Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

Sea of red indicates the parlous state of press freedom in the world. Credit: Reporters Without Borders

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, May 2 2025 (IPS)

Global press freedom across the world is at a “critical moment,” campaigners have warned, as a major index mapping the state of global press freedom hits an unprecedented low.

In the latest edition of the annual press freedom index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which was published on May 2, the average score of all assessed countries fell below 55 points, falling into the category of a “difficult situation” for the first time in the index’s history.

More than six out of ten countries (112 in total) saw their overall scores decline in the index, while the conditions for practicing journalism are for the first time classified as poor in half of the world’s countries and satisfactory in fewer than one in four.

In 42 countries—harboring over half of the world’s population (56.7 percent)—the situation is “very serious,” according to the group. In these zones, press freedom is entirely absent and practicing journalism is particularly dangerous.

RSF says that while there has been a downward trend in press freedom globally for some time, the latest index scores are a distressing “new low.”

“Our index has been warning of this for the last ten years—the trajectory for press freedom has been a downward one—but this is a new low. Sixty percent of countries saw their scores [in the index] drop last year and the environment for media freedom globally has worsened. We are now at a critical moment for press freedom globally,” Fiona O’Brien, UK Bureau Director for RSF, told IPS.

Experts and campaigners have in recent years warned of growing threats to press freedom amid a rise of authoritarian regimes looking to muzzle dissent, as well as  growing economic pressures affecting the ability of independent media outlets to function.

RSF’s index is compiled using measurements of five different indicators—political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and safety—to form an overall score. It says that this year the overall global index score was dragged down by the performance of the economic index.

It says that economic pressure is an often underestimated but major factor seriously weakening media in many countries. This pressure is being largely driven by ownership concentration, pressure from advertisers and financial backers, and public aid that is restricted, absent, or allocated non-transparently.

The group warns this is leaving many media trapped between preserving their editorial independence and ensuring their economic survival.

“The pressure on media sustainability is as bad as it has ever been,” said O’Brien.

The effects of this economic pressure have been severe. Data collected for the index indicates that in 160 out of the 180 countries assessed (88.9 percent), media outlets achieve financial stability “with difficulty” or “not at all.” Meanwhile, news outlets are shutting down due to economic hardship in nearly a third of countries globally.

While the struggles of media economies in some countries have been exacerbated by political instability, general lack of resources, and war, media in other rich, ostensibly more stable countries are also facing significant economic pressures.

RSF points out that in the US, a majority of journalists and media experts told the group that “the average media outlet struggles for economic viability.”

Meanwhile, independent media that rely heavily or exclusively on foreign funding have come under increasing pressure.

A freeze on funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which halted US international aid earlier this year plunged hundreds of news outlets in different countries around the world into economic uncertainty or forced others to close.

This was particularly acute in Ukraine, where nine out of ten outlets receive international aid and USAID is the primary donor.

“The US cuts have had a profound effect there,” Jeanne Cavalier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, told IPS. “Independent media is vital in any country that is at war. It’s a real blow to press freedom in the country,” she said.

She added, though, that the cuts to US funding were “an existential threat to press freedom in all countries with authoritarian governments under Russian influence,” highlighting that exiled media in particular provide a vital service to people living under such regimes.

The Meduza news outlet is one of the most prominent exiled Russian media organizations. While more than half of its financing comes through crowdfunding, until earlier this year a part of its funding came via US grants.

The group said that the combined impact of the cut and previous financial problems presented a significant challenge to its operations. It was forced to cut its workforce by 15 percent and salaries were reduced.

Speaking to IPS at the time, Katerina Abramova, Head of Communications at Meduza, said the moves would “influence the diversity of our content.” But speaking this week after the release of RSF’s index, she said the group had managed to continue its work but admitted, “it is even more challenging now.”

“Our main goal is to maintain the quality of our reporting and to keep delivering news inside Russia,” she said.

However, she said she was concerned for the future of other organizations like Meduza as press freedom and the economic health of independent media wane globally.

“I hope that there will not be a complete loss of independent reporting on countries where free speech has become illegal. But I know that many independent newsrooms are suffering and are on the edge of closing. When you are in exile, you are in a vulnerable position, so such newsrooms face the most difficult challenges,” she told IPS.

“I am also worried that the USAID cuts may be seen as a ‘good sign’ for many authoritarian regimes around the world. They might say, ‘look, the USA also doesn’t like journalists anymore.’ It would be like a validation of what they are doing to independent media [in their own countries],” she added.

Meanwhile, other organizations have also raised the alarm over growing threats to press freedom, even in countries regarded as among the strongest democracies in the world.

While in the RSF index the European Union (EU)-Balkans zone had the highest overall score globally, and its gap with the rest of the world continued to grow, a report released this week by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) group highlighted how some EU governments were attacking press freedom and undermining independent media.

The report, based on the work of 43 human rights groups from 21 countries, warned that press freedom was being eroded across the bloc. It said EU media markets “feature high media ownership concentration, with these owners remaining obscured behind inadequate ownership transparency obligations, the continued erosion of public service media’s independence, ongoing threats and intimidation against journalists, and restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information.”

“The findings of this report should put EU officials on high alert: media freedom and pluralism are under attack across the EU, and in some cases they are in an existential battle against overtly undemocratic governments,” according to the group.

Liberties also warned that “EU legislation to bolster media freedom is being greeted with hostility, making enforcement efforts in 2025 and beyond decisive in protecting the free and plural media that European democracy depends on.”

However, it is this legislation, including the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which is designed to guarantee the protection of journalists and sources, independence of regulatory bodies and full ownership transparency, and the Anti-SLAPP Directive (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) to protect journalists and human rights advocates from abusive legal proceedings, that experts see as providing hope that some of the threats to media freedom can be dealt with.

“At the individual country level within the EU, there are some problems. Where there has been a recent change in government away from authoritarianism, there has been some positive progress, e.g., in Poland. But in other countries, like Slovakia, we are seeing the reverse,” Eva Simon, Senior Advocacy Officer at Liberties, told IPS.

“But at the EU level, we see positive prospects for media freedom in new legislation. The EU Media Act is coming into force soon and the anti-SLAPP directive will come into effect next year.

“The EU has the power to intervene in countries where there are persistent problems and we have high hopes that the EU will use its powers to enforce the European Media Freedom Act. The EU has more tools than ever at its disposal to ensure media freedom in member states,” she added.

On April 30, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) issued a damning report on how, since the start of US President Donald Trump’s second term in January, press freedom has come under attack.

The report warned that press freedom is no longer a given in the United States as journalists and newsrooms face mounting pressures that threaten both their ability to report freely and the public’s right to know.

It said the executive branch of the government was taking “unprecedented steps to permanently undermine press freedom” through restricting access for some news organizations, increasingly using government and regulatory bodies against media, and launching targeted attacks on journalists and newsrooms.

In a statement, CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said, “This is a definitive moment for U.S. media and the public’s right to be informed. Whether at the federal or state level, the investigations, hearings, and verbal attacks amount to an environment where the media’s ability to bear witness to government action is already curtailed.”

The current threats to press freedom in the US are among the most worrying anywhere, many media experts say.

“There is a head-on attack on media freedom in the US. If you look at the scores for the US [in the index], the social indicator has dropped hugely, which shows that within the US the press is operating in a hostile environment. The economic situation there has deteriorated too, which makes things difficult for them,” said O’Brien.

“But also, a lot of people look to America as a bastion of press freedom, with its constitution’s First Amendment, and what is happening there to independent media is an absolute gift to authoritarian rulers around the world. If the rest of the world just sits back and watches this and lets press freedom be restricted and attacked and does nothing, other regimes will look and just think, ‘oh, it’s OK to do this.'”

“World leaders have to now stand up for press freedom. Independent journalism is fundamental to democratic societies,” she added.

 

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Protestors gather in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1966 to protest the Vietnam War. Credit: White House Historical Association

By Norman Solomon
SAN FRANCISCO, USA, May 2 2025 (IPS)

Eight years before the U.S.-backed regime in South Vietnam collapsed, I stood with high school friends at Manhattan’s Penn Station on the night of April 15, 1967, waiting for a train back to Washington after attending the era’s largest antiwar protest so far.

An early edition of the next day’s New York Times arrived on newsstands with a big headline at the top of the front page that said “100,000 Rally at U.N. Against Vietnam War.” I heard someone say, “Johnson will have to listen to us now.”

But President Lyndon Johnson dashed the hopes of those who marched from Central Park to the United Nations that day (with an actual turnout later estimated at 400,000). He kept escalating the war in Vietnam, while secretly also bombing Laos and Cambodia.

During the years that followed, antiwar demonstrations grew in thousands of communities across the United States. The decentralized Moratorium Day events on October 15, 1969 drew upward of 2 million people. But all forms of protest fell on deaf official ears. A song by the folksinger Donovan, recorded midway through the decade, became more accurate and powerful with each passing year: “The War Drags On.”

As the war continued, so did the fading of trust in the wisdom and morality of Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon. Gallup polls gauged the steep credibility drop. In 1965, just 24 percent of Americans said involvement in the Vietnam War had been a mistake. By the spring of 1971, the figure was 61 percent.

The number of U.S. troops in Vietnam gradually diminished from the peak of 536,100 in 1968, but ground operations and massive U.S. bombing persisted until the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in late January 1973. American forces withdrew from Vietnam, but the war went on with U.S. support for 27 more months, until – on April 30, 1975 – the final helicopter liftoff from the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon signaled that the Vietnam War was indeed over.

By then, most Americans were majorly disillusioned. Optimism that public opinion would sway their government’s leaders on matters of war and peace had been steadily crushed while carnage in Southeast Asia continued. To many citizens, democracy had failed – and the failure seemed especially acute to students, whose views on the war had evolved way ahead of overall opinion.

At the end of the 1960s, Gallup found “significantly more opposition to President Richard Nixon’s Vietnam policies” among students at public and private colleges than in “a parallel survey of the U.S. general public: 44 percent vs. 25 percent, respectively.” The same poll “showed 69 percent of students in favor of slowing down or halting the fighting in Vietnam, while only 20 percent favored escalation.

This was a sharp change from 1967, when more students favored escalation (49 percent) than de-escalation (35 percent).”

Six decades later, it took much less time for young Americans to turn decisively against their government’s key role of arming Israel’s war on Gaza. By a wide margin, continuous huge shipments of weapons to the Israeli military swiftly convinced most young adults that the U.S. government was complicit in a relentless siege taking the lives of Palestinian civilians on a large scale.

A CBS News/YouGov poll in June 2024 found that Americans opposed sending “weapons and supplies to Israel” by 61-39 percent. Opposition to the arms shipments was even higher among young people. For adults under age 30, the ratio was 77-23.

Emerging generations learned that moral concerns about their country’s engagement in faraway wars meant little to policymakers in Washington. No civics textbook could prepare students for the realities of power that kept the nation’s war machine on a rampage, taking several million lives in Southeast Asia or supplying weapons making possible genocide in Gaza.

For vast numbers of Americans, disproportionately young, the monstrous warfare overseen by Presidents Johnson and Nixon caused the scales to fall from their eyes about the character of U.S. leadership. And like President Trump now, President Biden showed that nice-sounding rhetoric could serve as a tidy cover story for choosing to enable nonstop horrors without letup.

No campaign-trail platitudes about caring and joy could make up for a lack of decency. By remaining faithful to the war policies of the president they served, while discounting the opinions of young voters, two Democratic vice presidents – Hubert Humphrey and Kamala Harris – damaged their efforts to win the White House.

A pair of exchanges on network television, 56 years apart, are eerily similar.

In August 1968, appearing on the NBC program Meet the Press, Humphrey was asked: “On what points, if any, do you disagree with the Vietnam policies of President Johnson?”

“I think that the policies that the president has pursued are basically sound,” Humphrey replied.

