Africa

By UN Women
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 26 2026 (IPS)

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.

On 4 March, ahead of the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), UN Women will launch a report warning that the systems meant to protect women and girls are failing, leaving millions exposed to discrimination, violence and impunity as backlash against gender equality intensifies and violations of fundamental rights rise worldwide.

From 9–19 March, the world will gather at United Nations Headquarters for CSW70 – the United Nations’ largest annual forum dedicated to gender equality and women’s rights. What happens at CSW influences laws, policies, funding and accountability across countries and generations.

This year’s focus is clear: rights, justice and action for all women and girls.

CSW70 is a defining test: whether the world choses to act together and deliver equality before the law for all women and girls or allow injustice to persist with impunity. UN Women calls on governments, partners, institutions and communities everywhere to stand up, show up and speak up for rights, justice and action – so all women and girls can live safely, speak freely and exist equally.

Meanwhile, four years into the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more than 5,000 women and girls have been killed and 14,000 injured, with 2025 being the deadliest year yet – and the real toll likely far higher.

As the war intensifies and energy attacks cripple daily life, a third crisis is tightening its grip on women and girls: collapsing funding for women-led and women’s rights organizations, the very lifeline keeping women and girls alive, protected and supported.

As humanitarian needs surge, women’s rights and women-led organizations across Ukraine are being driven toward collapse, with deep funding cuts dismantling front-line protection systems and forcing lifesaving services for women and girls to scale back or shut down.

A new UN Women report, The Impact of Foreign Assistance Cuts on Women’s Rights and Women-Led Organizations in Ukraine, documents the scale of the funding crisis and its impact on the lives of women and girls.

One in three women’s rights and women-led organizations surveyed warn they may only survive six months or less with current funding levels. Due to cuts in 2025 and 2026, women-led organizations in Ukraine are projected to lose at least USD 52.9 million by the end of the year.

Women’s rights and women-led organizations surveyed warn they will be forced to stop life-saving services to at least 63,000 women and girls in need in 2026. Those hit first and hardest are those already most at risk: women and girls in front-line and rural areas, older women, women-headed households, and women and girls with disabilities will be cut off from protection, humanitarian aid, and recovery at a time of escalating danger.

As shown in the report developed by the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group in Ukraine – co-chaired by UN Women, NGO Girls and CARE Ukraine – the effects of the funding cuts are compounded by a growing nationwide energy crisis and an increase in attacks.

While Ukrainian women’s organizations continue to deliver on their mandates, their operational capacity, access to populations in need, and the well-being of their staff are severely impacted by energy cuts. This is especially urgent today when millions of Ukrainians are deprived of essential services, including electricity, heating and water.

“Women’s organizations in Ukraine are the first to stand with women and girls in crisis – and the force behind sustaining protection, dignity and hope. The current funding cuts are severing their life-saving operations. While UN Women continues to work with and invest in women’s organizations in Ukraine, more sustained funding is needed so that they can keep delivering essential services”.

“This is the only way women and girls can have a full and meaningful role in shaping gender-responsive recovery and building a just and lasting peace,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2012 granting Palestine the status of non-member observer State in the United Nations. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 26 2026 (IPS)

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.

The Secretariat has received three nominations for the position of President of the General Assembly beginning mid-September. In accordance with the established regional rotation, the President of the 81st session will be elected from the Asia-Pacific Group.

The election will be held on June 2, with three nominations so far: Md. Touhid Hossain (Bangladesh), Andreas S. Kakouris (Cyprus) and Riyad Mansour (Palestine).

According to geographical rotation, it will be the turn of the Asia-Pacific Group to nominate a candidate– with the final election by the General Assembly.

The current front-runner, according to diplomatic sources, is Palestine. In virtually all UN resolutions relating to Palestine, it has continued to receive an overwhelming majority of votes in the General Assembly.

The political support for Palestine among member states has always remained constantly strong. And the election of Palestine will also defy a hostile White House.

In November 2012, the General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine to a “non-member observer state” with a majority of 138 votes in favor, 9 against, and 41 abstentions.

• Votes in Favor (138): Supported by a majority of UN member states.
• Votes Against (9): Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, Panama, and the United States.
• Abstentions (41): Countries that did not vote for or against.

