Africa

Nigerian-American Cheta Emba fell in love with rugby while studying for a degree in molecular and cellular biology at one of the world's most famous universities.

Eloy Alfaro de Alba (with gavel), Permanent Representative of Panama to the United Nations and President of the Security Council for the Month of August, chairs the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By IPS Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 21 2025 (IPS)

Human rights groups have expressed alarm over the surge in unprecedented executions in Saudi Arabia in 2025. Humanitarian experts have underscored the Saudi Arabian monarchy’s use of the death penalty to silence peaceful dissent among civilians and impose justice for minor offenses, with little to no due process.

On August 11, Human Rights Watch (HRW) raised the alarm on the rise in executions of civilians and foreign nationals in Saudi Arabia. Their new report highlighted the June 14 execution of journalist Turki al-Jasser, who worked to expose corruption and human rights violations linked to the Saudi monarchy.

Following al-Jasser’s execution, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry issued a statement in which it accused al-Jasser of committing “terrorist crimes” and “destabilizing the security of society and the stability of the state”. This follows the 2024 execution of Abdullah al-Shamri, a Saudi political analyst, after appearing as a political commentator on broadcast news for prominent media organizations.

“The June 2025 execution of Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser, after seven years of arbitrary imprisonment on fabricated charges over his online publications, is a chilling testament to the kingdom’s zero tolerance to peaceful dissent and criticism, and a grim reminder of the peril journalists face in Saudi Arabia,” said Sylvia Mbataru, a researcher of civic space at CIVICUS Global Alliance.

HRW reports that Saudi authorities are pursuing the death penalty against Islamic scholar Salman al-Odah and religious reformist activist Hassan Farhan al-Maliki on vague charges related to the peaceful and public expression of their beliefs.

“Behind closed doors, Saudi Arabia is executing peaceful activists and journalists following politicized trials,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, senior director of countering authoritarianism at the Middle East Democracy Center. “These state-sanctioned killings are an assault on basic human rights and dignity that the world cannot afford to ignore.”

Figures from HRW show that as of August 5, Saudi authorities had carried out over 241 executions in 2025. including 22 alone on the week of August 4. Amnesty International reports that 2024 set a new record for annual executions in Saudi Arabia, documenting at least 345. The human rights organization Reprieve projects that if executions are carried out at the same rate, 2025 could exceed all prior records.

“Saudi authorities have weaponized the country’s justice system to carry out a terrifying number of executions in 2025,” said Joey Shea, researcher for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates at Human Rights Watch. “The surge in executions is just the latest evidence of the brutally autocratic rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.”

Estimates from Reprieve show that roughly 162 of this year’s recorded executions were for minor drug-related offenses, with over half involving foreign nationals. HRW reports that none of these executions followed due process, making it highly unlikely that any of those executed received a fair trial.

“Saudi Arabia’s relentless and ruthless use of the death penalty after grossly unfair trials not only demonstrates a chilling disregard for human life; its application for drug-related offenses is also an egregious violation of international law and standards,” said Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“We are witnessing a truly horrifying trend, with foreign nationals being put to death at a startling rate for crimes that should never carry the death penalty. This report exposes the dark and deadly reality behind the progressive image that the authorities attempt to project globally.”

Earlier this year, Amnesty International, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, and Justice Project Pakistan documented the cases of 25 foreign nations who were on death row or have been executed in Saudi Arabia for drug-related offenses. The investigation found that the majority of individuals on death row were not afforded their fundamental human rights, such as access to a legal representative, interpretation services, and consular support. Additionally, Amnesty International reported that in many of these cases, individuals from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds faced heightened risks of discrimination in legal proceedings.

Furthermore, it was reported that at least four of these cases involved the use of torture and ill treatment in detention facilities to extract confessions from individuals charged with drug-related crimes. For many of these individuals, their families were not informed of the status of their convictions and were only notified of an execution the day prior. In all cases of execution, Amnesty International reported that the bodies of executed individuals were withheld by Saudi authorities.

The recent surge in executions has drawn immense criticism from human rights groups for violating international humanitarian law. Although Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a multilateral treaty adopted by the UN that promoted an inherent right to life and due process, it has ratified the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which obligates that Saudi Arabian security forces are only to use the death penalty for the “most serious crimes”.