In October 2024, appearing on the ABC program The View, Harris was asked: “Would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?”

“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris replied.

Young people’s votes for Harris last fall were just 54 percent, compared to 60 percent that they provided to Biden four years earlier.

Many young eyes recognized the war policy positions of Hubert Humphrey and Kamala Harris as immoral. Their decisions to stay on a war train clashed with youthful idealism. And while hardboiled political strategists opted to discount such idealism as beside the electoral point, the consequences have been truly tragic – and largely foreseeable.

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. The paperback edition of his latest book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, includes an afterword about the Gaza war.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A campaign to urge the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to adopt the standards of the Escazú Agreement in its upcoming Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency was launched at the Third Conference of the Parties of the Escazú Agreement held in Santiago, Chile, in April 2024. Credit: Lily Plazas

By Luisa Gómez Betancur
WASHINGTON DC, May 2 2025 (IPS)

The most powerful court in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, is preparing to clarify the obligations of States in relation to climate change. In its upcoming Advisory Opinion, the Court must articulate ambitious standards for respecting and protecting the human rights of environmental defenders in the context of the climate crisis.

Environmental defenders — advocates protecting environmental rights, resources, and marginalized communities — play a critical role in helping us navigate the climate crisis: they preserve ecosystem health, and mobilize and organize when the environment is under threat. Their work is vital.

Across the globe, we are witnessing the impacts of a warming planet: devastating wildfires, lethal flash floods, droughts that fuel hunger, and increasingly intense hurricanes. This strain on land and resources translates into greater pressure on those who defend the environment.

It is thus essential to strengthen the rights and work of environmental defenders, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that is amongst the most vulnerable to the effects of the climate emergency and the most dangerous in the world for environmental activism.

During public hearings in May 2024, a petition supported by over a 1,000 individuals and human rights organizations was delivered to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights urging the Court to incorporate the Escazú standards into its Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency. Credit: Romulo Serpa

Environmental defenders’ work is often deadly. In 2023, 196 environmental defenders were brutally murdered. Most of them were opposing deforestation, pollution, and land grabbing. Their struggles are for essential needs: clean air, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity, safe and sufficient water, and food.

Only four countries in Latin America and the Caribbean — Brazil, Colombia, Honduras, and Mexico — account for 85 percent of the documented murders of environmental defenders, confirming this region as the most violent one in the world for those who defend the land and the environment.

The call to strengthen environmental defenders’ rights and work was heard loud and clear at the Third Forum on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters of the Escazú Agreement, where countries from the region convened in the Caribbean island State of St. Kitts and Nevis in April.

This Forum marked a historic moment: it was the first event of its kind in the Insular Caribbean, a region already experiencing — and poised to disproportionately face — the severe impacts of the climate crisis.

“It served as a vital platform not only to advance defenders’ rights but also to expose alarming new threats: rising attacks not only against individual human rights defenders but also against groups and organizations, through the spread of “laws against NGOs” and strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) suits targeting environmental lawyers.”

SLAPPs are tactics used, mostly by businesses, to intimidate and silence environmental defender organizations. Unlike genuine legal actions, SLAPPs abuse the court system to drain resources and undermine activists’ efforts. These lawsuits can create a “chilling effect” on free speech, making others hesitant to speak out for fear of being sued.

They also burden public resources and waste judicial time on unnecessary cases. These tactics aim to silence collective action and dismantle the critical support networks that defenders rely on.

The Escazú Agreement is the first binding regional treaty to promote environmental democracy — the right to information, participation, and justice — in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is also the only one in the world that contains specific provisions aiming to guarantee a safe and enabling space for environmental defenders. It is the fruit of decades of hard work by regional governments, civil society organizations, and environmental defenders.

The Environmental Defenders Forums, in the framework of the Escazú Agreement, were established for the discussion and implementation of the Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters. This Action Plan outlines strategic measures to ensure the safety of environmental defenders in the region, as well as recognize and protect their rights while ensuring that States prevent, investigate, and sanction attacks and threats against them.

Hosting the Forum in the Insular Caribbean was a notable political achievement for the countries of this region. Internationally, discussions often group Latin America and the Caribbean as a single, cohesive entity. However, the experiences of defenders in Latin American nations and the continental Caribbean differ significantly from those in the Insular Caribbean.

Key distinctions — such as country size, government capacities, and unique environmental challenges, including heightened vulnerability to specific climate events — result in diverse needs and priorities for environmental defenders.

This event was eye-opening for many, as it shed light on the diverse realities within the Caribbean that are often overshadowed when grouped under the broad label of “Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Environmental defenders in the Caribbean face significant pressures despite lower reported lethal attacks compared to Latin America. Over a decade, three lethal cases were recorded in one country, but reports acknowledge these figures as incomplete due to challenges such as limited civil society presence, media repression, and insecurity. Additionally, non-lethal aggressions — such as criminalization, harassment, and stigmatization — often go overlooked.

During the Forum, Caribbean environmental defenders highlighted socio-environmental conflicts across industries like oil and gas, mining, tourism, and infrastructure. Despite their efforts, their work is often stigmatized, infantilized, and unrecognized —even by themselves — as many identify as “climate activists” or “community leaders” rather than environmental defenders.

This lack of recognition hinders awareness of their protections and State obligations under international human rights law, underscoring the need for States to better recognize, protect, and promote defenders’ rights.

State representatives had a limited presence at the Forum, unlike mandatory participation in the Escazú Conference of the Parties, leaving “empty chairs” without accountability. This absence isolates environmental defenders in echo chambers, limiting dialogue with decision-makers.

The Forum is a vital platform to address violence and threats against defenders, but State neglect undermines its purpose. By failing to engage in the Forum and to protect defenders, States violate their rights and international law, making their absence unacceptable.
In this critical context, strengthening the rights and work of environmental defenders is essential, with the Escazú Agreement and its Action Plan providing a vital framework.

The Advisory Opinion process of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the Climate Emergency presents a key opportunity for the region’s most influential Court to advance this goal.

We urge the Court to incorporate the Escazú Agreement’s specific standards as a baseline where Inter-American standards are less robust. This includes clearly defining the minimum essential content of the rights to access information, public participation, and justice in environmental matters under the American Convention.

Additionally, regional and international standards must be harmonized to ensure strong protections for environmental defenders, including a safe and enabling environment for their vital work.

There is no time to lose — every moment of inaction puts the lives of environmental defenders at greater risk. Without those who defend the planet, there can be no sustainable future. Protecting environmental defenders is not charity — it is survival.

Luisa Gómez Betancur is Senior Attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By External Source
May 2 2025 (IPS-Partners)

 
Freedom of the press is facing growing threats across the world.

Authoritarian regimes still imprison, silence, and kill journalists.

But today, elected governments are doing the same.

In 2024, over 550 journalists were imprisoned worldwide. 124 of them in China alone.

Since October 2023, at least 155 journalists have been killed in Gaza, Lebanon, and Israel.

Many were clearly identifiable as journalists – and targeted.

Sudan has become a death trap for reporters caught in civil war.

In Pakistan, Mexico and Bangladesh journalists were assassinated for their work.

Independent media face financial and political attacks.

This year, the U.S. gutted funding for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Free Asia.

Autocratic leaders applauded.

Meanwhile, trust in traditional media is collapsing.

In the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer, China scored 75% trust in media. The UK scored 36%.

Yet China ranks 172nd out of 180 on the Press Freedom Index.

AI is adding new risks: Amplifying disinformation, censorship, and surveillance.

Recent studies show 51% of AI-generated news responses have major factual issues.

Misinformation spreads faster and easier than ever.

UNESCO warns that AI, without safeguards, could crush free expression.

This year, World Press Freedom Day focuses on “Reporting in the Brave New World: The Impact of
Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom and the Media.”

AI offers powerful new tools for journalism – but without ethical safeguards, it threatens press freedom itself.

And without journalism, democracy stands on shifting sand.

 

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The United Nations Security Council Hears Reports on Developments in Sudan and South Sudan Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, May 2 2025 (IPS)

After over two years of extended warfare in Sudan, humanitarian organizations have expressed fears of an imminent collapse as widespread hunger, displacement, and insecurity ravages the population. With tensions between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) having reached a new peak in 2025, it is imperative that Sudanese communities in the most crisis-affected areas have unfettered access to life-saving aid.

Earlier in April, local sources had confirmed instances of renewed violence in the Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps, both of which have been conflict hotspots since the beginning of the Sudanese Civil War. According to statements from The General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugees advocacy group, due to indiscriminate shootings, arson, and shellings from the RSF, hundreds were left “dead or wounded”, with the majority of the victims being women and young children.

The United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Clementine Nkweta-Salami informed reporters that there were over 100 civilian deaths across both displacement camps, with over 20 children and 9 aid workers having been killed. According to Relief International, the assaults also led to the destruction of hundreds of residential structures, medical facilities, and the Zamzam marketplace. Additionally, many residents remain trapped in the besieged camps with no way of escaping.

“This represents yet another deadly and unacceptable escalation in a series of brutal attacks on displaced people and aid workers in Sudan since the onset of this conflict nearly two years ago,” said Nkweta-Salami. “Zamzam and Abu Shouk are some of the largest displacement camps in Darfur, sheltering more than 700,000 people who have fled cycles of violence over the years. These families — many of whom have already been displaced multiple times — are once again caught in the crossfire, with nowhere safe to go.”

Local sources also confirmed that the RSF-allied militia abducted nearly 50 Zamzam camp residents and about 40 aid personnel. The UN estimates that nearly 400,000 civilians have fled the two El Fasher camps in the later half of April, with the Zamzam camp having been almost emptied. According to the Office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, many of these displaced civilians are moving toward remote, secluded areas with little access to clean food, water, or healthcare services, such as Tawila and Jebel Marra.

“On April 12 and 13, our team in Tawila saw more than 10,000 people fleeing from Zamzam and nearby areas. They arrived in an advanced state of dehydration, exhaustion, and stress. They have nothing but the clothes they’re wearing, nothing to eat, nothing to drink. They sleep on the ground under the trees. Several people told us about family members left behind—lost during the escape, injured, or killed,” said Marion Ramstein, an emergency field coordinator in North Darfur who is working with Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Humanitarian organizations have described the displaced Sudanese people’s flow of movement as unpredictable, sudden, and massive. Due to the sheer scale of displaced persons, host communities and shelters have been overwhelmed, reporting strains on healthcare services, water infrastructures, and food availability.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), famine has been declared in 10 areas across Sudan, with 17 other areas at risk of imminent famine. Hunger has also reached “catastrophic levels”, with more than half of the population, roughly 25 million people, dependent on humanitarian assistance.

“In the past, we had three to four meals per day. For the past two years, giving [my children] one meal a day is a miracle,” said Hawa, a displaced mother of three who resided in the Zamzam camp. Although the UN and its partners have been on the frontlines of the crisis in North Darfur, an immediate scale up of resources and services is essential to ensure that the hunger crisis isn’t exacerbated.

Following the escalation of hostilities in December 2024, MSF began distributing food parcels as a part of their malnutrition treatment program. Hoping to target families consisting of young children and breastfeeding mothers, MSF has been monitoring the hunger crisis as the economic downturns in Sudan continue to worsen food insecurity.

“In order to reduce instances where the child’s therapeutic food is divided amongst the hungry relatives, we provide a family ration for a duration of two months. This allows the child to receive the full course of their nutrition therapy while increasing the nutrition situation of the whole family,” said Hunter McGovern, MSF’s food distribution coordinator in South Darfur.

“During our distributions, we found that the average family size is much larger than what we had initially planned for—sometimes as many as ten people per household. This underscores just how critical the food shortage is and how much more assistance is required to meet the real needs of people.”

