Progress on the road to a UN Tax Treaty
20/8/2025: Governments have started substantive negotiations for the first-ever UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. Proposed reforms, such as enabling governments to tax any company with a “significant economic presence” in their territory, could generate new revenues for developing countries.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Saudi Arabia: executions surge in 2025
11/8/2025: Saudi authorities have executed at least 241 people in 2025. The annual figure is likely to exceed all prior records if executions continue at the same rate. It is highly unlikely that any of those executed in 2025 received a fair trial.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Aid cuts put Myanmar refugees in Thailand at grave risk
11/8/2025: More than 100,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand have lost access to essential food and medical aid due to US funding cuts. Huamn Rights Watch calls on the Thai government to permit refugees to lawfully work and travel outside its refugee camps.
Source: Human Rights Watch
UN chief calls for total elimination of nuclear weapons
8/8/2025: 80 years after the US dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the UN Secretary-General has told a conference in Nagasaki that "nuclear weapons have no place in our world.”
Source: UN News
Trump’s tariffs are gutting Africa — and America’s influence
7/8/2025: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), enacted in 2000, was a rare US gesture of goodwill, granting 32 sub-Saharan nations duty-free access to American markets for textiles, cocoa, and automotives. Set to expire in September 2025, AGOA is likely dead, analysts say, with Trump favoring bilateral deals over multilateral pacts.
Source: Devex
Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?
6/8/2025: In January 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a provisional ruling that Israel must take all measures to prevent a genocide from occurring in Gaza. Five Australian experts in international law and genocide offer their opinion as to whether the evidence shows one is occurring.
Source: The Conversation
Afghanistan: relentless repression 4 Years into Taliban rule
5/8/2025: The Taliban have deepened their repression since taking over Afghanistan in 2021, by intensifying restrictions on the rights of women and girls, detaining journalists, and silencing all dissent, according to Human Rights Watch. The country's humanitarian crisis is exacerbated by donor governments’ aid cuts and the return of 1.9 million refugees expelled from Iran and Pakistan.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Nearly 2 million refugees at risk as Uganda’s resources dwindle
4/8/2025: Uganda is on the verge of hosting two million refugees as escalating crises in Sudan, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) drive people to cross the border. Uganda is already Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country and the third largest globally.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
Gates Foundation will spend $2.5 billion to boost women’s health
4/8/2025: The Gates Foundation is committing to spend $2.5 billion over five years to advance more than 40 promising innovations to improve women’s health outcomes. The Foundation is also investing to ensure innovations reach the women who need them, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Source: Devex
UN talks could end tax dodging by international corporations
4/8/2025: New global tax rules in an UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation are being negotiated, from now until 2027. The UN process could end creative accounting practices that deprive poorer countries of vital tax revenues needed for development.
Source: Greenpeace International