern Mexican state of Baja California. Electricity generation is not enough to meet growing demand, causing frequent blackouts. Credit: Government of Baja California" width="629" height="367" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-3.jpg 976w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-3-300x175.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-3-768x448.jpg 768w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Energia-solar-en-Mexico-3-629x367.jpg 629w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px" />Energy map of the northern Mexican state of Baja California. Electricity generation is not enough to meet growing demand, causing frequent blackouts. Credit: Government of Baja California</div>
New schemes
Baja California’s 2022-2027 Energy Program consists of four strategies, including providing access to electricity to remote communities and unregulated housing, as well as promoting the rapid transition to decarbonization and the use of clean energies.
In addition, it envisions eight outcomes, including the promotion of two annual microgrid power generation projects for isolated communities and a 3% increase in alternative electricity generation. However, there is no evidence of progress toward these goals.
If it so desired, the Mexican government could transform its national electricity subsidy of more than US$5 billion annually into distributed generation.
The <a href="https://www.mexicoevalua.org/mexicoevalua/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/pobreza-energetica-ok.pdf">Universal Electricity Service Fund</a> is a case in point. Intended to cover marginalized communities, available data indicate that it has covered more than 1,000 municipalities out of a total of 2,469, including two in Baja California, since 2019.
Velázquez proposed that these funds could finance solar panels and microgrids.
“Year after year, they give a subsidy, but if these families were provided with a photovoltaic system, it would solve the problem at its root. We need to look for more far-reaching measures; the actions have to be different,” he said.
In December 2023, during the climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mexico joined the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge, which consists of tripling alternative installed capacity and doubling the energy efficiency rate by 2030. In comparison, Sheinbaum’s plans fall short.
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<title>Inside Africa’s Big Bet on Youth to Feed the Continent and Who’s Actually Getting Funded</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/inside-africas-big-bet-on-youth-to-feed-the-continent-and-whos-actually-getting-funded/</link>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 12:17:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Chemtai Kirui</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Winnie Wambui leans forward on the panel stage, microphone in hand, scanning the room until she spots a raised hand. Everyone in the room wears headphones, each voice isolated so that discussions don’t clash with sessions in adjacent halls. A question cuts through: how did a student science project become a commercial business? At 24, […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="169" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Agripreneur-300x169.png" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Winnie Wambui, co-founder of Harcourt Agri-Eco Farm in Kenya, speaks to IPS outside the Dealroom at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2025, held at the Centre International de Conférences Abdou Diouf (CICAD) in Dakar, Senegal, September 4, 2025. Credit: Chemtai Kirui/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Agripreneur-300x169.png 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Agripreneur.png 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Winnie Wambui, co-founder of Harcourt Agri-Eco Farm in Kenya, speaks to IPS outside the Dealroom at the Africa Food Systems Forum 2025, held at the Centre International de Conférences Abdou Diouf (CICAD) in Dakar, Senegal, September 4, 2025. Credit: Chemtai Kirui/IPSBy Chemtai Kirui DAKAR, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) Winnie Wambui leans forward on the panel stage, microphone in hand, scanning the room until she spots a raised hand.
Everyone in the room wears headphones, each voice isolated so that discussions don’t clash with sessions in adjacent halls. A question cuts through: how did a student science project become a commercial business? 
At 24, Wambui, a Kenyan agripreneur, runs Harcourt Agri-Eco Farm, which recycles organic waste into animal feed using black soldier flies.
“Back then, I didn’t know it would become a farm or a business,” she said to a room of agripreneurs, researchers, and investors, describing her first experiments in 2022 as an energy engineering student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
Today, her eight-person team processes around 30 tonnes of waste each month and monitors the carbon emissions avoided.
The enterprise now generates at least USD 1,000 in monthly revenue, a modest but steady profit by Kenyan standards.
Inside the calm Knowledge Hub, on a panel organized by the<a href="https://www.icipe.org/"> International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe)</a>, Wambui tells her story to a dozen listeners in an intimate, almost subdued setting. But just outside, at the leafy Centre International de Conference’s Abdou Diouf (CICAD) in Dakar, Senegal, the atmosphere is charged.
Presidents, cabinet ministers, development banks, and agribusiness executives pace the halls at the annual <a href="https://afs-forum.org/">Africa Food Systems Forum (AFSF) 2025</a>, the continent’s flagship platform for agricultural policy and investment.
This year, the forum positioned youth at the center of Africa’s food security agenda.
Wambui is part of a new generation of innovative agripreneurs that governments and financiers promise to support.
For the first time, youth agripreneurs joined heads of state on the Forum’s opening stage, a symbolic gesture of recognition in a region where nearly 400 million people are under 35.
“Our median age is just 19. And by 2050, one in three young people in the world will be African,” said Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
He said that if given land, finance, technology and markets, the youths can feed not only Africa but also the world.
However, turning such vision into reality is where the continent struggles.
The <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en">African Development Bank (AfDB)</a> often says that Africa holds roughly 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, yet poor infrastructure, limited financing, and climate shocks keep much of it idle.
With the continent collectively importing approximately USD50 billion worth of food annually, according to the <a href="https://www.afreximbank.com/">African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank)</a>, the stakes are high.
At the national level, countries like Kenya continue to face hunger crises at emergency levels.
At the start of the year, the World Food Programme estimated that around two million people were experiencing acute hunger—a recurring crisis in a country with relatively better infrastructure and higher investment flows than many of its East African neighbors.
Experts say that despite localized crises, structural issues in African agriculture worsen food insecurity across the continent.
“We have relied on grants and aid to keep agriculture afloat, and this has made the agriculture sector stuck in a risk perception trap,” said Adesuwa Ifedi, Vice President of Africa Programs at Heifer International.
Ifedi said that commercial banks and investors avoid the sector, leaving grants to fill the gap. But grant dependence can undermine ventures in the eyes of private financiers.
“Grants should leverage commercial capital so the ecosystem can thrive,” Ifedi said.
This year’s Forum coincided with the recent African Union’s rollout of its Kampala <a href="https://au.int/en/documents/20241230/caadp-strategy-and-action-plan-2026-2035">Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Strategy & Action Plan (2026–2035)</a>, or CAADP 3.0.
The new 10-year plan aims to mobilize USD 100 billion in investment, raise farm output by 45 percent, cut post-harvest losses in half, triple intra-African agrifood trade by 2035, and place youth inclusion at the core of Africa’s food future under the AU’s Agenda 2063.
In Dakar, over 30 agriculture ministers gathered under the chairmanship of former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn Boshem, pledging to move beyond policy drafting toward delivering tangible results for agribusiness investment.
Their top priority, they said, was to shrink Africa’s food import bill by strengthening regional value chains.
Dr. Janet Edeme, head of the Rural Economy Division at the African Union Commission, told IPS that the Forum provides mechanisms to operationalize CAADP 3.0, aiming to empower at least 30 percent of youth in the agri-food sector while closing a USD 65–70 billion annual financing gap for agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises (agri-SMEs).
She said AFSF offers a rare opportunity for youthful agripreneurs to showcase bankable projects, access mentorship, and meet investors who would otherwise be out of reach.
“There are dedicated spaces—deal rooms, youth innovation competitions, investment roundtables—where these innovators can connect with governments, development finance institutions, and private investors,” said Edeme.
Organizers pointed to new spaces for youth to meet investors, but agripreneurs like Wambui said those opportunities felt distant.
She had never heard of the AU’s new flagship plan.
“I’m only hearing about that from you. If it’s meant to guide Africa’s food future, why aren’t there clear materials or programs I can see and use?” Wambui said. “Otherwise, we leave without knowing what strategies exist to support our work.”
By day two of the six-day forum, she had found her way into the deal room, the flagship space to connect entrepreneurs with investors, but instead of streamlined matchmaking, she found confusion.
“We are looking for the investors, and they’re looking for us—yet we don’t meet. Deals still depend on connections. That’s why I came to Dakar.”
Wambui, who co-founded Harcourt Agri-Eco Farm with two other partners, said the business has grown enough to cover wages, taxes, and debt repayments. Banks now extend her loans.
But that access to financing remains an exception in a system stacked against most, said Dr. Eklou Attiogbevi-Somado, the <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en">African Development Bank</a>’s Regional Manager for Agriculture and Agro-Industry in West Africa.
He said that AfDB data shows commercial banks in Africa channel just 3–4 percent of their lending into agriculture.
Dr. David Amudavi, CEO of Biovision Africa Trust, said this capital drought is a huge concern in a sector that drives most livelihoods on the continent.
Amudavi, whose non-profit organization promotes ecological agriculture, said that the squeeze leaves farmers, and especially young agripreneurs, struggling to access credit for starting or scaling their agribusinesses, even though nearly 60 percent of Africa’s unemployed are under 25.
“Without finance, many youth-led ventures stay stuck at micro-scale or collapse,” Amudavi said.
Not far from the Youth Dome, at the deal room, Tanzanian agripreneur Nelson Joseph Kisanga, the co-founder of Get Aroma Spices, is also navigating the same maze.
Seven years ago, he left a banking career to try poultry farming, losing almost everything in his first three years.
Kisanga regrouped, merged his venture with that of his wife, Deborah, also a young agripreneur, and built Get Aroma Spices, now working with more than 50,000 farmers across southern Tanzania.
“Agriculture back home is seen as not for young people,” he said. “Even now, scaling means loans at high interest rates. There’s no other way.”
The family-run company exports turmeric, ginger, cardamom, and avocado oil while operating a youth- and women-led agro-processing hub through a public-private partnership.
His presence at the AFSF forum has already borne fruit.
“My intention coming here was to break into the West African market, and I’m happy to say I have clinched a supply deal in Ghana. All that’s left is for the lawyers to finalize the contract.” Kisanga said, before moving to the Youth Dome, a separate pavilion for young participants.
Inside, some groups chatted, others played basketball and table tennis, while others listened as young agri-food innovators pitched their ideas to a panel of investors.
Despite the fanfare, the forum ended without revealing how much capital reached youth-led ventures.
The most visible funding for youth at the summit came via the GoGettaz Agripreneur Prize, a pan-African initiative under the Generation Africa movement. The prize awarded USD 50,000 each to Egypt’s Naglaa Mohammad, who turns agricultural waste into natural products, and Uganda’s Samuel Muyita, who uses nanotechnology to reduce post-harvest fruit and vegetable losses.
An additional USD 60,000 impact award brought total prizes to roughly USD 160,000.
Other announcements included a USD 6.7 million trade programme from the United Kingdom (UK), the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and the African Union (AU).
Senegal also launched a USD 22.5 million pilot for Community Agricultural Cooperatives, with financing linked to the African Food Systems Resilience Fund.
Yet there was no breakdown showing how much, if any, flowed to youth-led ventures.
The opacity mirrors past patterns.
Public summaries from the 2023 deal room reported only USD 3.5 million in closed investments, with no traceable flows to youth-led enterprises.
With AFSF positioned as Africa’s premier delivery platform, observers measured the announcements against CAADP 3.0’s USD 100 billion mobilization target, saying the gap is stark.
“We have seen this pattern before: big pledges at the summit, but little clarity or follow-up on how much actually reaches youth and smallholder farmers—the backbone of African food production,” said Famara Diédhiou, a Senegal-based food systems program manager with a regional civil society network.
“Without such accountability and inclusion of all stakeholders, these forums risk becoming mere showcases rather than platforms that deliver,” he said.
For now, even with the youth-first theme, AFSF still leaves young founders stuck in the same cycle of chasing visibility, hustling for contacts, and stitching together their own contracts.
As Wambui found, Kisanga, who has attended three previous Forums, said that in AFSF access is everything: you need to know in advance who to meet and be in the right room at the right moment.
“All visibility is currency,” said Kisanga. “That’s how you survive.”
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<title>Why Collective Healing is Central to Peacebuilding</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 09:04:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Sania Farooqui</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Wars and oppression leave behind not just rubble and graves. They leave behind invisible wounds, profound trauma carried by survivors. And most often, women carry the largest burden. They are targeted not only because of their gender, but because surviving and leading threaten structures based on patriarchy and domination. In an interview with IPS Inter […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[By Sania Farooqui BENGALURU, India, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) Wars and oppression leave behind not just rubble and graves. They leave behind invisible wounds, profound trauma carried by survivors. And most often, women carry the largest burden. They are targeted not only because of their gender, but because surviving and leading threaten structures based on patriarchy and domination. 

<div id="attachment_192223" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192223" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Mozn-Hassan.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="313" class="size-full wp-image-192223" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Mozn-Hassan.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Mozn-Hassan-288x300.jpg 288w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Mozn Hassan</div>In an interview with IPS Inter Press News, Egyptian feminist, peace builder and founder of Nazra for Feminist Studies, Mozn Hassan speaks about a question she has spent decades grappling with, why are women always attacked in times of conflict? Her response is sober, because women hold the potential to rebuild life.
“Violence against women is never accidental,” Hassan explains. “It is systematic. It’s about control, silencing, and making sure women do not have the tools to stand up, to resist, to create alternative futures.”
In <a href="https://social.desa.un.org/sdn/inside-the-crisis-you-dont-see-how-war-impacts-womens-mental-health" target="_blank">this report</a> by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the percentage of women killed in armed conflict doubled in 2024, accounting for 40 percent of all civilian casualties. “Over 600 million women and girls live in conflict-affected areas, a 50 percent increase since 2017.” The report points out that nearly every person exposed to a humanitarian crisis suffers from psychological distress, and 1 in 5 people go on to develop long term mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. “Only 2 percent get the care they need”.
The matter of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) has been brought up during the previous two reviews of the UN peacebuilding architecture (2020 and 2024) mentioned in <a href="https://theglobalobservatory.org/2025/08/why-peacebuilding-must-include-mental-health-and-psychosocial-support/" target="_blank">this report</a> of the International Peace Institute, “a peaceful society cannot exist if psychological impacts of war (such as grief, depression, stress and trauma) are left unaddressed in individuals, families and communities.”
Hassan has been a pioneer in the application of <a href="https://www.choosingtherapy.com/narrative-exposure-therapy/" target="_blank">narrative exposure therapy</a> (NET) among women in refugee camps and war zones. In contrast to other therapy models that concentrate on one-on-one psychological treatment, through NET she pushes for collective healing ans solidarity. 
“Narrative exposure therapy is one of the tools of community psychology. It puts collective trauma-informed therapy higher than individual approaches,” she explains. “Being within collective spaces brings sharing of experiences, solidarities, and makes the community itself resilient. They can go through this afterward by themselves, they don’t need another, more educated person in a power dynamic over them.”
The approach, according to Mozn, has shown to be successful in dealing with Syrian, Palestinian, and Lebanese women in refugee camps in Lebanon and Turkey. Through five- or six-day workshops, participants narrate and re-narrate their stories, building strength on each other while creating knowledge and data on the realities of war. 
Hassan remembers how women in camps, frequently from various ethnic or religious minorities, drew strength not just from sharing their own experiences but from hearing others. In this way, they developed resilience where there should have been none. “But when it’s collective, people are not left alone with their pain. They gain tools, they gain solidarity, and they gain resilience.”
Hassan points out that trauma is not a monolithic experience: “Studies show that only 20–25% of people who face trauma develop PTSD. One of the misconceptions has been that everyone who experiences trauma must have PTSD, it’s not true. Collective approaches make interventions more applicable and save resources, which are always limited for women.”
Above all, NET has given strength and mechanisms to these women to move forward. “Trauma doesn’t happen overnight, it’s an accumulation. Healing is the same. It’s not about saying: I was sick, and now I’m healed. Healing is a process. When you are triggered, you shouldn’t go back to the first point. You can have your own tools to say: I don’t want to be this version of myself while I was facing trauma,” she reflects.
For Hassan, one of the key questions of feminist peacebuilding is why women are so typically assaulted in war, revolution, and even in so-called peacetimes. 
“We must stop thinking about peacebuilding only in the traditional way, only when there is open war,” she argues. “Patriarchy, militarization, securitization, and societal violence are all forms of violence that normalize abuse every day. Stability is not the same as peace.”
She points to Egypt as an example. While the country has not witnessed a civil war like Syria or Sudan, it does have <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/circles-of-hell-domestic-public-and-state-violence-against-women-in-egypt/" target="_blank">systemic gender-based violence</a>: “Egypt has more than 100 million people, half of them women. Official statistics say domestic violence is more than 60%, sexual harassment more than 98%. Femicide is rising. This is the production of collective trauma and acceptance of violence.”
The <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/egypt-after-2011-revolution" target="_blank">2011 revolution</a>, she remembers, brought these dynamics into sharp focus: “What we saw in Tahrir Square, the gang rapes, the mass assaults, was the production of societal violence. Years of harassment and normalization led to an explosion of gender-based violence that was then denied.”
Hassan’s warning is stark: the absence of bombs does not mean peace. “As long as you are not bombed by another country, people say you don’t need peace because you live in peace. But the absence of war is not peace.”
Healing, for Hassan, cannot be separated from politics and accountability. She rejects the idea that healing means forgetting.
“Forgiveness or letting go needs a process. Many people cannot sit at the same table with those who hurt them personally. But maybe it’s not our generation who will forgive. Maybe we can at least leave to others a better daily life than we lived,” she says.
Accountability, she argues, is a requirement for stability. “You couldn’t reach stability while people are thinking only about revenge. Collective healing in Egypt is important, but it also needs accountability, acceptance, and structural change.”
She also criticizes the tendency to depoliticize feminist movements: “Our definition of politics is not only about being in parliament. It is about feminist politics as tools for change everywhere. Too often feminists were pushed to say ‘we are not political.’ That sidelined many women who were engaging directly in politics.”
In spite of repression and trauma, Hassan says that women remain incredibly resilient. What they need most is recognition and tangible support to rebuild their lives and societies.
“The amazing tools of women on resilience gives me hope. I saw it so clearly with Syrian women, leaving everything, rebuilding societies, changing everywhere they go. Their accumulation of resilience is what gives me hope,” she says.
However, Mozn is wary of the narrative that glorifies women’s strength without addressing its costs. “We shouldn’t have to be strong all the time. We should be free, and lead lives where we can just be happy without strength and grit. But unfortunately, the times we live in demand resilience.”
Mozn Hassan’s words make us question what peace actually is. It is not merely ceasefires or agreements, but a challenge to deal with patriarchy, violence, and trauma at its core. Healing is political, accountability matters, and rebuilding with women is imperative. As she says: “Maybe it’s not our generation who will see forgiveness, but we can try to leave to others a better daily life than we lived.”
Her vision is both sobering and optimistic: peace will not be arriving tomorrow, but as long as women keep building resilience and insisting upon self-respect, the way to it is not yet closed. 
<iframe loading="lazy" width="630" height="262" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4PU21VfEQF4" title="Sania Farooqui in Conversation with Mozn Hassan" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Sania Farooqui is an independent journalist, host of The Peace Brief, a platform dedicated to amplifying women’s voices in peacebuilding and human rights. Sania has previously worked with CNN, Al Jazeera and TIME. 
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<title>AI Governance: Human Rights in the Balance As Tech Giants and Authoritarians Converge</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 04:57:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Samuel King</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Algorithms decide who lives and dies in Gaza. AI-powered surveillance tracks journalists in Serbia. Autonomous weapons are paraded through Beijing’s streets in displays of technological might. This isn’t dystopian fiction – it’s today’s reality. As AI reshapes the world, the question of who controls this technology and how it’s governed has become an urgent priority. […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="155" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Suriya-Phosri_-300x155.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Suriya-Phosri_-300x155.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Suriya-Phosri_.jpg 601w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Credit: Suriya Phosri/Getty Images via Gallo ImagesBy Samuel King BRUSSELS, Belgium, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) Algorithms <a href="https://lens.civicus.org/interview/the-lesson-from-gaza-is-clear-when-ai-powered-machines-control-who-lives-human-rights-die/" target="_blank">decide who lives and dies</a> in Gaza. AI-powered surveillance tracks <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/03/serbia-birn-journalists-targeted-with-pegasus-spyware/" target="_blank">journalists in Serbia</a>. Autonomous weapons are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr1reyr059o" target="_blank">paraded</a> through Beijing’s streets in displays of technological might. This isn’t dystopian fiction – it’s today’s reality. As AI reshapes the world, the question of who controls this technology and how it’s governed has become an urgent priority.

