Ending FGM requires strengthening partnerships and advocacy
6/2/2025: Female Genital Mutilation is a practice deemed a gross violation of human rights, but which tragically persists across multiple countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In a joint statement, the heads of UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Health Organization reaffirm their commitment to work together to tackle FGM and abolish it once and for all.
Source: Inter Press Service
Climate projects face existential threat after Trump’s aid shutdown
5/2/2025: President Trump's threat to close down USAID puts at risk a major source of grant-based finance for climate action in the Global South. In 2022, US contributions accounted for 12% of developed countries’ climate finance, growing to close to half a billion dollars in 2024.
Source: Climate Home News
Trump freeze on USAID-funded climate program could worsen migration
5/2/2025: USAID’s SERVIR program, which uses NASA satellite data to help countries manage climate disasters, has been suspended. Experts say that the loss of this program in approximately 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America will not only lead to tens of thousands of deaths from extreme weather events, it will also put pressure on individuals in climate-vulnerable countries to opt for migration.
Source: Devex
The US aid freeze in data: How will UN agencies be affected?
5/2/2025: In 2023, the US provided $13 billion of $67.6 billion of total worldwide support to the UN On Jan. 24, the US government announced that it would send stop-work letters to all recipients of USAID funding, which includes most UN agencies. A UN survey reveals which agencies are most affected.
Source: Devex
Trump purges climate mentions from websites
4/2/2025: Donald Trump’s administration has started to remove or downgrade mentions of the climate crisis across several major departments of the US government. Critics say the actions will stifle the public’s understanding of the climate crisis.
Source: The Guardian
Sahel States’ withdrawal from ECOWAS undermines accountability
4/2/2025: Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have officially left the Economic Community of West African States. Since 2005, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has had jurisdiction to hear human rights cases brought by citizens of member states. This important path for accountability and justice is now closed.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Potential UN clash with US over Greenland and the Panama Canal
4/2/2025: US President Donald Trump’s ominous threat to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland sets the stage for a new political battle with the UN. Any takeover will be in defiance of the UN charter and in complete violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of UN member states.
Source: Inter Press Service
G7 countries spend record sums on fossil fuel subsidies
3/2/2025: G7 countries pledged in 2016 that they would reduce harmful fossil fuel subsidies by 2025 – but tax subsidies for coal, oil and gas in these countries have increased by 15 percent over that period. Italy and Germany are the worst offenders.
Source: Greenpeace International
How Africa can benefit from its mineral wealth
3/2/2025: The African Green Minerals Strategy is a blueprint for the continent’s role in the global scramble for minerals. A more equitable future will however depend on the member states of the African Union uniting under a shared vision.
Source: African Arguments
Trump’s aid freeze shuts down global famine-monitoring system
31/1/2025: The famine early warning systems network (Fews Net) for monitoring global food crises appears to have been suspended after President Donald Trump’s executive order froze US foreign aid. Fews Net helps humanitarian organisations decide how to distribute food aid to tens of millions of people around the world.
Source: The Guardian