‘Africa Cannot Burn Its Way Out of Its Waste Crisis’, Zero-Waste Advocates Say at COP31

Plans to build waste incineration plants across Africa risk undermining efforts to curb methane emissions, zero-waste campaigners have warned, as world leaders and climate negotiators gather in Antalya, Türkiye, for the COP31 climate summit.

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: ‘A New World Order Is Going to Emerge, Whether We like It or Not’

 
CIVICUS discusses the case for United Nations (UN) reform with Heba Aly, director of the Article 109 Coalition, an international civil society network that calls on states to review and update the UN Charter.

Growing Movement Boycotts Krill Products as CCAMLR Fails to Protect Antarctic Ecosystems

On October 30, the 45th annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR-45) concluded in Hobart, Australia. After another year of negotiations without a consensus reached on Antarctic marine protection measures or krill fishing regulations, conservation groups are urging consumers and retailers to boycott all krill products.

Africa–Asia: Turning Demographic Change into Opportunity

Although Africa and Asia face different demographic challenges, they share a common imperative: ensuring that legislation, policies and budgets translate into tangible improvements in people's lives.

COP31: New Research Ties Extreme Weather and Mental Health Challenges in Africa

Floods. Extreme heat. Droughts. African communities have experienced it all and more.

‘The War Must Stop’: Nobel Peace Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk on the Urgent Need to Protect Ukraine’s Women and Children

Four years after Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, the human cost of the war keeps rising. Even though the global public eye is primarily glued to the progress of the conflict itself, its geopolitical implications and territorial bargaining, the millions of Ukrainian women and children experience the burden of this war that changed their lives and future forever.

I Sustain My Accusation

This is the final article in a four-part series with related titles, highlighting the responsibility of mainstream media and religious leaders for the world’s current appalling state and the calamities that may await future generations if proper measures are not taken in time. When megalomania is given a “human face,” historical facts are distorted, acts of aggression are whitewashed, unlawful wars are portrayed as vehicles of “democracy, human rights, and morality,” other people’s intelligence is undermined and mocked, bias overshadows international norms, and religion becomes an instrument of bigotry, I sustain my accusation:

Protecting the Climate Means Protecting Territorial Rights

The world cannot claim to protect the climate and nature while opening Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' territories to industrial activities that threaten their rights, livelihoods and ways of life. Yet governments increasingly recognize these communities' contributions to climate and biodiversity protection while authorizing mining, oil drilling, industrial agriculture and infrastructure projects that can undermine the very territories they safeguard.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 2026

 
For millions of women around the world, violence is not a distant threat. It is a reality experienced in homes, communities, workplaces and increasingly, online.

COP31: Why Africa Must Rethink Nuclear Energy

Gabriel Sheunopa Manyangadze holds a placard reading “No nuclear spin, let renewables win" as a campaigner leads protesters against nuclear energy in Africa at the United Nations climate summit in Antalya, Turkey.

FRANCE: ‘The Government Should Learn to Respect Its People, Listen to Them and Consult Them’

 
CIVICUS discusses France’s student protest movement with Aminata and Mariam Touré, two sisters involved in the protests. Aminata is a member of the Popular Youth Front (Front de la Jeunesse Populaire), a collective of young people from working-class neighbourhoods.

From Nuclear Weapons to Artificial Intelligence, a New Test of Humanity’s Restraint

Eight decades after atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the world is confronting a new and potentially dangerous question: What happens when decisions involving human life increasingly pass from people to machines?

Before We Declare Gender Bias Dead, Read the Footnotes

The United Nations knows how to announce a milestone. What interests me, after a career that has included working inside UNICEF and UNDP and evaluating institutions from outside them, is what happens between the announcement and the working day.

1.5 Billion Women and Girls Live in Climate Hotspots, as UN Women Urges Stronger Action at COP31

More than one in three women and girls worldwide – at least 1.5 billion – live in climate hotspots, where high exposure to climate hazards, insecure jobs and deep gender inequality collide, according to a new UN Women fact sheet on “Gender Equality in the Age of Climate Crisis”. UN Women warns that while 73 per cent of countries recognize the climate risks facing women and girls, just over one in three address them comprehensively.

COP31: African Development Bank to Co-Lead Global Electrification Finance Initiative

Africa's transition to clean energy received a potential boost at COP31 with the announcement of a new international financing coalition, co-chaired by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank from 2027.

Without Action, Climate Change Could Push Women Further Behind by 2050, CGIAR Warns

Fetching water was once a back-breaking daily reality – one that Nomuhle SibandaMpofu will never forget.

Regime Change Blowback

Trump and Netanyahu went all out for regime change in Tehran. This month, their electorates gave them regime changes, albeit not quite what they wanted. The wars continue, but the politics have changed.

Reforming the UN Must Begin with Reforming Staff Representation

Stronger staff representation means a stronger United Nations. This is not simply about protecting jobs or preserving acquired benefits, important as those objectives are. This is about protecting the institutional capacity, integrity and independence of the United Nations itself.

Serbia’s Student Movement: From Protest to Power

On the night of 25 October, tens of thousands filled the streets of Belgrade and other cities, as they’d so often done in protest over the past two years. But this time they came out to celebrate. In that day’s National Assembly election, Student List, a slate of political newcomers, defeated Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), in power since 2012. The student-led movement behind the protests, which rose up against corruption, has given Serbia the opportunity for a democratic reset.

Drought Cripples Dairy Farmers in Maharashtra in ‘Off the Charts’ Weather Year

Dairy farmer Sagar Pawar has to buy water and fodder at inflated rates to feed his brood of two buffaloes, three Guernsey cows and a calf. He lives in the Solapur district, which is already drought-prone, but now has to deal with the impacts of a strong El Niño as well.