AI’s reach extends into surveillance systems that can track protesters, disinformation campaigns that can destabilise democracies and military applications that dehumanise conflict by removing human agency from life-and-death decisions. This is enabled by an absence of adequate safeguards.
Governance failings
Last month, the UN General Assembly adopted a <a href="https://docs.un.org/en/A/79/l.118" target="_blank">resolution</a> to establish the first international mechanisms – an Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance – meant to govern the technology, agreed as part of the <a href="https://lens.civicus.org/interview/the-global-digital-compact-could-have-been-stronger-on-human-rights-and-accountability-particularly-in-relation-to-big-tech/" target="_blank">Global Digital Compact</a> at the <a href="https://lens.civicus.org/un-summit-of-the-future-too-much-at-stake-to-waste/" target="_blank">Summit of the Future</a> in September. This non-binding resolution marked a first positive step towards potential stronger regulations. But its negotiation process revealed deep geopolitical fractures.
Through its Global AI Governance Initiative, China champions a state-led approach that entirely excludes civil society from governance discussions, while <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/reading-between-the-lines-of-the-dueling-us-and-chinese-ai-action-plans/" target="_blank">positioning itself</a> as a leader of the global south. It frames AI development as a tool for economic advancement and social objectives, presenting this vision as an alternative to western technological dominance.
Meanwhile, the USA under Donald Trump has embraced <a href="https://theloop.ecpr.eu/us-assertiveness-chinas-globalism-and-the-emerging-ai-governance-race/" target="_blank">technonationalism</a>, treating AI as a tool for economic and geopolitical leverage. Recent decisions, including a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-says-us-levy-100-tariff-imported-chips-some-firms-exempt-2025-08-07/" target="_blank">100 per cent tariff</a> on imported AI chips and purchase of a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/22/tech/trump-intel-10-percent-stake" target="_blank">10 per cent stake</a> in chipmaker Intel, signal a retreat from multilateral cooperation in favour of transactional bilateral arrangements.
The European Union (EU) has taken a <a href="https://www.compliancehub.wiki/global-ai-law-snapshot-a-comparative-overview-of-ai-regulations-in-the-eu-china-and-the-usa/" target="_blank">different approach</a>, implementing the world’s first comprehensive <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32024R1689" target="_blank">AI Act</a>, which comes into force in August 2026. Its risk-based regulatory framework represents progress, banning AI systems deemed to present ‘unacceptable’ risks while requiring transparency measures for others. Yet the legislation contains troubling gaps.
While initially proposing to ban live facial recognition technology unconditionally, the AI Act’s final version permits limited use with safeguards that human rights groups <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/eu-blocs-decision-to-not-ban-public-mass-surveillance-in-ai-act-sets-a-devastating-global-precedent/" target="_blank">argue</a> are inadequate. Further, while emotion recognition technologies are banned in schools and workplaces, they remain permitted for law enforcement and immigration control, a particularly concerning decision given existing systems’ <a href="https://onezero.medium.com/aggression-detection-is-coming-to-facial-recognition-cameras-around-the-world-90f73ff65c7f" target="_blank">documented racial bias</a>. The <a href="https://protectnotsurveil.eu/" target="_blank">ProtectNotSurveil</a> coalition has warned that migrants and Europe’s racial minorities are serving as testing grounds for AI-powered surveillance and tracking tools. Most critically, the AI Act exempts systems used for national security purposes and <a href="https://lens.civicus.org/interview/the-lesson-from-gaza-is-clear-when-ai-powered-machines-control-who-lives-human-rights-die/" target="_blank">autonomous drones</a> used in warfare.
The growing climate and environmental impacts of AI development adds another layer of urgency to governance questions. Interactions with AI chatbots consume <a href="https://www.polytechnique-insights.com/en/columns/energy/generative-ai-energy-consumption-soars/" target="_blank">roughly 10 times more</a> electricity than standard internet searches. The <a href="https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/energy-demand-from-ai" target="_blank">International Energy Agency</a> projects that global data centre electricity consumption will more than double by 2030, with AI driving most of this increase. Microsoft’s emissions have grown <a href="https://www.npr.com/2024/07/12/g-s1-9545/ai-brings-soaring-emissions-for-google-and-microsoft-a-major-contributor-to-climate-change" target="_blank">by 29 per cent</a> since 2020 due to AI-related infrastructure, while Google quietly <a href="https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/google-quietly-removes-net-zero-carbon-goal-from-website-amid-rapid-power-hungry-ai-data-center-buildout-industry-first-sustainability-pledge-moved-to-background-amidst-ai-energy-crisis" target="_blank">removed its net-zero emissions pledge</a> from its website as AI operations pushed its carbon footprint up <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c51yvz51k2xo" target="_blank">48 per cent</a> between 2019 and 2023. AI expansion is driving construction of new gas-powered plants and delaying plans to decommission coal facilities, in direct contradiction to the need to end fossil fuel use to limit global temperature rises.
Champions needed
The current patchwork of regional regulations, non-binding international resolutions and lax industry self-regulation falls far short of what’s needed to govern a technology with such profound global implications. State self-interest continues to prevail over collective human needs and universal rights, while the companies that own AI systems accumulate immense power largely unchecked.
The path forward requires an acknowledgment that AI governance isn’t merely a technical or economic issue – it’s about power distribution and accountability. Any regulatory framework that fails to confront the concentration of AI capabilities in the hands of a few tech giants will inevitably fall short. Approaches that exclude civil society voices or prioritise national competitive advantage over human rights protections will prove inadequate to the challenge.
The international community must urgently strengthen AI governance mechanisms, starting with binding agreements on lethal autonomous weapons systems that have <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/01/03/killer-robots-un-vote-should-spur-action-treaty" target="_blank">stalled in UN discussions</a> for over a decade. The EU should close the loopholes in its AI Act, particularly regarding military applications and surveillance technologies. Governments worldwide need to establish coordination mechanisms that can effectively counter tech giants’ control over AI development and deployment.
Civil society must not stand alone in this fight. Any hopes of a shift towards human rights-centred AI governance depend on champions emerging within the international system to prioritise human rights over narrowly defined national interests and corporate profits. With AI development accelerating rapidly, there’s no time to waste.
Samuel King is a researcher with the Horizon Europe-funded research project <a href="https://www.ensuredeurope.eu/" target="_blank">ENSURED: Shaping Cooperation for a World in Transition</a> at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.
For interviews or more information, please contact <a href="mailto:research@civicus.org" target="_blank">research@civicus.org</a>
 
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<title>South-South Cooperation: Innovation and Solidarity for a Better Tomorrow</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 04:12:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Omar Hilale and Dima Al-Khatib</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[As the United Nations commemorated the UN Day for South-South Cooperation last Friday, we are reminded that solidarity among the countries of the Global South is not just a matter of history or principle, but a proven pathway to building a fairer, more sustainable future. This year’s commemoration took place at a defining moment. We […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="225" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Stakeholders-in-an-India_-300x225.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Participants at the AfDB pavilion at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Stakeholders-in-an-India_-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Stakeholders-in-an-India_-200x149.jpg 200w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Stakeholders-in-an-India_.jpg 475w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Stakeholders in an India-UN Development Partnership Fund project in Fiji, focusing on developing a climate disaster risk financing framework and parametric insurance.
   
In recognition of the continued importance of South-South cooperation, the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 58/220, endorsed the observation of the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. 12 September marks the adoption of the 1978 Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA), a pivotal framework for technical cooperation among developing countries.By Omar Hilale and Dima Al-Khatib NEW YORK, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) As the United Nations commemorated the UN Day for South-South Cooperation last Friday, we are reminded that solidarity among the countries of the Global South is not just a matter of history or principle, but a proven pathway to building a fairer, more sustainable future.

This year’s commemoration took place at a defining moment. 
We are past the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda, yet global progress is lagging. More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty. Many developing countries continue to spend more on debt servicing than on essential public services like health, education, or infrastructure. 
At the same time, shared crises – climate change, food insecurity, digital divides, conflict, and systemic inequalities – are colliding and compounding what the Secretary-General has called a polycrisis.
And yet, South-South and triangular cooperation are emerging as beacons of resilience and collective action. They are not abstract concepts, but vibrant modalities driving innovation, scaling tested solutions, and ensuring ownership by the communities most affected by today’s challenges. They show us that every nation – regardless of income level – has something to contribute to our common future.
Across the Global South, we see powerful examples of solutions that are both home-grown and widely adaptable. Through peer-to-peer learning and solidarity, countries are advancing digital transformation, expanding access to health coverage, creating resilient food systems, and mobilizing innovative financing such as blended finance, debt swaps, and impact investments. 
Triangular cooperation – where Southern-led initiatives are complemented by the expertise of developed-country partners or multilateral actors – is amplifying these results, connecting experiences across regions and continents.
UNOSSC is providing best practices, offering peer-to-peer learning and innovation to connect and scale these efforts. Our <a href="https://southsouth-galaxy.org/" target="_blank">South-South Galaxy</a> makes tested solutions accessible to policymakers, practitioners, and development partners worldwide. 
These range from climate adaptation strategies in Small Island Developing States to sustainable agriculture innovations in Africa and Latin America. Our new <a href="https://southsouth-galaxy.org/sstc-solutions-lab" target="_blank">South-South and Triangular Cooperation Solutions Lab</a> is incubating promising ideas and linking them with partners and financing mechanisms to achieve impact at scale.
But we must go further. At the <a href="https://unsouthsouth.org/our-work/policy-and-intergovernmental-support/high-level-committee-on-south-south-cooperation/22nd-session/" target="_blank">22nd Session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation</a> earlier this year, Member States made clear that the financing gap remains a critical obstacle. They called for sustained, predictable resources — and for the UN system itself to design innovative financing windows that align with the scale of ambition required.
Meeting this call to action is essential if South-South and triangular cooperation are to reach their full potential. As the primary intergovernmental body guiding South-South cooperation within the United Nations, the High-level Committee plays a vital role in shaping global policies, mobilizing political will, and ensuring that the voices of the Global South are heard at the highest levels. Its leadership is indispensable to driving collective action and fostering equitable partnerships.
The theme of the 2025 United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation – New Opportunities and Innovation through South-South and Triangular Cooperation – resonated deeply. It reflected the choice before us: to recommit and reimagine partnerships that leave no one behind, and to harness the creativity, leadership, and resilience of the Global South to transform today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities.
As we marked this Day, we called on all partners and stakeholders – governments, international institutions, the UN family, civil society, and the private sector – to join hands in strengthening South-South and triangular cooperation. We must scale up what works, deepen cross-regional ties, and invest in institutional architecture that enables collaboration, innovation, and resilience.
The stakes could not be higher. But with an economically empowered and innovative Global South, we can pave the way toward a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future.
As we marked the United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation last week, let us celebrate the spirit of solidarity that unites us – and let us recommit to making it the force that carries us forward to 2030 and beyond.
Omar Hilale is Ambassador of Morocco and President of the 22nd session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation; and Dima Al-Khatib is Director of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation.
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>NGOs on a Virtual Blacklist at UN High-Level Meetings of World Leaders</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Sep 2025 03:45:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Thalif Deen</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[When the high-level meeting of over 150 world political leaders takes place September 22-30, thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their accredited UN representatives will either be banned from the UN premises or permitted into the building on a strictly restricted basis– as it happens every year. This year will not be an exception to […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="156" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/International-Campaign-to-Abolish_-300x156.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/International-Campaign-to-Abolish_-300x156.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/International-Campaign-to-Abolish_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in over 100 countries promoting adherence to, and implementation of, the United Nations nuclear weapons ban treaty. Credit: ICANBy Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Sep 15 2025 (IPS) When the high-level meeting of over 150 world political leaders takes place September 22-30, thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their accredited UN representatives will either be banned from the UN premises or permitted into the building on a strictly restricted basis– as it happens every year.