Mandeep Tiwana, the Secretary-General of CIVICUS Global Alliance, informed IPS that the current civic space conditions in Saudi Arabia are listed as “closed”, indicating that civilians hold little to no power and are bereft of the ability to represent themselves in governmental affairs and peacefully dissent. “This means that those who criticize the authorities or engage in protests of any kind or seek to form associations that demand transformational change can face severe forms of persecution including imprisonment for long periods, physical abuse and even death.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: Nacho Doce/Reuters via Gallo Images

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Aug 21 2025 (IPS)

It’s peak holiday season across Europe and North America, and people are hitting the beaches and crowding into city centres in ever-increasing numbers. They’re part of a huge industry: last year, travel and tourism’s share of the global economy stood at US$10.9 trillion, around 10 per cent of the world’s GDP.

But residents in tourist destinations are keenly aware of the downsides: overwhelming visitor numbers, permanent changes in their neighbourhoods, antisocial behaviour, strained local services, environmental impacts including litter and pollution, and soaring housing costs.

Overtourism occurs when the industry systematically impacts on residents’ quality of life. It’s a growing problem, reflected in recent protests in several countries, with grassroots civil society groups demanding more sustainable approaches.

Residents’ protests

June brought coordinated protests across Europe. In Barcelona, a city of 1.6 million people that receives 32 million visitors a year, the Neighbourhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth organised a protest that saw people tape off hotel entrances, set off smoke bombs and fire water pistols. In Genoa, protesters dragged a replica cruise ship through the medieval centre’s maze of alleys to highlight the impacts of cruise tourism. Actions had been coordinated at a meeting in April between representatives from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, who formed the Southern European Network Against Touristification.

These weren’t the first protests. Thousands took to the streets in Spain’s Canary Islands in May, while last year people protested in several European cities. Most recently, residents of Montmartre in Paris hung banners outside their houses pointing out how overtourism is changing their neighbourhood.

Civil society groups are taking action beyond protests. In the Netherlands, residents’ group Amsterdam Has a Choice is threatening legal action against the city council. In 2021, following a civil society-led petition, the council set a limit of 20 million overnight tourist stays a year. But research shows this limit has consistently been exceeded. Now the group could take the city to court to enforce it.

People are protesting across multiple countries because they face the same problem: overtourism is changing their communities and, increasingly, driving them away.

Overtourism impacts

Tourism may create jobs, but these are often low-paid or seasonal jobs with few labour rights or opportunities for career progression. In places with intensive tourism, everyday businesses that residents rely on are often replaced by those oriented towards tourists, with established firms squeezed out by high rents.

Environmental impacts may hit residents while tourists are protected from them: campaigners in Ibiza complain that water shortages mean they’re subject to restrictions, but hotels face no such limitations. Common areas residents once relied on, such as beaches and parks, can become overcrowded and degraded. Ultimately, communities can be turned into stage sets and sites of extraction, impacting on crucial matters of identity and belonging. That’s why one movement in Spain calls itself ‘Less Tourism, More Life’.

Housing costs are a major concern in overtourism protests. In many countries, the costs of buying or renting somewhere to live are soaring, far outstripping wages. Young people are particularly hard hit, forced to hand over ever-higher proportions of their income in rent. Tourism is driving the increasing use of properties for short-term holiday rentals instead of permanent residences. People who live in tourist hotspots have seen once-viable homes bought as investments for short-term lets, causing a loss of available housing and driving up the price of what’s left.

People who live in apartment blocks that have largely become used for short-term rentals complain of their communities being hollowed out: they lack neighbours but frequently have to put up with antisocial behaviour. The sector is often underregulated, and landlords may find regulations easy to ignore and taxes easy to avoid. Spain alone has an estimated 66,000 illegal tourist apartments.

Action needed

Overtourism protests hit the headlines last year when a group sprayed water at tourists in Barcelona. But in the main, protesters are making clear they don’t want to target tourists and aren’t motivated by xenophobia. They want a fair balance between tourists enjoying their holidays and locals being able to live their lives. They want those who reap tourism’s profits to pay their fair share to fix the problems.

