Connecting the Dots: Policy Shifts, Realities and Lessons

The Asia-Pacific region has long served as a springboard for transforming socio-economic implementation gaps into development opportunities. With the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals fast approaching, policymakers are stepping up efforts to translate policy announcements into tangible impacts.

Is the UN “Bloated, Unfocused, Outdated and Ineffective”?

The US hostility towards the UN is threatening to escalate, as a cash-starved world body is struggling for economic survival. Addressing the UN’s Administrative and Budgetary Committee last week. Ambassador Jeff Bartos, U.S. Representative for U.N. Management and Reform said: “President Trump is absolutely right – the United Nations can be an important institution for solving international challenges, but it has strayed far from its original purpose”.

A Hungry World Knows No Borders

When crops fail, people move not by choice, but by necessity. As families are displaced by droughts and failed harvests, the pressures do not always stop at national boundaries. In short, hunger has become one of the most powerful forces shaping our century.

They Have Known Nothing but War—The Plight of Syria’s Out-of-School Children

The war has deprived thousands of Syrian children of their right to education, especially displaced children in makeshift camps. Amidst difficult economic conditions and the inability of many families to afford educational costs, the future of these children is under threat.

The Inescapable Reality the Israelis Must Face

The ceasefire agreement and the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are only the first steps on the long and treacherous road that could end the calamitous, decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In my recent article, “A Rare Alignment:The World Stands Ready, Are the Palestinians?”

With Ceasefire in Effect, Tonnes of Aid Expected to be Delivered into Gaza

After two years of conflict with Israel, Hamas has released the remaining 20 living hostages, while Israel has freed 250 Palestinian prisoners and over 1,700 detainees who have since returned to Gaza. Following a ceasefire agreement that took effect on October 10, Israeli forces are set to withdraw from designated areas within the Gaza Strip as humanitarian organizations mobilize to assist Palestinians in urgent need.

It’s Time to Unbury the IMF’s Hidden Gold

Countries across the Global South face an accelerating climate crisis, tepid growth, and unsustainable levels of debt. Yet hopes of finding support at the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Annual Meetings in Washington are dim. The IMF is tightening its purse strings — even as it leaves untouched a vast treasure of more than 3,000 tons of gold that offers a prime opportunity to stabilize the global economy.

Global South Can Rebalance Climate Agenda in Belém, Says Gambian Negotiator

The Gambia's lead negotiator on mitigation believes that COP30 presents a unique opportunity to rebalance global climate leadership.

UNICEF Calls for Global Support to Protect Displaced and Starving Children in Haiti

New figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that displacement has surged significantly in Haiti, deepening existing security and humanitarian crises in a country where nearly 90 percent of the capital is controlled by armed gangs.

From Algorithms to Accountability: What Global AI Governance Should Look Like

Recent research from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI warns that bias in artificial intelligence remains deeply rooted even in models designed to avoid it and can worsen as models grow. From bias in hiring of men over women for leadership roles, to misclassification of darker-skinned individuals as criminals, the stakes are high.

Strengthening East Asian Cooperation via ASEAN?

Global South cooperation arrangements must evolve to better respond to pressing contemporary and imminent challenges, rather than risk being irrelevant straitjackets stuck in the past.

Invest in Girls’ Education: Invest in Our Future

On today’s International Day of the Girl Child, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and our strategic partners call for substantial new funding to ensure every girl impacted by crises is able to access 12 years of quality education.

‘No Solution Will Work If the Institutions Responsible for Abuses Remain in Charge of Implementing It’

 
CIVICUS discusses enforced disappearances in Mexico with a member of the International Network of Associations of Missing Persons. The crisis of disappearances in Mexico has reached alarming proportions, with over 52,000 unidentified bodies in morgues and mass graves. On 1 July, the Mexican Congress approved controversial changes to the General Law on Disappearances, which promise to modernise the search process through a national biometric system, but which human rights organisations and victims’ groups claim could establish an unprecedented system of mass surveillance.

Darjeeling’s Wake-Up Call: Expert at IUCN Congress Calls for Agile Climate Finance

As global conservation leaders gather in Abu Dhabi for the IUCN World Conservation Congress, communities in the hills of Darjeeling, thousands of kilometers away, are still counting their losses. In early October, heavy rains triggered deadly landslides that buried homes, blocked key roads, and left several people dead. The destruction has once again exposed how vulnerable India’s mountain regions are to extreme weather.

Parliamentarians Seek Solutions to Protect Children from Digital Abuse

Vulnerable children are being targeted online faster than parliamentarians and law enforcers can act, a conference convened by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) heard. Yet, with international cooperation and sharing of ideas, lawmakers believe the scourge of online abuse can be addressed.

Guiding Disaster Risk-Reduction Investments Through AI-Powered Tools

The theme of this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, “Fund Resilience, Not Disasters,” called for the urgent need to shift from reactive spending on recovery to proactive investment in disaster risk reduction.

Quo Vadis UN @80?

The United Nations turned 80 this year. What should have been a moment of pride and celebration at the high-level session of the UN General Assembly in September 2025 turned instead into an occasion of bitter irony.

Breaking the Silence in Tokyo: A Kazakh Filmmaker Confronts the Nuclear Scars Through Her Documentary “Jara”

 
[caption id="attachment_192574" align="alignleft" width="300"]Aigerim Seitenova stepped forward in a black T-shirt and green skirt to introduce her 31-minute documentary, “Jara – Radioactive Patriarchy: Women of Qazaqstan.”　The screening event was co-organized by the Kazakh Nuclear Frontline Coalition (ASQAQQNFC), the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee, and Peace Boat, with support from Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (JANA).

Abusive Governments Set to Win Seats in Human Rights Council

Egypt and Vietnam are on track to secure seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council despite being woefully unfit for membership. The UN General Assembly will elect members to the UN’s premier rights body in a noncompetitive vote on October 14, 2025.

UN’s Cost-Cutting Mergers Come Under Scrutiny While Search for Locations Worldwide Continues

Faced with a severe liquidity crisis and a hostile Trump administration, the UN continues to merge some of its multiple agencies, and move them out of New York, relocating to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Perhaps the first two agencies to be merged will be UN Women (created in 2010) and the UN Population Fund (created in 1967), with some staffers moved to Bonn and others to Nairobi.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews Mohamed M. Malick Fall, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria

 
Mohamed M. Malick Fall was appointed as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria in February 2024. He has more than 20 years of experience in the development, humanitarian and peacebuilding fields. Prior to his appointment, he served as the UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, where he provided oversight and guidance to 21 UNICEF Countries Offices, including on the formulation and implementation of the Country Programme Documents, the UN Reform process, and the engagement with the Regional and Economic Commission and African Union and the private sector.