This year will not be an exception to the rule.
In a message to staffers, journalists and NGOs last week—spelling out the rigid ground rules during the summit– the UN said members of civil society organizations (CSOs) and NGOs who are invited to attend high-level meetings or other events will be required to be in possession of a valid NGO pass– and a special event ticket (indicating a specific meeting, date and time) at all times to access the premises. 
“A United Nations non-governmental organization (NGO) pass alone does not grant access during the week of 22–30 September 2025”, the message warned
These restrictions have continued despite the significant role played by NGOs both at the UN and worldwide.
A former UN Secretary-General, the late Kofi Annan (1997-2006), once characterized NGOs as ”the world’s third superpower.” 
And a former Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro (2007-2012) told delegates at a UN meeting, the United Nations relies on its partnership with the NGO community “in virtually everything the world body does”.
“Whether it is peace-building in sub-Saharan Africa or human rights in Latin America, disaster assistance in the Caribbean or de-mining efforts in the Middle East, the United Nations depends upon the advocacy skills, creative resources and grass-roots reach of civil society organizations in all our work,” she said, paying a compliment to NGOs. 
The NGOs playing a significant role in humanitarian assistance include Oxfam, CARE International, Doctors Without Borders, International Committee of the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, Save the Children, Action Against Hunger, among others, 
During an event marking the 75th anniversary of the UN Charter in 2020, the current Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said civil society groups were a vital voice at the San Francisco Conference (where the UN was inaugurated 80 years ago).
“You have been with us across the decades, in refugee camps, in conference rooms, and in mobilizing communities in streets and town squares across the world.”
“You are with us today as we face the COVID-19 pandemic. You are our allies in upholding human rights and battling racism. You are indispensable partners in forging peace, pushing for climate action, advancing gender equality, delivering life-saving humanitarian aid and controlling the spread of deadly weapons”.
“And the world’s framework for shared progress, the Sustainable Development Goals, is unthinkable without you”, he declared.
But none of these platitudes have changed a longstanding UN policy of restricting NGO access to the UN during high-level meetings. 
The annual ritual where civil society members are treated as political and social outcasts has always triggered strong protests. The United Nations justifies the restriction primarily for “security reasons”.
Currently there are over 6,400 NGOs in active consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 
<a href="https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/cosp/list-of-non-governmental-organization-accredited-to-the-conference-of-states" target="_blank">https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/cosp/list-of-non-governmental-organization-accredited-to-the-conference-of-states</a>
Mandeep S. Tiwana, Secretary General, CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations, told IPS: “It’s really disappointing to see how year on year, civil society representatives who help the UN achieve its mandate, share its values and provide vital entry points to peoples’ needs and aspirations, are systemically excluded from the UN’s premises during UNGA week despite possessing valid annual security passes that are thoroughly vetted.”
 Such blanket prohibitions on civil society representatives’ entry to the UN when momentous decisions and contentious debates are taking place are a missed opportunity to engage decision makers, he said. 
“Such asymmetries in participation are the reason why many of us have been pushing for the appointment of a civil society envoy at the UN to enable better and more systemic involvement of civil society at the UN, ensure consistent engagement modalities across the UN system and drive the UN’s outreach to people around the world”.
“Despite, the UN Charter beginning with the words, ‘We the Peoples’, our call has fallen on deaf ears. It is well within the UN Secretary General’s power to appoint a civil society envoy that could be a legacy achievement, if realized,“ declared Tiwana.
Mads Christensen, Executive Director, Greenpeace International, told IPS: “We continue to believe in the UN and multilateralism as essential to achieving a green and peaceful future. Those in frontline communities and small island states most impacted by climate change must have their voices heard, as must young people whose very future is being decided. “
“We the peoples”, the opening words of the UN Charter, must not be reduced to “stakeholders consulted.” Civil society needs to be “in the room where it happens,” said Christensen.
Sanam B. Anderlini, Founder of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), told IPS: “I find the exclusion or NGOs from UNGA ironic and tragic.”
Globally, she pointed out, “ We have raised the alarm bells about conflict, human rights abuses, the desecration of international law. Our sector is also the strongest of supporters for the UN system itself.” 
“We believe in the power and potential of multilateralism, and the need for a robust UN that adheres to the principles of peace and human security. Yet the system does not stand with us. “
Today more than ever, she argued, civil society globally is under pressure, politically, financially, systematically. “Yet we still persist with doing ‘what we can’ to address societal needs – as first responders to humanitarian crises, mitigating violence”. 
As the powerful abrogate their responsibilities, the least powerful are taking on that responsibility to protect. 
The UN should be embracing and enabling this sector’s participation at UNGA. Just as civil society is a champion of the UN, the UN should be a champion of civil society. Yet it seems that ‘We the People of the United Nations’ are not only being marginalized but over-securitized. How many security checks, how many grounds passes does each person need?, she asked. 
“How tragic that those of us advocating for peace and justice are outside of the halls of power, while those waging wars, enabling genocide and trampling international laws are inside”.
“But we will be there. If our voices are absent within the UN, that absence itself will speak louder than any words”, she declared.
Andreas Bummel, Executive Director, Democracy Without Borders, told IPS: “The UN should resist efforts by authoritarian states to delegitimize and shut out affiliated civil society groups.” 
As the organization is under dramatic pressure to implement cost-cutting reforms, seen in the UN80 initiative, he said, it really needs to seek stronger engagement with civil society, citizens, and the public at large, not less. 
Not admitting NGO representatives during the UNGA general debate is another lost opportunity to make a mark, declared Bummel. 
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>Africa Calls for Homegrown Climate Solutions in Just Transition</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/africa-calls-for-homegrown-climate-solutions-in-just-transition/</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 08:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Isaiah Esipisu</dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[African climate negotiators and civil society organizations at the second Africa Climate Summit (ACS 2) have called on governments to include sustainable farming approaches and other Africa-led solutions in their revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Adaptation Plans (NAP) ahead of COP 30, as the only way to have their priorities on the global […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Ann-Maina-of-BIBA-addressing-the-media-at-the-Africa-Climate-Summit-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Ann Maina of BIBA addressing the media at the Africa Climate Summit. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Ann-Maina-of-BIBA-addressing-the-media-at-the-Africa-Climate-Summit-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Ann-Maina-of-BIBA-addressing-the-media-at-the-Africa-Climate-Summit.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Ann Maina of BIBA addressing the media at the Africa Climate Summit. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPSBy Isaiah Esipisu ADDIS ABABA, Sep 12 2025 (IPS) African climate negotiators and civil society organizations at the second Africa Climate Summit (ACS 2) have called on governments to include sustainable farming approaches and other Africa-led solutions in their revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Adaptation Plans (NAP) ahead of COP 30, as the only way to have their priorities on the global climate negotiation agenda.
NDCs are climate action plans submitted to the UNFCCC by individual countries under the Paris Agreement, outlining their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, while NAPs outline how countries will adapt to climate change in the medium and long term. 
“Most of the issues we discuss in the negotiation rooms carry political inclinations and economic implications,” said Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, the Lead of Ghana’s delegation at the UNFCCC climate negotiation conferences and the incoming Chair for the Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN).
“If we fail to prioritize sustainable farming practices and other innovations through our NDCs and NAPs, the developed nations will happily keep the status quo because Africa remains an important market for their farm inputs, particularly fertilizers, pesticides, and fossil fuel-powered machinery, among other items,” said Amoah.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed backed this call, saying that Africa must lead in championing its solutions.
“We are not here to negotiate our survival; we are here to design the world’s next climate economy,” he told delegates at the ACS2, ahead of the 30th round of climate negotiations (COP 30) later this year in Belem, Brazil.
According to Ann Maina of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association (BIBA), such solutions include advancing food sovereignty by rejecting exploitative industrial animal agriculture, rejecting high use of synthetic fertilizers, rejecting the grabbing of Africa’s resources in the name of greening projects, and rejecting carbon markets that come at the expense of communities while opening up polluting opportunities, especially for the Global North.
“Having Africa-led solutions will encourage just transition, which will lead to decentralized energy that should power agroecology, territorial markets, and resilient livelihoods, breaking (away from) dependence on imported fossil fuels and exploitative ‘green grabs,’” she said.
“If we make the right choices now, Africa can be the first continent to industrialize without destroying its ecosystems,” reiterated Ethiopia’s Prime Minister.
Evidence-based studies consistently show that the most viable and sustainable farming practice in Africa is the use of agroecological approaches, which emphasizeecological balance, social equity and cultural integration, thereby presenting viable strategic opportunities to address impacts of climate change while supporting sustainable development.
Yet, the progress has been very slow. A recent report by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in all 53 African countries reveals that integration of agroecology into the NDCs and NAPS across the continent remains alarmingly low, with only 22 percent of NDCs explicitly mentioning agroecology.
“This study exposes a critical gap in policy integration and calls on all industry players to act with urgency,” said Dr. Million Belay, AFSA General Coordinator. “Agroecology is not just a farming method; it is a bold climate solution rooted in African realities, which governments should be promoting instead of working towards subsidizing harmful chemical farm inputs.”
Some of the inputs, particularly pesticides exported to Africa, are banned in countries of their origin due to their negative impact on human health, environment and important insects.
According to Amoah, recognizing agroecology at the UNFCCC level will require up to 50 countries to explicitly include it in their NDCs. “Without a deliberate and united push for sustainable farming approaches for Africa, I can foresee very serious resistance from developed countries because while such approaches benefit African economies and food systems, they are a threat to economic and political interests in the global north,” he said.
The AFSA report shows that incorporating agroecology into NDCs and NAPs, supports the dual goals of adaptation and mitigation by enhancing carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and fostering climate-resilient farming systems.
So far, Africa has consistently faced a lack of adequate finance to meet the costs of adaptation. Less than two percent of global climate finance reaches small-scale actors in the entire food system.
According to the African negotiators, financing projects that foster business interests of developed countries will always be accepted in the negotiation rooms without much struggle, unlike approaches like agroecology, for which negotiators from the global north often demand evidence—just to frustrate the process.
“As followers of agroecology, we need to be very strategic because negotiations are about consensus building,” said Amoah. “It is one thing to talk about a subject and another thing to convince other parties to accept it.”
So far, African countries are in the process of updating their NDCs to be submitted to the UNFCCC probably ahead of COP 30. “AFSA is currently working with individual African countries towards integrating agroecology into their NDCs,” said Belay.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>UN Warns of Escalating Humanitarian Emergency in Haiti As Armed Gang Violence and Aid Deepen Crisis</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/un-warns-of-escalating-humanitarian-emergency-in-haiti-as-armed-gang-violence-and-aid-deepen-crisis/</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 07:56:01 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Oritro Karim</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[In recent months, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to exert dominance over nearly 90 percent of the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Rising violence, the collapse of essential services for millions, and severe cuts to humanitarian funding have left the international community struggling to provide immediate […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Catherine-Russell_-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Catherine-Russell_-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Catherine-Russell_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, briefs the Security Council meeting on the current humanitarian situation in Haiti. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder DebebeBy Oritro Karim UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 2025 (IPS) In recent months, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to exert dominance over nearly 90 percent of the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Rising violence, the collapse of essential services for millions, and severe cuts to humanitarian funding have left the international community struggling to provide immediate relief and find a sustainable, long-term solution.

Figures from the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (<a href="https://binuh.unmissions.org/en/haiti-least-1520-people-killed-violence-during-second-quarter-2025" target="_blank">BINUH</a>) show that the security situation in Port-Au-Prince remained volatile in the second quarter of 2025, with hostilities rising outside the capital as well. It is estimated that between April 1 and June 30, at least 1,520 civilians were killed and 609 injured, primarily in the Port-Au-Prince metropolitan area, followed by Artibonite and the Centre Department.
Furthermore, roughly 12 percent of civilian casualties were a result of violent clashes between gang members and self-defense groups and civilians linked to the Bwa-Kalé movement. Approximately 73 percent of the summary executions recorded during this period involved members of the police force and the government commissioner of Miragoâne.
During a UN Security Council session on the ongoing situation in Haiti on August. 28, the United Nations Children’s Fund (<a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-remarks-security-council-open-debate" target="_blank">UNICEF</a>) Executive Director Catherine Russell addressed the UN Security Council on the worsening impact of gang violence on the children of Haiti. According to Russell, in the first quarter of 2025 there has been a 54 percent increase in killing and maiming and a 25 percent increase in human rights violations when compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Additionally, Russell noted that the introduction of new armed coalitions and “more sophisticated technology”, such as explosive weapons, has intensified violent clashes and led to additional civilian casualties. According to BINUH, approximately 64 percent of civilian casualties were killed during security force operations against armed gangs, with 15 percent of these victims being innocent civilians that were in their homes or on the street. 
<a href="https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2025-08-28/secretary-generals-remarks-the-security-council-haiti-trilingual-delivered-scroll-down-for-all-english-and-all-french?_gl=1*p8g6j3*_ga*MjA4NTI3Njg1OC4xNzIxNjk5NTYw*_ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*czE3NTcwOTA2NzgkbzQ1MiRnMSR0MTc1NzA5MzI2MyRqNjAkbDAkaDA.*_ga_S5EKZKSB78*czE3NTcwOTIwMDQkbzI0MyRnMSR0MTc1NzA5MjkzOCRqNTAkbDAkaDA." target="_blank">UN Secretary-General António Guterres</a> informed the Security Council that roughly six million Haitians are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The latest figures from the UN show that nearly 1.3 million Haitians have been displaced throughout the country as a result of rampant violence, half of them being children.
Armed groups continue to obstruct humanitarian access, causing a near total collapse of essential services across Haiti. As a result, millions are left without adequate healthcare, while attacks on schools have disrupted the education of approximately 243,000 children. Approximately 1.7 million people are at risk of receiving no humanitarian assistance at all. According to Guterres, Haiti now ranks among the top five highest-concern hunger hotspots worldwide and remains the world’s least-funded humanitarian appeal. Figures from the World Food Programme (<a href="https://www.wfp.org/countries/haiti" target="_blank">WFP</a>) show that roughly 5.7 million Haitians are facing acute hunger, with 2 million facing emergency levels of food insecurity.
UNICEF estimates that there has been a nearly 700 percent increase in the rate of child recruitments, with children estimated to make up roughly 50 percent of all gang members. Russell notes that these figures only account for the cases that the UN has been able to verify, with the true number of violations estimated to be much higher. 
“Children are being forced into combat roles, directly participating in armed confrontations,” said Russell. “Others are being used as couriers, lookouts, porters to carry weapons, or are exploited for domestic labor – roles that expose them to grave and lasting physical and psychological harm”. 
During the second quarter of 2025, BINUH recorded 185 kidnappings and 628 cases of gender-based violence. A significant portion of these violations involved gang rapes, with BINUH also highlighting the widespread persistence of sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, and child trafficking in Haiti.
According to Stéphane Dujarric, UN Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, one in seven gender-based violence survivors is a girl under 18. Roughly half of these incidents involve internally displaced people, with only a quarter being able to access medical care within a 48-hour window. Severe social stigma and an overwhelming lack of resources often prevent the vast majority of victims from accessing psychosocial support and justice.
The worsening crisis has been compounded by a significant reduction in international funding, particularly from the U.S., which has historically been Haiti’s largest donor. In 2025, budget cuts from the Trump administration resulted in a substantial scaling back of U.S. foreign assistance to Haiti, forcing several humanitarian organizations to suspend or reduce lifesaving operations. 
“These cuts to peacekeeping funds not only undermine the administration’s plans to help stabilize Haiti, they jeopardize the global response to conflicts around the world, and they are counter to the law,” said Congressman and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks. 
On August 28, acting U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Dorothy Shea announced that the United States is seeking UN authorization for a new gang suppression force. The proposal would transform the Kenya-led multinational mission—widely criticized as ineffective—into a 5,500-strong deployment working in partnership with Haiti’s government for an initial 12-months. 
The force would facilitate independent, intelligence-driven counter-gang operations aimed at isolating, neutralizing, and deterring armed groups that threaten civilians and Haitian institutions. Additionally, it would provide security for critical infrastructures—such as schools, hospitals, and airports—and assist Haitian efforts to control the illicit trafficking of arms. 
According to a draft resolution from the U.S. and Panama, the force would primarily be funded through voluntary contributions, also receiving logistical support from the newly created UN Support Office in Haiti. With the Security Council mandate for the Kenya-led multinational force to end on October 2, council members are expected to vote at the end of the month on this draft resolution. 
“The next international force must be resourced to hold territory, secure infrastructure, and complement the Haitian national police. In parallel, a comprehensive approach is required to disrupt gang financing, arms trafficking and other illicit flows fueling instability,” Shea told the Security Council. 
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>The United Nations Turns 80: a Miracle it has Lasted So Long</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/the-united-nations-turns-80-a-miracle-it-has-lasted-so-long/</link>
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<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2025 05:00:52 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Vijay Prashad</dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Civil Society]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[At eighty, the United Nations is bogged down by structural limitations and political divisions that render it powerless to act decisively – nowhere more clearly than in the Gaza genocide. There is only one treaty in the world that, despite its limitations, binds nations together: the United Nations Charter. Representatives of fifty nations wrote and […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="174" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Lasted-So-Long_-300x174.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Lasted-So-Long_-300x174.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Lasted-So-Long_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />By Vijay Prashad SANTIAGO, Chile, Sep 12 2025 (IPS) At eighty, the United Nations is bogged down by structural limitations and political divisions that render it powerless to act decisively – nowhere more clearly than in the Gaza genocide.