The current supply of humanitarian aid for displaced families in Sudan is overstretched due to rapidly growing needs and deteriorating security conditions. Additionally, as the rainy season approaches, humanitarian experts have projected that the crisis will compound significantly.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside malnutrition, Sudanese people suffer from widespread levels of protracted disease and conflict-related injuries. More than two-thirds of Sudan’s states have reported 3 or more disease outbreaks at a single time, with cholera, dengue, measles, and malaria running rampant. Heavy rainfall is expected to disrupt vaccination campaigns and hamper aid deliveries.

“The humanitarian response is faltering as warring parties block aid, insecurity grows, and rain is expected to wash away critical roads,” said Samuel Sileshi, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency coordinator for Darfur. “Last year, floods destroyed roads around Mornei bridge, a vital link for aid from Chad. With the rainy season approaching, these roads will soon be impassable again.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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World Press Freedom Day 2025
 

By Farhana Haque Rahman
NEW YORK, May 2 2025 (IPS)

Pressures on the press are piling up. Like an avalanche gaining speed yet unnoticed by most people in the valley below, freedom of the press is being relentlessly trampled over – despite the valiant efforts of a few.

Farhana Haque Rahman

For as long as we can remember, authoritarian regimes have harassed, jailed, ‘disappeared’ and killed troubling journalists. The numbers keep rising. Now under the fog of war, media workers are losing their lives to the bombs and bullets dispatched by even elected leaders, while around the world journalists are intimidated through lawsuits, or silenced by government budget cuts.

On top of all this, marking World Press Freedom Day on May 3, UNESCO is aiming this year to focus thoughts on what it diplomatically calls the substantial ‘new risks’ as well as the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI), already widely deployed in newsrooms, and by fraudsters.

For incisive information on journalists targeted worldwide, organizations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF) not only collate the data and keep detailed records but also campaign on our behalf, as in lobbying the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against journalists in Palestine.

In its 2024 roundup, RSF notes: “In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible… In 2024, Gaza became the most dangerous region in the world for journalists, a place where journalism itself is threatened with extinction.”

RSF counts over 155 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza and Lebanon and two killed in Israel since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023. This number includes at least 35 who were “very likely” targeted or killed while working, many clearly identifiable as journalists but shot or killed in Israeli strikes. “This was compounded by a deliberate media blackout and a block on foreign journalists entering the Strip.”

Sudan is described as a “death trap” for journalists caught between military and paramilitary factions. And outside war zones, seven journalists were killed in Pakistan in 2024, five assassinated in Mexico, and five killed in a violent crackdown on the July/August 2024 protests in Bangladesh.

Of the 550 reporters behind bars around the world by the end of the year, 124 were in China (including 11 in Hong Kong), 61 in Myanmar, 41 in Israel and 40 in Belarus.

Of the 38 media professionals jailed in Russia, 18 are Ukrainian. RSF dedicated its report to Ukrainian freelance journalist Victoria Roshchyna, whose family were informed that she died in captivity in Russia on 19 September. No explanation was given.

Just last month (April), a Russian court sentenced four journalists to 5-1/2 years each in prison, accusing them of extremism for working for an anti-corruption group founded by opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died in captivity in February 2024.

What’s more, all these regimes are giving a thumbs-up to the March 15 gutting of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, as well as the dismantling of USAid which, for example, helped support independent journalists in Myanmar.

China applauded, calling VOA “a dirty rag” and “lie factory”. Cambodian strongman Hun Sen cheered the cuts of “fake news” RFA.

RFS says press freedom deteriorated in the Asia-Pacific region, where 26 of the 32 countries and territories saw their scores fall in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

“The region’s dictatorial governments have been tightening their hold over news and information with increasing vigour,” RFS said, while commending regional democracies, such as Timor-Leste, Samoa and Taiwan, for retaining “their roles as press freedom models”.

But what is perhaps most alarming about the insidious deterioration of press freedom around the world is that autocratic regimes are very successfully mastering the dark arts of propaganda, while mainstream traditional media in more open societies are losing people’s trust.

The 2025 Trust Barometer compiled by Edelman, a big American PR firm, found of the 28 major countries it surveyed that China ranked highest in the “trust of media” category with a 75 percent rating, while the UK came next to last with 36 percent. This contrasts with RSF’s press freedom index which ranks China 172 out of 180 countries and territories, and the UK 23rd.

Reflecting on 25 years of surveys and referring broadly to the West, CEO Richard Edelman said media became the “least trusted” institution in 2020 as “information became a bitter and contested battleground used to manipulate, drive societal wedges, and fuel political polarization”.

Which brings us to Unesco’s words of warning over the AI revolution on World Press Freedom Day.

Yes it enhances access to and processing of information, enables journalists to handle vast amounts of data efficiently and create content, improves fact checking etc.

But, the UN agency adds: “AI also… can be used to reproduce misinformation, spread disinformation, amplify online hate speech, and enable new forms of censorship. Some actors use AI for mass surveillance of journalists and citizens, creating a chilling effect on freedom of expression.”

AI-generated fake videos posted on social media, such as images of firefighters rescuing animals in the recent Los Angeles wildfires, have already gained tens of millions of clicks.

Recent BBC research into four publically available AI assistants found 51percent of all AI answers to questions about the news were judged to have significant issues of some form. This included 19 percent of AI answers which cited BBC content introduced factual errors, while 13 percent of the quotes sourced from BBC articles were either altered or didn’t actually exist in that article.

We have been warned. And that is before the boffins perhaps succeed in birthing Artificial General Intelligence with the goal of creating machines as intelligent and versatile as humans. The very concept then of Press Freedom may no longer exist.

Farhana Haque Rahman is Senior Vice President of IPS Inter Press Service and Executive Director IPS Noram; she served as the elected Director General of IPS from 2015-2019. A journalist and communications expert, she is a former senior official of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

World Press Freedom Day 2025
 

By CIVICUS
May 1 2025 (IPS)

CIVICUS speaks with Ukrainian gender rights activist Maryna Rudenko about the gendered impacts of the war in Ukraine and the importance of including women in peacebuilding efforts.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has profoundly impacted on women and girls. Many have been displaced and are struggling with poverty and unemployment. Those who’ve stayed endure daily missile attacks, damaged infrastructure, lack of basic services and sexual violence from Russian forces if they live in occupied territories. Women activists, caregivers and journalists are particularly vulnerable. The international community must increase support to ensure justice for victims and women’s inclusion in peace efforts.

Maryna Rudenko

What have been the impacts of the war in Ukraine, particularly on women and girls?

The war began in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, with Indigenous women, particularly Crimean Tatars, immediately and severely affected. They risked losing their property and livelihoods, and to continue working they were forced to change their citizenship. Pro-Ukraine activists had to flee and those who stayed faced arrest. This placed a heavier burden on many women who were left in charge of their families.

At the same time in 2014, Russia began supporting separatist movements in eastern Ukraine, leading to the occupation of territories such as Donetsk and Luhansk and the displacement of over a million people. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, many lost their homes again. Nearly seven million fled to European countries. This population loss poses a significant demographic challenge to Ukraine’s post-war development.

Since 2015, conflict-related sexual violence has been a major issue. Around 342 cases have been documented. The International Criminal Court recognised that conflict-related sexual violence has been committed in the temporarily occupied territories since 2014.

Ukraine also experienced the largest campaign of child abduction in recent history: Russia took close to 20,000 Ukrainian children from occupied territories and sent then to ‘camps’ in Crimea or Russia, where the authorities changed their names and nationalities and gave them to Russian families. Ukrainian children were forced to change their national identity. This is evidence of genocidal approach in Russia’s war activities.

The war has also devastated infrastructure and the economy. In my town, 30 km from Kyiv, the heating station was hit by 11 ballistic missiles, leaving us without electricity or water for a long time. It was very scary to stay at the apartment with my daughter and know that Russian ballistic missiles were flying over our house. Roughly 40 per cent of the economy was destroyed in 2022 alone, causing job losses at a time when the government spends over half its budget on the military. Civilians, including a record 70,000 women, have taken up arms.

Beyond the immediate human cost, the war is causing serious environmental damage, with weapons and missile debris polluting soil and water beyond national borders. Russia’s occupation of Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, poses a very real risk of a nuclear disaster for Ukraine and Europe as a whole.

How have Ukrainian women’s organisations responded?

Starting in 2014, we focused on advocacy, championing United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1,325, which reaffirms the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution. The government adopted its National Action Plan on the implementation of the resolution in 2016. We formed local coalitions to implement this agenda, leading to reforms such as opening military roles to women, establishing policies to prevent sexual harassment, integrating gender equality in the training curriculum and gender mainstreaming as part of police reform.

Following the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian women’s civil society organisations (CSOs) shifted to providing immediate humanitarian relief, as survival became the top priority. Women’s CSOs began helping people, particularly those with disabilities, relocate to western Ukraine and providing direct aid to those who remained. As schools, hospitals and shelters for survivors of domestic violence were destroyed, women’s CSOs tried to fill the gap, providing food, hygiene packages and cash and improvising school lessons in metro tunnels.

People stood up and helped. In Kharkiv, which is located 30 km from the boarder with Russia, the local government created underground schools. It’s unbelievable that this happened in the 21st century and because of the aggression of a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Our children, women and men can’t sleep normally because every night there are missile and drone attacks.

In the second half of 2022, women’s CSOs and the government tried to refocus on long-term development. One of the first initiatives was to amend the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security to better address conflict-related sexual violence in both occupied and liberated areas. This was a much-needed response given the many reported cases of killing, rape and torture. This involved training law enforcement officers, prosecutors and other officials on how to document these crimes and properly communicate with survivors, who often blame themselves due to stigma surrounding the violence.

We have also reported Russia’s violations of the Geneva Conventions, particularly those concerning women, to UN human rights bodies.

Women’s groups are pushing for more donor support for psychological services to address trauma and helping plan for long-term recovery, aiming to rebuild damaged infrastructure and improve services to meet the needs of excluded groups. Some donors, like the Ukrainian Women’s Fund, have agreed to support the costs of mental recovery for women activists to help them restore their strength and support others.

How should women’s voices be integrated into recovery and peacebuilding efforts?

Women must have a real seat at the negotiation table. Genuine participation means not just counting the number of women involved but ensuring their voices are heard and their needs addressed. Unfortunately, the gender impacts of the war remain a secondary concern.

We have outlined at least 10 key areas where the gender impacts of the war should be discussed and prioritised in negotiations. However, it looks like these are being largely ignored in the current high-level negotiations between Russia and the USA. We heard that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy highlighted the importance of returning Ukrainian children when he met with Donald Trump. It’s highly important for the mothers and fathers of these children and for all Ukrainians.

Women’s CSOs are working to ensure all survivors can access justice and fair reparations, and that nobody forgets and excuses the war crimes committed. We urgently need accountability; peace cannot be achieved at the expense of truth. This is particularly important because the Council of Europe’s Register of Damage for Ukraine only accepts testimonies of war crimes that happened after the 2022 invasion, leaving out many survivors from crimes committed since 2014. We are working to amend this rule.

The international response should follow the principle of ‘nothing about us, without us’. International partners should collaborate directly with women-led CSOs, using trauma-informed approaches. For women affected by combat, loss or abduction, recovery must start with psychological support, and civil society can play a vital role in this process.

The effective implementation of Resolution 1,325 also requires reconstruction funds that incorporate a gender perspective throughout. Ukrainian women’s CSOs prepared a statement to highlight the importance of analysing the war’s impact on the implementation of the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action on gender equality and we used this as common message during the recent meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Additionally, we believe it’s time to consider the successes and failures in implementation of Resolution 1,325 and its sister resolutions, because it’s 25 years since its adoption and the world is not safer.

We appreciate any platforms where we can speak about the experience of Ukraine and call for action to support Ukraine to help make a just and sustain peace in Europe and the world.

