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Ukraine's SBU domestic intelligence service is getting support for its covert intelligence operations by a resistance group inside Russia, Intelligence [...]

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How Washington should manage its most complicated relationships.

Why party elders can’t save the country from Xi.

Even though Nepal’s Grand Old Party has strong second-generation leaders ready to take leadership and most of the party wants the same, the old guard is able to cling on.

Lorsqu’on souscrit un crédit immobilier, il est impératif de bien connaître les enjeux, car il s’agit d’un engagement financier important qui s’étale la plupart du temps sur plusieurs décennies. Malgré cela, nombreux sont les profils à se soucier uniquement du taux d’intérêt de leurs prêts en négligeant un élément pourtant très important : l’assurance emprunteur. ...

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Despite the nation's history of attacks by hardline Islamist outfits, acts of violence by those espousing far-right ideological views are rare.

The ASEAN chair says that the two nations' prime ministers "reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing a peaceful resolution."

La Grèce se situe au carrefour du flanc sud de l'Europe, des Balkans et de la Méditerranée orientale, occupant une position clé pour la sécurité et la stabilité régionales.
Dans un contexte géopolitique marqué par des tensions accrues en Méditerranée orientale, des différends autour des ressources énergétiques, des pressions migratoires et une compétition régionale, la Grèce occupe une position stratégique en Europe, à l'intersection des Balkans et du Moyen-Orient.
Quelles sont les (…)

- Agenda / Grèce, Région parisienne

Increase the number of teachers, by all means, but don’t predetermine what they’re going to do.

There are real opportunities for Vietnam’s trading partners to insist that it honor its obligations under international human rights law. 

In the Pacific, infrastructure is influence – but China appears to be alone in recognizing that.

Roya shares her story with our journalist in Parwan province, describing the fear and uncertainty she faces after being deported from Iran. Credit: Learning Together.

By External Source
PARWAN, Afghanistan, Nov 13 2025 (IPS)

When Roya, a former police officer under Afghanistan’s Republic government, left the country with her family, she felt a great sense of relief, having escaped from the horrors of Taliban rule. She never imagined that less than three years later she would be forced back into the same conditions, only worse.

She now spends sleepless nights, terrified of being identified as a former police officer, a label that carries dire consequences.

Roya, 52, is a mother of four. During the Republic years, she worked in the women’s search unit of Parwan province, earning enough to support her family.

When the government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power in 2021, she, like hundreds of other women in uniform, became the target of direct and indirect threats. Fear for her life and dignity pushed her onto the path of migration. She fled to Iran, where she and her six-member family spent a few years in relative safety.

“In Iran, I worked in a tomato paste factory”, she recalls. “We had a house, we ate well, and above all I had peace of mind because we lived in relative security”, says Roya.

 

Street life in Parwan provice, Afghanistan. Credit: Learning Together.

 

Her daughters also found work. “Zakia, 23, who had completed her first year at Kabul University prior to our departure, found a job in a large home appliances store as a salesclerk and computer operator. Setayesh, who turned 21 this year, threw herself enthusiastically into a job at a beauty salon, specializing in hair braiding. Everyone had something to do and earned an income.”

But that stability did not last. Escalating political tensions between Iran and Israel soon triggered harsh crackdowns on Afghan migrants in Iran.

“At two in the afternoon, Iranian officials entered our home without any warning”, says Roya. “We had no time to gather our belongings, and even much less to recover the lease for the house we were living in, she says.”

She and her daughters were forcibly deported back to Afghanistan while the men were still at work. A week later, one of her sons called from the Islam Qala border, and the family was finally reunited.

Roya now lives in Afghanistan under extremely difficult conditions. She has no job, no support, and carries a constant fear that her past work with the police could put her and her family in danger.

“Every night I go to sleep in fear, worried that my identity might be exposed. I don’t know what will happen if they find out I previously worked in the police service.”

 

A market scene in Parwan province, where women navigate restricted public spaces under Taliban rule. Credit: Learning Together.

 

She is one of several hundred women who were forcibly expelled from Iran, back into a country where women who had previously worked in the security forces are treated like criminals and where the memory of their uniform has become a nightmare of imprisonment.

Under Taliban rule, former military and civil service women are forced to hide their identities. Some have even burned their work documents. Others, like Roya, stay inside their homes, avoid social contact, and spend their nights haunted by the fear of being recognized.

“We decided to escape to Iran to rid ourselves of the strict laws of the Taliban. But now we are caught in the same restrictions again, this time, with empty hands and even more exhausted spirits,” Roya says.

Roya and her family now live temporarily in a relative’s home in Parwan province, facing an uncertain future.

The widespread deportation of Afghan migrants from Iran is particularly consequential for women whose situation has progressively worsened under Taliban rule. Job opportunities for them and participation in public life are shrinking by the day.

The Taliban have stripped women of the right to work, education, travel, and even the simple freedom to visit parks. Women who once served their government are now treated as second-class citizens in their own homes.