There is only one treaty in the world that, despite its limitations, binds nations together: the United Nations Charter. Representatives of fifty nations wrote and ratified the UN Charter in 1945, with others joining in the years that followed. 
The charter itself only sets the terms for the behaviour of nations. It does not and cannot create a new world. It depends on individual nations to either live by the charter or die without it.
The charter remains incomplete. It needed a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and even that was contested as political and civil rights had to eventually be separated from the social and economic rights. Deep rifts in political visions created fissures in the UN system that have kept it from effectively addressing problems in the world.
The UN is now eighty. It is a miracle that it has lasted this long. The League of Nations was founded in 1920 and lasted only eighteen years of relative peace (until World War II began in China in 1937).
The UN is only as strong as the community of nations that comprises it. If the community is weak, then the UN is weak. As an independent body, it cannot be expected to fly in like an angel and whisper into the ears of the belligerents and stop them. 
The UN can only blow the whistle, an umpire for a game whose rules are routinely broken by the more powerful states. It offers a convenient punching bag for all sides of the political spectrum: it is blamed if crises are not solved and if relief efforts fall short. Can the UN stop the Israeli genocide in Gaza? 
UN officials have made strong statements during the genocide, with Secretary General António Guterres saying <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=421f9ade4a&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">that</a> ‘Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop’ (8 April 2025) and <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=29cfad0a96&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">that</a> the famine in Gaza is ‘not a mystery – it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself’ (22 August 2025).
These are powerful words, but they have amounted to nothing, calling into question the efficacy of the UN itself. 
. 
The UN is not one body but two halves. The most public face of the UN is the UN Security Council (UNSC), which has come to stand in as its executive arm. The UNSC is made up of fifteen countries: five are permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the others are elected for two-year terms. 
The five permanent members (the P5) hold veto power over the decisions of the council. If one of the P5 does not like a decision, they are able to scuttle it with their veto. Each time the UNSC has been presented with a resolution calling for a ceasefire, the United States has exercised its veto to quash even that tepid measure (since 1972, the United States has <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=35de06207f&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">vetoed</a> more than forty-five UNSC resolutions about the Israeli occupation of Palestine).
The UNSC stands in for the UN General Assembly (UNGA), whose one hundred and ninety-three members can pass resolutions that try to set the tone for world opinion but are often ignored. Since the start of the genocide, for instance, the UNGA has passed five key resolutions calling for a ceasefire (the first in October 2023 and the <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=bce8f3286f&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">fifth</a> in June 2025).
But the UNGA has no real power in the UN system. The other half of the UN is its myriad agencies, each set up to deal with this or that crisis of the modern age. Some predate the UN itself, such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which was created in 1919 and brought into the UN system in 1946 as its first specialised agency. 
Others would follow, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which advocates for the rights of children, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which promotes tolerance and respect for the world’s cultures. 
Over the decades, agencies have been created to advocate for and provide relief to refugees, to ensure nuclear energy is used for peace rather than war, to improve global telecommunications, and to expand development assistance. Their remit is impressive, although the outcomes are more modest. 
Meagre funding from the world’s states is one limitation (in 2022, the UN’s total <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=e2f2690bb5&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">expenditure</a> was $67.5 billion, compared with over $2 trillion <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=637f301a49&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">spent</a> on the arms trade). 
This chronic underfunding is largely because the world’s powers disagree over the direction of the UN and its agencies. Yet without them, the suffering in the world would neither be recorded nor addressed. The UN system has become the world’s humanitarian organisation largely because neoliberal austerity and war have destroyed the capacity of most individual countries to do this work themselves, and because non-governmental organisations are too small to meaningfully fill in the gap.
With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the entire balance of the world system changed and the UN went into a cycle of internal reform initiatives: from Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=a97820fd6f&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">An Agenda for Peace</a> (1992) and <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=9dd5618a7d&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">An Agenda for Development</a> (1994) and Kofi Annan’s <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=17eb52afdd&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">Renewing the United Nations</a> (1997) to Guterres’ <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=09adfb3f8d&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">Our Common Agenda</a> (2021), <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=f6a038faf8&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">Summit of the Future</a> (2024), and <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=db02bce398&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">UN80 Task Force</a> (2025).
The UN80 Task Force is the deepest reform imaged, but its three areas of interest (internal efficiency, mandate review, and programme alignment) have been attempted previously (‘we’ve tried this exercise before’, <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=1e5d18e0a1&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">said</a> Under-Secretary-General for Policy and Chair of the UN80 Task Force Guy Ryder). 
The agenda set by the UN is focused on its own organisational weaknesses and does not address the largely political questions that scuttle the UN’s work. A broader agenda would need to include the following points:
Move the UN Secretariat to the Global South. Almost all UN agencies are headquartered in either Europe or the United States, where the UN Secretariat itself is located. There have been occasional proposals to move UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and UN Women to Nairobi, Kenya, which already hosts the <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=57a03ee1d1&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">UN Environment Programme</a> and <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=52341d6e54&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">UN-Habitat</a>.
It is about time that the UN Secretariat leave New York and go to the Global South, not least to prevent Washington from using visa denials to punish UN officials who criticise US or Israeli power. With the US preventing Palestinian officials from entering the US for the UN General Assembly, there have been calls already to move the UNGA meeting to Geneva. Why not permanently leave the United States?
Increase funding to the UN from the Global South. Currently, the largest funders of the UN system are the United States (22%) and China (20%), with seven close US allies contributing 28% (Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, and South Korea). 
The Global South – without China – contributes about 26% to the UN budget; with China, its contribution is 46%, nearly half of the total budget. It is time for China to become the largest contributor to the UN, surpassing the US, which wields its funding as a weapon against the organisation.
Increase funding for humanitarianism within states. Countries should be spending more on alleviating human distress than on paying off wealthy bondholders. The UN should not be the main agency to assist those in need. As we have <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=5fb7960ebb&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">shown</a>, several countries on the African continent spend more servicing debt than on education and healthcare; unable to provide these essential functions, they come to rely on the UN through UNICEF, UNESCO, and the WHO. States should build up their own capacity rather than depend on this assistance.
Cut the global arms trade. Wars are waged not only for domination but for the profits of arms dealers. Annual international arms exports are <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=f3b53040e8&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">nearing</a> $150 billion, with the United States and Western European countries <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=b96a9c89b6&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">accounting</a> for 73% of sales between 2020 and 2024. In 2023 alone, the top one hundred arms manufacturers <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=8424425eaa&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">made</a> $632 billion (largely through sales by US companies to the US military).
Meanwhile, the total UN peacekeeping <a href="https://thetricontinental.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6a79324d3b4acfde1e7e546c6&id=dc8eb6f11a&e=b72676e0b0" target="_blank">budget</a> is only $5.6 billion, and 92% of the peacekeepers come from the Global South. The Global North makes money on war, while the Global South sends its soldiers and policemen to try and prevent conflicts.
Strengthen regional peace and development structures. 
To disperse some of the power from the UNSC, regional peace and development structures such as the African Union must be strengthened and their views given priority. If there are no permanent members in the UNSC from Africa, the Arab world, or from Latin America, why should these regions be held captive by the veto wielded by the P5? If the power to settle disputes were to rest more in regional structures, then the absolute authority of the UNSC could be somewhat diluted.
With the genocide unrelenting, another wave of boats filled with solidarity activists – the Freedom Flotilla – attempts to reach Gaza. On one of the boats is Ayoub Habraoui, a member of Morocco’s Workers’ Democratic Way Party who represents the International Peoples’ Assembly. He sent me this message:
What is happening in Gaza is not a conventional war – it is a slow-motion genocide unfolding before the eyes of the world. I am joining because deliberate starvation is being used as a weapon to break the will of a defenceless people – denied medicine, food, and water, while children die in their mothers’ arms. I am joining because humanity is indivisible. Whoever accepts a siege today will accept injustice anywhere tomorrow. 
Silence is complicity in the crime, and indifference is a betrayal of the very values we claim to uphold. This flotilla is more than just boats – it is a global cry of conscience that declares: no to the siege of entire populations, no to starving the innocent, no to genocide. We may be stopped, but the very act of sailing is a declaration: Gaza is not alone. We are all witnesses to the truth – and voices against slow death.
Vijay Prashad is Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. 
<a href="https://thetricontinental.org/" target="_blank">https://thetricontinental.org/</a>
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>Education Cannot Wait Interviews Tom Dannatt, Founder and CEO of Street Child</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/education-cannot-wait-interviews-tom-dannatt-founder-and-ceo-of-street-child/</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 18:33:59 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[  Tom Dannatt is a Founder and CEO of Street Child, an international non-government organization active in over 20 disaster-hit and lowest-income countries – working for a world where all children are ‘safe, in school and learning’. Tom founded Street Child in 2008 with his wife Lucinda and has led the organization since its inception. […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="169" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/ecw_110925-300x169.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/ecw_110925-300x169.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/ecw_110925.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />By External Source Sep 11 2025 (IPS-Partners)
<a href="https://educationcannotwait.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6baddf6a91b194dcd2e82ac11&id=88f7622d17&e=9415dd8371" target="_blank">Tom Dannatt</a> is a Founder and CEO of Street Child, an international non-government organization active in over 20 disaster-hit and lowest-income countries – working for a world where all children are ‘safe, in school and learning’. Tom founded Street Child in 2008 with his wife Lucinda and has led the organization since its inception. Street Child leads the civil society constituency within ECW’s governance and, accordingly, Dannatt represents the constituency on the Fund’s High-Level Steering Committee.

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/ecw_110925_2.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="406" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-192188" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/ecw_110925_2.jpg 600w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/ecw_110925_2-300x203.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
ECW: In places like Nigeria, Pakistan and Uganda, Street Child is working together with local partners to provide children with holistic learning opportunities through ECW investments. How can we maximize the impact of these investments to ensure education for all?
Tom Dannatt: Street Child is really clear on this one – maximizing the role of local organizations is key to maximizing the immediate, and longer-term, impact of ECW’s investments. It has been a privilege for Street Child to work closely with ECW in recent years, through multiple grants, on practical strategies to bring this perspective to life. It is superb to see a prominent commitment to localization embedded in ECW’s strategy and being increasingly lived out through a growing norm of seeing local organizations playing significant roles in consortia delivering ECW investments.
An especially promising ‘next-level’ innovation that Street Child had the opportunity to trial in the present Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP) in Uganda is what we have called the ‘<a href="https://educationcannotwait.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6baddf6a91b194dcd2e82ac11&id=17292a3640&e=9415dd8371" target="_blank">localization unit</a>’ approach. This saw a minimum portion of the MYRP budget being reserved purely for local organizations to competitively apply for, amongst themselves – free from competition with INGOs. Street Child, as the localization unit manager, conducted a uniquely inclusive, transparent and supportive application process; and has since provided hands-on management and assistance to the five successful grantees to help them maximize the impact of their award and fulfill all necessary reporting and compliance demands.
I was in Uganda myself a few weeks ago (in fact, I had to join a 90-minute ECW High-Level Steering Group call by a dusty roadside, surrounded by a group of curious children!) It was mid-way through the final year of the MYRP, and I witnessed first-hand phenomenal, sophisticated, transformative programming being delivered by all five of these organizations – work of a quality that I am sure the most famous global charities would have been proud to have showcased to any donor. And here is the thing – for all five of these local NGOs, this was the first time they had ever received a grant from a global donor; but now, not only had they ‘smashed it’ in terms of delivering great impact with the ECW funds awarded, most of them had gone on – using the credibility of being an ECW-grantee and the experience gained of successfully managing an award from a demanding global donor – to win further institutional grants themselves. Without exaggeration, ECW’s bold initiative in establishing this ‘localizations unit’ has transformed the ability of these organizations to attract the support they so richly deserve – and their ability to serve refugee children long after this MYRP closes. This is real, lasting impact.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_3.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-192189" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_3.jpg 600w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_3-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
ECW: Street Child leads the civil society constituency of Education Cannot Wait’s High-Level Steering Group and Executive Committee. How is civil society coming together with donors, governments, UN agencies, the private sector and local non-profits to position education – especially for children caught in humanitarian crises – at the top of the international agenda?
Tom Dannatt: Street Child is proud to follow in the footsteps of Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision in leading the civil society constituency within ECW. What this means is that I, as CEO, sit on the High-Level Steering Group; and then my colleague Tyler Arnot, who many in the sector know well as co-coordinator of the Global Education Cluster, sits on the ECW Executive Committee. And together, we try to faithfully and fearlessly bring the voice of civil society into these key fora!
We take this role incredibly seriously: because it really matters. Civil society has been central to this mission from the very beginning. ECW itself was born out of years of sustained civil society advocacy to close the funding gap for education in crisis. And the need for civil society to bring the same vital, fresh ground-level perspective to ECW’s ongoing decision-making remains as strong today – not least given the winds of extreme change blowing through our sector today. 
For Street Child to credibly and effectively represent the voice and views of civil society, it is essential that we regularly convene the sector, and we do – online, of course, but also in-person wherever possible. For example, this June on the sidelines of ECW’s Executive Committee meetings in Geneva, we brought together civil society representatives, local NGOs, youth constituencies and INGO partners to strategize on coordination, funding and sustaining support for Education Cannot Wait. We held two days of intensive, passionate discussion at the EiE Hub and then in the main conference centre which helped shape ECW priorities and ensured that the most vulnerable children remain central to decision-making at this critical moment in ECW’s evolution. Bad news: both rooms we booked were too small! Which, of course, is actually good news, because it shows how much passion there is in our community, how relevant they see our fora and the need to come together in these important but complex times.
Looking ahead, we will continue this work later this month in New York on the edges of UNGA, where Street Child will co-host a discussion with ECW focused on local leadership and locally-led partnerships in education in emergencies. Robert Hazika, the Executive Director of YARID – one of the five local NGOs who received awards from the Uganda localization unit that I mentioned earlier – will join us. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_4.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-192190" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_4.jpg 600w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_4-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_4-200x149.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
ECW: In the face of limited resources, why should donors and the private sector invest in education through multilateral funds such as Education Cannot Wait?
Tom Dannatt: The dangerous ‘lacuna’ that education in emergencies naturally rests in makes the case for investing in a strong, relevant and loud ECW, as a champion for the sector, incredibly important.
Education for children affected by emergencies is so obviously utterly vital – and right – few decent people would disagree. But it is so easy to miss because it sits in this tricky lacuna. Because, on the one hand, for too many humanitarians, education seems a less visceral and less apparently urgent ‘life-saving’ priority than food, water, shelter – a view can exist that education is inherently a long-term venture so ‘best left to the development community’. Meanwhile, much of that development community will look at a warzone, the aftermath of an earthquake or a refugee camp and say, ‘oh no, this is not the sort of context we are set up to work in’ … And so whilst everyone agrees that educating children in emergencies is critical – all to easily, no one does it: it falls between the cracks. And that is why ECW is so critical – yes to be a superb funder; but equally, and perhaps more so, to be this urgent loud voice for these ‘inconvenient children’ demanding the ‘developmental initiative of education’ in a ‘humanitarian situation’. And ensuring they do not fall between any of our structural cracks.
And then, of course, you have the unique character and fundamental qualities of ECW that make it a compelling proposition – a collective platform to impact education-in-emergencies that truly brings together governments, donors, civil society and the private sector – to coordinate, reduce duplication and ensure more resources flow directly to children’s learning, as quickly as possible!
A final word on the importance of speed and duration: we know that for every day a child is out of school, it becomes increasingly unlikely that they ever return, so ECW’s speed, especially through its First Emergency Responses is absolutely critical – and unique. On the other hand, most other humanitarian funds for education are often too short to ensure continuity of learning. Quality education cannot be provided in 6-12 months, and the Multi-Year Resilience Programmes allow for greater predictability in providing education services in a protracted crisis.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_5.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-192191" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_5.jpg 600w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_5-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_5-200x149.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
ECW: Education is life-building and life-sustaining. How can investments in quality education and foundational learning support our vision for a world without war, without hunger and without poverty?
Tom Dannatt: The first emergency I experienced professionally was Ebola, 11 years ago. I wouldn’t be talking to you today if it wasn’t for what I, and Street Child, learned in those days: it shaped us. But the point I want to remember here is where were the last, and hardest, places to shake Ebola from? It was the least educated villages.
Where have I heard young people talk the most casually about joining armed groups? In unstable societies offering little prospects or hope for the future.
If you come across a child alone at night on the streets of some West African market town and ask them how they came to be there – many times, the answer you’ll get is a story that begins in a village with no school and then a venture to the town to try and find an education that hasn’t worked out. These are the type of conversations that launched Street Child into the education sector more broadly, fifteen years ago. Children thirst for education. It is the world’s responsibility, whatever the circumstances, to meet that thirst.
Education underpins health. Education builds safety and security. Education builds hope and promise for the future – in dire settings such as emergency contexts, the importance and power of ‘hope’ cannot be overstated. Humans with hope can do extraordinary things. 
When we invest in education in emergencies, we invest directly into the most powerful idea around – that today will be better than tomorrow. That is exciting anywhere, no more so than if you have the misfortune of growing up in one of the world’s most crisis-affected places. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_6.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="450" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-192192" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_6.jpg 600w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_6-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/110925_6-200x149.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />
ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally?
Tom Dannatt: What a question … On any given day, I could probably give a different answer, but here are the three that leap to mind today.
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the Lincoln biography they made into a film, is over 900 pages but so good that I’ve read it twice! Moral courage and vision, character, empathetic leadership, unity from division, strategy, humility and self-confidence … there is so much there. I like a good biography.
We started Street Child in 2008. I read Bottom Billion by Paul Collier in 2007 and was engaged by the core thesis that whilst much of the world was gradually getting better, there were corners of the world where the ‘rising tide was not lifting all boats’ because they were ‘detached’ from the factors gradually driving global prosperity up. And that these places were where extra effort and aid was especially needed and best directed. I see the work of Street Child, and of course ECW, very much in these terms – giving children in the toughest situations a chance to gain the skills that will allow them to take part in everything this world has to offer.
Finally, to switch off, I love a sports book. And if a better sports autobiography than Andre Agassi’s Open is ever written, I so much look forward to reading it. Searingly and surprisingly honest (one of the most memorable players to ever wield a racket, yet hated tennis most of his life!), vulnerable, compelling, yet ultimately incredibly inspiring. 
 
