Humanitarian Emergencies

Sindh People’s Housing Redefines Post-Disaster Adaptation Success

By any comparison, the statistics for Sindh People's Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) are phenomenal. In 2022, photographs from the region showed people treading carefully through waist-deep water with their few belongings grasped firmly above their heads in an attempt to escape the flooding caused by 784 percent more than average monsoon rains.

Funding for Human Rights Organizations – including at the Grassroots Level – have Been Slashed Worldwide

Human rights are underfunded, undermined and under attack. And yet. Powerful. Undeterred. Mobilizing. This year no doubt has been a difficult one. And one full of dangerous contradictions. Funding for human rights has been slashed, while anti-rights movements are increasingly well-funded.

UN Pact for the Future Requires Global Solidarity and Localized Solutions

More than one year since its adoption, the UN Pact for the Future is held up as a critical framework for countries to address today’s issues through global cooperation. Its agenda for global governance and sustainable development is ambitious, and it is for this reason the Pact poses implementation challenges when it comes to the direct impact on local communities. It will require the joint efforts of governments, civil society and international organizations to achieve the goals laid out in the Pact.

Cyclone Ditwah Leaves Millions Affected as Sri Lanka Faces Widespread Flooding, Displacement, and Rising Health Risks

In late November, Cyclone Ditwah made landfall in Sri Lanka and southern India, bringing heavy rainfall that triggered widespread flooding and devastating landslides. The storm caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and resulted in a significant loss of life. Communities have been severely impacted, with limited access to essential services, while humanitarian agencies face challenges in reaching the most vulnerable populations.

UNGA’s Long-Drawn Revitalization Efforts Need a Meaningful Outcome, Not Another Repetitive Regularity of an Omnibus of Redundancy

From its inception, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has been engaged in improving its working methods, mindful of, as early as in 1949, “… the increasing length of General Assembly sessions, and of the growing tendency towards protracted debates.”

UN80 is Less a Reform Than a Survival Manual

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: the UN is not reforming because it suddenly woke up one morning inspired by efficiency. It’s reforming because the Organization is broke. Not metaphorically broke. Not diplomatically broke. Actually broke. The kind of broke where arrears sit at $1.586 billion and everyone pretends that’s just an unfortunate bookkeeping hiccup instead of the fact that the lights are flickering.

For 78 Years, the Palestinians have Been Denied their Inalienable Rights & their Right to Self-Determination

For seventy-eight years, the question of Palestine has been on the agenda of this General Assembly, almost as long as the institution itself.

Rising Arms Revenues and Death Tolls Underscore Ongoing Military Conflicts, Civil Wars

The revenues from arms sales and military services by the 100 largest arms-producing companies rose by 5.9 percent in 2024, reaching a record USD 679 billion, according to new data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Yemen’s Worsening Food Security Crisis: Economic Collapse, Continued Insecurity, and Humanitarian Challenges

For the past decade, Yemen has been at the center of a severe and multifaceted humanitarian crisis, marked by widespread violence between various Middle Eastern actors, widespread civilian displacement, economic decline, and the collapse of essential services that serve as lifelines for displaced communities.

COP30 Fails the Caribbean’s Most Vulnerable, Leaders Say: ‘Our Lived Reality Isn’t Reflected’

Caribbean small island states say this year’s UN climate conference has once again failed to deliver the urgency and ambition needed to tackle escalating climate devastation across the region. From slow-moving climate finance to frustrating political gridlock, leaders say COP30 did not reflect the realities that small islands are living through every day.

Vulnerable Populations Will Suffer With UNAIDS Early Closure

“It’s like adding fuel to an already burning fire,” says Aditia Taslim. “We have not recovered from the impact of the US funding cuts earlier this year, and closing down UNAIDS prematurely will only make things worse, especially for key populations and other criminalized groups, including people who use drugs,” Taslim, who is Advocacy Lead at the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), tells IPS.

The UN’s ‘International Days’ Range from the Sublime to the Ridiculous

The 193-member General Assembly, the UN’s highest policy-making body, routinely designates “International Days” and “World Days” on a wide range of subjects and events—from the sublime to the ridiculous—described as “a sudden shift from something grand and awe-inspiring to something silly and unimportant.

Authorities Urged to Take Lawful Measures to Stop Mass Abductions in Nigeria

On the morning of 17 November 2025, darkness cloaked Maga town in the Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area, Kebbi State, until gunfire shattered the silence. It was around 4 am when armed attackers stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, firing into the air to terrify residents before heading to the staff quarters. There, they killed two, including Hassan Yakubu, the school’s Chief Security Officer and then abducted 26 female students.

ICC Judges & Officials, Under US Sanctions, Live Under Rigid Isolation

The US sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) have intensified the rigid isolation of judges and officials of the Court based in The Hague, Netherlands. According to an interview with the French judge Nicolas Guillou, published in Le Monde, ICC judges are also being refused access to American websites and credit cards.

COP30 Was Diplomacy in Action as Cooperation Deepens—Says Climate Talks Observer

As observers at the Conference of Parties closely monitored proceedings in Belém, many, such as Yamide Dagnet, approached the UN Climate Summit as an implementation COP. They are advocating for tangible signals to ignite crucial climate action before the climate crisis reaches irreversible levels.

Unpacking COP30’s Politically Charged Belém Package

Following tense, nightlong negotiations and bitter rows between more than 190 country delegations, a “politically charged Belém package" was finally forged at COP30—so named because of the highly contentious and difficult-to-negotiate issues within the climate talks.

The UN General Assembly, Over Burdened with Repetitive Resolutions, Aims at Revitalization

The 193-member General Assembly (GA), the UN’s highest policy-making body, has long been the repository for scores of long-winded outdated resolutions accumulated over several decades-- and lying in cold storage.

From COP28 to Belém – Climate Security is Health Security

Around the world, the climate crisis is fast becoming the biggest public-health threat of the century. Extreme heat now kills more Europeans than any other natural disaster. Floods in Asia displace millions and contaminate water supplies. Mosquito-borne diseases once confined to the tropics are appearing in southern Europe and the United States.

Explainer: Inside COP30’s 11th Hour Negotiations for Legacy-Building Belém Climate Deal

At a Conference of the Parties, where science intersects with politics, reaching agreements is often a tricky business. What is inside the last-minute negotiations as the COP presidency tries to get the parties to agreement at the final plenary?

Why Climate Finance Is Vital for the Implementation of NDCs in Africa

Funding cuts from the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe have left a funding gap in climate change programmes across Africa.

Faith Leaders Endorse Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty at COP30

Decades ago, a little girl was born in a place called Cleveland, Ohio, in the heart of the United States of America. Born to a woman from the deep South, the place of Martin Luther King, her mother left her ancestral lands for the economic opportunities in the north.

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