Last December the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a draft resolution reaffirming the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, including the right to an independent State of Palestine.

The draft resolution was approved by a majority of 164 member states (out of 193), with eight countries voting against it, namely Israel, the US, Micronesia, Argentina, Paraguay, Papua New Guinea, Palau, and Nauru.

Nine countries abstained: Ecuador, Togo, Tonga, Panama, Fiji, Cameroon, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, and South Sudan.

Dr Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and director of Middle Eastern Studies, told IPS a broad international consensus in support for the establishment of a viable independent Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and naming a Palestinian as the next president of the UN General Assembly would send a strong message to the Israeli government and its supporters in Washington that the State of Palestine, now recognized by 164 of the UN’s 193 states, should be treated like any other nation.

It would also underscore that Palestine is represented by the Fatah-led Palestine Authority, not by Hamas, which forcibly seized power in Gaza in 2007, he said.

“If Palestine is elected to the General Assembly presidency, the position would likely go to Riyad Mansour, a U.S.-educated diplomat who currently serves as the country’s UN ambassador”.

Mansour, he pointed out, has spent most of his life in the United States, has worked with Youth4Peace and other groups promoting peacebuilding, has no association with terrorism, and is generally considered a moderate.

“Nevertheless, his selection will likely result in an angry backlash from Washington, which opposes any formal role by anyone representing Palestine”.

In 2017, during his first term, the Trump administration blocked the appointment of former prime minister Salam Fayyad, also a well-respected moderate and reformer, from leading the U.N. political mission in Libya to try to end that country’s civil war simply because he was Palestinian, declared Dr Zunes.

Dr Ramzy Baroud, a Palestinian-American author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, told IPS
two international campaigns are unfolding simultaneously: a US-led effort aimed at legitimizing Israel while it is still actively attempting to exterminate the Palestinian people, and a General Assembly–championed track aimed at legitimizing Palestine, Palestinian rights, and the Palestinian struggle.

The push to elect Palestine as the next UN General Assembly president — though the State of Palestine remains an observing member and lacks actual sovereignty on the ground — is taking place against this stark backdrop: one campaign normalizing and shielding a genocidal state, the other seeking to affirm the rights and political standing of a dispossessed nation, he pointed out.

“Nothing could be more immoral than Washington’s attempt to rehabilitate Israel diplomatically amid genocide. And nothing could be more just than the effort by Palestine’s allies to anchor Palestinian rights within international legitimacy” he said..

Yet a difficult question remains: while the US is gradually chipping away at Israel’s isolation, is much of the international community offering Palestinians little more than symbolic victories?, he noted.

“If the legitimization of Palestine at the General Assembly is to move beyond symbolism, it must translate into concrete recognition of Palestinian territorial rights, sovereignty, and freedom. Legitimacy must not remain rhetorical; it must become political and material,” Dr Baroud argued.

“This requires that the UN General Assembly states that support Palestine in international forums carry that support onto the ground — by isolating Israel diplomatically, severing ties, imposing sanctions, and adopting meaningful accountability measures. While some states have taken such steps, others continue to pursue a precarious “balance,” appeasing Washington and Tel Aviv while paying lip service to Palestine.”

Palestinians are winning what Richard Falk, the former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine, has called the legitimacy war. But legitimacy as an intellectual or moral category is not enough. At this historical juncture, it must be transformed into enforceable political reality — into sovereignty, protection, and freedom on the ground, said Dr Baroud.

“We hope that the continued centering of Palestine at the UN and across global institutions strengthens the growing current of solidarity worldwide. More importantly, we hope that symbolic recognition will soon give way to decisive and tangible action,” he declared.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Seit Ende Januar ist die 17-Jährige Angela R. auf der Flucht. Die Schülerin aus Deutschland steht unter dringendem Verdacht, einen Jungen erstochen zu haben.

Das Stadtzürcher Parlament hat am Mittwochabend die Hochhausgebiete verkleinert und strenger reguliert. FDP und GLP erwägen ein Referendum gegen die Entscheidung.

Many people are again leaving the region of Tigray just over three years after the civil war there ended.

