Africa

Bonn, 14. Oktober 2025.  Während Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten eine entscheidende Rolle in der Landwirtschaft und in Ernährungssystemen spielen, werden sie in Datenerhebungen und Entscheidungsprozessen allzu oft vergessen.

Am 15. Oktober begehen wir den Internationalen Tag der Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten und würdigen damit „die zentrale Rolle von Frauen [...] und ihren Beitrag zur Förderung der landwirtschaftlichen und ländlichen Entwicklung, zur Verbesserung der Ernährungssicherheit und zur Beseitigung der ländlichen Armut“. Das Thema für 2025, „Der Aufstieg der Frauen auf dem Land: Mit Beijing+30 eine resiliente Zukunft aufbauen“, unterstreicht die Ungleichheit, mit der ländliche Frauen nach wie vor konfrontiert sind, und ihre entscheidende Rolle für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung.

Zahlreiche Fakten belegen die entscheidende Rolle von Frauen in der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion. Zum Beispiel das Anpflanzen, Ernten und Verarbeiten von Feldfrüchten, das Sichern der Ernährung ihrer Haushalte und das Hüten der natürlichen Ressourcen für künftige Generationen. Allerdings gehören Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten oft zu den Ärmsten und stellen den Großteil der Analphabet*innen weltweit. Schätzungen zufolge wäre das Potenzial von Frauen enorm, wenn sie nur denselben Zugang und die gleichen Chancen wie Männer hätten. Millionen von Menschen würden so aus der Armut herauskommen.

Eines ist klar: Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten sind Multiplikatorinnen in ihren Gemeinschaften. Damit dieses Potenzial ausgeschöpft werden kann, müssen politische Maßnahmen jedoch auf einem differenzierten Verständnis der vielfältigen Lebensrealitäten von Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten beruhen. Hinter der öffentlichen Anerkennung von „ländlichen Frauen“ steht eine vereinfachende Zuschreibung. Wer verbirgt sich tatsächlich hinter dieser Bezeichnung? Datenlücken zeigen, dass ihre Lebensrealitäten bislang nur unzureichend abgebildet werden.

Das Wissen um die bestehenden Lücken hat verschiedene Datensysteme mit geschlechtsspezifischer Differenzierung hervorgebracht. Die Gender Disaggregated Labor Database der Weltbank liefert detaillierte Einblicke in die Erwerbsbeteiligung in unterschiedlichen Berufsfeldern. Der UN Women Data Hub erhebt Daten, um die Überwachung der Nachhaltigkeitsziele (SDG-Monitoring) aus einer Geschlechterperspektive zu unterstützen. Ebenso misst der Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), die Handlungsfähigkeit und Mitbestimmung von Frauen in landwirtschaftlichen Entscheidungsprozessen. Doch auch wenn die Verfügbarkeit solcher Daten zunimmt, zeigen die bisherigen Erkenntnisse klar: Geschlechtsspezifische Ungleichheiten bestehen fort und unser Wissen bleibt begrenzt.

Trotz erzielter Fortschritte bilden unsere Datensysteme die Vielfalt der Lebensrealitäten von Frauen noch immer nicht umfassend ab. Wir sind uns der strukturellen Benachteiligung und Mehrfachdiskriminierung von Frauen bewusst. Sie manifestiert sich in ungleichen Voraussetzungen für den Zugang zu, die Kontrolle über und den Besitz von grundlegenden Ressourcen, in asymmetrischen Machtverhältnissen, dem Ausschluss von Frauen aus Entscheidungsprozessen sowie der geschlechtsspezifischen Arbeitsteilung. Hinzu kommen Gewalt und soziale Normen, die dem Empowerment von Frauen entgegenstehen. Während die Diskriminierung von Frauen gut dokumentiert ist, bleiben intersektionale Diskriminierungen weitgehend unsichtbar. Denn die Überschneidung von Geschlecht mit Alter, ethnischer Zugehörigkeit, Familienstand, Klasse oder geografischem Kontext schafft jeweils eigene Muster von Privileg und Ausgrenzung. Hier beginnen die Datenlücken sichtbar zu werden.