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<title>Experts Launch a Climate and Health Curriculum for African Negotiators Ahead of COP30</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/experts-launch-a-climate-and-health-curriculum-for-african-negotiators-at-cop30/</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:24:33 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Farai Shawn Matiashe</dc:creator>
<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[Despite climate change being a health risk multiplier, health is often underrepresented in climate negotiation processes. Experts attribute this to a lack of funding by the African governments and a lack of capacity building among climate negotiators. At the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 8 to 10 September, health experts are […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-Second-Africa-Climate-Summit.-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Delegates at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-Second-Africa-Climate-Summit.-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/The-Second-Africa-Climate-Summit.-Farai-Shawn-Matiashe.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Delegates at the Second Africa Climate Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPSBy Farai Shawn Matiashe ADDIS ABABA, Sep 11 2025 (IPS) Despite climate change being a health risk multiplier, health is often underrepresented in climate negotiation processes.
Experts attribute this to a lack of funding by the African governments and a lack of capacity building among climate negotiators.
At the Second<a href="https://africaclimatesummit2.et/"> Africa Climate Summit</a> (ACS2) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 8 to 10 September, health experts are calling for funding to bring health negotiators to the table at the<a href="https://unfccc.int/cop30"> Conference of the Parties</a> (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, to demand more funding for the health sector. 
Amref Health Africa, a Kenyan-based non-governmental organization providing community and environmental healthcare across Africa, launched a Climate Change and Health Negotiators’ curriculum on 9 September at the summit.
The Climate Change and Health Negotiators’ curriculum, developed for the African Group of Negotiators (AGN), seeks to address this gap by equipping African negotiators with the technical, policy understanding, and advocacy skills required to integrate health considerations into climate policy and finance Agendas.
Desta Lakew, a group director of partnerships and external affairs at Amref Health Africa, said when they started conversations around climate and health, health was not included.
“At COP27, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, there were no health ministers because health was not included. We thought we needed to bring the health issues in Africa,” she said while speaking at a side event at the Rockefeller Foundation Pavilion during the ACS2.
“We have developed a curriculum to bring health to the climate negotiation process. AGN; they speak for us and people in the rural areas who are affected by climate change.”
At COP28 in Dubai in 2023, health was included only in the declaration.
But this was seen as progress by climate experts.
Climate change is devastating health in Africa 
Though Africa contributes less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, it continues to experience the effects of climate change.
Climate change presents a fundamental threat to human health.
It affects health by increasing heat-related illnesses, worsening respiratory conditions and air quality, expanding the range of infectious diseases and disrupting food and water security.
Extreme weather events like floods in Africa cause injuries and distress while also damaging essential health infrastructure.
In southern Africa, countries such as Botswana, eSwatini, Namibia, and Zimbabwe experienced a dramatic surge in malaria cases in 2025.
From 2023 to 2024, the region was hit by El Niño-induced drought, a natural climate phenomenon in which surface waters of the central and eastern Pacific warm, causing changes in global weather patterns.
In 2025, the region experienced La Niña, which brought above-average rainfall.
The prolonged rains fuelled mosquito breeding.
In other parts of the continent, climate variability is also facilitating the spread of non-communicable and infectious diseases, such as dengue, malaria, West Nile virus, and Lyme disease.
Climate change is not just an environmental issue-it is a health emergency.
Yet, only a tiny fraction of climate funding goes to the health sector.
Many health systems in Africa, which are underfunded and collapsing, were not built for this.
They are being overwhelmed, under-resourced and on the brink.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in a report last year, revealed that Africa warmed faster than the rest of the world.
The WMO report revealed that African countries lost up to 5 percent of their gross domestic product on average, with many of them forced to allocate 9 percent of their budgets to deal with climate extremes.
The WMO estimated that the cost of climate adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa would be between USD 30 and USD 50 billion annually over the next decade.
Adaptation and climate finances could make a difference, giving many people in the path of extreme danger a new lease of life, increasing their access to health infrastructure, smart agriculture, and improved nutrition.
Africa receives less than 5 percent of global climate finance.
Capacitating negotiators on health and climate change issues
The Climate Change and Health Negotiators’ curriculum was developed with support from different partners, including AGNES and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a specialized technical institution of the African Union that works to support public health initiatives across Africa.
Dr Modi Mwatsama, head of capacity and field development for climate and health at Wellcome Trust, a London-based charity focused on health research, said the curriculum would ensure that Africa’s health issues are prioritized in climate negotiation processes.
Dr. Martin Muchangi, a director for population health and environment at Amref Health Africa, said the curriculum targets negotiators, including health and environment ministers, as well as mid-level state and non-state actors.
He said the idea is to train negotiators to understand the technical aspects of climate and health.
Muchangi said the curriculum provides a place where negotiators can always refer.
“We want health to be at the negotiating table. We want to empower AGN by building the capacity of negotiators,” he said while speaking at the same side event.
Muchangi said the curriculum will equip negotiators to use evidence and data to make a strong case at COP30 in Brazil as well as develop actionable plans.
Dr. Petronella Adhiambo, a capacity building officer at AGNES, said the curriculum is in line with what they want, which is to have health featured in the climate negotiation process.
“We will be able to provide evidence,” she said.
Adhiambo said it is possible to have health as an agenda item at COP30 in Brazil in November.
Dr. Jeremiah Mushosho, a regional team lead for climate at the World Health Organization, said the curriculum is aligned with Global Climate Action and is relevant to the needs of African countries.
“This is quite a big opportunity to prepare negotiators and create a regional pool of climate expert negotiators,” he said.
Mushosho said it is critical to push for resources to be allocated equitably.
Dr. Yewande Alimi, Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health Unit lead at Africa CDC, said her organization will amplify this initiative.
She said the curriculum is timely and Africa will no longer just sit at the negotiating table, but negotiators will be able to demonstrate that health should be prioritized.
Health Experts called for more funding to bring health and environment ministers to COP30 to demand health to be on the Agenda, as well as increase funding to the health sector.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>Israel, Hamas, the US and Qatar—Unraveling the Mess</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/israel-hamas-the-us-and-qatar-unraveling-the-mess/</link>
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<pubDate>Thu, 11 Sep 2025 05:13:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Alon Ben-Meir</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Israel’s brazen attack on Hamas’ negotiating team in Qatar while they were deliberating a new ceasefire with Israel raises serious questions not only about the legality of the attack, which violated international laws and norms, and concerns over Qatar’s sovereignty, but also the potential regional and international fallout. The fact that Israel notified the Trump […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="240" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/state-of-qatar_-300x240.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/state-of-qatar_-300x240.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/state-of-qatar_.jpg 500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />The State of Qatar delivered a message, September 10, to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and to Sangjin Kim, the Charge d'Affaires at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea and President of the Security Council for September, “regarding the cowardly Israeli attack that targeted residential buildings housing several members of the Hamas Political Bureau” in the capital, Doha. The message was delivered by the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani. The State of Qatar requested that the message be circulated to members of the Security Council and issued as an official document of the Council.By Alon Ben-Meir NEW YORK, Sep 11 2025 (IPS) Israel’s brazen attack on Hamas’ negotiating team in Qatar while they were deliberating a new ceasefire with Israel raises serious questions not only about the legality of the attack, which violated international laws and norms, and concerns over Qatar’s sovereignty, but also the potential regional and international fallout.

The fact that Israel notified the Trump administration of its impending attack and was given the green light to proceed adds another troubling dimension for all those who will be affected, especially the Gulf states.
Israel’s attack was calculated to achieve several objectives. First, Prime Minister Netanyahu did not want a new ceasefire at a time when the Israeli military is engaged in a major incursion into Gaza City to eliminate the remaining Hamas leaders and fighters.
Second, the gathering of Hamas’ top leaders in one place provided him with an opportunity to eliminate many of them, which he did not want to miss.
Third, he wanted to send a clear message to other Arab states that he would not hesitate to undertake bold action against what he considers an existential enemy, regardless of where they reside and how that might affect their relationship with the Arab countries involved.
Fourth, he wanted to project Israel as the dominant power in the Middle East, if not the hegemon, especially at this juncture when Israel is enjoying nearly unconditional support of the Trump administration.
Fifth, Netanyahu wanted to prevent the collapse of his government by complying with the demands of two of his extremist ministers who threatened to resign if he were to stop the war before the elimination of Hamas “from the face of the earth,” however lofty and unattainable a goal that might be. The attack in Doha was too tempting to pass up.
It is rather hypocritical of Netanyahu to attack Hamas on Qatari soil, when in fact Qatar’s years-long aid payments to the Gaza Strip through Hamas, meant to pay public salaries and prevent a humanitarian crisis, was approved by Netanyahu himself and sent through Israeli territory in cash-filled suitcases—all in an effort to create a wider divide with the Palestinian Authority and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attack and noted that Qatar has played a constructive role in efforts to secure a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas. 
France’s President Macron said, “Today’s Israeli strikes on Qatar are unacceptable, whatever the reason. I express my solidarity with Qatar and its Emir, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani. Under no circumstances should the war spread throughout the region.”
The adverse implications of Israel’s attack will reaffirm the prevailing international view of Israel as a rogue state that blatantly ignores international norms of conduct and believes it can do so with complete impunity. Still, there will be a time when Israel will have to account for its mischiefs.
The attack further strained the relationship between Israel and Egypt, in particular, because it has been and continues to be involved in the ceasefire negotiations.
Moreover, the attack has certainly further damaged the chance of normalizing relations with other Gulf Arab states, even though both Netanyahu and Trump wanted to expand the Abraham Accords.
The Gulf states are now concerned about the US’ commitment to their security, given that the Trump administration allowed a close ally—Israel—to attack another ally, especially as Qatar hosts the largest US military base in the region.
According to Al Jazeera, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani condemned Tuesday’s strike on Doha, calling it “state terrorism” allegedly authorized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said the attack demanded a firm regional response and warned that Qatar would defend its territory, reserving the right to retaliate and take all necessary measures.
To be sure, the pitfall of all of these developments transcends the Israel-Hamas war and the prospect of a new ceasefire. Israel’s habitual assassinations of its enemies, irrespective of their country of residence, raises a serious question as to how far Israel, with the support of the Trump administration, will go in violating international norms of conduct and laws with presumed impunity.
Indeed, beyond the green light that Trump gave Netanyahu to attack Hamas leaders in Doha, his unrelenting support of Netanyahu’s genocidal war in Gaza is deeply troubling for many countries around the world. They now see the US, which has been leading and preserving the world order in the wake of World War II, as a country that lost its way and poses an extraordinary danger to global stability.
Without the US’ consent, Netanyahu would not have dared to attack any of Israel’s enemies across the region, be they Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Syria, and now Qatar. They see the US as the culprit and are extremely concerned about what might come next.
None of this augurs well for either Israel or the United States because sooner or later, these actions will sow consequences that neither nation can ignore and will come back to haunt them in a very real way.
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>Afghanistan’s Overlapping Crises Deepen Following 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/afghanistans-overlapping-crises-deepen-following-6-0-magnitude-earthquake/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 17:48:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Oritro Karim</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Over the past week, Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly following the August 31 earthquake, which measured over 6.0 in magnitude and caused an immense loss of life and widespread destruction of critical infrastructure. Compounded by the nation’s fragile economy, severe shortages of essential resources, and persistent access challenges, humanitarian organizations have found it increasingly […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/A-powerful-6.0_-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/A-powerful-6.0_-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/A-powerful-6.0_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />A powerful 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan late on 31 August 2025, with its epicenter near Jalalabad in Nangarhar province. Early reports indicate a significant loss of life, including many children, with hundreds of fatalities and thousands injured, alongside widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. Credit: UNICEF/Amin MeerzadBy Oritro Karim UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10 2025 (IPS) Over the past week, Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly following the August 31 earthquake, which measured over 6.0 in magnitude and caused an immense loss of life and widespread destruction of critical infrastructure. Compounded by the nation’s fragile economy, severe shortages of essential resources, and persistent access challenges, humanitarian organizations have found it increasingly difficult to reach vulnerable communities—especially women and children.

