Civil Society: The Last Line of Defence in a World of Cascading Crises

In a world of overlapping crises, from brutal conflicts and democratic regression to climate breakdown and astronomic levels of economic inequality, one vital force stands as a shield and solution: civil society. This is the sobering but ultimately hopeful message of CIVICUS’s 14th annual State of Civil Society Report, which provides a wide-ranging civil society perspective on the state of the world as it stands in early 2025.

International Day of Forests
‘Now is the time for decisive, collaborative action’

The Forest Declaration Assessment Partners have called for urgent reforms to the international financial system to halt deforestation and protect biodiversity. It has also pitched for redirecting the public subsidies to mitigate the direct and indirect environmental risks from both public and private finance.

New Survey: US Funding Freeze Triggers Global Crisis in Human Rights and Democracy

A new survey carried out by the EU System for an Enabling Environment (EU SEE) network exposes the impact of the US funding freeze on civil society organisations (CSOs) in over 50 countries. With 67% of surveyed organisations directly impacted and 40% of them losing between 25-50% of their budgets, the abrupt halt in funding is disrupting critical human rights, democracy, gender equality and health programs, leaving vulnerable communities without essential support.

Musk is Wrong. Empathy is Not a Weakness

“The fundamental weakness is empathy,” Musk recently told radio podcast host Joe Rogan. “There is a bug, which is the empathy response.” As Musk has established himself as at least the second most powerful person in an administration seeking a wholesale remaking of institutions, rules and norms, what he said matters, because it encapsulates a political plan. What the Project 2025 report set out in over 900 turgid pages, Musk’s remark captures in a simple pithy mantra for the social media age.

Funding Disruptions Are a Systemic Failure – Philanthropy Must Do What’s Right and Support Local Leadership

The slashing of US aid funding by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, and cuts or planned cuts in international support by several European states, threaten to cut off the oxygen supply to a civil society already in a critical condition. At CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, activists and grassroots groups have shared with us time and again that shifting and volatile donor priorities are one of the top funding challenges they face, alongside limited resources for strategy and restricted funding.

WTO: Standing Tall as the Winds Howl

Winds are also changing in trade policy. As they get rougher and more unpredictable, the much-criticised multilateral trade regime of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has so far proved surprisingly resilient. Paradoxically, Donald Trump’s tariff policy could actually strengthen the WTO.

Trump, Democracy and the U.S. Constitution

In these turbulent and sad times, it is hard to keep quiet about abuses and violations of human rights taking place around the world; in eastern DR Congo, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Gaza. Among the most egregious examples of incomprehensible stances on such abuses is the behaviour displayed by the Trump Administration, not least the President’s behaviour against the lawfully elected president of Ukraine. Trump’s doubts about the validity of a nation’s desperate struggle against the forces of a dictatorial regime, which destroys their country and aims at taking over its richest territory.

Is UN in Danger of Losing its Battle for Gender Equality?

The Trump administration’s decision to abandon DEI—diversity, equity and inclusion— which was aimed at promoting fair treatment in the work place, is having its repercussions at the United Nations. The US has been exerting pressure on UN agencies to drop DEI largely protecting minority groups, and women in particular, who have been historically underrepresented or subject to discrimination.

United Nations’ New Efficiency Initiative is Aiming for Structural Changes to Operations

The United Nations chief announced on Wednesday (March 12) a new initiative that aims to assess areas of efficiency and improvement for the international organization to expand its efforts and recognize the need “for even greater urgency and ambition.”

UN Chief Launches New Initiative as World Faces Growing Challenges

Our world is facing challenges on every front. Since the United Nations reflects that world in all its aspects, we feel it in all our work.

The G20: How it Works, Why it Matters and What Would be Lost if it Failed

South Africa took over the presidency of the G20 at the end of 2024. Since then the world has become a more complex, unpredictable and dangerous place.

Western Climate Hypocrisy Exposed by NATO Energy Policy

NATO geopolitical strategy has now joined the ‘coalition’ of Western geoeconomic forces accelerating planetary heating, now led again by re-elected US President Donald Trump.

First Vietnam, Then Afghanistan: Is Ukraine Next?

 
The ongoing war in Ukraine has raised difficult questions for U.S. foreign policy. With U.S. and Russian leaders engaged in direct talks in Saudi Arabia over the future of the conflict, many are left wondering whether the Ukraine crisis could become another Afghanistan or Vietnam—two conflicts where the U.S. pursued peace talks with its adversaries while sidelining local governments, leading to catastrophic outcomes. Drawing lessons from these past negotiations and the eventual collapse of South Vietnam in 1975 and the Republic regime in Afghanistan in 2021, one cannot help but wonder whether Ukraine could face a similar fate unless the U.S. carefully navigates these talks with a more inclusive approach.

Society’s Self-Sabotage: How Discrimination Cripples Nations

One look at the headlines recently and anyone would know that cuts to foreign aid are jeopardizing hard-won progress on a range of issues. AIDS is one of them.

The Worldwide Demographic Ageing Transformation

Country populations worldwide are experiencing the demographic ageing transformation. The relatively young populations experienced during most of the 20th century are increasingly being transformed into the older populations of the 21st century.

A Cash Crisis Forces UN to Re-Figure its Budget and Freeze Staff Hiring

Faced with an impending cash crisis primarily due to non-payment of dues by the US and over 100 other member states-- along with threats of a US withdrawal from the world body-- there were widespread rumors the United Nations was re-costing and reducing its approved budget for 2025 while deciding to freeze hiring new staffers.

Solutions To TB and HIV Benefit All of Us, North and South

In the west of Kenya, near the shores of Lake Victoria, where I come from, a tuberculosis outbreak is no different from one that takes place anywhere else in the world. A few dozen people get sick, health workers attempt to locate and test everyone with a bad cough and other symptoms. A concerted effort is made to make sure that patients take their medications for the entire duration of treatment, at least six months, to help stem the creation of drug-resistant infections.

How the Arts Play a Role in the Fight for Nuclear Disarmament

This week countries and communities converge in New York for the 3rd Meeting of State Parties on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), with multiple side events to address the social, political and cultural impact of nuclear abolition across different sectors.

International Women’s Day, 2025
The Quest for a Female UN Secretary-General: Assessing the Probability

The United Nations has chosen “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” as the theme for International Women’s Day on March 8, 2025. This theme emphasizes the importance of equal rights, power, and opportunities for all women and girls, urging action to create a feminist future where no one is left behind.

Nuclear Weapons, Far from Diminishing, Keep Rising

The United Nations, whose primary mandate is to maintain international peace and security, has been one of the longstanding leaders in the global campaign for a world without nuclear weapons. But the progress has been relatively slow – despite the growing number of anti-nuclear treaties. Perhaps the only consolation is the absence of a nuclear attack or a nuclear war in over 80 years.

International Women’s Day, 2025
It’s time for a Feminist Woman Secretary General at the UN

In 2025, the United Nations will celebrate 80 years of shaping global policies, fostering peace, and driving international development. Yet, in those eight decades, not a single woman has held the position of Secretary-General.