WFP, FAO Warn of the Severity of the Climate Crisis and Food Insecurity

Over the past few years, climate shocks have become more frequent and have devastated economies and agriculture systems, exacerbating widespread malnutrition and hunger. It has become increasingly apparent that the utilization of sustainable agriculture practices and disaster risk management systems are crucial to fulfill growing needs as natural resources continue to dwindle.

‘Reconciliation Will Require Robust Transitional Justice and Accountability Mechanisms’

 
CIVICUS discusses the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia’s Amhara region with Hone Mandefro, advocacy director at the Amhara Association of America, and Henok Ashagray, PhD candidate and project officer at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria.

Afghanistan’s Humanitarian Crisis Expected to Worsen in 2025

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly since the 2021 Taliban Offensive, an insurgency that resulted in the Taliban’s reclamation of power and the fall of the nation’s republic. In 2024, the Taliban issued further restrictions on human rights in Afghanistan, particularly for women and girls. These restrictions caused the country to enter a state of economic emergency. This, compounded with heightened insecurity and limited access to basic services, has left over 23 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

Israel’s Ban on UNRWA Threatens to Undermine Ceasefire in Palestine

On January 19, Israel and Hamas implemented a three-phase ceasefire agreement that seeks to end the war between Israel and Palestine, facilitate the exchange of prisoners and hostages between the two nations, and begin a period of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. Since the ceasefire took effect, humanitarian organizations have struggled to assist hordes of displaced Palestinians as they made their treacherous returns back home. Insecurity has reached new peaks as Gazans struggle to cope with inadequate levels of humanitarian aid and the dangers of unexploded ordnance. Furthermore, the Israeli Knesset’s ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is set to greatly exacerbate living conditions and access to aid.

Brazil to Free Classrooms from the Invasion of Mobile Phones

It was necessary to repel the "invasion" of mobile phones in Brazilian classrooms, even to spark a debate about the use of technology in education, according to Silvana Veloso, an educator with extensive experience on the subject.

‘The Closure of Meta’s US Fact-Checking Programme Is a Major Setback in the Fight Against Disinformation’

 
CIVICUS speaks with Olivia Sohr about the challenges of disinformation and the consequences of the closure of Meta’s fact-checking programme in the USA. Olivia is the Director of Impact and New Initiatives at Chequeado, an Argentine civil society organisation working since 2010 to improve the quality of public debate through fact-checking, combating disinformation, promoting access to information and open data.

A New Chance to Expand Children’s Access to Education

The International Day of Education, January 24, reminds us of the power of education to transform children’s lives, and to build vibrant, sustainable societies.

The First Phase of Israel-Palestine Ceasefire Begins

On January 15, 2025, the long-awaited ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hamas was approved, bringing the first bout of relief for the people of the Gaza Strip after 15 months of conflict. This has allowed for the exchange of prisoners and hostages between the two nations as well as a greater flow of humanitarian aid to be directed to Gaza. Although this only accounts for the first phase out of the three phase plan, it is uncertain if Israel will continue to uphold the negotiations of a truce after the first phase is completed.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews Adenike Oladosu, ECW Global Climate Champion and BBC 100 Women 2024

 
Adenike Oladosu is a leading Nigerian ecofeminist, climate justice leader and researcher. She was appointed as an ECW Global Climate Champion on World Environment Day in June 2024. In December of last year, Adenike was honored by #BBC100Women, selected as one of the BBC’s 100 most influential and inspiring women from around the world. She was also a finalist for the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.

Malala: ‘Honest Conversations on Girls’ Education Start by Exposing the Worst Violations’

“She was at her brilliant best, speaking fearlessly and boldly about the treatment of women by the Afghan Taliban, robbing an entire generation of girls their future, and how they want to erase them from society,” said educationist and one of the speakers, Baela Raza Jamil, referring to the speech by Nobel Laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai.