On September 9, the United Nations (UN) launched a four-month emergency response plan totaling to USD 139.6 million in an effort to support roughly 457,000 people left struggling to survive in the aftermath of the earthquake. The response will prioritize communities in high-elevation areas as well as women, children, and the disabled, who are the most vulnerable populations. The International Rescue Committee (<a href="https://www.rescue.org/press-release/third-earthquake-strikes-afghanistan-irc-warns-escalating-humanitarian-emergency%23:~:text=%25E2%2580%259CThe%2520third%2520quake%2520on%2520Thursday,provide%2520timely%2520support%2520at%2520scale." target="_blank">IRC</a>) also announced a response plan that would target the Nangarhar and Laghman provinces, aiming to distribute cash assistance and essential items such as dignity kits.
“The Afghanistan earthquake has caused massive devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people in remote areas already scarred by decades of conflict and displacement have lost their homes and livelihoods,” said UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher. “Communities hit include those where people returning from Iran and Pakistan had only just begun to rebuild their lives”.
Prior to the earthquake, Afghanistan was already in the midst of a multifaceted humanitarian crisis marked by pervasive poverty, restrictive measures on women’s autonomy, and some of the lowest civic space conditions globally. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<a href="https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-humanitarian-update-march-2025" target="_blank">OCHA</a>), roughly 22.9 million people in Afghanistan urgently required humanitarian assistance prior to the earthquake, nearly half of the nation’s population.
Additional figures from <a href="https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/afghanistan/un-calls-1396-million-help-half-million-people-eastern-afghanistan-affected-devastating-earthquake" target="_blank">OCHA</a> show that as of September 7, approximately 500,000 people across the Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar provinces of eastern Afghanistan have been directly impacted by the earthquake, with over 2,200 civilian fatalities and 3,600 injuries recorded. Over 6,700 homes were destroyed or damaged, with many families losing their food stocks and finding refuge in open, makeshift settlements that leave them exposed to the elements, compromising safety and privacy.
OCHA warns that millions are facing limited access to essential services, with critical infrastructures for sanitation, healthcare, water, food, and education having been damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. Stephen Rodriques, the resident representative for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan, informed reporters that 68 major water sources have been destroyed, leaving thousands without access to clean water. Shannon O’Hara, Head of Strategy and Coordination for OCHA Afghanistan, has said that outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera are imminent due to an overwhelming lack of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, as well as roughly 92 percent of civilians residing in open shelters practicing open-defecation.
Afghanistan’s ongoing hunger crisis has further escalated following the earthquake. The World Food Programme (<a href="https://www.wfpusa.org/news/feed-families-crisis-afghanistan-earthquake/" target="_blank">WFP</a>) have reported that nearly 10 million people are facing acute food insecurity. Rates of child malnutrition have also skyrocketed to the “highest levels on record”, as roughly one in three children face stunted development and urgently require medical intervention. WFP projects that approximately 15 people will need lifesaving food assistance in the coming months, with winter weather conditions expected to amplify health risks and access challenges for humanitarian personnel.
Women and girls are projected to face the heaviest burden of this crisis. Estimates from the United Nations Population Fund (<a href="https://www.unfpa.org/press/11600-pregnant-women-need-urgent-support-following-afghanistan-earthquake" target="_blank">UNFPA</a>) show that thousands lack access to essential feminine hygiene supplies, while around 11,600 pregnant women have been directly impacted by the earthquake. This is particularly concerning as Afghanistan holds one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the entire Asia-Pacific region.
“For pregnant women, a natural disaster can turn an already challenging time into a life-threatening crisis,” said UNFPA Representative in Afghanistan, Kwabena Asante-Ntiamoah.
“In a context like Afghanistan, it is essential that women are delivering assistance to women and girls,” added UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative, Susan Ferguson. “Cultural restrictions can make it harder for women to access support and services – as we have seen with the Afghan women returnees from Iran and Pakistan,” the UN Women official stressed. “Women humanitarians are vital to overcome these barriers. Without them, too many women and girls will miss out on lifesaving assistance.”
Currently, humanitarian access to vulnerable communities in high-elevation areas remains severely strained, as landslides and rock falls have destroyed critical roads and cut off remote populations. The approaching winter season is expected to exacerbate these challenges. “Even before the earthquake, these villages were difficult to reach,” O’Hara said. “Now, with the earthquake, it takes extraordinary effort to get there.”
Additionally, numerous aid groups have warned that persistent funding shortfalls threaten to curtail lifesaving emergency services in Afghanistan. WFP’s top official in Kabul John Aylieff noted that current funds can only feed earthquake victims in Afghanistan for a few more weeks before being depleted entirely. Meanwhile, helicopter support from the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS)— critical for reaching remote areas— has been suspended until additional funding is secured. 
“As relief efforts are well underway, this week is a tragic testimony to the devastating impact of aid cuts on one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries,” said Ibrahim. “The international community must step up now to address Afghanistan’s escalating humanitarian needs—from drought-affected communities and returnee crises on both sides of its borders, to sudden natural disasters like the one that has just struck.”
Through its newly-announced emergency response plan, the UN is dedicated to providing multi-sectoral support, including shelter, clean water, food assistance, protection, education, and agricultural and livestock aid to help foster livelihoods. Relief efforts have already begun in the hardest-hit areas, with humanitarian personnel delivering hot meals, tents, warm clothing, and blankets to communities in need. Additionally, the UN is in the process of establishing safe spaces for women and children, aiming to keep high-risk populations at the center of their response.
“This is a moment where the international community must dig deep and show solidarity with a population that has already endured so much suffering”, said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan. “With winter fast approaching, we are in a race against time to support affected communities with just the bare minimum. The resilience of the Afghan people has been continually tested and there is a real danger, with each crisis that hits, that the fragile gains made in recent years will be reversed.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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<title>Global Military Spending Shows Misalignment of Priorities, says UN Secretary General</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/global-military-spending-shows-misalignment-of-priorities-says-un-secretary-general/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 09:12:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Naureen Hossain</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Just prior to the UN Secretary-General releasing his report on global military spending, news broke that Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas members in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
António Guterres commented, “It (the strike) lays bare a stark reality: the world is spending far more on waging war than on building peace.”
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-300x200.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Secretary-General António Guterres arrives to brief reporters on the launch of his report, 'The Security We Need - Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future.' Credit: Manuel Elías/UN Photo" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Secretary-General António Guterres arrives to brief reporters on the launch of his report, 'The Security We Need - Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future.' Credit: Manuel Elías/UN PhotoBy Naureen Hossain UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10 2025 (IPS) Global military spending has been on the rise for more than 20 years, and in 2024, it surged across all five global regions in the world to reach a record high of USD 2.7 trillion. Yet, such growth has come at the cost of diverting financial resources away from sustainable development efforts, which the United Nations and its chief warn puts pressure on an “already strained financial context.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday that member states needed to prioritize diplomacy and multilateralism to protect global security and development. His new report, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/peace-and-security/the-true-cost-of-peace">The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future</a>, goes into detail on the conditions that have allowed for increased military spending in contrast to an overall reduction in global development financing.
Amid rising tensions and global and regional conflicts, military spending has increased as an indication of governments’ priorities to address global and regional security concerns through military strength and deterrence. As some countries engage in conflicts, neighboring nations may boost military spending to mitigate what the report describes as “the external risks of conflict spillover.”
Military expenditure has also increased in its share of the global economy. Between 2022 and 2024, it grew from 2.2 to 2.5 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). More than 100 countries alone boosted their military spending in 2024, with the top ten spenders accounting for 73 percent of the global expenditure. Europe and the Middle East recorded the sharpest increases in recent years, while Africa accounted for just 1.9 percent of the total world military spending.
<div id="attachment_192174" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192174" class="wp-image-192174" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS.jpg" alt="UN Secretary-General António Guterres (left) address reporters in New York at the launch of his new report on global military spending in 2024. Credit:Naureen Hossain/IPS" width="630" height="473" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS.jpg 2016w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS-768x576.jpg 768w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS-629x472.jpg 629w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/UN-Secretary-General-Antonio-Guterres-.-Credit-Naureen-Hossain-_-IPS-200x149.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px" />UN Secretary-General António Guterres (left) address reporters in New York at the launch of his new report on global military spending in 2024. Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS</div>
To put this into scale, the USD 2.7 trillion in military expenditure is equivalent to each person in the world contributing USD 334. It is seventeen times greater than the total spending on COVID-19 vaccines, the total GDP of every African nation, and thirteen times greater than the amount of official development assistance (ODA) provided by OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries in 2024. It is 750 times higher than the UN’s annual budget for 2024.
The report also warns that development financing has not kept up with this increased spending. As the development financing gap widens, official development assistance (ODA) has reduced. The annual financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is already at USD 4 trillion and could widen to USD 6.4 trillion in the years to come. This is critical at a time when the world is far off track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ 2030 deadline.
The report indicates that governments allocate less of their budgets to social investments when they increase their military spending. This has reverberated across multiple civil sectors, notably education, public health and clean energy. Military spending can create employment and these benefits can be critical in times of severe insecurity. But it also generates fewer jobs per dollar compared to the civilian sectors needed to contribute to sustaining long-term productivity and peace. If USD 1 billion can generate 11,000 jobs in the military, that same amount can create 17,200 jobs in health care and 26,700 jobs in education.
What this latest UN report reveals are the misaligned priorities in global spending and the growing resource scarcity for essential development and social investments. It also warns that countries are moving away from diplomacy and prioritizing militarized strategies.
At the report’s launch Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, remarked that the global trends in military spending indicated a systemic imbalance, where “militarization is prioritized over development.”
“We need a new vision of security—human-centered and rooted in the UN Charter. A vision that safeguards people, not just borders; that prioritizes institutions, equity and planetary sustainability,” said Nakamitsu. “Rebalancing global priorities is not optional—it is an imperative for humanity’s survival.”
“We are in a world where fissures are deepening, official development assistance is falling, and human development progress is slowing,” said Haoliang Xu, the Acting Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP). “But we know that development is a driver of security and multilateral development cooperation works. When people’s lives improve, when they have access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, and when they can live lives of dignity and self-determination, we will have more peaceful societies and a more peaceful world.”
Xu warned that the progress made towards development in the past 30 years may start to decline and even regress, noting that progress in the Global Human Development Index has dramatically slowed down in the last two years.
Military spending puts debt burdens and fiscal constraints on both developed and developing countries, yet the impact is more significant for developing countries, as the report notes that their domestic resources are diverted away from development projects, while simultaneously international support through ODAs is reduced. A one-percent increase in military spending in low- and middle-income countries also aligned with a near-equal reduction in spending on public health services.
In his statement, Guterres acknowledged that governments have legitimate security responsibilities, including safeguarding civilians and addressing immediate threats, while also remarking that “lasting security cannot be achieved by military spending alone.”
“Investing in people is investing in the first line of defense against violence in any society,” he added. He noted that even a fraction of the budget allocated to military spending could “close vital gaps” in essential sectors such as education, healthcare, energy and infrastructure.
“The evidence is clear: excessive military spending does not guarantee peace. It often undermines it—fueling arms races, deepening mistrust, and diverting resources from the very foundations of stability,” he said.
The report concludes with a five-point agenda for the international community to address global spending across multiple sectors and promote diplomatic dialogue:
<ol>
<li>Prioritize diplomacy, peaceful settlement of disputes, and confidence-building measures to address the underlying causes of growing military expenditure through 2030.</li>
<li>Bring military expenditure to the fore of disarmament discussions, and improve links between arms control and development.</li>
<li>Promote transparency and accountability around military expenditure to build trust and confidence among Member States and increase domestic fiscal accountability.</li>
<li>Reinvigorate multilateral finance for development.</li>
<li>Advance a human-centered approach to security and sustainable development.</li>
</ol>
Just prior to the report’s official launch on Tuesday, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/qatar-explosion-doha-e319dd51b170161372442831a8023db5">news broke</a> <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/9/israel-attacks-hamas-leadership-in-qatar-all-to-know">that Israel launched a strike</a> targeting Hamas members in Qatar’s capital, Doha, who stand as one of the key mediators in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Guterres called the attack a “flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar.”
“It lays bare a stark reality: the world is spending far more on waging war than on building peace,” he said.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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Excerpt: Just prior to the UN Secretary-General releasing his report on global military spending, news broke that Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas members in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
António Guterres commented, “It (the strike) lays bare a stark reality: the world is spending far more on waging war than on building peace.”
]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Nepal Faces Political Crisis after Deadly Gen-Z Protests</title>
<link>https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/nepal-faces-political-crisis-after-deadly-gen-z-protests/</link>
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<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:16:25 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Tanka Dhakal</dc:creator>
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<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.ipsnews.net/?p=192169</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Nepal entered into a new era of constitutional and political crisis after deadly protests by the deeply frustrated young generation (Gen-Z). Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday after protests grew out of control. Gen-Z protestors took to the streets on Monday, where the government used force. Security forces opened fire at youth protests […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="200" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/01_shingdurbar-on-fire-300x200.jpeg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Protestors torched the administrative headquarters of Nepal, the palace of Singha Durbar. This was one of several public properties that were set alight. Credit: Barsha Shah/IPS" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/01_shingdurbar-on-fire-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/01_shingdurbar-on-fire.jpeg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Protestors torched the administrative headquarters of Nepal, the palace of Singha Durbar. This was one of several public properties that were set alight. Credit: Barsha Shah/IPSBy Tanka Dhakal KATHMANDU, Sep 10 2025 (IPS) Nepal entered into a new era of constitutional and political crisis after deadly protests by the deeply frustrated young generation (Gen-Z). Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday after protests grew out of control.
Gen-Z protestors took to the streets on Monday, where the government used force. Security forces opened fire at youth protests against corruption, nepotism, and a social media ban. At least 19 people were killed on a single day. It’s one of the deadliest protest days in Nepal’s history. So far, at least 24 people have been confirmed to be dead during this ongoing unrest. 
Protesters took to the streets after the government of Nepal banned most social media last week. Social media ban was the final straw, and on TikTok and Reddit, Gen-Z (13-28 years old) users organized peaceful protests, but they escalated. Now the Himalayan country with nearly 30 million people is facing uncertainty.
On Tuesday many of the government agencies and courthouses were set on fire. The country’s administrative headquarters and parliament house burned down. The homes of political leaders were also torched.
Initially reluctant, Oli resigned on Tuesday, citing “the extraordinary situation” in the country. He submitted his resignation to the President effectively immediately.
Later Tuesday, Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel issued a statement urging protestors to cooperate for a peaceful resolution.
“In a democracy, the demands raised by the citizens can be resolved through talks and dialogue, including Gen-Z representatives,” he said in a statement. Paudel urged Gen-Z representatives to “come to talk.”
Balen Shah, mayor of Kathmandu metropolitan city, who is seen as one of the possible leaders, also urged youth protestors to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/balenshah/?hl=en">stop destroying public property</a> and come to talk.
“Please gen Z, the country is in your hands; you are the ones who will be building. Whatever is being destroyed is ours; now return home,” he wrote on social media on Tuesday evening.
After the security situation got out of control, the Nepal Army deployed throughout the country from late evening on Tuesday. Army chief also urged protesters to come forward to talk with the president to find solutions.
After the rapidly escalating situation, international agencies, including the United Nations, issued their concerns.
Expressing deep concern over the deaths and destruction, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called on authorities and protesters to de-escalate the spiraling crisis. In <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/nepal-turk-appalled-protest-killings-says-violence-not-answer">a statement</a>, Türk said he was “appalled by the escalating violence in Nepal that has resulted in multiple deaths and the injury of hundreds of mostly young protesters, as well as the widespread destruction of property.”
“I plead with security forces to exercise utmost restraint and avoid further such bloodshed and harm,” he said. “Violence is not the answer. Dialogue is the best and only way to address the concerns of the Nepalese people. It is important that the voices of young people are heard.”
The UN Secretary-General is also closely following the situation, according to his spokesperson. During Tuesday’s <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165808">daily briefing</a> in New York, Stéphane Dujarric said António Guterres was “very saddened by the loss of life” and reiterated his call for restraint to prevent further escalation.
“The authorities must comply with international human rights law, and protests must take place in a peaceful manner that respects life and property,” Dujarric said, noting the dramatic images emerging from Nepal.
The UN Country team in Nepal urges authorities to ensure that law enforcement responses remain proportionate and in line with international human rights standards.” <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/09/1165796">UN Resident Coordinator Hanaa Singer-Hamdy</a> described the situation as “so unlike Nepal.”
Nepal is known for its political insatiability and has seen more than a dozen governments since it transitioned to a republic after abolishing its monarchy. In 2008, after long protests and a decade-long Maoist war, Nepal transitioned into a republic and got its new construction in 2015.
One decade later, Nepal has again found itself in a political crisis.
IPS UN Bureau Report
 
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</ul></div> ]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Palestinians Pushed into Deeper Crisis with Israeli Displacement Order on Entire Gaza City</title>
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<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:08:55 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Oxfam International</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Israel’s intent to displace around 1 million civilians, half of whom are living in famine, is impossible and illegal Oxfam said, while the Israeli military continued to flatten Gaza City building by building as its mass forced displacement of civilians in the city gains terrifying momentum. Displacement orders, on leaflets thrown from the sky, or […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="136" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Abu-Amer-Al-Sharif_-300x136.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Abu-Amer-Al-Sharif_-300x136.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Abu-Amer-Al-Sharif_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Abu Amer Al-Sharif and his family in Gaza City remove their belongings and household items from their home, preparing for yet another displacement. Credit: UN News
   
One million people being forced towards unlivable, so called “humanitarian area” in mass forced displacement.
By Oxfam International MEXICO CITY, Mexico, Sep 10 2025 (IPS) Israel’s intent to displace around 1 million civilians, half of whom are living in famine, is impossible and illegal Oxfam said, while the Israeli military continued to flatten Gaza City building by building as its mass forced displacement of civilians in the city gains terrifying momentum. 