In vielen Fällen verschleiern unsere Annahmen über „die Frauen“ jene Vorurteile, die schon bei der Datenerhebung und -interpretation zum Tragen kommen. Viele Erhebungen erfolgen auf Haushaltsebene oder aus öffentlichen Quellen, meist aus einer männlich geprägten Perspektive. So mag ein Haushalt Land besitzen, ohne dass Frauen Einfluss auf dessen Nutzung haben. Der Kauf moderner Landmaschinen bedeutet nicht automatisch, dass Frauen sie auch bedienen können, da ihnen die entsprechende Ausbildung fehlt.

Darüber hinaus existieren Dimensionen der Lebenswirklichkeit von Frauen, die gänzlich außerhalb unseres derzeitigen Wissens liegen. Wer fundierte politische Empfehlungen für Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten entwickeln und ihre zentrale Rolle sichtbar machen will, muss sich bewusst mit diesen blinden Flecken auseinandersetzen. Die bloße Aufnahme einer Geschlechtsvariable in eine Umfrage genügt nicht mehr. Echte Inklusivität erfordert einen tiefgreifenden Wandel in Forschungsdesign und Methodik. Partizipative Ansätze – etwa gemeinschaftliche Lernplattformen, Fokusgruppendiskussionen oder kooperative Forschungsprozesse – können helfen, die verborgenen Dynamiken innerhalb von Haushalten und Gemeinschaften offenzulegen.

Am Internationalen Tag der Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten sollten sich Entwicklungsorganisationen, Regierungen, Forschende und Gemeinschaften gleichermaßen dazu verpflichten, Frauen in all ihrer Vielfalt als zentrale Akteurinnen ländlicher Entwicklung anzuerkennen und das Bewusstsein für das zu schärfen, was wir noch nicht wissen. Frauen in ländlichen Gebieten sichtbar zu machen, bestehende Lücken bei Ressourcen, Rechten und Daten zu schließen und ihre vielfältigen Perspektiven einzubeziehen, sind konkrete Schritte auf dem Weg zu Geschlechtergerechtigkeit, ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit und einer inklusiveren ländlichen Wirtschaft.

The attack raises questions about security at one of Kenya's most heavily guarded places.

A child gazes to the camera as he waits for his turn at a UNICEF-supported mobile clinic in Boucan Carré, Haiti. Credit: UNICEF/Herold Joseph

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 2025 (IPS)

New figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that displacement has surged significantly in Haiti, deepening existing security and humanitarian crises in a country where nearly 90 percent of the capital is controlled by armed gangs.

“Children in Haiti are experiencing violence and displacement at a terrifying scale,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. “Each time they are forced to flee, they lose not only their homes but also their chance to go to school, and simply to be children.”

More than 1.3 million people have been displaced due to rising insecurity, including over 680,000 children—twice as many as last year—who have been forced from their homes by violence. The report notes that the scale of displacement in 2025 has reached “unprecedented” levels, with the number of displacement sites having soared to 246 nationwide. Thousands of children have been displaced multiple times as a result of heightened violence from armed gangs.

UNICEF’s latest Child Alert report highlights the fragile state of displacement shelters in Haiti as roughly 33 percent displacement shelters lack basic protection infrastructure. Women and children bear the brunt of this crisis, facing disproportionate levels of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Additionally, the UN notes that violations of children’s rights are a daily occurrence, especially in areas that are under the control of armed gangs.

It is estimated that over 2.7 million people, 1.6 million of whom are women and children, live under the control of armed gangs. The security situation in the vast majority of Haitian displacement shelters is dire, with the UN noting that gender-based violence is widespread and fear is particularly pervasive among an entire generation of children and adolescents.

“More children are being subjected to trafficking, exploitation and forced recruitment by the gangs,” said Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR).“We can only imagine the long-term impact, for the children of Haiti, and for society as a whole.”

With most schools being used as displacement shelters, education in Haiti has been severely disrupted, affecting roughly half a million students. Over 1,600 schools were closed, and dozens were occupied by armed groups during the 2024–2025 school year. The education sector is also grappling with acute shortages of textbooks, learning materials, and qualified teachers.

“Nearly 1,600 schools have been attacked, occupied, or closed as a result of unrelenting violence, leaving more than one in four children out of the classroom,” said Giacomo Colarullo, UNICEF’s Emergencies Communications Officer. “ School is not only a place to learn, but a safe haven. When that disappears, we are risking the development and future of an entire generation.”

