Have we reached ‘peak aid’?
23/1/2025: Foreign aid spending reached a record high of $223 billion in 2023, according to new figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Yet, in 2024, eight wealthy countries announced $17.2 billion in cuts to official development assistance - and these figures exclude cuts from the 2025 executive orders signed by President Donald Trump.
Source: The Guardian
A new chance to expand children’s access to education
23/1/2025: Virtually all of the world’s children enjoy free primary education, and nearly 90 percent of children globally complete primary school. But it’s a different story at the pre-primary and secondary level, where cost often remains a significant barrier to schooling.. Existing international law only guarantees free education for all children at the primary level.
Source: Inter Press Service
ICC seeks arrest warrants for Taliban leaders over gender-based persecution
23/1/2025: The International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for two senior Taliban officials, accused of crimes against humanity. Since reclaiming power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have systematically stripped women of their rights, including barring them from employment, public spaces and education beyond the age of 12.
Source: UN News
Trump’s executive orders threaten broad range of human rights
22/1/2025: Several of President Trump’s cabinet nominees said they were committed to human rights when testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But Human Rights Watch has pointed to multiple executive orders that threaten to undermine respect for international human rights.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Trump’s foreign assistance freeze generates uncertainty and confusion
22/1/2025: Within hours of taking office, US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on foreign assistance spending during which the new administration will decide which aid programs should stay and which should go. USAID’s annual budget is currently about $40 billion.
Source: Devex
WHO comments on US announcement of intent to withdraw
21/1/2025: The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the US intends to withdraw from the Organization. The US was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since. WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans.
Source: World Health Organization
Trump orders US to quit Paris Agreement and pause climate finance
21/1/2025: On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump officially began the one-year process of leaving the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The US provided around $11 billion in 2024 to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.
Source: Climate Home News
Billionaire wealth surges by $2 trillion in 2024
20/1/2025: As business elites gather in Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Oxfam has released data showing that the wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day during 2024. Meanwhile, the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.
Source: Oxfam International
Will those responsible for atrocities in Syria finally face justice?
18/1/2025: Mandated by the UN, the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism has been amassing evidence of atrocities in Syria over recent years. Hopes are rising that the architects of the brutal former regime of Bashar al Assad will eventually be held accountable for their crimes.
Source: UN News
OECD nations continue to raid aid budgets for refugees
17/1/2025: Country members of OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) are allowed to classify costs relating to asylum seekers within their own borders as foreign aid. In 2023 14.6% of all DAC foreign aid was spent on domestic refugee costs, despite calls to limit this offset.
Source: Devex