Protests are having an impact, with authorities taking steps to rein in holiday rentals. Last year a Spanish court ordered the removal of almost 5,000 Airbnb listings following a complaint that they breached tourism regulations. The mayor of Barcelona has announced plans to eliminate short-term tourist rentals within five years by refusing to renew licences as they expire. Authorities in Lisbon have paused the issuing of short-term rental licences, and those in Athens have introduced a one-year ban on new registrations. That still leaves plenty of regulatory gaps across many countries, and national and local governments should engage with campaigners to further develop regulations.

Many local authorities have also implemented tourist taxes, while Venice has started to charge a peak-season access fee for non-residents and Athens now assigns time slots as a way of managing numbers at the Parthenon. It’s important that taxes and charges aren’t used simply to extract more cash from tourists or dampen demand; money generated must directly help affected communities and mitigate the harm caused by overtourism.

Authorities also need to be more careful about the marketing choices they make and consider whether they’re promoting tourism too widely. Marketing campaigns should try to sensitise visitors about the impacts they can have, and to make choices that minimise them.

Movements campaigning against overtourism are sure to grow, connecting groups concerned about environmental, housing and labour issues as the problem worsens, and as climate change places even greater strain on scarce resources. Overtourism concerns are ultimately an expression of frustration with a bigger problem – that economies don’t work for the benefit of most people. States and the international community must urgently grapple with the question of how to make economies fairer, more sustainable and less extractive – and they must listen to the movements against overtourism that are helping sound the alarm.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org

 

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By External Source
Aug 21 2025 (IPS-Partners)

Dr. Faiza Hassan is the Director of the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE). A chemical engineer who transitioned into education leadership, Dr. Hassan brings close to 20 years of diverse experience in education, social policy reform and humanitarian response. She has a proven track record in strategic management, technical leadership and driving impactful, large-scale complex programmes.

ECW: With international aid shrinking across the world, why should public and private sector donors continue to prioritize investment in quality education for children living through the world’s most severe humanitarian crises?

Dr. Faiza Hassan: Education is a fundamental human right. Every girl and boy, in every country, is entitled to it. States hold the primary responsibility for ensuring its provision, but in humanitarian crises, governments are often unable to fulfil this role – leaving millions of children without access to learning. Today, more than 234 million children and adolescents have their education impacted by crises worldwide.

During conflict or crisis situations, education becomes more than a classroom activity. It offers safety, stability and hope. It provides children with psychosocial support, helping them process trauma and rebuild a sense of normalcy. Schools often serve as community hubs, connecting children and their families to other critical services like school meals, vaccinations and health care.

Education is also the foundation for achieving peacebuilding, economic recovery, climate resilience, public health, gender equality and stronger governance. Education equips young people with the skills and knowledge to adapt to climate change, lead in their communities and challenge harmful norms. Without it, interventions in health, livelihoods and governance will always be less effective, less sustainable and less equitable.

Education is always what local communities in crisis are prioritizing. Parents in refugee camps, teachers in conflict zones, community leaders facing displacement – they consistently choose to invest what little they have in keeping children learning. Not because it’s easy, but because they know it is the single most powerful tool for securing their children’s future. In 2022, household contributions accounted for 25.8% of education spending in low-income countries and, in comparison, donor funding accounted for 12% of total education spending in low-income countries. So, for donors (both public and private sector), this isn’t about leading the way; it’s about getting behind and supporting communities who are already showing us what matters most.

In a time of shrinking aid budgets, protecting and expanding investment in education is not optional; it is the most strategic and cost-effective investment we can make. If we want to solve the world’s greatest challenges, from climate change and public health to economic inequality, we must stand behind communities to invest in education. Failing to act now will deepen instability, escalate humanitarian needs and undermine progress across all global priorities.

ECW: INEE and Education Cannot Wait (ECW) share a commitment to ensuring that all children affected by crises have access to quality, relevant and safe education. What practical steps are needed to turn this shared vision into reality?

Dr. Faiza Hassan: The Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) was founded in 2000 on the fundamental right to education. Today, it is a global network of more than 22,000 members affiliated with 4,000 organizations across 190 countries, bringing together practitioners, governments, local and regional civil society, teachers, youth, students and researchers working to secure safe, quality, relevant and equitable education in emergencies and protracted crises.

