Global Arms Flow Jump Nearly 10 per cent as European Demand Soars due to Transfers to Ukraine

The ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia—which began February 2022, with no visible signs of ending—has triggered major arms transfers to Europe.

International Women’s Day 2026: Justice for Women and Girls Needs Action and Political Will

On International Women’s Day (March 8), global leaders and advocates gather around the rallying cry to strengthen justice systems for all women and girls in a time of increasing pushbacks on gender equality.

International Women’s Day 2026: A Resistance Stronger than the Backlash

Consider what International Women’s Day looked like a few years ago, and what it looks like now: the same date, the same global moment of reflection, but a vastly changed global landscape. Gender rights are facing the most coordinated and wide-ranging attack in decades. Anti-rights forces are dismantling protections secured after generations of struggle, destroying infrastructure built to address gender-based violence and realise reproductive rights and rewriting legal frameworks to roll back rights, with a specific focus on excluding transgender people. This is the result of a deliberate, carefully crafted, handsomely funded and globally coordinated strategy.

International Women’s Day 2026: This Year’s International Women’s Day Calls for Electing a Woman as the next Secretary-General

As we observe International Women’s Day (IWD) this year, the global community does so in a time of continuing turbulence, conflicts and uncertainty about the future of our planet.

International Women’s Day 2026 The Gender Architecture of Betrayal: Stop Elite Impunity

International Women’s Day 2026 (IWD 2026), which was commemorated March 8, under the theme, "Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls", calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls. It demands an end to systemic violence and misogyny, including calls for justice for Epstein survivors.

Heralding an Era of Religious Wars

In recent months, the language surrounding the escalating confrontation between the United States, Israel, and Iran has taken on a tone that should trouble anyone concerned with global peace.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Nuclear Decision-Making

As artificial intelligence (AI) threatens to dominate every aspect of human lives —including political, economic, social and cultural --there is also the danger of the potential militarization of AI.

International Women’s Day 2026 No Country in the World has Reached Full Legal Equality for Women and Girls

On 8 March 2026, International Women’s Day, UN Women issues a global alert: justice systems meant to uphold rights and the rule of law are failing women and girls everywhere. Women globally hold just 64 per cent of the legal rights of men, exposing them to discrimination, violence, and exclusion at every stage of their lives.

The Architecture of Hope Under Siege: One Year of Global Aid Dismantling

A year has passed since a 90-day freeze on U.S. foreign assistance signaled the deepening of a structural dismantling of international solidarity. Today, the "existential threat" to the freedom of association I warned of in my report to last year's General Assembly (A/80/219) is no longer a warning; it is a lived reality.

A New World Order Where Might is Right

As the build-up for a proposed “new world order” continues, a lingering question remains: will the country with the most powerful military reign supreme? The United Nations remains politically impotent. The UN charter is in tatters. The sovereignty of nation states and their territorial integrity have been reduced to political mockery. And the law of the jungle prevails—be it Palestine, Ukraine, Venezuela or Iran.

UN Leaders, Diplomats Warn of Middle East Instability Following Weekend Air-Strikes in Iran

The United States and Israel launched a joint military strike on Iran on February 28. Iran followed with military strikes on Israeli bases and on Arab Gulf states, including Bahrain, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. The realized threat of a new war has caused alarm for the security situation in the Middle East and its impact on civilian populations.

Climate Change Is Coming for Your Morning Coffee

Your morning cup of coffee could soon cost more, thanks to climate change, which is raising the heat on the production of the world's most loved beverage.

International Women’s Day & 70th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women

International Women’s Day 2026 comes at a defining moment: Women and girls have never been closer to equality, and never closer to losing it. Legal protection against domestic violence has expanded in many countries. Yet, the rights of women and girls are being rolled back in plain sight, and across the world, women still do not enjoy the same legal rights as men.

Will Palestine Preside Over the Next UN General Assembly?

The 193-member General Assembly, the highest-ranking policy-making body at the United Nations, is most likely to elect Palestine as its next President in an unprecedented move voting for a “non-member observer state”—a state deprived of a country to represent.

Why Tenure Reform Is Key to Curbing Land Degradation

Farmland has long been one of the most important sources of security across generations. Writing about China nearly a century ago, Pearl S. Buck noted in The Good Earth, “If you will hold your land, you can live.” That holds true today. When farmers own land, they invest in it. When they don’t, they extract what they can today without thinking of tomorrow.

Generative AI Could Deepen Inequality, Revenue Losses in Creative Industries

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly expands across nearly every sector of society, those that work in cultural and creative industries are expected to bear some of the greatest losses. With AI-generated content projected to dominate global markets in the coming years, combined with a lack of strong regulatory frameworks to protect intellectual property and AI’s ability to produce content quickly at a low cost, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warns that generative AI may become a major driver of inequality, threatening the livelihoods of millions of cultural workers around the world.

Can “Human Fraternity” Move Peace?

As wars drag on and the international order grows increasingly unstable, Abu Dhabi has been offering a different kind of narrative. It sought to recognize early efforts at reconciliation, bring religious leaders into the same space, and place former adversaries under the same spotlight. At the heart of the February 4, 2026 Zayed Award for Human Fraternity ceremony was an attempt to make visible, in a public setting, the choice of moving in the direction of easing conflict.

People’s Pursuit of Dignity, Equality and Justice is Unshakeable

A fierce competition for power, control and resources is playing out on the world stage at a rate and intensity unseen for the past 80 years. People are feeling unmoored, anxious and insecure. The gears of global power are shifting; the consequences are not clear. Some are signalling the end of the world order as we know it.

Loneliness on Planet Earth

Loneliness is a significant health concern on planet Earth. It affects virtually every aspect of human wellbeing and development worldwide.

Russia Assessing the Benefits of WTO Membership

Despite consistent criticisms over its operations down the years, Russia still finds it difficult to leave the World Trade Organization (WTO), and instead assessing the opportunities and broad benefits of membership. WTO is not just an organization, but a multilateral bridge for strategic trade engagement and securing results-oriented partnerships. Certainly, unlocking and accelerating trade initiatives should be the key focus in the changing world.

Trump Tariffs Creating Less Manufacturing Jobs

President Donald Trump has shaken up the world economy and the rule of international law in the first year of his second term – ostensibly to make America great again, particularly by reviving US manufacturing jobs.