Growing Movement Boycotts Krill Products as CCAMLR Fails to Protect Antarctic Ecosystems

On October 30, the 45th annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR-45) concluded in Hobart, Australia. After another year of negotiations without a consensus reached on Antarctic marine protection measures or krill fishing regulations, conservation groups are urging consumers and retailers to boycott all krill products.

I Sustain My Accusation

This is the final article in a four-part series with related titles, highlighting the responsibility of mainstream media and religious leaders for the world’s current appalling state and the calamities that may await future generations if proper measures are not taken in time. When megalomania is given a “human face,” historical facts are distorted, acts of aggression are whitewashed, unlawful wars are portrayed as vehicles of “democracy, human rights, and morality,” other people’s intelligence is undermined and mocked, bias overshadows international norms, and religion becomes an instrument of bigotry, I sustain my accusation:

Protecting the Climate Means Protecting Territorial Rights

The world cannot claim to protect the climate and nature while opening Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' territories to industrial activities that threaten their rights, livelihoods and ways of life. Yet governments increasingly recognize these communities' contributions to climate and biodiversity protection while authorizing mining, oil drilling, industrial agriculture and infrastructure projects that can undermine the very territories they safeguard.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2026

 
For millions of women around the world, violence is not a distant threat. It is a reality experienced in homes, communities, workplaces and increasingly, online.

Hotter World, Older Population: How Long Can Climate COPs Ignore the Obvious?

As COP31 gets underway in Antalya, two realities demand attention. The World Meteorological Organisation reports that 2015–2025 were the 11 hottest years on record, with 2025 about 1.43°C above pre-industrial levels.

From Nuclear Weapons to Artificial Intelligence, a New Test of Humanity’s Restraint

Eight decades after atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world is confronting a new and potentially dangerous question: What happens when decisions involving human life increasingly pass from people to machines?

Before We Declare Gender Bias Dead, Read the Footnotes

The United Nations knows how to announce a milestone. What interests me, after a career that has included working inside UNICEF and UNDP and evaluating institutions from outside them, is what happens between the announcement and the working day.

1.5 Billion Women and Girls Live in Climate Hotspots, as UN Women Urges Stronger Action at COP31

More than one in three women and girls worldwide – at least 1.5 billion – live in climate hotspots, where high exposure to climate hazards, insecure jobs and deep gender inequality collide, according to a new UN Women fact sheet on “Gender Equality in the Age of Climate Crisis”. UN Women warns that while 73 per cent of countries recognize the climate risks facing women and girls, just over one in three address them comprehensively.

Without Action, Climate Change Could Push Women Further Behind by 2050, CGIAR Warns

Fetching water was once a back-breaking daily reality – one that Nomuhle SibandaMpofu will never forget.

Regime Change Blowback

Trump and Netanyahu went all out for regime change in Tehran. This month, their electorates gave them regime changes, albeit not quite what they wanted. The wars continue, but the politics have changed.

Reforming the UN Must Begin with Reforming Staff Representation

Stronger staff representation means a stronger United Nations. This is not simply about protecting jobs or preserving acquired benefits, important as those objectives are. This is about protecting the institutional capacity, integrity and independence of the United Nations itself.

Drought Cripples Dairy Farmers in Maharashtra in ‘Off the Charts’ Weather Year

Dairy farmer Sagar Pawar has to buy water and fodder at inflated rates to feed his brood of two buffaloes, three Guernsey cows and a calf. He lives in the Solapur district, which is already drought-prone, but now has to deal with the impacts of a strong El Niño as well.

I Continue to Accuse

This piece focuses on the responsibilities of other prominent figures, leaders of intergovernmental organizations, senior diplomats, and business tycoons for the world’s current appalling state and the calamities that may await future generations. When democracy fails; when people in authority remain silent and prioritize self-interest; when regional entities become redundant; when appearance becomes more important than substance; when diplomacy is outsmarted by warmongers; when prejudice infects minds; and when business chooses unlawfulness, I continue to assert:

COP31 Litmus Test for International Cooperation

As the world heads toward COP31 Türkiye starting this week, I’ve been reflecting on how I think COP31 could prove to be a more revealing "Transition COP”. Let us remember that the Paris Agreement came from a series of "institutional heartbeat” COPs – NOT from annual blockbuster headlines.

Sixty Years on, UN Is Finally Interpreting Freedom of Association

 

A right under pressure No one disputes freedom of association. It is in the Constitutions of almost every country, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 22 of the ICCPR, and in regional Articles in Europe, America, and Africa. What it has never had, at the universal level, is sincere implementation by governments.

I Also Accuse

Following my first article with a similar title, I must note that many actors have contributed, and continue to contribute, to the world’s current appalling state and the calamities that may await future generations. When historical injustices committed by colonial powers and their ramifications are ignored; when the drums of war sound in many corners of the world; when international institutions remain powerless; when vulgarity permeates politics and diplomacy; and when heads of state in rich and “poor” countries, along with the leadership of the United Nations (UN), are unable or unwilling to address issues affecting humanity’s destiny, I also declare:

Wealth Buys Protection in Climate Crisis – Oxfam

The world’s wealthiest people are driving a disproportionate share of climate pollution while poorer communities bear the heaviest costs of floods, heatwaves, food insecurity and other climate disasters, according to a new report by Oxfam International.

Turning Nuclear Memory Into Joint Action: Kazakhstan and Soka Gakkai Expand Their Cooperation

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and decades of nuclear testing at Semipalatinsk left Japan and Kazakhstan with different histories of nuclear suffering. Those experiences have helped sustain a partnership that is now finding new avenues through interfaith dialogue.

Reviewing the UN Charter: Diplomatic Groundwork Should Begin

 
Article 109 of the UN Charter provides a mechanism for reviewing the Charter itself. It allows a General Conference of all UN members to be convened by a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly and a vote of any nine members of the Security Council. As the Article provides, “Each Member of the United Nations shall have one vote in the conference.”

When the Young Stop Waiting: Europe’s Gen Z Is Sending Us All a Message

This autumn I have found myself watching the evening news from Europe with a growing sense of recognition. Not of the tear gas or the burning barricades, which I deplore, but of the faces. Teenagers holding hand-painted signs. University students sleeping in tents in city squares. Young people who look, more than anything, tired of waiting.