Together with other partners, INEE helped build the case and momentum for a global fund dedicated to education in emergencies, leading to the creation of ECW. INEE and ECW therefore share not only history, but a complementary role within the EiE architecture. INEE convenes the EiE community, sets shared norms and standards, and builds evidence and capacity; ECW mobilizes and deploys finance to scale delivery. Together, we turn commitments into funded action with partners.

To continue to turn our shared commitment into a lived reality for every girl and boy, I think we need to double down on:

• • Centering local leadership. Communities already know what quality, relevant and safe education looks like in their context. We hear this from INEE members – from a teacher in Uganda, to a grassroots organization in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a youth-led network in South Sudan – all leading the way in shaping education for their communities. Our role as global actors is not to prescribe, but to back their vision with resources, technical support and political advocacy. That means partnering with national governments, teacher unions, youth-led networks and grassroots education groups as leaders who set the agenda, not as downstream implementers.

 

• • Breaking the humanitarian-development divide. Education in emergencies cannot be a parallel track. It must be embedded into national education planning, policy and financing from day one of a crisis. This is how we ensure that children don’t just have access to school in the short term, but to pathways for lifelong learning.

 

• Financing that matches the scale and duration of the need. While ECW supports fast and flexible funding, we also need to think about flexible financing mechanisms that can adapt to protracted crises and support national systems, while also resourcing the local organizations who are often the first and last responders.

ECW: Localization is essential in delivering on the Grand Bargain Agreements, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Pact for the Future. How can we reinforce stronger enabling environments to empower local actors in the education sector?

Dr. Faiza Hassan: To answer this question, we need to start by being clear about what localization is and what it is not.

Localization is not about bringing local actors into the existing humanitarian system; it is about rewiring the system to serve and center them. That distinction matters because the current architecture was never built with local leadership in mind; it was built to manage donor risk, uphold donor priorities, and control resources and decision-making.

We must be honest that retrofitting a system never designed for community-led response will only take us so far. We need to stop asking how to make space for local actors within global structures, and start asking: What would this system look like if it were built from the ground up by the communities we claim to serve?

To create enabling environments in the education sector, we must let go of old assumptions that international actors are best placed to assess, coordinate, define or lead. We must let go of funding models that entrench dependency, and coordination structures that exclude the very people doing the work. Many of INEE’s members speak about rigid compliance frameworks, limited direct access to funding, and an over-reliance on international intermediaries that sideline local leadership. Changing this requires political will and a full structural redesign; technical tweaks will not suffice.

This is where the power of a diverse network matters. When ministries, local authorities, teachers and school leaders, youth and parent groups, grassroots organizations, researchers, funders and the private sector come together, we unlock our shared expertise. Collectively, we can redesign institutions, financing pathways and accountability mechanisms so they serve local actors.

With a diverse coalition, this is a moment of real possibility. The humanitarian reset, the UN at 80, and the global stock take on aid effectiveness offer an opening. We must be bold enough to use it. Our goal cannot be to diversify participation in a system that continues to marginalize; it must be to design one that stands behind and is led by local actors.

ECW: How do investments in girls’ education support efforts to build global security, ensure economic resilience and create more fair and equal societies?

Dr. Faiza Hassan: Investments in girls’ education drive healthier families, stronger economies and more stable societies. Educated girls are healthier, their children are healthier, and they are more likely to participate in the workforce and civic life – which strengthens economic resilience and more equal governance. In crisis contexts, the returns are even greater. Education can delay early marriage, reduce vulnerability to exploitation, and provide skills and networks that help communities recover.

Without education, investments in health, livelihoods, and protection deliver less and do not last. That is why INEE’s Guidance Note on Gender and other gender-responsive tools stress the need to integrate equity and inclusion into every aspect of emergency education planning, from safe learning environments to curriculum, teacher support and community engagement. These resources provide practical ways to ensure that girls’ education in crisis is not only accessible, but relevant, protective and transformative.

Families and communities already understand this, which is why they make sacrifices to keep girls in school. The least we can do is match their commitment with investments that uphold every girl’s right to learn, even in the most challenging circumstances.

ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. Which three books have most influenced you – personally or professionally – and how have they shaped your perspective on education and resilience?

Dr. Faiza Hassan: Stories help children make sense of the world and find their place in it. They can spark imagination, nurture curiosity and offer comfort. They also build the confidence and continuity that help keep learning alive during times of upheaval.