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SEE ALSO
Ukraine: ‘Civil society remains resilient and responsive, but financial constraints now hamper its efforts’ CIVICUS Lens | Interview with Mykhailo Savva 25.Feb.2025
Russia: Further tightening of restrictions on ‘undesirable’ organisations CIVICUS Monitor 30.Jul.2024
Russia and Ukraine: a tale of two civil societies CIVICUS Lens 24.Feb.2024

 

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Credit: Chris McGrath, Getty Images
The United Nations will be commemorating World Press Freedom Day on May 3 reminding governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and marking the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991.

By Committee to Protect Journalists
NEW YORK, May 1 2025 (IPS)

Press freedom is no longer a given in the United States 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term as journalists and newsrooms face mounting pressures that threaten their ability to report freely and the public’s right to know.

A new report released April 30 by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)– “Alarm bells: Trump’s first 100 days ramp up fear for the press, democracy,” noted that the administration has scaled up its rhetorical attacks and launched a startling number of actions using regulatory bodies and powerful allies that, taken together, may cause irreparable harm to press freedom in the U.S. and will likely take decades to repair.

The level of trepidation among U.S. journalists is such that CPJ has provided more security training since the November election than at any other period.

“This is a definitive moment for U.S. media and the public’s right to be informed. CPJ is providing journalists with resources at record rates so they can report safely and without fear or favor, but we need everyone to understand that protecting the First Amendment is not a choice, it’s a necessity. All our freedoms depend on it,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg.

Emerging challenges to a free press in the United States fall under three main categories:
1) The restriction of access for some news organizations; 2) The increasing use of government and regulatory bodies against news organizations; and 3) Targeted attacks against journalists and newsrooms.

While The Associated Press (AP), a global newswire agency serving thousands of newsrooms in the U.S. and across the world, has faced retaliation for not adhering to state-mandated language, the Federal Communications Commission is mounting investigations against three major broadcasters – CBS, ABC, and NBC – along with the country’s two public broadcasters – NPR and PBS – in moves widely viewed as politically motivated.

“The rising tide of threats facing U.S. journalists and newsrooms are a direct threat to the American public,” said Ginsberg. “Whether at the federal or state level, the investigations, hearings, and verbal attacks amount to an environment where the media’s ability to bear witness to government action is already curtailed.”

Journalists who reached out to CPJ in recent months are worried about online harassment and digital and physical safety. Newsrooms have also shared with us worries about the possibility of punitive regulatory actions.

Since the presidential election last November until March 7 of this year, CPJ has provided safety consultations to more than 530 journalists working in the country. This figure was only 20 in all of 2022, marking an exponential increase in the need for safety information.

Globally, the gutting of the U.S. Agency for Global Media resulted in the effective termination of thousands of journalist positions, and the elimination of USAID independent media support impoverished the news landscape in many regions across the globe where the news ecosystem is underdeveloped or information is severely restricted.

As the executive branch of the U.S. government is taking unprecedented steps to permanently undermine press freedom, CPJ is calling on the public, news organizations, civil society, and all branches, levels, and institutions of government – from municipalities to the U.S. Supreme Court – to safeguard press freedom to help secure the future of American democracy.

In particular, Congress must prioritize passage of the PRESS Act and The Free Speech Protection Act, both bipartisan bills that can strengthen and protect press freedom throughout the United States.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

World Press Freedom Day 2025
 

USAID and UNICEF sign a partnership in 2024 to improve water and sanitation services across Iraq. But USAID has since been dismantled by the US. Credit: UNICEF/Anmar Anmar

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, May 1 2025 (IPS)

The Trump administration’s on-again-off-again threats against the United Nations, and US withdrawals from several UN agencies aggravated further by financial cutbacks, have left most staffers with growing apprehension and uncertainty about their future— and their mental health.

Will the UN’s liquidity crisis result in downsizing of staff or trigger a round of salary cuts? Will there be a freeze on promotions and on salary increases? And will non-American staffers be deprived of permanent residencies in the US—and forced to return, along with their families, to their home countries, on retirement?

Meanwhile, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN’s humanitarian agency, is facing significant budget cuts due to a funding gap, primarily stemming from a reduction in US funding. This has led to plans for a 20% reduction in staff and a scaled-back presence in several countries, according to OCHA.

Besides OCHA, the budget cuts have also impacted on the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the UN High Commission for Refugees, who are either closing offices, reducing staff or ending programs due to a sharp decrease in US funding.

In a memo to staffers last week, the UN Staff Union (UNSU) in New York acknowledged “the significant concern and potential uncertainty caused by the current financial situation of the Organization.”

“We believe that prioritizing mental health and well-being is essential during these uncertain times. As such, the Union is preparing a series of Mental Health Sessions to offer practical tips and techniques for managing what may lie ahead.”

“Be assured that your Union remains steadfast in defending your rights to fair and equitable treatment and stands ready to navigate the anticipated challenges ahead together,” says the memo from Narda Cupidore, President of UNSU.

Meanwhile, the Staff Management Committee (SMC), which was convened in Vienna, April 7-12, addressed critical issues impacting staff welfare and conditions of service.

The agenda was dominated by three topics: I) UN80 Initiative; ii) the financial crisis; and iii) the downsizing policy. These deeply interconnected topics and their combined impact on staff were the central focus over several days of deliberations.

The Secretary-General has requested “the UN80 Initiative Task Force and Working Groups to develop proposals to i) rapidly identify efficiencies and improvements in the way we work; ii) review the implementation of the mandates received from Member States; and iii) conduct a programmatic realignment within the UN system, while rationalizing resources.”

Dr Purnima Mane, former President and CEO of Pathfinder International and one-time Deputy Executive Director (Programme) and UN Assistant-Secretary-General (ASG) at the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), told IPS the US government’s threats of financial cutbacks and withdrawals from many UN agencies is a matter of special concern not only for Member States but also the UN staff themselves, affecting their mental health and ability to bring their best to their already challenging work.

“With multiple global upheavals all over the world, the UN clearly is an institution from which much is expected at this time. But financial cutbacks seriously threaten the UN’s ability to deliver and its staff members’ ability to do their job”.

It is therefore reassuring, she said, that the concerned bodies affiliated to the UN, which focus on staff welfare, are honing in on the mental health of the staff who are working in this current environment of extreme uncertainty. .

It is encouraging to note that the UN Staff Union is preparing a series of mental health sessions for staff to have access to practical tips for managing what may lie ahead.

The Staff Management Committee XIII which met early April in Vienna also focused on critical issues impacting staff welfare and conditions of service, and not surprisingly, the financial crises that the UN is threatened with and the downsizing policy were two of the major topics that the SMC focused on.

“Uncertainty of course makes matters even tougher since the US administration has announced cutbacks to institutions where the US is a sole or major contributor and then reversed its decision in the case of some,” she pointed out.

If the UN is not seen as a sound investment by the US, and its position on cutbacks and withdrawals remain without any alteration, the paralysis, in terms of action, will be severe and will take a high toll in terms of staff mental health and subsequently, their ability to perform already formidable tasks, declared Dr Mane.

The World Food Program, UNICEF and the UN High Commission for Refugees are among UN agencies that are cutting jobs, closing offices, ending programs and taking other cost-cutting measures due to a sharp decrease in US funding.

In 2024, the UN Secretariat employed over 35,000 staff members across 467 duty stations worldwide. This includes staff from over 190 nationalities, as part of the wider UN family with over 100 bodies and organizations, including some 30 agencies, funds and programmes.

The cash crisis has been aggravated by non-payment or late payment of dues by member states. As of April 30, only 101 out of 193 member states, have paid their assessed contributions in full.

Asked about the budgetary cuts by UN agencies, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters April 28, there are different kinds of cuts.

“The most violent that we have seen really hit our humanitarian and development partners because the cuts are immediate. The way they’re funded are through voluntary contribution. The money is allotted for specific programmes, so the money is not there. The work’s not getting done”.

“So, I think the Secretary-General has said that we are, right now facing a liquidity crisis. We’re managing that. We’re obviously, and he always has been looking to be the most possibly responsible caretaker of the money that is entrusted to us”.

Dujarric said the strategy is also to ensure that Member States understand the quick and real impact of these cuts.

Currently, the biggest single defaulter is the US, which, as the largest contributor, pays 22% of the UN’s regular budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget.

The US owes $1.5 billion to the UN’s regular budget. And, between the regular budget, the peacekeeping budget, and international tribunals, the total amount the US owes is a hefty $2.8 billion.

The top 10 contributors to the UN’s regular budget, based on assessed contributions, are the United States, China, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Brazil, and Russia.

The regular budget for 2025 is $3.72 billion—around $120 million more than the $3.6 billion figure unveiled by Secretary-General António Guterres in October 2024—and $130 million greater than the Organisation’s 2024 budget.

The total budget appropriation for 2025 amounts to $3,717,379,600. After the US, China is the second-largest contributor, assessed at 18.7% of the regular budget.

In its appeal to staffers, the Staff Union says the Secretary-General’s UN80 Initiative “may bring substantial changes to our organization and have significant impact on our conditions of service”.

“While the full extent of these changes is still unknown, we recognize the underlying stress and anxiety it might cause, especially against the backdrop of constant media coverage of similar challenges occurring across the Common System.”

Towards this effort, the UN80 Initiative has created a suggestion box to submit support and ideas.

“As we believe the most effective solution sets can come from those directly involved in the day-to-day work of the organization and with an upcoming deadline of 1 May 2025, we encourage you to share your innovative and creative proposals not only with the UN80 Initiative but with your Union as well”.

By sending your suggestions to newyorkstaffunion@un.org, says the memo, “ we shall be able to record the dynamic contributions of Staff Members and re-emphasize the critical importance of an inclusive, Secretariat wide decision-making process within the three pillars of efficiencies and improvements, mandate implementation, and programme realignment.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A healthcare worker vaccinates children in Barikotal Rezkan village, Argo district, Fayzabad, Badakhshan province, Afghanistan. Credit: UNICEF/Muzamel Azizi

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 2025 (IPS)

For 2025, the theme of World Health Immunization Week (24-30 April), “Immunization for All is Humanly Possible”, emphasizes the need to eradicate disparities in access to vaccines, particularly for children. By encouraging governments to implement vaccination programs at the local and national levels, the World Health Organization (WHO) seeks t0 ensure worldwide access to life-saving vaccines.

“Vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, making once-feared diseases preventable,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Thanks to vaccines, smallpox has been eradicated, polio is on the brink, and with the more recent development of vaccines against diseases like malaria and cervical cancer, we are pushing back the frontiers of disease. With continued research, investment and collaboration, we can save millions more lives today and in the next 50 years.”

According to figures from the United Nations (UN), over the past 50 years global immunization efforts have saved roughly 154 million lives. Vaccines are also estimated to save around 4.2 million lives each year. More children live to see their first birthday and beyond than ever before in human history.

Health experts have estimated that immunization is one of the most cost-effective disease treatments, with every 1 dollar invested in vaccinations yielding a 54 dollar return in productivity. Additionally, vaccines are estimated to save the average infected person around 66 years of life, with roughly 20 million people having been spared of paralysis due to polio vaccinations.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, reported that in 2024, more than 5 million children who had not received a single dose of an essential vaccine were immunized in 20 vulnerable countries, many of which were in Africa. Gains in public health were most notably observed in Uganda, Chad, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, and Côte d’Ivoire.

In the past year alone, cases of polio type 1 have decreased in these regions by roughly 65 percent. Additionally, Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage has increased by 28 percent as a result of this campaign, making Africa the region with the second highest coverage rate for HPV vaccinations.

Despite recent improvements, rates of global immunization have begun to slip in recent years due to humanitarian crises, recent cuts in funding, and public doubt surrounding the efficacy and implications of child vaccinations. Humanitarian organizations have expressed concern due to the rise or re-emergence of several public health concerns. According to a study conducted by WHO, roughly 50 percent of people across 108 countries are experiencing moderate to severe disruptions to immunization services.

