Look to Myanmar for a terrifying vision of authoritarian rule
21/9/2025: The brutality and repression in Myanmar highlight the failings of a dysfunctional world order. Unless we do better, this is the future.
Source: The Guardian
Electing the next UN Secretary-General: a test for multilateralism
21/9/2025: The election of the UN’s 10th secretary-general, in 2026, for the 2027-2031 term, is one of the most consequential in its history. The choice is not only about who leads the UN. It is also about whether multilateralism is reinvented or fades, critical for the rules-based world order.
Source: PassBlue
Momentum builds in national school meals programmes
19/9/2025: At least 466 million children now receive school meals through government-led programmes worldwide - an increase of 20% over the past four years. A significant share of new commitments are coming from low income countries where the needs are highest.
Source: World Food Programme
Public backs global cooperation as trust in institutions falters
19/9/2025: A global survey of over 35,000 people by the Rockefeller Foundation shows overwhelming support for international cooperation on jobs, health, and climate, but declining trust in the institutions tasked with delivering it. Two thirds of respondents feel that international cooperation is in their own interest.
Source: Devex
Outsourcing cruelty: Trump’s mass deportation machine
19/9/2025: About 200,000 people who live in the USA but lack proper legal documentation have been deported since President Trump's inauguration. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is applying diplomatic pressure to compel states to accept US deportees, rather than adhere to countries of origin, in violation of core principles of international law.
Source: Inter Press Service
What’s broken in global health, and how do we fix it?
19/9/2025: The abrupt withdrawal of aid funding, notably from the US, has led to the closure of numerous vital programs and organizations. The global health sector is debating how to tackle longstanding structural flaws such as too many organizations with overlapping mandates that work with limited coordination, leading to inefficiencies.
Source: Devex
Africa asserts agency at Ethiopia climate summit
19/9/2025: The Africa Climate Summit held in Ethiopia announced a total of $150 billion in homegrown financial commitments to African climate solutions. However, the Addis Ababa Declaration on Climate Change frames the climate crisis as an issue of economic justice, in which climate finance from historical polluters is a “legal obligation and not charity”.
Source: Dialogue Earth
Confronting the global political economy enabling Israel’s genocide
18/9/2025: Amnesty International is calling on states to ban, with immediate effect, the supply to Israel of all arms, military and security equipment and services. The briefing names 15 international companies identified as contributing to Israel’s unlawful occupation, genocide or other crimes under international law.
Source: Amnesty International
World leaders should defend UN principles at General Assembly
17/9/2025: Human Rights Watch has called on world leaders gathering for the UN General Assembly to commit to protecting the UN from powerful governments seeking to defund and undermine the organization’s capacity to promote human rights and international justice.
Source: Human Rights Watch
UN Commission finds that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza
17/9/2025: The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has found that Israel is responsible for committing genocide in Gaza, citing deliberate efforts to destroy Palestinian life. Israeli officials have dismissed the Commission’s findings, accusing it of bias and refusing to cooperate with its investigations.
Source: Inter Press Service