I have always loved reading. I’ve read thousands of books across different genres, but fantasy and sci-fi have a special place in my heart. Over the years, there are some books that stand out to me, not because of their content, but because of what they gave me at key moments in life.

• •

Majalat Majid:

• A weekly Arabic children’s comic magazine that I read growing up in Yemen, where my family found a new home after leaving Somalia. It was my introduction to stories with familiar characters, humor and adventure, planting the seed for a lifelong love of reading.

 

• •

De Vijf:

• The Dutch translation of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five. I read it shortly after my family was displaced from our home in Taiz and resettled in a small Dutch village. I was ten, and it was the first book I picked up in our local library. More than just a story, it gave me confidence, a foothold in a strange new place, and the sense that maybe things would be okay.

 

• •

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie: I read it as a teenager, adapting to yet another new environment. Turning each page without having to stop or translate gave me a quiet but lasting confidence that shaped my belief in my own ability to adapt and thrive.

These books, and so many others, were more than entertainment; they were anchors during moments of transition and a reminder of why access to books can be life-changing for children facing disruption today. Access to age-appropriate storybooks, comics, fantasy series, adventure tales, mystery novels, poetry collections, graphic novels, and even simple magazines help children and adolescents regulate, belong and learn. Books are not just tools for literacy, they are sources of managing uncertainty, connection and hope. If we want girls and boys in crisis to thrive, investments must include access to stories alongside safe schools, trained teachers and predictable financing.

 

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Kalpana Rai, Rachana Sanani, Anita Rana -- members of Ruru Multipurpose Cooperative, Nepal. Credit: Heifer International

By Neena Joshi and Balasubramanian Iyer
KATHMANDU, Nepal / NEW DELHI, India, Aug 21 2025 (IPS)

“The future of agriculture lies not in the hands of a few giants, but in the joint hands of many.”

This quote captures the spirit of farmer cooperatives—values-driven, collectively run enterprises rooted in solidarity and self-help. As global food systems grow more fragile and inequitable, cooperatives offer a compelling model: putting people before profits, and communities before corporations, while advancing social equity, economic empowerment, and environmental sustainability.

Globally, more than 1 billion people—about 12% of the world’s population are members of over 3 million cooperatives. The largest 300 cooperatives report an annual turnover exceeding USD 2.4 trillion, nearly 2.3% of global GDP.

These cooperatives provide job opportunities for 280 million people—roughly 10% of the world’s employed population (World Cooperative Monitor, 2023). Notably, 105 of the top 300 cooperatives operate in the agriculture sector, operating across the agricultural value. chains.

By organizing through cooperatives, smallholder farmers amplify their voice and bargaining power. By pooling resources, they build collective capital and reduce dependence on external funding—especially vital in today’s shrinking development-aid landscape. The cooperative model enables farmers to emerge as a thriving, resilient workforce, thereby transforming food systems.

India’s iconic Anand Milk Union Limited (AMUL) illustrates this well. Formed in 1946, AMUL played a central role in India’s White Revolution and is now part of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). AMUL ensures 80% of prices paid by consumers go directly to the farmers—empowering over 3.6 million milk producers, many of them women who’ve gained financial independence and acquired leadership roles.

Rashida Begum, member of Nawdagram Nari Agrogoti Samity in Bangladesh. Credit: Heifer International

Other powerful examples in Asia include Japan’s National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association, known as Zen-Noh, and South Korea’s National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF) or NongHyup. Zen-Noh represents over 1,000 agricultural cooperatives in Japan and plays a central role in procuring inputs, distributing products, and exporting Japanese rice and other produce internationally.

It exemplifies how cooperative federations can integrate vertically and optimize logistics, marketing, and innovation to serve their members.

In South Korea, NongHyup serves around 2.5 million farmer-members across more than 1,100 local cooperatives. As one of the world’s largest multipurpose cooperatives, it combines agricultural marketing, banking, insurance, and technical support.

Through its financial services arm alone, NongHyup supports over 70% of the country’s population, making it a linchpin of rural development and economic security.

Nonprofit organizations also play a critical role in enabling farmer cooperatives to thrive. Heifer International in Asia, active in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia, supports farmer cooperatives through training, market integration, and financial access as the core of its program model. These efforts not only boost productivity but also position farmers as agents of change.