“The progress seen across African countries – bolstered by an unprecedented record of co-financing toward vaccine programmes in 2024 by African governments – demonstrates the tangible impact of sustained commitment,” said Thabani Maphosa, Chief Country Delivery Officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “However, this momentum must not stall. Conflict, population growth, displacement, and natural disasters are creating ideal conditions for outbreaks to emerge and spread. Investing in immunization and securing sufficient funding for Gavi to carry out its mission over the next five years is essential to protect our collective future.”

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the recorded cases of measles reached a total of 10.3 million in 2023, marking a 20 percent increase from the previous year. It is projected that measles cases have risen sharply in 2024 and 2025.

Additionally, rates of meningitis infections have been on an upward trend in 2024 and 2025. Health experts have dubbed the recent rise in meningitis cases in sub-Saharan Africa as the “meningitis belt”, fearing that low and middle-income communities have been hit the hardest.

In 2024, there were nearly 26,000 cases of meningitis and 1,400 deaths across 24 countries. From January to March 2025, there have been approximately 5,500 suspected cases of meningitis and roughly 300 recorded deaths in 22 countries. Health experts also recorded re-emerging malaria and yellow fever epidemics.

In order to ensure global public health and maximize quality of life, it is imperative for governments to invest in health systems that benefit all walks of life, maximize disease surveillance, and tackle persisting cultural taboos surrounding immunization. However, recent cuts in funding threaten to undo decades of progress.

“The global funding crisis is severely limiting our ability to vaccinate over 15 million vulnerable children in fragile and conflict-affected countries against measles,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Immunization services, disease surveillance, and the outbreak response in nearly 50 countries are already being disrupted – with setbacks at a similar level to what we saw during COVID-19. We cannot afford to lose ground in the fight against preventable diseases.”

Although many local governments would consider allocating funds for vaccination services as financial losses, Gavi reports that investing in immunization campaigns and programs nets significant financial gains. In recognition of World Immunization Week, UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi released a joint report that detailed the results of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Bangladesh.

The report found that Bangladesh’s EPI has saved roughly 94,000 lives, prevented 5 million child cases of child infections, and yielded a 25 dollar return per 1 dollar of U.S. funding invested. Additionally, as a result of this model, Bangladesh has managed to increase the coverage of fully immunized children from 2 percent to over 81 percent since 1979.

“The need to maintain investments in immunization to improve health security and protect populations from vaccine-preventable diseases has never been more urgent if we are to sustain the progress and tangible impact seen across Bangladesh and South-East Asian countries,” said Sam Muller, Regional Head, Core Countries at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. “It is important that Gavi is fully funded for its next strategic period from 2026 to 2030, and governments continue their remarkable commitment to the lifesaving power of vaccines.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: World Bank

By External Source
MANILA / LONDON, Apr 30 2025 (IPS)

The Rogun Dam in the mountains of Southern Tajikistan, if ever completed, would be the tallest dam in the world. Late last year, the World Bank committed almost $3 billion to finance its development, claiming the project would benefit locals.

What the World Bank has failed to highlight, however, is that the dam is also causing tremendous social and environmental damage, while driving up the country’s foreign debt obligations. When the dam goes online, 70% of the power it generates will be exported to neighbouring countries, as the project’s capacity far exceeds domestic needs.

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are relevant to the extent that they respond to the development priorities of countries in the Global South.

The World Bank, the largest MDB, says its mission is to create a world free of poverty on a liveable planet. Yet its policy prescriptions—and those of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—continue to restructure Global South economies in ways that de-prioritise production for domestic markets and disincentivise industrial policy.

The grandiose scale of the Rogun Dam—which far exceeds projected national energy needs at an unaffordable price tag—is a perfect example of this misguided approach.

Today, 80 years since the Bank and the IMF’s establishment, and amid widely recognised threats to the multilateral order, demand is growing for a UN intergovernmental process to review the governance, role and mandate of international finance institutions.

Today, 80 years since the Bank and the IMF’s establishment, and amid widely recognised threats to the multilateral order, demand is growing for a UN intergovernmental process to review the governance, role and mandate of international finance institutions

The pre-conference negotiations at the end of April for the Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4) later this year in Sevilla, Spain, are an ideal opportunity to move this agenda forward.

The World Bank was a product of the post-World War II order. The United States and its European allies grew in economic and political influence, and this power was and remains reflected in the Bank’s leadership, governance, and priorities.

Directed by the Global North, the Bank’s role evolved throughout the decades. Initially focused on infrastructure, it first embraced development policy; then narrowed its focus to eradicating extreme poverty and now incorporates climate and job creation.

While its initial support for infrastructure investment was better linked to national industrialisation efforts, the Bank has departed from that approach. Reflecting the ascendancy of neoliberal economics and policies in the Global North, the Bank increasingly relied on market-based solutions and prioritised private capital.

This bias deepened in 2015 with the Bank’s “billions to trillions” push— which claimed public finance must primarily serve to attract large-scale private investment.

But economic history casts serious doubt that private finance leads to economic transformation, rather than ‘bigger and better’ extraction. And enticing private capital into low-income countries and ‘emerging markets’ requires offloading risk—onto Global South countries.

The Global South has lost trillions in resources, as global norms supported by the Bank drive the private appropriation of wealth.

Worse, decades of Bank-supported deregulation, privatisation and focus on primary commodity exports has left Global South countries increasingly exposed to shocks, crises and market volatility. Even after the Bank’s Chief Economist admitted the “billions to trillions” agenda was a “fantasy,” the focus on ‘creating an enabling environment’ for foreign finance remains unchanged.

The Bank’s recent attempts to reform itself—its ‘Evolution Roadmap’—have so far failed to move the Bank beyond its private capital focus. This is unsurprising, given the Northern-led “one-dollar-one-vote” governance and Bank President Ajay Banga’s own statements that the Bank’s original purpose “was to forge a global economic landscape ripe for private sector investment.”

More than a year since Banga echoed the G20 in calling for a “bigger and better Bank,” the institution now finds itself having to defend its very existence.

The Bank needs to convince the US administration of its essential role in furthering the interests of the United States. And, as the establishment of the BRICS’ bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the expansion of the BRICS bloc demonstrate, Southern countries’ patience with the lack of governance reform is not without limits.

The negotiations in preparation for Sevilla could shift the norms of the current extractive financial architecture and set the stage for transformational development in the Global South.

We need economic transformation and industrial policy that allows states to escape debt and dependency, reduce exposure to external shocks, and increase capacity to safeguard human rights while supporting the aspirations of their people. We need development banks that support those goals.

The World Bank, in its current form, is not fit for this purpose. It is up to Global South countries, social movements, and civil society to raise their voices to change the terms of the conversation.

No dam, no matter how tall, can hold back the flood of change that’s coming. The world is not what it was 80 years ago. Development banks shouldn’t be either.

Rodolfo Lahoy Jr. is Deputy Director of IBON International, based in Manila, and Luiz Vieira is Coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project, based in the UK

Indigenous people play a vital role in ocean protection due to their deep-rooted connection to the marine environment and their traditional knowledge of sustainable resource management. They often possess centuries-old practices and stewardship ethics that prioritize ecological balance and community well-being. Recognizing and supporting indigenous leadership in ocean conservation is crucial for building a more […]

Kenya's high-level delegation meets the Republic of Korea's high-level delegation. Kenya will host the 11th OOC. Credit: OOC

By Joyce Chimbi
BUSAN, Korea, Apr 30 2025 (IPS)

Participants from over 100 countries will leave the 10th Our Ocean Conference in Busan, the Republic of Korea, with stark reminders that with sea levels rising dangerously, coastal regions and low-lying areas globally, particularly densely populated areas, are threatened.

Asia, Africa, island nations, as well as the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are increasingly on the frontlines of the coastal climatic carnage. Countries and regions at high risk include Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and Pacific Island nations like Tuvalu and Fiji. In 2024, floods caused the highest number of fatalities in Africa in countries such as Cameroon and Nigeria.

“We started this conference with the understanding that the ocean is under threat. A third of the world’s fisheries are overfished. Illegal and destructive fishing is damaging the ecosystems. It hurts the coastal communities that depend on it and undermines global economies. So, to risk the ocean risks the future security of all of our countries and the planet,” said Tony Long, CEO, Global Fishing Watch.

The Our Ocean Conference gathered approximately 1,000 global leaders from various sectors, including heads of state and high-level government officials from over 100 countries, and representatives from more than 400 international and non-profit organizations. Together, they discussed diverse and concrete actions for a sustainable ocean.

Today, experts highlighted the intersection of the ocean, climate, and biodiversity in finding solutions that transform science into political action. While the ocean is on the frontlines of the climate crisis, it is also a significant source of sustainable solutions because it absorbs nearly 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and 90 percent of the heat resulting from these emissions.

The 30×30 campaign supports the national and global movements to protect at least 30 percent of the blue planet’s land, waters, and ocean by 2030. While moderating a session on the importance of 30×30 and progress in national waters, Melissa Wright, a senior member of the environment team at Bloomberg Philanthropies, where she leads the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative, spoke about ongoing support for the global ambition.

“We’re supporting global ambition to achieve 30×30 in the ocean through equitable and inclusive partnerships and initiatives with civil society, governments, indigenous and community groups, and local leaders. Since 2014, the Bloomberg Ocean Initiative has invested more than USD366 million to advance ocean conservation,” she said.

The initiative works in tandem with governments, NGOs, and local leaders to accelerate the designation and enforcement of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Most recently, the initiative has pushed for the rapid ratification of the High Seas Treaty and ensured the creation of MPAs in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

“We do not have much time left until 2030 to achieve the 30×30. As such, we are presented with a unique and challenging opportunity for ambitious, robust enhancement to our national and global capacities for the protection, conservation, and sustainability of our oceans,” said Noralene Uy, Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, and Foreign-Assisted and Special Projects, Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Noralene Uy speaking to participants about the Philippines’ efforts and challenges towards achieving the 30×30 targets. Credit: Joyce Chimbi/IPS

The Philippines is one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world, meaning it possesses a high level of biodiversity and a large number of endemic species. The country is home to a significant portion of the world’s plant and animal species, including many unique and endemic species.

Within this context, she said an undue burden weighs on the Philippines given limited resources and other priority development objectives. Nonetheless, the country has turned to science and is making progress. The country has established marine scientific research stations strategically located in the major marine biogeographic regions of the country to provide insights and knowledge into their ocean.

They have also formulated the national ocean environment policy, stressing that as science and policy evolve according to the priorities of our country, organizational structures and knowledge systems must change as well.

To achieve the highest ambition in marine protection, the Philippines and coastal communities around the globe now have an ever-greater need for financing and technical resources. Brian O’Donnell, Director, Campaign for Nature, explained that the only available assessment of the cost of 30×30 on a global scale is now five years old.

“According to the assessment, it would cost about USD 100 billion a year to implement 30×30 both on land and in the sea and at the time of the assessment, only about USD 20 billion was being spent, leaving an USD 80 billion annual shortfall,” he explained.

“Not only do we need to ensure we get more money into this space, but that money is delivered efficiently and effectively to the people, communities, and countries where biodiversity is and those who are safeguarding it.”

O’Donnell said that, despite ongoing challenges in mobilizing financial resources, there is some notable progress. He spoke about the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, which includes a target for wealthy nations to provide at least USD 20 billion annually in international biodiversity finance to developing countries by 2025, increasing to USD 30 billion by 2030.

This target aims to help developing countries implement their biodiversity strategies and action plans, particularly those in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. But O’Donnell said there is a need to change how things are done, as, unfortunately, much of the financing to developing countries is coming in the form of loans and short-term financing.

In all, he encouraged partnerships and collaboration in raising much-needed resources, such as the Oceans 5, which is dedicated to protecting the world’s five oceans. Oceans 5 is an international funders’ collaborative dedicated to stopping overfishing, establishing marine protected areas, and constraining offshore oil and gas development, three of the highest priorities identified by marine scientists around the world. Bloomberg Philanthropies is a founding partner of Oceans 5.

