UN chief outlines plans for thousands of new job cuts
28/5/2025: The UN Secretary-General is seeking to eliminate 20% of jobs across the UN Secretariat, which employs some 35,000 people. The proposed cuts are designed to prepare the world body for a massive reduction in U.S. financial support.
Source: Devex
UN chief outlines ‘painful’ survival plan for world body
12/5/2025: UN Secretary-General António Guterres proposes steep cuts in the agency's spending, staff, and programs, in response to the Trump administration’s campaign to cut up to 87% of its contributions to UN activities. Guterres outlined a series of measures, from layoffs to the relocation of staff to less expensive countries.
Source: Devex
US toys with membership of World Trade Organization
9/5/2025: The US has not paid its annual contribution to the World Trade Organization, whilst blatantly violating and exploiting the core provisions of its rules. The Trump administration is reviewing US membership of international organizations.
Source: Third World Network
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
Is it time to say RIP to the Sustainable Development Goals?
15/4/2025: Even before the dramatic changes of the past few months, the Sustainable Development Goals were in trouble, with only 17% on track. But the Goals still enjoy almost universal support among UN members who recognize that humanity’s progress has happened when people work together, not when a ‘winner-takes-all’ mentality prevails.
Source: Inter Press Service
Reciprocal tariffs should exclude vulnerable developing economies
14/4/2025: A report by UN Trade and Development argues that vulnerable and small economies, whose activities have a negligible effect on trade deficits, should be exempt from new tariff hikes. Additional tariff revenue collected from these economies would be minimal.
Source: UN Trade and Development
Flip-flop US tariffs undermine World Trade Organization
11/4/2025: President Trump has withdrawn the US from the UN Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement. His on-off announcements on tariffs make life uncomfortable for the World Trade Organization.
Source: Inter Press Service
The US spins out of control, into an economic world of its own
7/4/2025: Donald Trump's imposition of a tariff wall around the US economy is a major blow to global economic integration. There is the added layer of confusion around whether Trump’s tariff policy will stick or whether he will try to use it as a bargaining chip.
Source: East Asia Forum
Is the UN a target of the US rampage?
26/3/2025: Elon Musk, the tech billionaire, who acts as a virtual Prime Minister to President Trump, has called on the US to exit both NATO and the UN. The threat against the UN has been reinforced following a move by several Republican lawmakers who claim that the organization does not align with the “America First” agenda.
Source: Inter Press Service