WFP Deputy Chief Describes Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), described the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza following his recent visit, speaking at a press briefing at the UN Headquarters on July 11.

Afghan Refugees Expelled from Iran and Exposed to Horrific Abuse

Since early June, Afghan refugees in Iran have endured increasingly harsh humanitarian conditions, with many being forced to repatriate under conditions that violate the principles of international humanitarian law. In 2025 alone, over one million refugees have returned to Afghanistan, further stretching the limited supply of resources amid a severe and multifaceted humanitarian crisis.

Bonn Climate Talks: Why World Needs to go Further, Faster, and Fairer

This 62nd meeting of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB62) from June 16 to 26, 2025 revealed the persistent complexities and political tensions that continue to challenge multilateral climate governance. 

The Race Towards Clean Energy: A World Still Gripped by Coal

Global investments in energy exceeded USD 3 trillion in 2024, with at least USD 2 trillion being invested in clean energy technology and infrastructure. Infrastructure. Despite that progress, fossil fuel consumption continues to rise with little sign of slowing.

UN Funding Crisis Threatens Work of Human Rights Council

The United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) has expressed concern at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ announcement that certain activities mandated by the council cannot be delivered due to a lack of funding. The council has sought clarity on why certain activities had been singled out.

Escalating Gang Violence in Haiti Threatens to Override State Control

Over the month of June, the security situation in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to coordinate brutal attacks, seizing more territory, and obstructing critical humanitarian aid deliveries. In the past week, new waves of hostilities were reported in the nation’s Centre Department, which has elicited concern from humanitarian organizations that gang influence could soon completely overpower state control.

HIV/AIDS Funding Crisis Risks Reversing Decades of Global Progress

UNAIDS called the funding crisis a ticking time bomb, saying the impact of the US cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) could result in 4 million unnecessary AIDS-related deaths by 2029.

The New Silk Road of Central Asia: Landlocked Countries Now Connected

Once landlocked, now connected, the UN Global Compact has bridged the gap between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East: having many call it the “New Silk Road”.

For the Aged, Their Sunset Years Will Be Bedeviled by Lethal Heatwaves

The global population is aging at a time when heat exposure is rising due to climate change. Extreme heat can be deadly for older populations given their reduced ability to regulate body temperature. Already there has been an 85 percent increase since 1990 in annual heat-related deaths of adults aged above 65, driven by both warming trends and fast-growing older populations.

Seychelles’ Path to Macroeconomic Stability and Resilience

Seychelles—a nation of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean—today enjoys a comparatively high degree of economic stability. Inflation is below 2 percent, real GDP has largely recovered from the pandemic, public debt is on course to reach the government’s target of less than 50 percent of GDP before 2030, and per capita income is the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.

WHO Launches Initiative to Tax Tobacco and Beverage Corporations to Boost Public Health

On July 2, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the “3 by 35” initiative in an effort to boost public health and limit global consumption of harmful substances. By urging international governments to implement taxes on tobacco, sugary drinks, and alcohol, WHO seeks to reduce worldwide cases of noncommunicable disease amid heightened strains on global health systems and a shrinking supply of funding.

Preventing Pandemics Needs Every Tool in the Toolbox – Including Animal Vaccines

Just five years on from the Covid-19 pandemic, another animal-borne disease is mutating and spreading across borders and species. Avian influenza has already resulted in the loss of more than 630 million birds in the last 20 years. And new figures from the inaugural State of the World’s Animal Health report find that the number of reported outbreaks in mammals, including cattle, sheep and cats, doubled last year compared to 2023.

‘Only a Handful of Environmental Organisations Still Dare Challenge Corporate Projects in Court’

 
CIVICUS speaks to Cristinel Buzatu, regional legal advisor for Central and Eastern Europe at Greenpeace, about how Romania’s state gas company is weaponising the courts to silence environmental opposition.

How Mongolia Can Expedite It’s Just Transition Plans to Include Its Nomads

Youth activist Gereltuya Bayanmukh still reflects on the events in her formative years that inspired her to become a climate activist. When she was a child, she would visit her grandparents in a village 20 km to the south of the border between Russia and Mongolia.

Genocide Made Invisible

Whatever the outcomes of Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Monday and the latest scenario for a ceasefire in Gaza, a bilateral policy of genocide has united the Israeli and U.S. governments in a pact of literally breath-taking cruelty.

World Bank’s IFC Finally Adopts Remedial Action Framework

The World Bank’s private sector arm has raised the bar — and others may follow. On April 15, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) became the first development finance institution to adopt a formal remedy policy, publishing its Remedial Action Framework (RAF) to address environmental and social harm caused by IFC-supported investment projects.

Staff Union Dismisses UN Restructuring as “Chaotic, Incoherent, Rushed & Lacking Strategy”

A coalition of UN staff unions, led by the 60,000-strong Coordinating Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA), has written to UN member states criticizing the UN80 reform process as “incoherent and lacking strategy”. The union, one of the largest single coalitions in the world body, is asking the 193 member states to take over the UN reform process which is currently in the hands of a Task Force.

Kenya’s Shirika Plan: A New Dawn for Refugee Rights and Integration

When Jean Baremba arrived in Kenya in 2018, he looked forward to rebuilding a life shattered by war in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Bangladesh’s Democratic Promise Hangs in the Balance

When Bangladesh’s streets erupted in protest in mid-2024, few could have predicted how swiftly Sheikh Hasina’s regime would crumble. The ousting of the prime minister last August, after years of mounting authoritarianism and growing discontent, was heralded as a historic opportunity for democratic renewal. Almost a year on, the question remains whether Bangladesh is genuinely evolving towards democracy, or if one form of repression is replacing another.

How Global Fund is Saving Lives from Malaria, TB, & HIV across Africa

In Gabú, Guinea-Bissau, a grandmother named N’beta hesitated. Her six-month-old grandson, Seco, was healthy, so why give him medicine? But community health workers Jamilia and Amadu gently explained that the medicine wasn’t for illness, but for protection. It was part of a seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign designed to protect children during the worst malaria transmission months — the rainy season.

FfD4 at Sevilla Plants the Seeds of Debtor Unity

UN Member States adopted the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ at the Fourth Financing for Development Forum (FfD4) which concluded July 3-- the culmination of months of contentious negotiations that pitted wealthy nations against the developing world in competing visions for reform of the global economic architecture.