Where do the USAID legal battles stand?
3/12/2025: The radical disbandment of USAID has triggered a growing coalition of partners, employees, and grantees fighting back through a web of legal tests. Some have secured early wins, but most remain locked in procedural battles that may still take months to resolve.
Source: Devex
Better land, soil and water management key to feeding 10 billion people
1/12/2025: Feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050 will require bold and smarter choices in how the world manages its land, soil and water, according to a UN flagship report. Over the past 60 years, global agricultural production tripled with only an 8 percent increase in agricultural land – but at high environmental and social costs.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Landmines: action needed to reinforce ban
1/12/2025: A report by Human Rights Watch expresses concern that in 2025 five states parties have moved to withdraw from the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Russia has used antipersonnel landmines extensively in the war in Ukraine, causing thousands of casualties and contaminating vast tracts of land.
Source: Human Rights Watch
International Criminal Court: justice at risk
1/12/2025: Human Rights Watch is calling on member states of the International Criminal Court to fight back against its critics. The Annual Meeting of the Court is an opportunity to highlight that US sanctions on ICC prosecutors could severely set back the global fight against impunity.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Measles deaths down 88% since 2000, but cases surge
28/11/2025: Nearly 59 million lives have been saved by the measles vaccine since 2000. Despite fewer deaths, measles cases are surging worldwide, even in high-income countries that once eliminated it. There were an estimated 11 million infections in 2024, nearly 800 000 more than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Source: World Health Organization
Egypt triumphs over centuries-old fight against trachoma
28/11/2025: After over 3,000 years of battling the world’s leading infectious cause of avoidable blindness, Egypt has successfully eliminated the disease. While 30 countries are still considered endemic for trachoma, Egypt’s achievement offers hope to the 100 million people still at risk around the world.
Source: Devex
UN chief condemns Guinea-Bissau coup
28/11/2025: The UN has strongly condemned the military coup in Guinea-Bissau, warning that the overthrow of elected authorities just days after national elections represents a grave violation of democratic principles. The coup marks the latest military takeover in West and Central Africa, underscoring persistent regional instability.
Source: UN News
Burkina Faso: three years of broken promises
27/11/2025: Three years ago, Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso promising to address the country’s security crisis and restore civilian rule. Now he has postponed elections until 2029, dissolved the independent electoral commission and pulled the country out of the International Criminal Court. Burkina Faso has become a military dictatorship.
Source: Inter Press Service
G20 leaders rally behind multilateral trade
27/11/2025: Leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries meeting in Johannesburg have expressed their hopes of strengthening multilateral trade rules, through the World Trade Organization. The meeting was boycotted by the US.
Source: Third World Network
UNAIDS warns of massive disruptions to HIV prevention
25/11/2025: The global response to HIV has suffered its most significant setback in decades, especially in low- and middle-income countries, warns a new UNAIDS report. The funding crisis has combined with a deteriorating global human rights environment, with particularly severe consequences for marginalized populations.
Source: UNAIDS