Looking ahead, there is optimism that by the time delegates settle down for the 11th Our Ocean Conference in 2026 in Kenya, the global community will have moved the needle in their efforts across finance, policy, capacity building, and research towards marine protected areas, sustainable blue economy, climate change, maritime security, sustainable fisheries, and reduction of marine pollution.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Zikora Ibeh
LAGOS, Nigeria, Apr 30 2025 (IPS)

Half a century after ECOWAS promised peace and prosperity, three breakaway states are testing West African solidarity, sparking a potential trade war.

Unless last-minute diplomatic efforts can save the day, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) looks set to mark its 50th anniversary next month not only three member states short but also facing the onset of a trade war that threatens to undo its decades-long efforts at achieving regional integration and free trade.

Since July 2023, the 15-member regional bloc founded in 1975 has been gripped by a crisis of legitimacy over its stance on the wave of military coups in the region. Between 2020 and 2023, Mali (2020 and 2021), Burkina Faso (2022) and most recently Niger (2023) experienced a series of coups that saw the overthrow of democratically elected governments and the seizure of power by juntas.

The latter, buoyed by a wave of anti-Western sentiment sweeping the region, moved to end decades-long military and economic alliances with former coloniser France as well as the US, Germany and the EU, in favour of relations with Russia and China.

But it was not until July 2023, when the Tchiani-led military junta seized power in Niger, that the simmering discontent in the regional bloc metastasised into a split and the confederation of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a defence pact comprising the breakaway states of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, was formed.

Towards a trade war?

Since its emergence on the West African landscape, the AES has quickly morphed into a substantive regional rival with an agenda for monetary, economic, trade and cultural integration. On 29 January, the AES countries formally withdrew from ECOWAS after observing the mandatory one-year notice period. The bloc now has its own flag and passport, as well as a central bank and currency.

Two weeks ago, the AES slapped a 0.5 per cent import duty on all goods from ECOWAS member states in a move that raises the prospect of a trade war. The tariff, which took effect immediately, applies to all goods, excluding humanitarian aid, entering the three countries.

This new policy runs counter to ECOWAS’ intention under the Trade Liberalization Scheme (ETLS) and investment policy to continue to ensure open borders and free movement of goods between its members and the AES countries despite their official exit from the bloc.

The new levy threatens to disrupt trade flows and drive up food prices across the region.

The AES has defended the levy as a means of raising revenue to finance its activities. Given that the AES countries are cash-strapped and currently have minimal administrative capacity to manage more complex policies, it is not surprising that they have resorted to this measure.

Import duties are a ‘stroke of the pen’ policy, providing a quicker way to raise revenue than long-term investment in expanding revenues through export markets and developing other areas of comparative advantage. At the same time, however, they can also serve as a shortcut over a cliff.

Depending on how ECOWAS states respond, AES import duties risk provoking countermeasures — something that would only make an already bad situation worse.

The new levy threatens to disrupt trade flows and drive up food prices across the region. But the impact could be far worse for the alliance, whose member states are among the world’s poorest countries. Being landlocked, the AES countries are heavily dependent on imports through ports via their southern ECOWAS neighbours, primarily Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Senegal and Benin.

So, adding this tariff will significantly increase the price of imports, including food, for citizens of AES member states. Nigeria, for instance, is Niger’s third-largest trading partner after France and Mali. And in recent months, Niger has suffered frequent power cuts and fuel shortages due to dwindling supply from neighbouring Nigeria.

The AES levy also adds to the growing structural, logistical and political challenges that continue to hinder the growth of intra-African trade and particularly the realisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which came into effect in 2021. For a continent of 1.3 billion people, the AfCFTA is supposed to be the world’s largest operating free trade area.

Sadly, this is not yet the case. According to figures from Trade Data Monitor, the value of intra-African trade stood at $192.2 billion in 2023, representing just 14.9 per cent of total African trade. Over the same period, the global share of intra-African exports and imports also declined from 14.5 per cent in 2021 to 13.7 per cent in 2022.

Payback

Whether West Africa gets back on track with the AfCFTA will depend on the possibility of convincing the AES countries to rejoin ECOWAS by July 2025, when the grace period granted at the time of their exit in January ultimately expires.

The AES countries account for around 17 per cent of ECOWAS’ total population of 446 million, more than half of its total land area of over 5 million km2 and about 7.7 per cent of its total GDP. Their departure has thrown ECOWAS into its worst crisis in half a century.

The current trajectory of political polarisation and a potential tariff war will only lead to the common ruin of all.

Still, this was not an inevitable crisis. Rather, it was one that the regional bloc walked into with its eyes wide open. Because all things considered, the split can be seen as payback for ECOWAS’ drift away from its founding pan-Africanist ideals and the mistakes it made in its handling of the coup in Niger.

At its founding half a century ago, ECOWAS expounded a vision of solidarity, collective self-reliance, non-aggression, and the maintenance of regional peace and stability. Over the decades, however, not only had the union failed to stand true to these ideals, but its hollow defence of democracy while tolerating sit-tight despots such as Togo’s Faure Gnassingbé in its rank had produced a crisis of legitimacy that robbed the regional body of the moral authority to enforce discipline in times of turmoil.

This crisis of legitimacy is currently being reinforced as the AES continues to employ sovereign and anti-imperialist rhetoric to position itself as a worthy alternative. But the current trajectory of political polarisation and a potential tariff war will only lead to the common ruin of all. Hence the urgent need for ECOWAS to avoid giving in to provocation and instead employ diplomacy to resolve the challenges brought about by the imposition of import duties by the AES.

It was the failure to take the diplomatic route that led to the impasse in the first place. This is the lesson that ECOWAS must learn as it begins to reimagine its role as a regional bloc for the next half-century. Failing to do so could mean a further erosion of the bloc’s influence and relevance over the coming 50 years.

Zikora Ibeh is a researcher, columnist, podcaster and development advocate with a passion for social justice and gender equity. She works to make a difference in society through public policy advocacy, action research and media advocacy.

Source: International Politics & Society, Brussels

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By Rosi Orozco
MEXICO CITY, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

In 2020, a historic announcement emerged from the Global Trafficking in Persons Report, an annual assessment that evaluates human exploitation in 129 countries. For the first time, the world witnessed a 13% decrease in the number of victims. For those of us who fight against this heinous crime, it felt as if a door to paradise had opened—an Eden where no human being is for sale.

Rosi Orozco

However, reality was quick to slam that door shut. The following year, in 2021, we expected the downward trend to continue thanks to the tireless efforts of human rights defenders and survivors. With some luck, we hoped to celebrate another 13% decrease—perhaps even 15%? But the opposite happened: the number of detected victims rose by 10%.

The reason was painfully clear: that historic drop had been an artificial consequence of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Unless those in power were to orchestrate another health crisis, we would never again see such promising figures in the fight against sexual and labor exploitation.

The latest global report, published just weeks ago, confirms that the door to paradise is getting heavier: by 2022, the number of victims had surged by 22%. Sub-Saharan Africa now ranks first in victim detection, followed by North America. For the first time, the poorest and the wealthiest regions of the world share the same wounds—proof that human trafficking spares no one, preying on both the destitute and the privileged.

And it is not just the number of victims that is rising—they are getting younger. Between 2019 and 2022, the number of child victims increased by 31%. As is often the case in human trafficking, girls and women suffer the worst consequences.

The Metastasis of Human Trafficking

How do we explain this alarming expansion?

First, most governments lacked contingency plans to support those displaced by COVID-19. By the time the pandemic ended, thousands had already lost their jobs or homes. Faced with economic hardship and a severe lack of specialized shelters, desperation pushed many into exploitation. Countless individuals were forcibly displaced not once, but two or three times—whether due to violence in their communities or other destabilizing factors.

Second, a global analysis of 942 court rulings revealed a chilling reality: 74% of traffickers belong to organized crime networks. These are not lone criminals but cartels, gangs, and mafias operating with the efficiency of corporate enterprises or local governments, making them nearly impossible to dismantle. Only 26% of traffickers act independently, such as abusive parents or exploitative partners. Alarmingly, this phenomenon is growing each year.

The numbers do not lie: just when we thought our efforts were yielding results, reality reminds us that we must redouble them. This year, more than ever, we need every hand and heart available to reopen the door to that dreamt-of paradise. If we fail, it may close forever—and we may never find the key to free the victims who are counting on us.

United Against Child Trafficking

In response to this dire situation, the 3rd International Summit Against Human Trafficking was held in Washington, D.C., in 2024. The event took place at two of the most important venues for political and diplomatic action: the United States Capitol and the main building of the Organization of American States (OAS). This summit brought together key legislators and global leaders committed to eradicating human trafficking.

One of the most notable participants was Tom Homan, former ICE Director and a leading authority on border security, whose presence underscored the urgency of strengthening international cooperation. We celebrate that such a dedicated man has now been appointed as the Border Czar. His leadership and determination are crucial to shutting down the criminal networks that have trafficked and disappeared hundreds of thousands of children at our borders.

Homan’s participation in the summit was made possible thanks to Sara Carter, the renowned investigative journalist, who also moderated the expert panel on border security. Her deep knowledge of trafficking networks and firsthand reporting on the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border provided critical insights into the discussion.

One of the most pressing issues addressed at the summit was the alarming number of children disappearing at the hands of traffickers along the U.S.-Mexico border. For years, criminal networks have exploited vulnerabilities in the region, profiting from the suffering of tens of thousands of minors who vanish without a trace.

The recent actions by the United States to strengthen border security offer a glimmer of hope. Measures aimed at shutting down trafficking routes and dismantling criminal operations are a step in the right direction. For both the U.S. and Mexico, the highest priority must be clear: when it comes to children, there can be no compromise.

The fight against human trafficking is far from over, but summits like this remind us that change is possible when nations, policymakers, and civil society unite with a common purpose. We cannot allow traffickers to keep slamming the door in our faces. The time to act is now.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The Holy Bible, Trump Edition: "They shall beat their swords into nine irons." Credit: Shutterstock.

By Peter Costantini
SEATTLE, USA, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

Like any self-respecting don of a powerful crime family, Donald Trump – AKA “Don the Con” – always gets a taste of any action going down on his territory. And that territory, as recent events have made clear, knows no borders. (I mean, except for the southwest one.)

The capo di tutti capi of TrumpWorld says that he wants to acquire Gaza and turn it into “The Riviera of the Middle East”. And it’s no secret what the jewel in the crown has to be: a magnificent golf course. [Shear et al 2/5/2025] [Baker 2/5/2025]

Given conditions in Gaza, this will be a challenge. But a leaked and probably apocryphal memo from the TrumpWorld real-estate division (formerly the U.S. Department of State), lays out an ingenious strategy for the centerpiece of the rebranding of Gaza.

 

———-

 

To: Gaza Desk

 

OK, campers, minimize PornHub and listen up.

I’m working on some promotional material for the Riviera project. Please return any comments yesterday.

——

 

Trump Links Gaza at Rubble Beach

Welcome to a whole new dimension in golfing adventure: Trump Links Gaza. Here, you can tee off into a breathtaking new experience: rubble golf. We found a strip of land short of water, vegetation and soil, but with plenty of gravel, broken concrete, and twisted rebar. So we had to think outside the box of grassy fairway | water hazard | putting green.

Our solution? If life gives you rubble, make rubble golf. At Trump Links Gaza, the whole length of the 18 holes will be one big rubble trap. We’re working to make it the Pebble Beach of Middle Eastern war zones, so we’re dubbing it Rubble Beach.

For chipping out of bomb craters and demolished building foundations, your pitching wedge will be your best friend. You may lose a few more balls than usual, but looking for them will be like a treasure hunt: you’ll never know what you may find.

Our attorneys tell us we are required to warn you about the unexploded ordnance. No worries, this is where the adventure really begins, and the risk just heightens the excitement. Accidental death and dismemberment insurance is available in the clubhouse.