Displacement orders, on leaflets thrown from the sky, or posted on social media, signal grave next steps, a scene all too familiar in Gaza where every order has preceded new waves of destruction and mass casualties. This is the latest chapter in the genocide that Israel is committing in Gaza and part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing engulfing the entire 
Gaza Strip, where nothing and no one has been spared.
Israel’s plan to concentrate around 1 million people into tiny slivers of already overcrowded and ill-equipped “camps” has no basis in reality, with just 42.8 square kilometres (under 12% of the Gaza Strip) allocated to this so-called “humanitarian area” for people to move to. 
That would mean an additional 1 million people are expected to live in under–resourced spaces located in the Southern part of the Gaza Strip, whilst most of the remaining humanitarian and emergency infrastructure is currently located in the middle area of the Strip, further limiting access to support. 
The plan is not only inhumane it is physically impossible and would compound disease and hunger and be a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law (IHL).
These orders cannot be carried out in a way in which Israel can meet its IHL obligations, or the terms of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Mass forced displacement is not a pressure tool to replace negotiations and amounts to collective punishment. 
Under IHL, there must be guarantees of support to ensure Palestinians forced to flee Gaza City can do so in safety and safely return. There also needs to be guaranteed provision of accommodation, hygiene, health, nutrition, water and non-separation of families. Without these supports in place, it amounts to forcible transfer, which in current circumstances amount to war crimes and a crime against humanity. 
It is the latest result of a deliberate policy of the Government of Israel to use starvation and forced mass displacement, food and water as weapons of war. Mass forced displacement is not a pressure tool to replace negotiations and amounts to collective punishment.
“The ongoing displacement orders and the push of people deeper into “humanitarian zones”- which we know have never been safe at all- mean it becomes almost impossible to deliver aid effectively. Israel’s siege and severe limitations placed on the entry of aid also means people already in these zones lack the most basic of services even before hundreds of thousands more are forced into the same area,” said Ruth James, Oxfam’s Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, speaking from Gaza.
Oxfam’s partner organisations are under attack and facing severe pressure. On Sunday, an Israeli attack near the headquarters of the Aisha Association for Woman and Child Protection in Gaza City, resulted in the killing of one of the employees, a pregnant woman, and a 7-year old boy and critically injuring many others. 
The organization plays a leading role in the protection of women and children. Their premises are used as shelters by displaced people.
Dr Umaiyeh Khammash, Director of Juzoor, an Oxfam partner, and working in Gaza City promoting health as a basic human right, said: “While Juzoor’s team continues its humanitarian mission, moving alongside the forcibly displaced population and sharing in their suffering and uprooting, the coming days will inevitably bring more loss of lives and even further deterioration in the health and well-being of the population”. 
“Mental health is collapsing under the weight of sustained trauma—people are enduring daily nightmares of fear, shock, and hopelessness, with no sense of safety anywhere, in a crisis that will leave deep scars, not just on this generation, but on generations to come.”
Many of those already ordered to leave their homes are too weak from starvation, cannot afford the exorbitant transport costs to move, or are unwilling to leave for an area already over-crowded and not guaranteed safe. 
A recent multi-agency survey found that while 53% of surveyed residents said they would move if they received an official order, only 27% of those said they would move out of Gaza City, with others saying they would move to another area within Gaza City. 14% said they would not move.
This indicates that hundreds of thousands of people will be trapped in the city under increasingly heavy bombardment, with little or no aid reaching them.
“As the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza City deepens by the hour, there must be an end to this violence and deprivation,” said Ruth James. “There must be an urgent halt to all forced displacement operations, and large-scale delivery of food, water, medicine, vital water-infrastructure repair equipment and fuel.”
Oxfam is calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and release of all hostages and unlawfully detained prisoners. The unimaginable violence and suffering Palestinians in Gaza have been enduring for over 700 days needs to end now. The moral failure of states to act is palpable. For as long as they are silent and continue to send arms support to Israel, they are complicit in the genocide that continues to unfold.
Customary IHL Rule 129 and Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 explicitly prohibits an occupying power from deporting or forcibly transferring members of the occupied civilian population, regardless of motive. This provision is a cornerstone of the laws of occupation; it is designed to prevent demographic changes being made by the occupying power to the occupied territory, regardless of any ‘justification’ it may provide for such changes. 
It underscores the principle that the rights and dignity of the civilian population must be protected, reflecting an occupying power’s obligations to ensure the welfare and security of those under its administration. There are exceptions for evacuation of civilians for their own safety, but only on a temporary basis and where adequate shelter, food, water and access to medical care are provided.
Crimes Against Humanity: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court states that: 
<ul>– Article 7(1)(d): Treats deportation or forcible transfer of population, when perpetrated as part of a widespread or systematic attack against civilians, as a crime against humanity. <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/rome-statute-international-criminal-court" target="_blank">Ohchr+1</a>
– Article 8(2)(a)(vii) and (2)(b)(viii): Make it a war crime to transfer, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power, parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies or to deport or transfer civilians of the occupied territory, in whole or in part, within or outside that territory.</ul>
Harvard Dataverse report with mapping and analysis of <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/ZDWR9A" target="_blank">“humanitarian” zone announcement</a>.
The recently published Intergrated Food Security Phase Classification <a href="https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Famine_Review_Committee_Report_Gaza_Aug2025.pdf" target="_blank">(IPC) report</a> determined that Famine (IPC Phase 5) is currently occurring in Gaza Governorate. Furthermore, the FRC projects Famine (IPC Phase 5) thresholds to be crossed in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates in the coming weeks.
According to the <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-186-situation-gaza-strip-and-west-bank-including-east-jerusalem" target="_blank">UN</a>, at least 1.9 million people – or about 90 per cent of the population – across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more.
On 6 September, Israeli authorities published a map of the new “humanitarian zone” comprising Al Mawasi, including the western parts of Khan Younis city (mainly Khan Younis Camp and al-Amal district) and excluding the Middle Governorate.
As of 3 September, 86.5 per cent of the Gaza Strip remains within the Israeli-militarized zone, under displacement orders, or where these overlap.
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>Banks Embed Climate Risk, Gender and Sustainability in Finance Products</title>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:56:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Robert Kibet</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Ahead of the Conference of the Parties (COP30), the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa is looking to mobilize billions for renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, green housing, and gender-focused financing.]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Ahead of the Conference of the Parties (COP30), the Second Africa Climate Summit (ACS2) in Addis Ababa is looking to mobilize billions for renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, green housing, and gender-focused financing.]]></content:encoded>
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<title>Translating Recognition of a Palestinian State into Reality</title>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:05:57 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Alon Ben-Meir</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[During the upcoming annual UN General Assembly, several key European countries are expected to recognize a Palestinian state. The question that looms is how to translate such a significant development into reality, whereby the Palestinians will realize their national aspiration for statehood One of the main issues that may take center stage at the upcoming […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="136" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Displaced-persons-tents_-300x136.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Displaced-persons-tents_-300x136.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/Displaced-persons-tents_.jpg 624w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Displaced persons’ tents crowded along the coastal strip of Gaza City in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Credit: UN NewsBy Alon Ben-Meir NEW YORK, Sep 9 2025 (IPS) During the upcoming annual UN General Assembly, several key European countries are expected to recognize a Palestinian state. The question that looms is how to translate such a significant development into reality, whereby the Palestinians will realize their national aspiration for statehood

One of the main issues that may take center stage at the upcoming UN General Assembly is the ongoing devastating war in Gaza, and the international outcry for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state to end the plight of the Palestinians in the context of a two-state solution. 
What will make the discussion at the UN about Palestinian statehood more potent and relevant is the expectation that several Western powers, including the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, and Portugal, will formally <a href="https://www.cnn.com/world/middleeast/countries-recognize-palestinian-state-intl-vis" target="_blank">recognize</a> a Palestinian state, joining Spain, Ireland, and Norway, which recognized Palestine last year. 
That said, although such recognition is significant, it remains symbolic unless many critical measures are taken by all the players involved to mitigate the following four reasons behind the failures in advancing the prospect of establishing such a state. 
First, Israel has done everything within its reach, especially now with the support of the Trump administration, to prevent that from happening. 
Second, the Palestinian Authority has done little to establish a legitimate representative government and a political apparatus responsive to public needs, even though 147 countries have already recognized it. 
Third, the Arab states, though publicly supportive, have provided some financial support but have made no concerted effort over the years to bring the idea to fruition. 
And four, the countries that have recognized Palestinian statehood have not taken significant measures to ensure its implementation.
To realistically pave the way to Palestinian statehood, the players involved will have to take momentous measures and remain on course, even though Israel will vehemently resist and lean on the US to use its weight to prevent such an outcome.
The Palestinian Authority
The PA must now wake up to its bitter reality and recognize that independent statehood will remain only a slogan unless it takes the following steps: 
First, new elections must be held. Every Palestinian faction must be invited to participate, as long as they commit themselves to a peaceful solution to the conflict with Israel. The Palestinians need to demonstrate a unity of purpose and forsake violent resistance, which has only worked in favor of Israel over the years.
Second, the PA should reiterate its recognition of Israel and commit to entering unconditionally into peace negotiations. This is not a capitulation to Israel’s whims; to the contrary, it will put Israel on the defensive, as it would have no legitimate excuses in the eyes of the international community to reject the Palestinians’ initiative.
Third, the PA must actively engage in public diplomacy by strengthening diplomatic outreach and using the media and public relations to show readiness for dialogue and shape global opinion positively to increase support for the Palestinian cause.
Fourth, it must demonstrate its commitment to democratic principles and human rights, which is essential for the Western countries planning to recognize Palestinian statehood. 
Fifth, economic development plans should be presented to gain international confidence, which would encourage many countries supportive of the Palestinians to offer financial support. 
Sixth, Palestinian leaders ought to actively promote nonviolent means to highlight the Palestinian cause and gain the high moral ground internationally.
The role of the European Countries
The important role of European countries in supporting Palestinian independence cannot be overstated. Their support must transcend symbolism and focus on the nitty-gritty of what is needed to advance the Palestinians’ cause. The measures to be taken include:
<ul>Providing direct economic support to Palestinian institutions and infrastructure while ensuring accountability.
Establishing bilateral trade agreements with the Palestinians to boost their economy, independent of Israel.
Pushing for enhanced observer status and participation of Palestine in international bodies while providing legal forums to pursue international acceptance and rights.
Upgrading Palestinian consulate representative offices in their capitals to a higher diplomatic level.
Funding a public diplomacy campaign in their respective capitals to build support for Palestinian statehood.
Offering training and support for Palestinian internal security forces in coordination with Israel to maintain order and stability.</ul>
The Role of the Arab States
The Arab states must play a far greater role than ever before in advancing the Palestinian cause, particularly because it is directly linked to the nature of their desired future relationship with Israel. To that end, the Arab states should work in unison and send a clear message that their relations with Israel hinge directly on finding an amicable solution to the conflict. 
The Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, should: 
<ul>Make it abundantly clear that no other Arab state would normalize relations with Israel unless there is a clear path that would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Threaten Israel that continued violations of the Palestinians’ human rights will lead to the severing of diplomatic relations, especially with the signatories to the Abraham Accords.
Provide targeted financial aid for Palestinian governance and infrastructure, focusing on sustainable development projects, and use collective economic leverage to encourage other countries to support Palestinian statehood. 
Open new or upgrade existing Palestinian embassies in Arab capitals.
Support Palestine in the international legal arena for rights and recognition, and enhance the Palestinian narrative and position in Arab and international media outlets.
Align regional policies to support Palestinian diplomatic efforts, work through UN bodies and behind-the-scenes talks, and adopt measures to minimize frictions between Israel and the Palestinians and prevent confrontations.</ul>
It would be grossly misleading to suggest that taking all the measures enumerated above will offer smooth sailing toward realizing a Palestinian state. Being in total control of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, especially under the current Netanyahu-led government, with staunch support of Trump, will stop at nothing to sabotage any effort that could improve the prospect of a Palestinian state. 
Notwithstanding the uphill battle, however, the concerted and consistent efforts by all the players will eventually lead to a dramatic change in the trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
It has been demonstrated that after 80 years of violent conflict, Netanyahu’s strategy to maintain a state of constant hostilities and make incremental gains has now run its course. And the Palestinian strategy of resistance has failed, too. Hamas’ attack and Israel’s retaliatory war have demonstrated that there will be no enduring Israeli-Palestinian peace short of a two-state solution.
The Netanyahu government and the Trump presidency will end, but the Palestinian reality will never fade away. The Western European countries’ decision to recognize a Palestinian state will be a historic game-changer if steady and concrete steps follow their recognition, and they remain determined to realize Palestinian statehood regardless of the changing times and circumstances.
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>North Worsens Tropical Catastrophe</title>
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<pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 05:29:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Jomo Kwame Sundaram</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have risen over the last two centuries, with current and accumulated emissions per capita from rich nations greatly exceeding those of the Global South. Tropical vulnerability The last six millennia have seen much higher ‘carrying capacities’, soil fertility, population densities, and urbanisation in the tropics than in the temperate zone. Most […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[By Jomo Kwame Sundaram KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Sep 9 2025 (IPS) Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have risen over the last two centuries, with current and accumulated emissions per capita from rich nations greatly exceeding those of the Global South. 

Tropical vulnerability 
The last six millennia have seen much higher ‘carrying capacities’, soil fertility, population densities, and urbanisation in the tropics than in the temperate zone. 
<div id="attachment_157782" style="width: 190px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-157782" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2018/09/jomo_180.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="212" class="size-full wp-image-157782" />Jomo Kwame Sundaram</div>Most of the world’s population lives in tropical and subtropical areas in developing nations, now increasingly threatened by planetary heating.
Different environments, geographies, ecologies and means affect vulnerability to planetary heating. Climate change’s effects vary considerably, especially between tropical and temperate regions. 
Extreme weather events – cyclones, hurricanes, or typhoons – are generally much more severe in the tropics, which are also much more vulnerable to planetary heating. 
Although they have emitted relatively less GHGs per capita, tropical developing countries must now adapt much more to planetary heating and its consequences. 
Many rural livelihoods have become increasingly unviable, forcing ‘climate refugees’ to move away. Increasing numbers in the countryside have little choice but to leave. 
Worse, economic and technological changes of recent decades have limited job creation in many developing countries, causing employment to fall further behind labour force growth. 
Unequal development has also worsened climate injustice. Adaptation efforts are far more urgent in the tropics as planetary heating has damaged these regions much more.
Technological solutions? 
While science may offer solutions, innovation has become increasingly commercialised for profit. Previously, developing countries could negotiate technology transfer agreements, but this option is becoming less available.
Strengthened intellectual property rights (IPRs) limit technology transfer, innovation, and development. The World Trade Organization (WTO) greatly increased the scope of IPRs in 1995 with its new Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions. 
Thus, access to technology depends increasingly on ability to pay and getting government permission, slowing climate action in the Global South. Financial constraints doubly handicap the worst off. 
Despite rapidly mounting deaths due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, European governments refused to honour the West’s public health exception (PHE) concession in 2001 to restart WTO ministerial talks after the 1999 Seattle debacle. 
Instead of implementing the TRIPS PHE as the pandemic quickly spread, Europeans dragged out negotiations until a poor compromise was reached years after the pandemic had been officially declared and millions had died worldwide. 
With the second Trump administration withdrawing again from the World Health Organization (WHO) and cutting research funding, tropical threats will continue to dominate the WHO list of neglected diseases.
Climate finance inadequate 
Citing the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC), rich nations claimed they could only afford to contribute a hundred billion dollars annually to climate finance for developing countries in line with the sustainable development principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’. 
This hundred-billion-dollar promise was made before the 2009 Copenhagen Conference of the Parties (COP) to secure support for a significant new climate agreement after the US Senate rejected the Kyoto Protocol before the end of the 20th century. 
Rich nations promised to raise their concessional climate finance contributions from 2020 after recovery from the recession following the GFC. However, official development assistance has declined while military spending pledges have risen sharply. 
The rich OECD nations now claim that the hundred-billion-dollar climate finance promise has been met with some new ‘creative accounting’, including Italian government funding support for a commercial gelateria chain abroad!
In recent climate finance talks, Western governments increasingly insist that only mitigation funding should qualify as climate finance, claiming adaptation efforts do not slow planetary heating. 
Meanwhile, reparations funds for ‘losses and damages’ remain embarrassingly low. Worse, in recent years, much of the West has abandoned specific promises to slow planetary heating. 
Despite being among the greatest GHG emitters per capita, the USA has made the least progress. The two Trump administrations’ aggressive reversals of modest earlier US commitments have further reduced the negligible progress so far.
In late 2021, the Glasgow climate COP pledged to end coal burning for energy. But less than half a year later, the West abandoned this promise to block energy imports from Russia after it invaded Ukraine. 
Concessional to commercial finance 
Responding to developing countries’ demands for more financial resources on concessional terms to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and address the climate crisis, World Bank president Jim Kim promoted the ‘from billions to trillions’ financing slogan.
The catchphrase was used to urge developing countries to take much more commercial loans as access to concessional finance declined and borrowing terms tightened. 
With lower interest rates in the West due to unconventional monetary policies following the 2008 GFC, many developing nations increased borrowing until interest rates were sharply raised from early 2022.
Funds leaving developing countries in great haste precipitated widespread debt distress, especially in many poorer developing countries. Thus, purported market financial solutions compounded rather than mitigated the climate crisis. 
Meanwhile, growing geopolitical hostilities, leading to what some consider a new Cold War, are accelerating planetary heating and further threatening tropical ecologies, rural livelihoods, and well-being. 
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<title>Do We Need a Pacific Peace Index?</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 08 Sep 2025 16:07:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Anna Naupa</dc:creator>
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<description><![CDATA[  Globally, there is a 0.36% deterioration in average levels of peacefulness, as more countries are increasing their levels of militarisation against the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, increasing conflict, and rising economic uncertainty. But this statistic omits most Pacific island countries. In 2025, only three are ranked by the Global Peace Index (GPI): New […]]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="150" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/pjsi_-300x150.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/pjsi_-300x150.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/pjsi_.jpg 630w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Credit: brutto film / shutterstock.comBy Anna Naupa Sep 8 2025 (IPS)
Globally, there is a <a href="https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GPI-2025-web.pdf" target="_blank">0.36% deterioration</a> in average levels of peacefulness, as more countries are increasing their levels of militarisation against the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, increasing conflict, and rising economic uncertainty. 