Colombia’s Historic Child Marriage Ban

Colombia has just marked a historic milestone in the global campaign against child marriage, with the Senate passing one of Latin America and the Caribbean’s most comprehensive bans on child marriage and early unions. In a country where one in five girls under 18 and one in 10 under 14 are married or live in marriage-like conditions, the new law raises the minimum age to 18 with no exceptions, eliminating a 137-year-old Civil Code provision that allowed children over 14 to marry with parental consent. This achievement aligns with goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which has a target of eliminating harmful practices like child marriage by 2030. The new law now awaits the signature of President Gustavo Petro to come into effect.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett

 
Richard Bennett was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan in April 2022. He has served in Afghanistan on several occasions in different capacities, including as the Chief of the Human Rights Service with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. He has previously played a role in the promotion and protection of human rights in Afghanistan and supported the United Nations on a number of human rights issues, such as protection of civilians, transitional justice, child rights, rule of law, rights of people with disabilities, protection of human rights defenders and a range of economic, social and cultural rights.

IPS – Year End Video, 2024

 
The world’s troubles deepened in 2024. Civilians bore the brunt of war. Violence in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, Haiti, and more displaced over 100 million people worldwide.

We Can and Must Do Our Best

As 2024 comes to a close, I dare to say that this has been an especially gruesome year for millions upon millions of young children, their parents and their teachers. The world has witnessed one horrific crisis of cruelty, dispossession and human suffering after another.

Power Arrives but the River Dries Up for Brazil’s Amazonian Dwellers

The flow of the igarapé always dropped for three months every year, but now it has been dry for two years in a row, complains Maria Aparecida dos Anjos, looking at the trickle of water that when flooded reaches the stilts of her wooden house, 50 metres away and on a slope of more than 10 metres high.

Standing Up for Science with Science Communication

New research shows that AI-generated summaries of scientific writing made the information more approachable and easier to understand, and thus created more public engagement with the information. This is notable because most scientists aren’t trained in science communication tactics and so their jargon affects many people’s ability to understand and trust scientific papers and findings.

Bold Donor Action Urgently Needed to Give Ethiopia’s Crisis-Impacted Children a Lifeline

Ethiopia’s education system is buckling under the weight of complex, competing challenges. The aftermath of a deadly war in the north, ongoing violence, climate-induced disasters, and widespread forced displacements have converged to push as many as 9 million children out of school. With close to 18 percent of schools in the country destroyed or damaged and persisting intercommunal conflicts in various regions, there are fears that many might never find their way back to school.

Heightened Insecurity in Sudan Threatens Nationwide Collapse

As the Sudanese Civil War continues to ravage the people of Sudan, conditions for internally displaced persons grow more dire every day. The situation in Sudan is currently the biggest displacement crisis in the world. Famine, violence, and gender-based violence are rampant. Described as “an invisible crisis” by the United Nations (UN) new emergency relief chief, Tom Fletcher, many believe that the humanitarian response has been largely ineffective in tackling the urgent and growing scale of needs.

‘Quilombola Communities Live in Fear Because the Laws That Are Supposed to Protect Them Are Ignored’

 
CIVICUS discusses threats to the security, rights and ancestral lands of Brazil’s quilombola communities with Wellington Gabriel de Jesus dos Santos, leader and activist of the Pitanga dos Palmares Quilombola community in Bahia state.

UN ECOSOC Special Meeting Highlights the Urgent Scale of Needs in Haiti

As a result of the ongoing hostilities from gang violence in Haiti, children continue to bear the brunt of the humanitarian crisis. Armed gangs have committed various human rights violations, many of which compound issues surrounding food insecurity, displacement, and social instability for millions of children in Haiti. Children have also lost their access to education and continue to be recruited into gangs. It is crucial for the international community to prioritize the multifaceted crisis facing Haitian children in order to avoid losing an entire generation to violence.

Born Innocent, Raised Violent: The Fate of a Billion Children

Did you know that hundreds of millions of children around the world are currently suffering from physical, sexual, and psychological violence, including child labour, child marriage, female genital mutilation, gender-based violence, war, trafficking, bullying, and cyberbullying?