For small mines or unexploded shells, simply plant one of the skull-and-crossbones flags we’ve provided nearby – but not too close.

If you happen to uncover a large bomb, about the size of a Fiat 500, do not take the time to plant a flag: run for your life. Those bunker-busters weigh 2,000 pounds and have a blast radius of three football fields. Best of all, we’re proud to say they’re made in the U.S. of A. Now we’re talking real adventure golfing. (Not to worry too much, the previous owners assure us that all such bombs dropped on Gaza did detonate – creating much of the rubble you will be enjoying.)

You may unearth piles of bones, but don’t be alarmed. They are probably sheep or goat bones. If they seem a little larger, they could be – Who knows? – calves or llamas.

Golfers may occasionally come upon torn or burned children’s books in Arabic, pieces of stuffed animals, shards of plates or glasses, and shreds of kaffiyehs or hijabs. In a small number of cases, visitors have also noticed what seem to be small children with distended bellies wandering around outside the razor wire perimeter.

The previous proprietors explained that the area had been taken over by squatters, who were very messy and did not keep track of their children. Their security forces removed nearly all the offenders and tried to eliminate any traces of them, but may have missed a few here and there.

We apologize for any unpleasant experiences that may keep looping in your head. (Although as you may not have noticed, on page 9 of the visitors’ waivers you agreed not to hold us liable for any PTSD or recurrent nightmares that may result from what you see here.)

Allow us to put you at ease on one other point: because conditions are so rough, it’s no big deal if you lie about your score. In fact, it’s an official Trump Links Gaza policy: falsifying scorecards and telling tall tales about your eagles and birdies are encouraged. There’s so much latent creativity out there, we don’t want to inhibit it with the buzzkill of fact-checking.

This adjustment will also keep Trump Links Gaza in step with the rest of TrumpWorld and its wholly owned subsidiary, the U.S. government. The corporate guidance on truthiness was enunciated most eloquently by Vice President J.D. Vance.

He was asked by reporters why he and President Trump kept saying that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were illegal immigrants who had stolen and eaten pet cats and dogs, even after the false story had been debunked by Republican officials and the Wall Street Journal. Vance, apparently speaking in tongues, told National Public Radio: “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.” [Garrett 9/15/2024]

So don’t worry about handicaps or pars. We’ve created an arithmetic-free zone here to let you celebrate your fairway prowess with your most improbable golf memes – and to emulate the liberating example of our leaders in the Oval Office.

Stop by the clubhouse afterwards for a complementary house cocktail: an ivermectin sour with a splash of hydroxychloroquine.

The Trump Links Gaza Management

 

—–

 

So let me know what you think. There are no stupid comments – well, actually, there are a few. You’ll know if yours is one when HR tweets you your pink slip and the security guards bring you a cardboard file box.

Breaking news for your eyes only: Bibi told the transition team that the squatters who were in the area of Trump Links Gaza before the transformation are now in custody.

They will be charged as criminal aliens and most will be deported to permanent camps in Rwanda and El Salvador. But in the interim, TrumpWorld has signed a contract with a U.S.-based private prison firm to build facilities to hold them until they can be shipped out.

However, we are considering keeping a small number of them in Gaza as guest workers, much like the H-2B workers long used by Trump enterprises in the U.S.

These will be lodged in the immigration prison and let out only to work as dishwashers and laborers at the new Gaza minimum wage (lol it’s negative – they will be charged ten dollars a day for the privilege of getting out of their cells for healthy exercise). Meals, rent and utilities will also be deducted. Hey Elon, can your boyos from the Department of Government Efficiency match that?

As exciting as it is, Trump Links Gaza is only the beginning. Think glacier golf in Greenland -your ice axe doubles as a putter – and aquatic links on jet skis in Panama.

But Canada is le grand prix, as the snail-sucking surrender monkeys put it. The Boss may have to drop a few bunker-busters on the tundra to nudge them towards statehood. The Canucks may complain about losing their health insurance and being tased for saying “Eh”. They may gag at having to call Hudson Bay “MAGA Bay”.

But once True North has been downgraded to Magnetic North and welcomed into the Union, TrumpWorld will buy up some well-known golf course, tart it up, and lean heavily on the new “governor” (actually, proconsul) to have the Canadian Open moved to it – as Beloved Leader tried unsuccessfully to do in Scotland with the British Open. (Don’t breathe easy yet, haggis-eaters – Donald Trump has a long memory.) [Landler et al 7/16/2021]

I’m proud to say that golf diplomacy has become the linchpin of our transition from the “No more forever wars” foreign policy to a new one: “Many short and sweet annexations”. Who’s next?

As the Good Book, Trump Edition, says: “They shall beat their swords into nine irons.” Fore!

ArnoldPalmersJunk (Like my new handle?)
Vice President for Golfing Anschluss

Trump Links Gaza at Rubble Beach: Come for the adventure, stay for the gaslighting.

 

References

Peter Baker. “An Unbound Trump Pushes an Improbable Plan for Gaza”. New York Times, February 5, 2025.
https://nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-gaza-netanyahu-takeover.html

Mohamad Bazzi. “Trump is using the presidency to seek golf deals. Hardly anyone’s paying attention.” London: The Guardian, February 27, 2025.
https://theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/27/trump-pga-liv-saudi-arabia

Jonathan Freedland. “Trump is fueling lethal fantasies of driving people from their land”. London: The Guardian, 7 February 2025.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/07/middle-east-land-people-donald-trump-gaza

FXB Center for Health & Human Rights. “Press Release: New study shows Israel air-dropped 2000lb bombs within lethal and damage ranges of hospitals in Gaza”. Boston, MA: Harvard University, October 10, 2024.
https://fxb.harvard.edu/2024/10/10/new-study-shows-israel-air-dropped-2000lb-bombs-within-lethal-and-damage-ranges-of-hospitals-in-gaza

Luke Garrett. “Vance defends spreading claims that Haitian migrants are eating pets”. National Public Radio, September 15, 2024.
https://npr.org/2024/09/15/nx-s1-5113140/vance-false-claims-haitian-migrants-pets

Mark Landler, Lara Jakes & Maggie Haberman. “Trump’s Request of an Ambassador: Get the British Open for Me”. New York Times, July 16, 2021.
https://nytimes.com/2020/07/21/world/europe/trump-british-open.html

Michael D. Shear, Peter Baker & Isabel Kershner. “Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave”. New York Times, February 4, 2025.
https://nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/politics/trump-gaza-strip-netanyahu.html

People use plastic containers to collect drinking water in Havana. Water supply problems have worsened in recent months in Cuba, partly due to power outages that interrupt water pumping through hydraulic networks and, at times, equipment breakdowns. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

By Dariel Pradas
HAVANA, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

Problems such as hydraulic network breakdowns, water lost through leaks, power outages, and even fuel shortages are making access to water supply services difficult for the population in Cuba

“Terrible,” is how Mariam Alba, a café employee and resident of Manzanillo, a city 750 kilometers east of Havana in the eastern province of Granma, described the water supply situation to IPS.“In my neighborhood we have water almost every day, but I know places that go months without it. In the early hours, you see people carrying water from a hole filled by a leak. It’s not drinking water:” Mariam Alba.

“In my neighborhood, Reparto Gutierrez, we have water almost every day, but I know places that go months without it. In the early hours, you see people carrying water from a hole filled by a leak. It’s not drinking water. On some blocks, they’ve placed tanks: they fill them in the morning, and by night they’re empty. Then they refill them a month later,” she added.

In this province with 804,000 people, only 76% receive piped water in their homes, and just 38.7% have access to water at least once every three days. Meanwhile, over 66,000 residents depend on water delivered by tanker trucks, as confirmed by Granma’s Hydraulic Resources authorities in an interview with IPS in August 2024.

A month after that interview, the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) announced that over 30,000 people in the province lacked access to water services, out of a total of more than 600,000 nationwide.

In Havana, where supply issues may not be as prolonged as in Manzanillo, they are more widespread: around 130,000 “customers” were affected last September.

“I’ve gone up to two weeks without water due to a supposed break in the (hydraulic) network. Then the issue gets fixed, but comes up again soon after. In the 40 years I’ve lived here, there hasn’t been a single day when I wasn’t unsure if the water would come or not,” Flora Alvarez, a 43-year-old accountant living in Centro Habana, told IPS.

A worker from Aguas de La Habana supervises the filling of a water tanker truck that supplies drinking water to residents of Havana communities. By early February 2025, over 600,000 people in Cuba were receiving water permanently through tanker trucks. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

An Infrastructure Problem

Cuba lacks large rivers and, being an island, faces the constant risk of saline intrusion into its groundwater. It relies heavily on rainfall, so droughts severely impact water supply, especially in the agricultural sector.

However, 2024 was not as marked by this climate change effect as previous years: accumulated rainfall reached 97% of the national historical average, and reservoirs were at 63% of their total capacity, or 98% of the usual level for early February, when the INRH presented its annual report.

The problem begins with over 40% of pumped water being lost due to leaks in major pipelines, hydraulic network branches – sometimes visible on dozens or hundreds of Havana streets – and even from dripping faucets in homes.

Hydraulic sector officials acknowledge the existence of 2,500 to 3,000 such leaks.

Secondly, pump equipment breakdowns or interruptions due to frequent power outages, characteristic of Cuba’s energy crisis, also degrade service quality, which not everyone has access to.

In this Caribbean island nation of about 10 million inhabitants, only 83.9% are supplied water by public Water and Sanitation companies, 4.5% more than at the end of 2023, according to the annual report.

The INRH acknowledged in its report that this improvement is largely due to a decrease in population.

Meanwhile, investment in creating new connections to hydraulic networks and other sanitation work has slowed, reaching only 45% of the planned target, due to the negative impact of U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba and unpaid debts to creditors.

Additionally, only 61.2% of the population has access to “risk-free” drinking water services, 1.6% more than in 2023.

The “risk-free” definition aligns with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “safely managed” standard, which refers to access to “drinking water from an improved water source that is located on premises, available when needed, and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination.”

By early February, over 600,000 people were receiving water permanently through tanker trucks, and nearly 1.5 million through “easy access” points, where people can fetch water in less than 30 minutes, including travel and waiting time.

However, these figures do not account for the thousands affected by “temporary” pipeline breaks, who must then carry water from easy access points or rely on tanker trucks that arrive as frequently as fuel supplies allow –  another recurring issue in Cuba.

The company Aguas de La Habana lays a high-density polyethylene pipe as part of the installation of new hydraulic networks in the Cuban capital. In 2024, the government installed 241 kilometers of new water supply networks, mains, and connections to alleviate chronic water supply issues. Credit: Jorge Luis Baños / IPS

Slow Progress

“The goals and targets planned for 2024 were met at an acceptable level, considering the adverse scenario,” summarizes the INRH’s annual report.

This optimism is based on the fact that, despite only resolving around 60% of public complaints or reports in several provinces, 241 kilometers of networks, mains, and new water supply connections were installed.

Or an average of 512 liters of water per inhabitant per day, representing 91.8% of the planned amount, though distribution remains uneven, as the figures show.

The INRH also worked on installing 32 water treatment plants, 10 wastewater treatment plants, and 9 desalination plants, as well as replacing pumping equipment and installing nearly 25,000 water meters, useful for promoting water conservation with tariffs based on actual consumption. Without these, many households pay a fixed monthly fee.

However, authorities predict that the core water problems will continue to “flow” through 2025, despite the government’s multimillion-dollar investments to improve the situation.

 

COP16 President Susana Muhamad. Parties to the UN Biodiversity adopted decisions to implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework. Credit: IISD Earth Negotiations Bulletin/Mike Muzurakis.