This is the first time that a pope will visit Algeria, whose population is mostly Muslim.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

The Council and the Parliament have agreed on the procedure to select a host city for the new EU Customs Authority (EUCA). The authority will coordinate customs action and support the activities of national customs authorities consistently across the Union.

Der frühere Präsident der US-amerikanischen Eliteuniversität Harvard tritt vollständig von seiner Professur zurück. In der Vergangenheit hat Larry Summers die berüchtigte Privatinsel von Jeffrey Epstein besucht.

Samsung hat ein Handy gebaut, das neugierige Blicke auf den Bildschirm blockt. Die Technologie dahinter ist clever – und neu. Nur beim Preis gibt es eine unangenehme Überraschung.

The RSF's capture of the city in October was one of the most brutal chapters of Sudan's nearly three-year civil war.

Access to biological samples raised flags for Zimbabwe as the US did not want to share the benefits of its research.

The Africa Cup of Nations proved to be "a big stumbling block" when Manchester United discussed signing Victor Osimhen, according to former coach Benni McCarthy.

The Africa Cup of Nations proved to be "a big stumbling block" when Manchester United discussed signing Victor Osimhen, according to former coach Benni McCarthy.

Women farmers clearing farmland in Northern Bangladesh. Credit: Naimul Haq/IPS

By Máximo Torero
ROME, Feb 25 2026 (IPS)

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.

This household-level decision becomes a structural problem at scale: land degradation — today, 1.7 billion people live in areas of declining agricultural productivity — reflects systemic underinvestment in land, often rooted in insecure land tenure. The good news is that this means reforming and enforcing land tenure can be a powerful tool to combat land degradation and food insecurity.

Globally, only about a quarter of land is formally recognized. In sub-Saharan Africa, where customary systems dominate landholding, communities have been exposed to encroachment, weak dispute resolution, and exclusion from services and finance. More than 1.1 billion people believe they could lose rights to their land the next five years. This perceived insecurity has intensified amid rising financial pressure and displacement.

Land degradation reflects systemic underinvestment in land, often rooted in insecure land tenure. The good news is that this means reforming and enforcing land tenure can be a powerful tool to combat land degradation and food insecurity

Evidence from Ghana and Malawi shows that farmers with informal or seasonal rental agreements are significantly less likely to invest in soil restoration, water management, or productivity-enhancing practices. This is because they could lose access to the land before those investments generate returns over multiple years. Without land as collateral, farmers also struggle to access credit, insurance, and financial services needed to finance such improvements.

Customary systems have persistently disadvantaged women, who make up half of smallholder producers, in inheritance and transfer rights. Globally, women hold only 15% of agricultural land, and even when they do, they are susceptible to losing it in case of divorce or death of a spouse.

Limited legal access to land, combined with weak access to credit, insurance, and inputs, has reinforced cycles of low productivity, land degradation, and vulnerability for women farmers.

Where land tenure is weak or contested, rising land demand can fuel conflict. In Colombia, post-conflict agricultural expansion into forest areas has generated tensions where land claims remain unresolved. Similar disputes have emerged in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where weak legal recognition of customary rights and insecure land claims make households vulnerable to land disputes, especially when large-scale land acquisitions occur.

These recurring tensions have reinforced the case for strengthening land governance as a foundation for stability and development. In fact, some 70 countries have initiated land policy reforms since 2012, when the UN endorsed internationally agreed principles protecting legitimate tenure rights, including customary ones. But many legislative reforms have been slow to translate into practice on the ground. Dispute resolution systems remain weak, and the rights of women, Indigenous Peoples, and customary landholders are still inconsistently recognized.

Change couldn’t come sooner. Reversing even 10% of degraded cropland could feed 154 million more people annually. Without government intervention, the world could face a farmland deficit twice the size of India by 2050.

Of course, secure land tenure alone won’t automatically restore land. Half of global farmland is controlled by the largest 1% of producers many of whom operate intensive production models that can accelerate land degradation when not paired with strong environmental safeguards. So land tenure reform must be accompanied by effective regulation, targeted incentives, access to finance and extension services, and strong institutional capacity.

Rising land demand, climate stress, and large-scale land acquisitions will continue to test the durability of these reforms. Whether these pressures translate into instability or resilience depends on policy choices. If governments want farmers to restore the land, they must first ensure that farmers can hold it.