Roya’s story mirrors the life experience of hundreds of women – the repercussion of a combination of dysfunctional regional politics across the borders and domestic religious extremist government intolerant of women’s rights.

Roya also recounts the story of her neighbor, Mohammad Yousuf, a 34-year-old construction worker, who was violently beaten by Iranian officials. He was thrown into a vehicle without receiving his wages for several months or allowing him to collect his belongings from the small room where he had been living.

Meanwhile, the pace of deportations of Afghan migrants from Iran has accelerated sharply in 2025, according to several domestic and international media outlets, including Iran Time, Afghanistan International, and Iran International, as well as international organizations.

The International Organization for Migration has reported that since early May 2025, a wave of forced mass deportations has taken place, primarily affecting families unlike previous trends, which mostly involved single men.

In the first five months of 2025, more than 457,100 people returned from Iran. Of these, about 72% were deported forcibly, while the rest returned voluntarily.

In one year, over 1.2 million people were deported from the Islam Qala border into Afghanistan.

The deportation campaign’s peak coincided with a rise in Iran-Israel tensions in June this year. More than 500 000 people were deported in just 16 days between June 24 and July 9. In total, by early July 2025, over 1.1 million people had been forcibly returned. Daily deportation rates of up to 30,000 people were reported.

Iran has employed harsh and often violent methods to expel Afghan migrants. These measures include workplace inspections, nighttime arrests, home raids, and the destruction of legal documents, even passports and valid visas. Numerous cases of violence, mistreatment, and deprivation of basic services such as healthcare and food have been reported.

International humanitarian and human rights organizations have described these actions as violations of the principle of non-refoulement and a serious threat to refugees and have called for an immediate halt to forced deportations and respect for legal rights.

Reports from the United Nations and human rights organizations indicate that Afghan returnees especially women, minorities, and those who worked with the previous government face a high risk of arbitrary detention and torture.

Iran has stated that it intends to deport a total of 4 million Afghan migrants, of which around 1.2 million have already been sent back.

Iranian officials have claimed that the deportations will be “dignified and gradual,” but evidence shows that pressure, threats, and arrests without consent have been widespread.

The health, social, and security consequences of these returns have placed a heavy burden on Afghanistan, overwhelming border crossings and reception camps. Many are enduring extreme heat of up to 50°C, without access to water or shelter.

According to a UN report published in July, 1.35 million Afghan refugees have been forced to leave Iran in recent months. Many were arrested and deported, while others returned voluntarily for fear of arbitrary arrest.

Excerpt:

The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons

Tokyo is betting on compact, highly maneuverable vessels capable of carrying out missions efficiently with fewer crew members.

The country's policymakers must cultivate a middle path that enables technological upliftment while acknowledging structural inequalities.

At the UN Climate Conference venue in Belém, young activist João Victor da Costa da Silva is trying to make his case heard by negotiators. The 16-year-old Da Silva has a specific request for the parties: the needs of young people with disabilities should be addressed through the lens of climate justice. Belém native Da […]

La tonalité parfois élégiaque des textes de Jean-Paul Sartre faisant l'objet de cette réédition tient à ce que ceux-ci se situent entre Mai 68, « insurrection trahie, mais non vaincue », et la découverte par l'auteur de sa cécité : « J'ai été et je ne suis plus. » Écrire, « unique but de [sa] (…) / France, Idées, Intellectuels, Littérature

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Le Parquet européen (EPPO) a annoncé jeudi 13 novembre avoir clos une enquête pour corruption visant le plus grand groupe du Parlement européen, le Parti populaire européen (PPE), et son président, Manfred Weber, pour détournement présumé de fonds européens.

The post Le Parquet européen abandonne l’enquête visant le groupe le plus puissant du Parlement européen appeared first on Euractiv FR.

Binaifer Nowrojee, human rights lawyer and president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Credit: OSF

By Joyce Chimbi
BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 13 2025 (IPS)

Binaifer Nowrojee, a human rights lawyer and the president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), has lauded the Brazilian government “for significant steps taken to breathe life into the climate commitments.”

A distinguished human rights advocate with over three decades of experience navigating politically sensitive operating environments to drive meaningful change, she particularly noted that events at the Conference of the Parties (COP) run differently and as they should when held in a country with a democracy as compared to those without democratic governance.

Speaking to IPS at COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference taking place in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025, Nowrojee said the venue is “a strong statement in support of the indigenous and Afro-descendant people who continue to struggle to control their environment or live their lives to their full potential. Their inclusion and participation sends the right message.”

OSF, the world’s largest private funder working to promote human rights, equity, and justice, works around the world, addressing various complex and most pressing issues such as the intersection between climate change, justice, equity and human rights while at the same time leveraging emerging and existing opportunities to rebuild economies, revitalise democracies and improve livelihoods.

She spoke extensively of the changing world order, stressing that even in these uncertain times, opportunities abound. While the absence of the US and particularly representatives of the President Donald Trump administration from COP30 is symbolic, Nowrojee says this move presents a real opportunity for the global South to regroup and chart a more inclusive path forward.