But this statistic omits most Pacific island countries. In 2025, only three are ranked by the <a href="https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GPI-2025-web.pdf" target="_blank">Global Peace Index</a> (GPI): New Zealand in 3rd place, Australia in18th and Papua New Guinea ranking 116th out of 163 nations. 
As regional dialogue about an ‘<a href="https://www.pmoffice.gov.fj/pm-rabuka-champions-ocean-of-peace-vision-for-pacific-unity-04-07-2025/" target="_blank">Ocean of Peace</a>’ concept advances, a dedicated Pacific Peace Index—as suggested by Solomon Islands’ Professor Transform Aqorau at the July 2025 <a href="https://www.fijitimes.com.fj/pacifics-largest-security-conference-opens-in-suva/" target="_blank">Pacific Regional and National Security Conference</a>—might provide additional form to an evolving political dialogue amongst Pacific Islands Forum member states.
But, how is Pacific peace defined? How might our own Pacific measure of peacefulness complement existing efforts to safeguard peace and security in the region?
What is Pacific Peace?
Peace is more than the absence of conflict or violence; it is a <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/pacific-zone-peace-what-will-it-entail" target="_blank">global public good</a> that enables people to live full, healthy and prosperous lives without fear.
“Peace must serve the people, not geopolitics, not elites in the region, not distant interests,” Professor Aqorau says, in articulating <a href="https://pacificsecurity.net/media-release/pacific-regional-and-national-security-conference-panel-explores-ocean-of-peace-vision-amid-rising-regional-challenges/" target="_blank">a vision for Pacific peace</a>. Peace must also tackle broader factors affecting <a href="https://pacificsecurity.net/media-release/women-driving-change-in-pacific-security-but-barriers-remain/" target="_blank">safety and wellbeing</a> across the Pacific, particularly for women and vulnerable populations, says Fiji’s Shamima Ali.
<a href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/APSDJ Vol.27 No.1_pp.43-74.pdf" target="_blank">Peace and development</a> are two sides of the same coin. The <a href="https://forumsec.org/2050" target="_blank">Pacific 2050 Strategy</a> for a Blue Pacific Continent places peace alongside harmony, security, social inclusion, and prosperity, as a key element for attaining free, healthy, and productive lives for Pacific peoples. Delivering Pacific peace, therefore, entails securing well-being; protecting people, place and environment; advancing development; and securing futures for present and future generations, the latter efforts entailing climate action and protection of sovereignty.
While global indices are variably critiqued for omissions of Pacific Islands data, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01436597.2021.1913406" target="_blank">unilateral development</a> and indicator <a href="https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/74268/1/MPRA_paper_74268.pdf" target="_blank">bias</a>, <a href="https://sdd.spc.int/news/2021/06/10/regional-comparison-where-data-gap" target="_blank">poorly contextualized methodologies</a>, or the <a href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/APS2020/58_Pacific_Data_Hub_Pacific_Community.pdf" target="_blank">significant resourcing</a> required to produce Pacific datasets, indices can nonetheless usefully <a href="https://www.spc.int/pacific-data-hub-pdh" target="_blank">inform policy-makers</a>.
What could a Pacific Peace Index measure?
The current starting point for measuring and monitoring peace in the region is found in the form of existing country commitments to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 (<a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/peace-justice/" target="_blank">the ‘Peace Goal’</a>).
The <a href="https://forumsec.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/The-Pacific-Roadmap-for-Sustainable-Development.pdf" target="_blank">Pacific Roadmap for Sustainable Development</a> has <a href="https://prdrse4all.spc.int/sites/default/files/sdgs_in_the_pacific_booklet_2018.pdf" target="_blank">contextualised</a> eight SDG 16 indicators for regional reporting that address experiences of violence, access to justice, civil registration and legal identity, transparency of public expenditure, and public access to information and views on participation in decision-making processes.
In 2022, a regional monitoring report led by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat found that limited data availability for SDG16 hampered measurement of progress in the Pacific. This is broadly reflective of global trends, where investment is needed in further data generation efforts and statistical capacity to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/measuring-peace-pacific-addressing-sdg16-peace-justice-strong-institutions" target="_blank">measure SDG 16</a>.
The report also found that the Pacific was regressing on advancing effective institutions, transparency, and accountability.
But are SDG16’s Pacific contextualised indicators sufficient to meet the expectations of the <a href="https://forumsec.org/publications/boe-declaration-regional-security" target="_blank">Boe Declaration</a> on Regional Security and the Pacific 2050 Strategy’s Peace and Security pillar? Can this type of reporting serve as a <a href="https://www.economicsandpeace.org/case-study/measuring-peace-and-sdg-16-in-the-pacific-region/" target="_blank">potential proxy</a> ‘Pacific Peace Index’?
While answers to these questions are both technical and political in nature, there are two things to keep in mind:
1) Peace has deep roots in Pacific social and cultural structures
Despite close alignment with regional strategies, the current SDG 16 contextualised indicators do not encapsulate the depth of a Pacific vision for peace.
Pacific Islands Countries’ policy commitments to aspects of peace are well-documented. Each year new initiatives are announced that respond to an expanded concept of security, ranging from traditional <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/pacific/shared-security-in-the-pacific" target="_blank">security cooperation</a> to tackling <a href="https://stories.uq.edu.au/research/2021/peace-in-the-pacific/index.html" target="_blank">gender-based violence</a>, climate mitigation and humanitarian assistance or investing in democratic processes.
But, knowledge gaps remain about the contribution of locally driven peace initiatives to national and regional efforts, and how these contribute to overall Pacific <a href="https://toksave.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Vanuatu-National-Statistics-Office_2012.pdf" target="_blank">well-being</a>. Addressing these gaps allows for a more comprehensive telling of an aggregated Pacific narrative of peace, which could be factored into a Pacific Peace Index. For example, peace-building dialogues following the <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/meaningful-participation-women-peacebuilding-pacific" target="_blank">Bougainville crisis, Solomon Islands’ ethnic tensions</a>, and series of <a href="https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/asia_pacific_rbap/PC_DialogueFiji.pdf" target="_blank">Fiji coups</a> have highlighted the important contributions of locally-driven approaches, including drawing on <a href="https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/04/22/conflict-resolution-in-a-hybrid-state-the-bougainville-story/2/" target="_blank">traditional dispute resolution</a>.
2) Telling a story of purposeful peace 
Yet, Pacific peace is more than a collection of discrete data points and time-bound security-related projects. Peace is an evolving process, it is future-oriented and a proactive, purposeful exercise.
Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Baron Waqa has stressed that peace must be “<a href="https://pacificsecurity.net/media-release/pacific-leaders-unite-to-chart-path-toward-ocean-of-peace/" target="_blank">anchored in sovereignty, resilience, inclusion and regional solidarity</a>.” Many Pacific scholars agree, arguing that there is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10357718.2025.2488791" target="_blank">no real peace without addressing longstanding issues</a> of colonisation, militarisation, restricted sovereignty and justice, which continue to bear on many Pacific islanders.
To tell a regional story means connecting, for example, Tuvalu’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-will-happen-to-the-legal-status-of-sinking-nations-when-their-land-is-gone-263559" target="_blank">international statehood</a> recognition, the recent landmark ICJ advisory opinion on climate change, the <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-blue-pacific-and-the-legacies-of-nuclear-testing/" target="_blank">nuclear legacies</a> in the region, <a href="https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/asiainsights/leaving-nothing-to-chance-sustaining-pacific-development-beyond-2024/" target="_blank">political instability, elections</a>, and <a href="https://toksave.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Vanuatu-National-Statistics-Office_2012.pdf" target="_blank">well-being measures</a>, to the region’s vision of peace. Combined, we can then begin to grasp all the elements that contribute to a cumulatively peaceful region.
So, where to from here?
Another tool is the <a href="https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PPR-2024-web.pdf" target="_blank">Positive Peace Index</a> which measures the ‘attitudes, institutions and structures that sustain and create peaceful societies’. It assesses socio-economic development, justice, good governance and effective institutions, inclusion, resilience and diplomacy. A Pacific Peace Index could adapt this to incorporate <a href="https://ptc.ac.fj/pacific-indigenous-philosophies-and-values/" target="_blank">Pacific indigenous philosophies</a> of peace and values of social cohesion, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-137-46458-3_11" target="_blank">well-being</a> and reconciliation that are absent from existing global indices, for example, and track the region’s journey, disaggregated by country.
Multi-country indices demand considerable capacity so a State of Pacific Peace assessment may instead offer a simpler option. This could entail a dedicated section in the existing <a href="https://forumsec.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/Pacific Security 2025.pdf" target="_blank">Pacific Regional Security Outlook</a> report produced by regional organisations. Alternatively, the region’s academic institutions (e.g. via <a href="https://www.usp.ac.fj/news/track-two-dialogue-focuses-on-the-geopolitical-landscape-in-the-region/" target="_blank">Track 2 mechanisms</a>) could be invited to assist. Investing in <a href="https://dppa.un.org/en/arawa-hosts-first-ever-bougainville-womens-peace-summit" target="_blank">peace summits</a> also provides the opportunity for ongoing regional peace dialogue.
The emphasis, however, must be on building, not duplicating, existing regional mechanisms.
The opportunity of a Pacific Peace Index would be in owning and telling a coherent peace narrative that: a) bridges security and development and, b) reflects how the peace interests and dignity of Pacific peoples are being upheld over time.
As political dialogue about a Pacific ‘Ocean of Peace’ evolves, <a href="https://pacificsecurity.net/media-release/pacific-regional-and-national-security-conference-panel-explores-ocean-of-peace-vision-amid-rising-regional-challenges/" target="_blank">Pacific peoples’ visions of peace</a> must drive any framing and subsequent action. Professor Aqorau offers <a href="https://pacificsecurity.net/media-release/pacific-regional-and-national-security-conference-panel-explores-ocean-of-peace-vision-amid-rising-regional-challenges/" target="_blank">further wisdom</a>: ” Our peace should not depend on choosing sides, but on asserting our needs, on our terms and on our collective aspirations.”
Related articles: 
<a href="https://toda.org/global-outlook/2025/peacebuilding-the-missing-peace-in-cop30-climate-ambition.html" target="_blank">Peacebuilding: The Missing Peace in COP30 Climate Ambition</a>
<a href="https://toda.org/policy-briefs-and-resources/policy-briefs/climate-change-in-pasifika-relational-itulagi.html" target="_blank">Climate Change in Pasifika Relational Itulagi</a>
Anna Naupa is a ni-Vanuatu PhD candidate at the Australian National University.
This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the <a href="https://toda.org/global-outlook/2025/do-we-need-a-pacific-peace-index.html" target="_blank">original</a> with their permission.
IPS UN Bureau
 
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<title>No Progress Without Women’s Freedom</title>
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<pubDate>Mon, 08 Sep 2025 11:00:36 +0000</pubDate>
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<description><![CDATA[The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="225" src="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/afghanmarketplace-300x225.jpg" class="attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image" alt="Half of Afghanistan's population – the women – have been pushed out of public life by the Taliban. Credit: Learning Together - The Taliban Ministry of Virtue and Vice enforces strict rules in Afghanistan, stripping women of education, work, and freedom while fueling fear and exclusion" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/afghanmarketplace-300x225.jpg 300w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/afghanmarketplace-200x149.jpg 200w, https://www.ipsnews.net/Library/2025/09/afghanmarketplace.jpg 629w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Half of Afghanistan's population – the women – have been pushed out of public life by the Taliban. Credit: Learning Together.By External Source KABUL, Sep 8 2025 (IPS) In recent weeks, the walls of the Afghan capital have been plastered with slogans about women’s hijab: “Unveiling is a sign of ignorance”; “Hijab is a father’s honour and the pride of Muslims”.
They are messages from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, created to enforce the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic rule on Afghanistan. Women, once again, are at the sharp end of it all.
Presented as efforts to uphold public morality, the slogans have instead weighed heavily on the mental and emotional well-being of women.
 
Walls That Echo Fear, Not Faith
Many women complain that the constant messaging makes them feel anxious and unsafe. Even those who are fully dressed up in hijab in accordance with the law have become fearful of stepping outside the house, not because of what they are wearing, but because the atmosphere has become so tense and judgmental. When they see slogans staring down at them from the walls, they “echo fear not faith”.
Women are not allowed to wear perfume; laugh out loud or speak openly in front of men. They must not interact with men who are either non-relatives or non-Muslims and are required to always walk with a male guardian in public 
 Parwin, a young woman traveling on a city bus with her mother, recalls a time when the walls of Kabul were covered with colorful murals promoting women’s rights, peace, freedom, and equality. She said, “Sadly, the Taliban have wiped those away and replaced them with messages that put limits on women”, she complains.
“What women need more than ever is more education not slogans that only scare them”, says Parwin.
Instead, after four years of living under Taliban rule women continue to live with fear, deprivation, and many restrictions.
Maliha, another Kabul resident, raised her concerns over a steady increase in the number of restrictions women now face: women are not allowed to wear perfume; laugh out loud or speak openly in front of men. They must not interact with men who are either non-relatives or non-Muslims and are required to always walk with a male guardian in public.
She said, “Women are born free and should not be cut off from the rest of society. These restrictions do not protect us. Rather, they push us out and exclude us from community life”.
The Taliban came with promises of ‘preserving Islamic values,’ but instead of respecting women’s dignity as recognized in Islam, they have subjected them to repression and exclusion.
Islam recognizes the dignity of women and grants them the right to work, participate in society and to have an education. Using religious values as a tool to suppress women only presents a harsh and unjust image of the faith.
Instead of focusing on dress codes and restrictions, the government should be helping women who have no home. They should be supporting widows and women with nowhere to turn to—by providing them shelter, jobs, and a way to live with dignity.
 
Restrictions That Have Paralized Life
Four years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan,<a href="https://www.ipsnews.net/2025/09/afghan-women-to-the-international-community-real-action-not-mere-sympathy-or-words-of-condemnation/"> life has only gotten harder for Afghan women</a>. From the beginning, strict rules were put in place to limit their freedom and instead of easing up, those restrictions have only grown tighter.
Girls are banned from attending school after six grade or university. Women are no longer allowed to work outside their homes. In effect, half the population has been pushed out of public life.
In response to these criticisms, the spokesperson for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice told the media that these slogans are a way to promote Islamic morals.
But in reality a law passed last year with 35 articles severely restrict women’s personal freedoms.
Afghan women today are living without basic rights, and in an unsafe and deeply stressful environment.
If the Taliban continue with the policies of shutting women off women from the rest of society, it not only threatens the future of an entire generation of women, it also holds back progress and development of the whole country.
 
Excerpt: The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons]]></content:encoded>
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