As Trump wields the axe, who will fight to save the UN?
6/7/2025: The biggest contributor, at 22%, to the UN’s core budget is about to conclude a review of its membership. The US is not the only country falling short in its obligations to the UN. Will the global democracies fight to stop these rogue states dismantling the world’s best defence against a thrid workd war?
Source: The Guardian
UNAids chief warns that US cuts that will mean millions more deaths
4/7/2025: The head of the global agency tackling Aids says she expects HIV rates to soar and deaths to multiply in the next four years as a direct impact of the “seismic” US cuts to aid spending.
Source: The Guardian
Top Latin American court upholds right to “healthy climate”
4/7/2025: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued a landmark advisory opinion on climate change, urging states to regulate fossil fuels and corporate emissions. The ruling may influence the higher International Court of Justice in delivering an advisory opinion on the legal obligation of states to limit climate change later this year.
Source: Climate Home News
Why the world needs a UN Special Rapporteur for Democracy
2/7/2025: While the UN investigates everything from torture to toxic waste through specialised rapporteurs, democracy – supposedly a core UN principle – receives no systematic international oversight. This is a blind spot civil society wants to change.
Source: Inter Press Service
UN concern at withdrawals from landmines treaty
2/7/2025: The UN’s top human rights official has expressed grave alarm that six European countries are either in the process of or are considering withdrawing from the international treaty prohibiting anti-personnel mines. The number of civilians killed and injured by mines increased by 22 per cent in 2024.
Sharp increase of Afghan returns in adverse circumstances from Iran
28/6/2025: The UN Refugee Agency reports that over 640,000 Afghans have returned from Iran since the implementation of a deadline by the government on 20 March. The Agency warns that returns on such a scale have the potential to destabilise the fragile situation in Afghanistan.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
UN report charts path out of debt crisis threatening global development
27/6/2025: More than 3.4 billion people now live in countries that spend more on interest payments than on health or education. The UN's Expert Group on Debt has presented 11 options for discussion at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
Source: UN News
Guterres calls for immediate Gaza ceasefire
27/6/2025: The UN Secretary-General has reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian crisis has reached “horrific proportions.” He also said that "the only sustainable path to re-establishing hope is by paving the way to the two-State solution."
Source: UN News
Twenty years of the UN’s Responsibility to Protect
26/6/2025: UN member states have reiterated their commitment to the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, known as the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, established 20 years ago. Implementation has been marked by inconsistency and hypocrisy of states, notably those holding a veto.
Source: Inter Press Service
Disappointing outcome to Bonn climate negotiations
26/6/2025: On the conclusion of the 2025 UN Bonn climate meetings, Oxfam has expressed concern at rich countries’ continued refusal to accept responsibility for climate costs in the Global South.
Source: Oxfam International