So far, she believes “the global South is stepping up, as they are now able to speak more freely and not water down their commitments to reach a compromise climate agreement. There is now a real possibility for countries in the global South to emerge with new ideas.”

Nowrojee said these new ideas include rethinking the intersection between climate change, environmental protection and human rights, because environmental and land defenders are the most targeted globally among all rights defenders. More than 146 land and environmental defenders were killed or disappeared globally in 2024 defending their land, communities, and the environment.

Leadership doesn't have to come from government; it can come from anywhere.
The Latin America region experienced the majority of these attacks, with Colombia being the country with the most killings for the third year in a row. Indigenous people are disproportionately affected, representing nearly a third of lethal attacks despite being only 6 percent of the global population.

Against this backdrop, Nowrojee says the OSF is “very pleased that there is now a treaty called the Escazú Agreement, which commits Latin American governments to protecting human rights defenders, reinforces their commitment to climate, and ensures that information is given to their publics.”

She noted that the Escazú Agreement is a regional treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean that guarantees the right to environmental information, public participation in environmental decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. It is the first and only treaty of its kind, and it also includes special provisions for the protection of environmental human rights defenders and vulnerable groups.

OSF supports the Escazú Agreement by funding initiatives that strengthen its implementation, promote environmental rights, and protect environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean. At COP30, the organization has already announced a major USD 19.5 million commitment to advance environmental justice and support a fair and sustainable economy in Latin America.

Meanwhile, Nowrojee is optimistic that the climate negotiations are moving in the right direction. Stressing that this “climate change crisis offers us a real chance to bring a new vision, one that’s rooted in fairness, dignity and harmony with nature. The global community here has the ability and opportunity to balance people, profit, and planet in a way that has not been achieved in the past.”

On the current and fragmented world order and increasingly nationalistic governments, she says, “we are living through a moment in the world where the structures and ways of doing things that we have had since the end of the Second World War are beginning to crumble. We’ve taken them as far as they can go.”

But the present is not a moment to fold hands and fret—instead, she sees these changes as providing opportunities to rebuild and “for people with moral imagination to step forward to envision and deliver a new and different world where all human beings can thrive. And so, we are no longer living in a unipolar world where the United States is the preeminent force.”

“We’re not even living in a G7 world. We are now living in a world that is a G20 world, where Africa will now have the highest population as a continent and where young people are coming forward and imagining a new world order that truly embraces principles of human rights and dignity. Notably, even young people who’ve never even lived in a democracy are now calling for it. You see it in Kenya, Senegal, Bangladesh and Nepal.”

While the road to rebuilding can be laden with uncertainties, challenges and pitfalls, Nowrojee is hopeful that the global community is up to the task. She advocates finding inspirational leaders and notes that people in every corner of the world are beginning to rise to the challenge. “We’re seeing young people organizing differently within their movements. This, in my opinion, is a real sign of inspiration.”

“Leadership doesn’t have to come from government; it can come from anywhere. And I also see emerging new arrangements such as the coming together of the BRICS countries, which is a group of major emerging economies with 11 member countries. The fact that it’s South Africa that brings a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and Qatar negotiating and mediating various conflicts means we are now entering a new world. We’re seeing countries doing things that they wouldn’t have done 20 years ago.”

On the place of philanthropy in these uncharted waters, she says “philanthropy is a small part of the globe, and it’s a place and space where new ideas can be catalyzed and risks taken that would otherwise be impossible to take. Philanthropy is really about trying new ideas, new ways of thinking and acting, and maybe even failing, but if these ideas succeed, they then become examples of what could be done.”

On multilateralism or cooperation among many nations, she says the multilateralism structures are not crumbling, “only that, having been built after the Second World War, they are now in some ways frayed at the edges. They’re not performing the same way that they did, but I also see a multipolar world emerging, where different countries are beginning to cooperate and coordinate with each other.”

“I see a lot of imagination in different regions and also across regions. Latin America is taking major steps towards a new world. I see the Vatican with its Jubilee 2025 and attempts to rethink debt forgiveness and the unequal debt burden that countries carry. So, I see signs of change in different places and like-minded people who have the same values coming together to chart a new path towards a new world.”

In this new world, Nowrojee envisions climate justice as “a win-win for communities at the front line who are living in places and efforts to expand their participation in decision-making around how their natural resources are used.  Justice also means ensuring that the excluded or those at the edges become part and parcel of the democratic discussions, and ultimately this helps improve livelihoods and people’s well-being across the board.”

“Equally important is that we protect the planet, because if we are going to live on this planet, we are going to need to take significant and sustainable steps to address the damage that we, the human race, have done to this planet.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Excerpt:

Climate change crisis offers us a real chance to bring a new vision, one that's rooted in fairness, dignity and harmony with nature. The global community here has the ability and opportunity to balance people, profit, and planet in a way that has not been achieved in the past. —Binaifer Nowrojee, human rights lawyer and president of the Open Society Foundations (OSF)