UNICEF estimates that more than 3.3 million children in Haiti are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, with over one million facing severe food insecurity. This year, an estimated 288,544 children under the age of five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition. The worsening hunger crisis is largely driven by soaring staple food prices, which have made basic items unaffordable for most families, forcing many to skip meals or rely on nutrient-poor diets.

Additionally, widespread insecurity along border crossings and key access routes has severely restricted the delivery of humanitarian aid, cutting off access to nutrition, healthcare, and protection services. Aid workers continue to face high risks of violence while carrying out their duties

“Hunger is worsening at an alarming speed,” Colarullo said. “Less than half of health facilities in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince remain fully functional, leaving the same children often unable to reach the care they need to survive and thrive. UNICEF and partners continue to stay and deliver therapeutic food, mobile clinics and support for internally displaced families, but access and funding remain major obstacles.”

Conditions for children in Haiti have been further worsened by recent cuts to foreign aid and severe funding shortages for lifesaving humanitarian programs, including the World Food Programme (WFP), on which the country has long depended for food security. Since January 2022, WFP has reached over two million people in Haiti and worked with the Haitian government to provide school meals to thousands of children.

WFP estimates that it will need at least USD 139 million to sustain aid operations for Haiti’s most vulnerable populations for the next twelve months. However, recent funding cuts have forced the agency to suspend hot meal distributions and reduce food rations by half for families in displacement centers. For the first time, WFP has also been unable to pre-position food supplies for climate-related disasters during the Atlantic hurricane season due to a lack of resources.

“Today, more than half of all Haitians don’t have enough to eat,” said Wanja Kaaria, WFP’s director in Haiti. “With our current levels of funding, WFP and partners are struggling to keep starvation at bay for thousands of the most vulnerable – children, mothers, entire families who are running out of options and hope.”

Despite continued access challenges, UNICEF and its partners have been able to make vital progress in addressing the vast scale of needs. So far, the agency has treated over 86,000 children suffering from malnutrition and provided healthcare services to over 117,000 people. Additionally, UNICEF has provided access to safe water for 140,000 people.

UNICEF is urgently appealing for greater international support to expand lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced children—ensuring safe shelter, family tracing and reunification, psychosocial care, and access to essential health, nutrition, education, and sanitation services. However, the organization’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for Haiti remains critically underfunded, threatening to halt these efforts.

“The children of Haiti cannot wait,” Russell warned. “Like every child, they deserve a chance to be safe, healthy, and to live in peace. It is up to us to take action for Haiti’s children now.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Credit: ITU/Rowan Farrell
 
Artificial intelligence holds vast potential but poses grave risks, if left unregulated, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on September 24.

By Chimdi Chukwukere
ABUJA, Nigeria, Oct 14 2025 (IPS)

Recent research from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI warns that bias in artificial intelligence remains deeply rooted even in models designed to avoid it and can worsen as models grow. From bias in hiring of men over women for leadership roles, to misclassification of darker-skinned individuals as criminals, the stakes are high.

Yet it’s simply not attainable for annual dialogues and multilateral processes as recently provisioned for in Resolution A/RES/79/325 for the UN to keep up to pace with AI technological developments and the cost of this is high.

Hence for accountability purposes and to increase the cost of failure, why not give Tech Companies whose operations are now state-like, participatory roles at the UNGA?

When AI Gets It Wrong: 2024’s Most Telling Cases

In one of the most significant AI discrimination cases moving through the courts, the plaintiff alleges that Workday’s popular artificial intelligence (AI)-based applicant recommendation system violated federal antidiscrimination laws because it had a disparate impact on job applicants based on race, age, and disability.

Judge Rita F. Lin of the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in July 2024 that Workday could be an agent of the employers using its tools, which subjects it to liability under federal anti-discrimination laws. This landmark decision means that AI vendors, not just employers, can be held directly responsible for discriminatory outcomes.

In another case, the University of Washington researchers found significant racial, gender, and intersectional bias in how three state-of-the-art large language models ranked resumes. The models favored white-associated names over equally qualified candidates with names associated with other racial groups.