Heifer’s work with apex cooperative bodies like Nepal’s Social Entrepreneurs Women’s Alliance (SEWA) and Cambodia’s Social Entrepreneurs Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (SEUAC) is transforming the agricultural landscape. SEWA represents women-led cooperatives, advancing inclusive policy advocacy, innovation, and market access.

In Cambodia, SEUAC, formed with government support in 2021, unites 22 cooperatives across six provinces, benefiting over 12,000 farmers through improved services, infrastructure, and representation.

Tulsi Thapa, President of Bihani Social Entrepreneurs Women’s Cooperative in Nepal and SEWA’s Central Joint Secretary, is one such changemaker. “I come from a humble farming family and never imagined I’d lead hundreds of women,” she says. A Heifer initiative in 2012 catalysed her journey from subsistence farming to cooperative leadership.

Today, Bihani has over 1,400 members and an annual turnover exceeding USD 540,000. The cooperative has diversified into dairy, goat trading and livestock feed, with access to over USD 198,000 in affordable loans.

Yet challenges remain—from limited access to insurance and fair markets to deep-rooted gender norms. “Progress starts with agriculture,” Tulsi says. “Farmer-friendly cooperatives can spark rural economic revolutions.”

Smallholder farmers do more than feed the world—they help heal it. As climate change continues to destabilize agriculture, cooperatives foster climate-smart, regenerative practices that build community resilience.

Their impact directly advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

The global community is beginning to recognize the cooperative potential. The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives under the theme “Cooperatives Build a Better World.”

In response, Heifer in Asia, in collaboration with the International Cooperative Alliance Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP), has launched a regional campaign: Seeding Strength: Empowering Farmer Cooperatives.

Spanning Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal, the campaign showcases cooperatives as drivers of the three P’s – people, profits and planet, with a clarion call to attract resources in strengthening the cooperative model in Asia.

Nevertheless, cooperatives cannot transform food systems alone—they need an enabling ecosystem. Governments must design supportive policies, while financial institutions create inclusive products tailored to smallholders, especially women.

The private sector can modernize supply chains and introduce sustainable technologies, and NGOs play a vital role in building local capacity and visibility. Media, academia, and engaged citizens also have a role in championing cooperatives—not merely as business units, but as transformative forces for rural upliftment.

As we commemorate the International Year of Cooperatives 2025, now is the time to recognize and resource farmer cooperatives as essential players in building a just, food-secure, and climate-resilient future where no one is left behind.

Neena Joshi is the Senior Vice President – Asia Programs at Heifer International. With over 20 years of experience, she leads initiatives to build inclusive, sustainable agrifood systems and empower smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, across Asia.

Balasubramanian (Balu) Iyer is the Regional Director of the Asia-Pacific office of the International Cooperative Alliance. He has over three decades of experience in international development, with a focus on cooperative development and regional operations across Asia.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Credit: UNICEF/Michele Sibilon

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
NEW YORK, Aug 21 2025 (IPS)

After taking oath of office in December 2016 as Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres described the eradication of sexual offenses by UN peacekeeping and all other UN personnel as the first item on his reform agenda.

During his first year in office in 2017, he convened a high-level meeting on combatting sexual exploitation and abuse and established a task force to address sexual harassment within the UN system.

But the saga of inaction continues and the situation on the SEA, as the phenomenon of the Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) is acronymized by the UN to avoid saying clearly what it stands for, remains totally appalling and unacceptable, eroding the credibility of the world’s most universal global body.

The UN’s so-called new approach to sexual offenses by UN personnel has proven to be little more than a public relations campaign marked by cosmetic adjustments that fail to address the systemic flaws that sustain a culture of impunity.

Helplessness of the UN is pitifully described in its latest report covering the year 2024 when it says that “Since 2017, we have continued to devote considerable attention and effort to improving the way to addresses the issue … However, challenges persist, and we remain committed to addressing these.” Nearly a decade has gone by and still there is no perceptible result in putting its own house in order by punishing the perpetrators and compensating the victims.

The latest UN report helplessly admits that “Since 2017, there has been an increase in the number of incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse reported …” It continues to share the bad news informing that “In 2024 alone, 675 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were reported in connection with United Nations staff and related personnel (292) and implementing partners (383), with 27 per cent of those allegations involving child victims.”