Excerpt:

Máximo Torero is chief economist of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome

Le pape Léon XIV se rendra dans les prochains mois en Algérie, au Cameroun, en Angola, en Guinée équatoriale ainsi qu'en Espagne et à Monaco, a annoncé dans un bulletin le directeur du bureau de presse du Saint-Siège, Matteo Bruni.

"Répondant à l'invitation des chefs d'État et des autorités ecclésiastiques concernés, sa sainteté le pape Léon XIV effectuera un voyage apostolique en Algérie, au Cameroun, en Angola et en Guinée équatoriale du 13 au 23 avril."

Il séjournera en Algérie du 13 au 15 avril, au Cameroun du 15 au 18 avril, en Angola du 18 au 21 avril et en Guinée équatoriale du 21 au 23 avril, précise le bulletin du bureau de presse du Saint-Siège.

En outre, il se rendra en visite apostolique en Espagne du 6 au 12 juin, précise le bulletin. Les médias ont précédemment rapporté que le voyage inclurait la participation à la cérémonie d'inauguration de la tour de Jésus-Christ de la basilique catholique de la Sagrada Familia à Barcelone. L'évènement est prévu pour le 10 juin et sera consacré au 100e anniversaire de la mort de l'architecte espagnol Antonio Gaudi, dont le projet est en cours de réalisation depuis plusieurs décennies.

Le pape entamera son périple par une visite dans la principauté de Monaco le 28 mars. Des informations ont précédemment annoncé que Léon XIV effectuerait en outre plusieurs déplacements dans différentes villes d'Italie.

Après son accession au trône pontifical en mai dernier à la suite du décès de son prédécesseur François, Léon XIV a effectué sa première visite à l'étranger en novembre 2025 en Turquie et au Liban.

The driver of the car involved in a fatal crash involving British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua has appeared in court in Nigeria.

After a long time in the wilderness, Zimbabwe are again contending on the biggest stage at the 2026 T20 World Cup - this is the story of their resurgence.

After a long time in the wilderness, Zimbabwe are again contending on the biggest stage at the 2026 T20 World Cup - this is the story of their resurgence.

Dr Anasaini Cama of the Fred Hollows Foundation conducts tropical disease training in the Solomon Islands. Credit: Shea Flynn/RTI International

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Australia, Feb 25 2026 (IPS)

Two Pacific Island nations have been applauded for their successes in the global health campaign to eliminate the infectious eye disease, Trachoma.

Better disease data, effective treatment campaigns and improved access to water and hygiene contributed to the major progress now being celebrated as 27 nations worldwide are declared Trachoma-free by the World Health Organization (WHO). But, above all, experts say that the key to the permanent riddance of diseases is a genuine buy-in to the eradication programmes by entire communities.

“Trachoma elimination efforts are most effective when communities understand the disease, trust the interventions and are actively involved in prevention activities,” Dr Anasaini Cama, Pacific Trachoma Technical Lead at The Fred Hollows Foundation, a global non-government organisation working to eradicate preventable blindness, told IPS.

Finally eliminating Trachoma in countries such as Papua New Guinea is a major achievement when more than 80 percent of people live in rural and remote communities, where the risk of infection is especially high.

“This milestone reflects the power of public health at its best…It is a reminder that equity, visibility and prevention must be at the heart of our health system,” Elias Kapavore, Minister for Health in PNG, the most populous Pacific Island nation of more than 10 million people, told the media last year.

The infectious eye disease is one of 21 Neglected Tropical Diseases that, under Sustainable Development Goal 3.3, are being targeted for global eradication by 2030. And reports reveal that strides are being made. Between 2002 and 2025, a period of little more than two decades, the global population at risk of Trachoma fell from 1.5 billion to 97.1 million people, WHO reported in January.

Children in rural communities in southwest Pacific Island countries, including Papua New Guinea, were highly vulnerable to eye infections, such as Trachoma. Now the country has been applauded for its campaign to eliminate the disease. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

“Trachoma, once a leading cause of blindness in Fiji, was widespread in the 1950s, with prevalence exceeding 20 percent among children in some areas. Today, following sustained national action, the prevalence of active Trachoma has fallen to below 1 percent,” Fiji’s Health Minister, Dr Ratu Antonio Lalabalavu, told local media.

