World Press Freedom Index at an unprecedented, critical low
2/5/2025: In the annual assessment by Reporters Without Borders, the global state of press freedom is now classified as a “difficult situation” for the first time in the history of the Index. Today’s news media are caught between preserving their editorial independence and ensuring their economic survival.
Source: Reporters Without Borders
Israel must end ‘cruel collective punishment’ in Gaza
1/5/2025: The UN’s top humanitarian official has ssued a stark warning over the continuing blockade of aid into Gaza, calling on Israel to lift restrictions that have left civilians without food, medical care, and hope. He stressed that “international law is unequivocal: as the occupying power, Israel must allow humanitarian support in.”
Source: UN News
Economic Community of West African States: fifty and fractured
30/4/2025: Half a century after ECOWAS promised peace and prosperity, three breakaway states are testing West African solidarity. In recent years Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have experienced the overthrow of democratically elected governments and have become more closely aligned with China and Russia.
Source: Inter Press Service
Can the UN restructure to remain relevant?
29/4/2025: In March 2025 the UN Secretary-General launched UN80, an initiative to modernise the UN. Once a taboo subject, structural changes are now firmly on the agenda, even the potential merger of UN entities is now openly being discussed.
Source: The Global Observatory
Amnesty International warns of global human rights crisis
29/4/2025: Amnesty International's annual report warns that the Trump administration’s anti-rights campaign is gutting international human rights protections. This has compounded the damage done by other world leaders throughout 2024.
Source: Amnesty International
Trump’s first 100 days: US walks away from global climate action
29/4/2025: In 100 days the Trump administration has crippled international climate finance and reneged on its own pledges, as well as undermining environmental treaties such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The entire State Department’s Office for Global Change, which oversees global climate policy, has been dismantled and all of its employees laid off.
Source: Climate Home News
‘Killer Robots’ threaten human rights
28/4/2025: Human Rights Watch argues that autonomous weapons systems pose grave risks to human rights during both war and peacetime. Governments should tackle the concerns raised by such weapons systems by negotiating a multinational treaty to address the dangers.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Kashmir crisis adds more troubles for the Indus Waters Treaty
25/4/2025: India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty following the attack by militants in Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. The Treaty was already under pressure from environmental change not predicted when it was signed in 1960.
Source: The Conversation
World Food Programme to cut up to 30% of staff
25/4/2025: The US contributed 46% of the World Food Programme’s budget in 2024. Drastic cuts in funding through USAID in recent months have pushed the organization to reduce its operations. This comes as hunger crises escalate around the world, especially in conflict hot spots such as Sudan and Gaza.
Source: Devex
Increases in vaccine-preventable disease threaten years of progress
24/4/2025: Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, meningitis and yellow fever are rising globally as misinformation, population growth, humanitarian crises and funding cuts jeopardize progress. UN agencies are calling for action to protect the reduction in child mortality achieved over the past 50 years.
Source: World Health Organization