It is shocking that more than one-fourth of the victims are children. What kind of child-abuser staff the UN authorities are recruiting, supervising and monitoring?

The UN report says, “Since 2017, senior United Nations officials have reported on their personal responsibility to address sexual exploitation and abuse through annual attestations in their compacts or management letters.”

And, unfortunately, the same report shockingly admits that “However, alarmingly, in 2024, the survey on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse revealed a significant rise in distrust towards leadership, with 6 per cent respondents in the United Nations system (approximately 3,700 individuals) expressing a lack of confidence in the ability of leaders to address sexual exploitation and abuse, doubling from 3 per cent in 2023.”

It is so hugely embarrassing for the leadership of the UN!

Its much-touted zero-tolerance and no-impunity policies have not improved the situation, according to longtime UN watchers. Zero-tolerance has become synonymous with zero-effectiveness. Zero-tolerance policy is applied by the UN system entities as if they are using a zebra-crossing on a street which does not have any traffic lights.

The labyrinthine rules, regulations, procedures, channels of communication of the UN make the mockery of the due-process and timely justice. These have been taken advantage of by the perpetrators time and again.

Unjust UN policies and practices have, over decades, resulted in a culture of impunity for sexual “misconduct” ranging from breaches of UN rules to grave crimes. As most of the SEA incidents happen at the field levels, nationalities and personal equations play a big role in delaying or denying justice.

The UN takes credit by underscoring that “Our approach, which prioritizes the rights and dignity of victims, remains a key objective of the Secretary General’s strategy. Efforts are ongoing to ensure victims have a voice and better access to assistance and support.” How about victims’ access to justice and due process?

The victim-centred approach of the UN in handling SEA cases has been manipulated by the perpetrators and their organizational colleagues to detract attention from their seriousness. Not only should the victims get the utmost attention, so should the abusers because upholding of the justice is also UN’s responsibility.

Also, UN watchers become curious whenever media publish such SEA related reports, the UN authorities invariably mentions the concerned staff is on leave or administrative leave. When these cases are in the public domain, the abusers are merrily enjoying the leave with full pay, even during the world body’s on-going dire liquidity crisis.

It is also known that during the leave the abusers have tried to settle the matter with the victims or their families with lucrative temptations. The leave has also been used to wipe off the evidence of the crime. These have happened in several cases with the full knowledge of the supervisors.

What a travesty of the victim-centred approach!

The head of the UN peace operations where the SEA cases take place should be asked by the Secretary-General to explain the occurrence as a part of his or her direct responsibility. Unless such drastic measures are taken the SEA will continue in the UN system.

Another unexpectable dimension of the victim-centred approach is that the abuser-peacekeepers are sent back home for dispensation of justice as per the agreement between the troops contributing countries (TCC) and the UN. Sending the perpetrators home for action by national authorities is one of the biggest reasons for the continuation of SEA in the peace operations.

The victim is not present in that kind of varied national military justice situation, and no evidence are available except UN-cleared reports to show or suppress the extent of abuse.

Again, a travesty of justice supported by the upholder of the global rule of law!

The UN Secretary-General would be well advised to propose to the Security Council a change in the clause of the agreement that UN signs with the TCCs which incorporates for repatriation of abuser-peacekeepers to their home countries. If a TCC refuse to do so, the agreement will not be signed.

A functional, quick-justice global tribunal should be set up with the mandate to try the peacekeepers as decided by the UN. If the International Criminal Court (ICC) can try heads of state or government for crimes against humanity, why can’t the UN peacekeepers be tried for SEA?

That would be a true victim-centred approach!

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury is former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations; Initiator of the UNSCR 1325 as the President of the UN Security Council in March 2000; Chairman of the UN General Assembly’s Main Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Matters and Founder of the Global Movement for The Culture of Peace (GMCoP)

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Zimbabwe experienced a drought in 2019 and livestock farmers were hit hard. Cattle crossing a dry river in Nkayi District, Nov. 2019. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Aug 20 2025 (IPS)

My family lost six herds of cattle during the devastating El Niño-driven drought that swept Zimbabwe in 2024. The loss was as emotional as it was financial. Guilt gnawed at me.

