A Feminist Future for the UN: Why the Next Secretary-General Must Champion Civil Society

Climate change is threatening to engulf small island states such as Maldives and the Marshall Islands. Gender apartheid is still practiced in theocratic states such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. War crimes and genocide are taking place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Sudan.

World Press Freedom Day 2025
Global Press Freedom Index Falls to Critical Low

Global press freedom across the world is at a “critical moment,” campaigners have warned, as a major index mapping the state of global press freedom hits an unprecedented low.

The Vietnam and Gaza Wars Shattered Young Illusions About US Leaders

Eight years before the U.S.-backed regime in South Vietnam collapsed, I stood with high school friends at Manhattan’s Penn Station on the night of April 15, 1967, waiting for a train back to Washington after attending the era’s largest antiwar protest so far.

To Save Our Planet, We Must Protect Its Defenders

The most powerful court in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is preparing to clarify the obligations of States in relation to climate change. In its upcoming Advisory Opinion, the Court must articulate ambitious standards for respecting and protecting the human rights of environmental defenders in the context of the climate crisis.

‘The International Response Should Follow the Principle of ‘Nothing about Us, Without Us’’

CIVICUS speaks with Ukrainian gender rights activist Maryna Rudenko about the gendered impacts of the war in Ukraine and the importance of including women in peacebuilding efforts. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has profoundly impacted on women and girls. Many have been displaced and are struggling with poverty and unemployment. Those who’ve stayed endure daily missile attacks, damaged infrastructure, lack of basic services and sexual violence from Russian forces if they live in occupied territories. Women activists, caregivers and journalists are particularly vulnerable. The international community must increase support to ensure justice for victims and women’s inclusion in peace efforts.

Trump’s First 100 Days Portend Long-Lasting Damage to Press Freedom

Press freedom is no longer a given in the United States 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term as journalists and newsrooms face mounting pressures that threaten their ability to report freely and the public’s right to know.

Indispensable—Native Hawaiian Elder Says of Indigenous Ocean Management Systems

Indigenous people play a vital role in ocean protection due to their deep-rooted connection to the marine environment and their traditional knowledge of sustainable resource management. They often possess centuries-old practices and stewardship ethics that prioritize ecological balance and community well-being.

Sights Set on Highest Ambition as World Rows Through Toughest Ocean Crisis

Participants from over 100 countries will leave the 10th Our Ocean Conference in Busan, the Republic of Korea, with stark reminders that with sea levels rising dangerously, coastal regions and low-lying areas globally, particularly densely populated areas, are threatened.

Mexico Bans GM Corn Cultivation in Constitutional Reform: Action Follows Trade Ruling That Ignored Evidence of Genetic Contamination

On March 17, Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum signed into law a constitutional reform banning the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) corn. The action followed a December ruling by a trade tribunal, under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, in favor of a U.S. complaint that Mexico's 2023 presidential decree, with broader restrictions on the consumption of GM corn, constituted an unfair trade practice by prohibiting the use of GM corn in tortillas.

Tanzania’s Women Miners Digging for Equality in a Male-Dominated Industry

Under the scorching Tanzanian sun, Neema Mushi wipes sweat from her dust-covered face and swings her pickaxe into the earth. The impact sends dust swirling into the air, coating her tattered clothes. She barely notices. For the past eight years, this has been her life—digging, sifting, sieving, and hoping to strike gold in the male-dominated pits of Geita. It is a grueling task riddled with obstacles.

The Disappeared: Mexico’s Industrial-Scale Human Rights Crisis

They found shoes, hundreds of them, scattered across the dirt floor of an extermination camp in Jalisco state. These abandoned shoes, once belonging to someone’s child, parent or spouse, stand as silent witnesses to Mexico’s deepest national trauma. Alongside charred human remains and makeshift crematoria meant to erase all evidence of humanity, they tell the story of a crisis that has reached industrial-scale proportions.

Global Community in Busan to Define Sustainable Future for Life Under Water

“As the son of a haenyeo, a traditional Korean female diver, I grew up by the sea, often watching the ocean with my mother. Captivated by the beauty and majesty of the sea, I chose to study marine science and have devoted my entire career to the ocean,” said Do-hyung Kang, Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea.

Korea’s Troubled Waters: Traditional Women Divers Protecting an Ocean in Crisis

Ahead of the 10th Our Ocean Conference, with the theme "Our Ocean, Our Action," comes a global call to protect the world's oceans.

Kashmir Reels After Pahalgam Attack, Fear Long Term Impacts on Livelihoods

Abdul Majeed Mir strolls leisurely among the purple crocus flower rows in Pampore's saffron fields as the morning mist hovers low over them. His family has been growing this valuable spice, called "red gold," for many generations, but now his hands go through the harvest mechanically. There is a noticeable lack of the typical commotion of tourists haggling over saffron packets.

‘Noboa Did Not Receive a Blank Cheque: He Will Have to Show Tangible Results’

 
CIVICUS discusses Ecuador’s presidential election with Jorge Tapia de los Reyes, Coordinator of the Democracy and Politics Department and the Political Funding Observatory of the Citizenship and Development Foundation (FCD). FCD is an Ecuadorian civil society organisation that promotes participation, citizen monitoring and open government.

African Countries Still Underfunding Health by as Much as 50 Percent

The majority of African countries are yet to commit 15 percent of their GDP to funding the health sector, despite the growing disease burden weighing down the continent and two decades after the coming into force of the Abuja declaration on health sector funding.

Slave Trade: Gorée Island and the ‘Fragility of Freedom’

Gorée Island, off the coast of Dakar, is a somber reminder of the transatlantic slave trade. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it embodies both the duty to remember and the challenges of passing on a painful past.

Children at the Center

Creativity and innovation are essential to finding extraordinary solutions to abnormal problems. Now more than ever we must continue finding creative solutions to protect the world’s most vulnerable children from the excruciating pain of war, dispossession and destruction of their last hope: a quality education. The current humanitarian and development funding levels are falling. However, with creativity we can prevent further deterioration and instead turn towards an upward direction.

Shaken and Strained: Myanmar’s Earthquake Adding to the Misery of 4 Years of Conflict

As I walked through the streets of Sagaing and Mandalay, the scenes unfolding in the wake of the 7.7 earthquake were hard to comprehend. Tall buildings and hundreds of homes are now lying in rubble. Of those that are still standing, many are lurching at dangerous angles, defying gravity for now, but could collapse at any moment.

Smallholder Farmers Are Not ‘Beneficiaries’, but the ‘Co-Creators of Change’

Eliud Rugut comes from generations of farmers, yet his family expected him to move out of their home and pursue another career.

Standing Firm: Civil Society at the Forefront of the Climate Resistance

The recent US court case that ordered three Greenpeace organisations to pay damages of over US$660 million to an oil and gas company was a stunning blow against civil society’s efforts to stop runaway climate change and environmental degradation. The verdict, following a trial independent witnesses assessed to be grossly unfair, came in reaction to Indigenous-led anti-pipeline protests. It’s vital for any prospects of tackling the climate crisis that Greenpeace’s appeal succeeds, because without civil society pressure, there’s simply no hope of governments and corporations taking the action required.