Trachoma is the leading cause of blindness around the world and is found primarily in tropical climate zones and rural communities affected by poverty and lack of basic services. It is caused by a micro-organism, Chlamydia trachomatis, known to be carried by flies, with children and those living in overcrowded conditions the most vulnerable. In advanced cases of the disease, there is chronic scarring of the underside of the eyelid, which can then turn inward, resulting in the eyelashes inflicting permanent damage to the eye’s cornea.

Trachoma was first identified in PNG and Fiji when health surveys were conducted in the 1950s. Studies also revealed that it was endemic in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. More recently, in 2015, extensive studies were carried out in the provinces of Central, Madang, Morobe, East New Britain, Southern Highlands and Western in PNG as part of the Global Trachoma Mapping Project. The prevalence of trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) in children aged 1-9 years was found to be between 6 percent and 12.2 percent, exceeding the WHO threshold of 5 percent.

The disease can be debilitating and make it increasingly difficult for a child to attend and participate in school classes and, thus, hinder their development and increase their exposure to poverty and malnutrition.

Changing the conditions and habits through which the disease thrives is, therefore, crucial. And this is a vital part of WHO’s recommended approach, called the SAFE strategy. That is, surgery for patients with an advanced stage of the disease, including blindness, prescribing antibiotics to diminish infection, encouraging facial cleanliness, and environmental improvements.

Today, the development charity Mercy Works is working to boost better health in very remote villages in Kiunga in Western Province, close to the far western border of PNG, by ensuring supplies of clean water. Here, “safe water remains a daily challenge,” Andrew Lowry, Head of Mercy Works’ Programs, told IPS. “Frequent flooding contaminates water sources and damages infrastructure. Many communities have no road access, so materials and tradespeople travel by plane or boat, and often on foot. Schools and health centres often operate without a reliable water supply, making basic hygiene practices difficult to sustain.”

Mercy Works installs rainwater collection and storage systems in schools, health centres, and villages in both the Western Province and the Simbu Province in the Highlands region.

Nearly 4,000 kilometres southeast of PNG in Fiji, Cama has witnessed the impacts of eye diseases and interventions that have been effective. In the north of the country, she visited villages that were kept clean and neat and it was difficult to see if there was overcrowding in the households. “Generally, extended families living together is considered normal. What we did notice, and similarly in nearby villages, was the water issues, where water was not always available and water trucks would cart water to the village,” Cama told IPS.

In the community, “children were active and did not appear unwell in any way,” she recounted. “It was only when health care workers flipped the child’s eyelids that the inner surface of the eyelid would have follicles that were typical for Trachoma.” Once a child was diagnosed, Tetracycline eye ointment was prescribed to be applied twice a day for six weeks, together with recommended regular face washing.

This year, WHO announced that, for the first time since world records began, the number of people requiring healthcare intervention for Trachoma has fallen below 100 million. Yet the future cannot be one of complacency. Rising climate extremes across the Pacific Islands could reverse this achievement.

“Climate change can impact Trachoma programmes and cause re-emergence of Trachoma, meaning long-term vigilance is required,” Cama emphasised. “Flooding and warmer temperatures can damage sanitation systems that lead to a reduction in environmental hygiene, causing an increase in the presence of flies in the community, which can increase the spread of Trachoma. Through drought and low rainfall, accessibility to water is decreased, making regular face washing and hygiene more challenging.”

Boosting the number of trained health professionals is also critical in countries where national health services battle against limited resources, medical supplies and manpower. “One of the biggest challenges in the Pacific is the shortage of trained eye care specialists,” Cama said.

This is the case in both Fiji and PNG, where “only 8 of 22 provinces actually have an eye doctor”. To overcome this deficit, the Fred Hollows Foundation established the Pacific Eye Institute, the region’s first ophthalmic training institute, in Suva, Fiji. “Our goal is to have at least one eye doctor and a team of eye nurses in every province [in PNG],” she said.

The dividends of extinguishing diseases, such as Trachoma, are profound for people and communities. And aspirations of national development can be realised when health services contend with a diminished burden of illness, more children can finish their education and more people of working age can contribute to their communities and the economy.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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