By Tanka Dhakal
BLOOMINGTON, U.S.A & ROME, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

The second round of the UN Biodiversity Conference, COP16, concluded in the early hours of Friday, February 28 in Rome, with an agreement to raise the funds needed to protect biodiversity.

COP16 was suspended in Cali, Colombia, in 2024 without any major financial support decision to support biodiversity conservation. But in the second round of the conference in Rome, Italy, governments agreed on a financial strategy to address the action targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which was adopted in 2022 with the aim of closing the biodiversity finance gap.

In a final document, all parties to the biodiversity convention agreed to mobilize resources to close the global biodiversity finance gap and achieve the target of mobilizing at least 200 billion dollars a year by 2030, including international flows of USD 20 billion per year by 2025. Which will be rising to USD 30 billion by 2030.

In the closing press briefing in the early hours of Friday, COP16 President Susana Muhamad said the Rome conference came to a successful end. “It was a remarkable achievement of being able to approve all the decisions, especially the most contentious, difficult decisions.” She said, “And not in a way that made the parties feel that they were compromising their main objectives.”

The agreement includes the commitment to establish permanent arrangements for the financial mechanism in accordance with Articles 21 and 39 of the Convention while working on improving existing financial instruments. It also includes a roadmap of the activities and decision-making milestones until 2030.

COP16 president Muhamad also said that the agreement between governments in Rome will help bring the agendas of biodiversity and climate change together. In November, Belem in the Amazon rainforest region of Brazil will be hosting the UN climate conference, COP30.

“The importance of these resolutions that have been approved in Cali and also here of the cooperation between the different conventions,” she said.

The biodiversity COP also adopted a Strategy for Resource Mobilization to mobilize the funds needed for implementation of the KMGBF. Which includes public finance from national and subnational governments, private and philanthropic resources, multilateral development banks, blended finance, and other approaches.

The Cali Fund

The Rome gathering of parties also agreed to establish a dedicated fund for fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of Digital Sequence Information on Genetic Research (DSI), known as the Cali Fund.

The fund was launched on 26 February 2025—at least 50 percent of its resources will be allocated to indigenous peoples and local communities, recognizing their role as custodians of biodiversity. Large companies and other major entities benefiting commercially from the use of DSI are expected to contribute a portion of their profits or revenues in sectors and subsectors highly dependent on the use of DSI.

Pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plant and animal breeding, agricultural biotechnology, industrial biotechnology, laboratory equipment associated with the sequencing and use of digital sequence information on genetic resources, and information, scientific and technical services related to digital sequence information on genetic resources, including artificial intelligence. Academic, public databases, public research institutions and companies operating in the concerned sectors but not relying on DSI are exempt from contributions to the Cali Fund.

The fund is part of a multilateral mechanism on the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources adopted at COP15 in December 2022 alongside the KMGBF.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Cargo Ship and Cranes at Hamburg Port. Credit: Wolfgang Weiser

By Matt Freeman
LONDON, Feb 28 2025 (IPS)

Who bears the brunt in trade wars? The answer is absolutely everyone. Not just the countries enacting or retaliating with tariffs and export bans, and not just the citizens of those countries. It’s everyone.

Global headlines have been warning of looming trade wars between the United States, Mexico, Canada and China. Though many of the tariffs floated by President Donald Trump have since been lifted or delayed, many are rightly concerned that trade restrictions will be an all too present part of our future.

Trade wars cause tremendous economic damage to countries affected by them; to companies, workers and suppliers; and to the consumers to whom these costs are invariably passed.

But the damage is not only economic. There are profound implications to both global and national food and nutrition security as well. Though many of these measures seek to protect homegrown industries, or in the case of U.S. tariffs – to protect borders, they all too often lead to increased food prices and supply chain disruptions that undermine access to healthy and nutritious food we all need to thrive.

The recently threatened U.S. tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada are a good example of how these kinds of restrictions can impact what ends up on our plates. In 2023, the US imported $195.9 billion of its agricultural produce from foreign suppliers, with almost half of this ($86 billion) coming from its two closest neighbors.

Two farmworkers pick food in a greenhouse.

When you look at more nutrient-rich foods, the impacts are even more pronounced: the US imports approximately 60% of its fresh fruit and 40% of its fresh vegetables from abroad.

Economists warn that such measures would not only strain consumers’ wallets but also disrupt supply chains, leading to potential longer-term shortages and reducing the availability of diverse and nutritious foods.

This is not a price that US policymakers should be willing to pay.

47.4 million Americans – 1 in 7 people, including 1 in 5 children – are already experiencing food insecurity, meaning many lack access to the basic vitamins and minerals they need to power their bodies and fuel their minds. Among the most vulnerable groups – communities of color, rural communities, veterans, seniors, and low-income households – these inequalities are even more stark.

The impacts can easily stretch beyond the borders of North America. The interconnectedness of our global food systems – the complex web of processes that take our food from farm to fork – mean that trade restrictions in one region can have ripple effects worldwide.

The World Economic Forum highlights that the combined effects of the pandemic and geopolitical tensions have exposed the fragility of global supply chains essential for food security. The outbreak of war in Ukraine, for instance, sent shockwaves through markets for key commodities like fertiliser and grains, demonstrating how restriction in the trade or production of essential goods in one part of the world can exacerbate the vulnerabilities of the whole system.

As with most things in life, trade policies have distinct implications for women and girls. In many developing countries, women play a crucial role in agriculture and food production. Trade barriers that increase input costs or limit market access can disproportionately affect women farmers, reducing their incomes and economic independence.

Additionally, higher food prices resulting from tariffs can strain household budgets, where women often bear the responsibility of managing limited resources and the health of their families. As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes, whilst increased trade can provide women with better job opportunities and access to resources, trade restrictions can limit these opportunities and exacerbate existing gender disparities.

Fears about trade restrictions and breakdowns in global supply chains lead some countries to shift policies toward self-sufficiency, focusing on meeting the basic needs of production locally. While it’s easy to see the advantages of an approach like this in terms of control and protecting farmers at home, it is often a struggle for countries to efficiently produce such a wide range of food products domestically due to constraints including weather patterns and arable land, which can result in less varied diets and increased malnutrition.

The FAO suggests conceptualizing food self-sufficiency along a continuum. Others have described an optimal approach as a balanced one, embracing open trade while also enhancing domestic production by diversifying supply sources, investing in resilient agricultural practices, and fostering international cooperation to ensure stable and affordable food supplies.

Ultimately, while trade restrictions are often implemented with protective intentions, they can have adverse effects on food and nutrition security. They can increase food prices, disrupt supply chains, and disproportionately impact vulnerable populations.

To ensure equitable access to nutritious food for healthy populations both home and abroad, policymakers should carefully consider the broader implications of trade measures and strive for solutions that encourage both global cooperation and domestic resilience.

Matt Freeman is Executive Director of Stronger Foundations for Nutrition.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The UN Security Council Meets on Maintenance of Peace and Security of Ukraine. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 27 2025 (IPS)

From late 2024 to early 2025, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine has taken a turn for the worst, with poverty, violence, displacement, and damage to critical infrastructures having grown in intensity. Following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia, tensions have grown among member states of the United Nations (UN) on how to resolve the Russo-Ukrainian War.

On February 20, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a report detailing the current living conditions in Ukraine, where they estimated that 12.7 million Ukrainians – roughly 36 percent of the population – urgently require humanitarian assistance.

The death toll in Ukraine had reached new peaks in late 2024. There have been approximately 41,000 civilian casualties, including 12,500 deaths. Roughly 2,500 children have also been killed or injured as a result of the current war. Rates of sexual violence among women, men, and children have increased significantly since the war began. Nearly 63 percent of all households in Ukraine have reported distress that has been linked to trauma, with 1.5 million children at risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder and other severe mental health conditions.

Ukraine has also sustained immense damage to its infrastructures, many of which are crucial in providing basic services. Attacks on energy infrastructure have led to limited power, water, and fuel being allocated to households. This is especially dangerous in the winter season, when temperatures regularly drop below zero. Roughly 3,600 educational facilities, including 2,000 schools, have been damaged, with 371 having been destroyed completely. Nearly 13 percent of the total housing stock in Ukraine has been damaged, which has affected over 2.5 million households.

On February 25, the UN Resident Coordinator Office in Ukraine released a report that analyzed the scale of needs and the expenses required for recovery in Ukraine. It is estimated that the total cost of reconstruction and recovery over the next decade will be 524 billion dollars, which is nearly 2.8 times the estimated GDP of Ukraine in 2024. For 2025 alone, it is projected that Ukraine will need 9.96 billion dollars from donors and the private sector to begin reconstruction efforts.

“The war has been a heavy blow to the Ukrainian economy. Many Ukrainian enterprises that gave people jobs stopped or were destroyed. The brutal Russian air strikes have severely damaged the national energy system, as well as hundreds of educational and healthcare institutions. A humanitarian crisis is devastating and the “hidden crisis” – the mental health crisis – will resonate for generations,” said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale.

Additionally, approximately 3.7 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine, and 6.9 million have fled to other parts of Europe. According to figures from People in Need (PIN), a Czech humanitarian organization, nearly 700,000 internally displaced people reside in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and its surrounding areas.

Socio-economic conditions have continuously worsened since the start of the war, with displaced populations having been hit the hardest. A survey from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) states that only half of the working-age displaced Ukrainians have managed to find legal employment. Most families that have exhausted their funds rely on government assistance for survival. However, state funding has diminished greatly since March 2024, with the new laws stating that only the most vulnerable groups are entitled to assistance, such as the elderly or disabled.

According to figures from the World Bank, there are over 9 million Ukrainians who struggle with poverty, having increased by 1.8 million in the past three years alone. Economic growth has decreased by 3.2 percent in 2024 and is projected to decrease by 2 percent in 2025.

The hunger crisis has also grown significantly since the wake of the war. According to a press release from the World Food Programme (WFP), approximately 5 million people are facing acute food insecurity. The highest levels of hunger are concentrated in the areas that have been most affected by conflict. The Kherson region in the south, along with Zaporizhzhya and the Donetsk region in the east, have particularly severe levels of hunger.

February 24 marks three years since the Russian invasion. In remembrance of this historical event, the UN General Assembly adopted two resolutions that would entail a cessation of hostilities between Ukraine and Russia.

The first of these resolutions, A/ES-11-L.10, called for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory to be respected, a cessation of hostilities, and an end to impunity for war crimes. The document included clauses in which the Russian Federation was deemed responsible for the invasion and for disrupting global stability.

93 member states voted in favor of the resolution, citing its importance in protecting global and regional stability. Russia and the United States voted against this resolution. The U.S. presented Path to Peace (A/ES-11-L.11) a separate resolution that calls for an end to the war and mourns lost lives. However, this document includes no mentions of Russia’s aggressive military tactics.

In response, France proposed three amendments to this document which indicated at Russia’s responsibility for the conflict. Russia also proposed an amendment that called for the “root causes” of the war to be addressed. Both of the amendments were approved, with the U.S. abstaining from voting and Russia voting against the resolution.

The Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia has said that Russia was justified in its invasion of Ukraine, citing that the intention was to prevent the expansion of NATO from Russia’s borders. “The text adopted now is not perfect, but it is, in fact, the first attempt to adopt a constructive and future—oriented product of the Council, talking about the path to peace, and not inflaming the conflict,” Nebenzia remarked.

Ukraine, as well as numerous European countries, argued that a resolution that does not hold the Russian Federation responsible effectively undermines the UN’s obligation to protect human rights, especially when war crimes are involved.

“The way we answer to Russian atrocities and crimes, the way we answer to aggression as a tool of statecraft will define not only the future of Ukraine, will define not only the future of Europe; it will define our common future, the future of the entire democratic world and the future of the U.N.,” said Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa in her speech to the General Assembly before the vote.
“On this tragic occasion, I reaffirm the urgent need for a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace – one that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, in accordance with the UN Charter, international law and resolutions of the General Assembly,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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