Drought was nothing new—the past three years had made it painfully clear that I needed to supplement the cows’ feed and ferry water from kilometers away just to keep them alive. But I was fighting a losing battle, desperately trying to sustain emaciated, skeletal animals. Eventually, I had to accept the inevitable: climate change had killed our cattle, and I had been complicit in their suffering.

Have I moved on? Not really. At first, I told myself my distress was an overreaction. After all, countless farmers lost hundreds of livestock and watched their crops wither to nothing. They had suffered more and lost more than I was crying over. Stress, I reasoned, was simply part of the job.

Journalists report on climate change without being personally affected—or so I thought. I was wrong.

Climate change doesn’t just destroy landscapes and livelihoods; it takes a psychological toll on journalists who highlight its horrors.

A groundbreaking study by Dr. Antony Feinstein, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, reveals a hidden crisis: journalists covering the climate crisis are suffering profound emotional and mental health consequences. The research presented during a discussion organized by the Oxford Climate Journalists Network (OCJN) surveyed 268 journalists across 90 countries, spanning Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

The findings are staggering and spoke to me. Forty percent of journalists reported experiencing depression, while one in five exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), often linked to the “moral injury” of bearing witness to environmental destruction. More than half (55 percent) of the journalists said they lacked access to psychological support, and 16 percent had taken time off work for mental health reasons as a result of covering climate change stories.

The numbers grow even grimmer: nearly half of the journalists surveyed reported moderate to severe anxiety (48%) and depression (42%). Around 22% showed prominent PTSD symptoms. Worse still, 30% had been directly impacted by climate change—losing family, friends, or homes to the crisis. I counted myself in that statistic. I may not have lost a family member, a friend or a home but if cattle count as part of my life, I was affected.

As a journalist reporting on climate change in Zimbabwe—one of the world’s most vulnerable nations—these findings hit close to home. They exposed a fragility I had long dismissed as just part of the job.

Journalists need psychological support. Stigma about mental health runs deep and how do I tell friends and family that I am not okay reporting a story on the impacts of droughts, worse that I have witnessed the loss of six cattle because I could not save them when the drought decimated pastures and dried water supplies? So what? negative events are normal and feeling bad is, I guess, normal too? I have had a lingering question. Surely I can be unsettled by the deaths of cattle and listening to the desperate narratives of farmers about how climate change has upended their lives?

I was depressed, sad, and guilty. I could not do anything to stop cattle dying nor could I pacify farmers in pain. The trauma in covering catastrophe after catastrophe is numbing. Journalists who report on climate change are witnessing a global crisis of our time, and they need support to deliver the news without sacrificing their mental health.

Witnessing tragic events carries a heavy burden for journalists who report on them. I recall covering a story about the impact of drought on livestock farmers in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe’s northern province, where farmers were sharing their staple maize with their cows to keep them alive. Many lost more, some three, five and six cattle between them, but they did give up, though despair was scrawled on their faces. I was shocked and numbed by listening to their sad narrations, but I had to get the story out. I felt hopeless.

Getting a “good” story out of bad experiences means I have to make a tough choice of putting my feelings aside and getting the job done. I have not acknowledged the mental load of witnessing the trauma of covering disasters, yet journalists are supposedly resilient to disturbing news and they soldier on. But no. I have experienced depression at the thought of how people bounce back from personal loss when climate change hits. It is a horror movie that continuously plays in my mind as I go about reporting.

Journalists would benefit from a comprehensive support programme to help them step away from the pressure of being witnesses to catastrophic events. The trauma is beyond comprehension; there is no justification to suffer in silence, especially when mental stress is not talked about in public but endured in private. As a journalist, I have been a victim.

How do I separate myself, my mind and my emotions from the sad stories I cover? I do not have an answer. I am convinced that journalists should tell climate change stories but not be forced to live the reality, although that is almost impossible. Many like me are living the stories they tell with deep scars of mental fatigue and regret.

I believe that newsrooms can offer support in terms of preparing journalists to have the mental agility to report on crises without taking strain from reporting them. Moreover, the impacts of climate change, which is a defining story of the century, affect everyone. Those who say so are at the forefront of agitation, anguish, and hopelessness.

The climate crisis is breaking more than just ecosystems—it’s breaking the journalists who tell its story.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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IPS UN Bureau Report

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