In 2024, a University of Washington study investigated gender and racial bias in resume-screening AI tools. The researchers tested a large language model’s responses to identical resumes, varying only the names to suggest different racial and gender identities.

The financial impact is staggering.

A 2024 DataRobot survey of over 350 companies revealed: 62% lost revenue due to AI systems that made biased decisions, proving that discriminatory AI isn’t just a moral failure—it’s a business disaster. It’s too soon for an innovation to result in such losses.

Time is running out.

A 2024 Stanford analysis of vision-language models found that increasing training data from 400 million to 2 billion images made larger models up to 69% more likely to label Black and Latino men as criminals. In large language models, implicit bias testing showed consistent stereotypes: women were more often linked to humanities over STEM, men were favored for leadership roles, and negative terms were disproportionately associated with Black individuals.

The UN needs to take action now before these predictions turn into reality. And frankly, the UN cannot keep up with the pace of these developments.

What the UN Can—and Must—Do

To prevent AI discrimination, the UN must lead by example and work with governments, tech companies, and civil society to establish global guardrails for ethical AI.

Here’s what that could look like:

Working with Tech Companies: Technology companies have become the new states and should be treated as such. They should be invited to the UN table and granted participatory privileges that both ensure and enforce accountability.

This would help guarantee that the pace of technological development—and its impacts—is self-reported before UN-appointed Scientific Panels reconvene. As many experts have noted, the intervals between these annual convenings are already long enough for major innovations to slip past oversight.

Developing Clear Guidelines: The UN should push for global standards on ethical AI, building on UNESCO’s Recommendation and OHCHR’s findings. These should include rules for inclusive data collection, transparency, and human oversight.

Promoting Inclusive Participation: The people building and regulating AI must reflect the diversity of the world. The UN should set up a Global South AI Equity Fund to provide resources for local experts to review and assess tools such as LinkedIn’s NFC passport verification.

Working with Africa’s Smart Africa Alliance, the goal would be to create standards together that make sure AI is designed to benefit communities that have been hit hardest by biased systems. This means including voices from the Global South, women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups in AI policy conversations.

Requiring Human Rights Impact Assessments: Just like we assess the environmental impact of new projects, we should assess the human rights impact of new AI systems—before they are rolled out.

Holding Developers Accountable: When AI systems cause harm, there must be accountability. This includes legal remedies for those who are unfairly treated by AI. The UN should create an AI Accountability Tribunal within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to look into cases where AI systems cause discrimination.

This tribunal should have the authority to issue penalties, such as suspending UN partnerships with companies that violate these standards, including cases like Workday.

Support Digital Literacy and Rights Education: Policy makers and citizens need to understand how AI works and how it might impact their rights. The UN can help promote digital literacy globally so that people can push back against unfair systems.

Lastly, there has to be Mandates for intersectional or Multiple Discriminations Audits: AI systems should be required to go through intersectional audits that check for combined biases, such as those linked to race, disability, and gender. The UN should also provide funding to organizations to create open-source audit tools that can be used worldwide.

The Road Ahead

AI is not inherently good or bad. It is a tool, and like any tool, its impact depends on how we use it. If we are not careful, AI could lengthen problem-solving time, deepen existing inequalities, and create new forms of discrimination that are harder to detect and harder to fix.

But if we take action now—if we put human rights at the center of AI development—we can build systems that uplift, rather than exclude.

The UN General Assembly meetings may have concluded for this year, the era of ethical AI has not. The United Nations remains the organization with the credibility, the platform, and the moral duty to lead this charge. The future of AI—and the future of human dignity—may depend on it.

Chimdi Chukwukere is an advocate for digital justice. His work explores the intersection of technology, governance, Big Tech, sovereignty and social justice. He holds a Masters in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University and has been published at Inter Press Service, Politics Today, International Policy Digest, and the Diplomatic Envoy.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Schock für Alec Baldwin: Der Schauspieler ist mit seinem Auto in den Hamptons gegen einen Baum geprallt. Auch sein Bruder Stephen sass in dem Wagen.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct 14 2025 (IPS)

Global South cooperation arrangements must evolve to better respond to pressing contemporary and imminent challenges, rather than risk being irrelevant straitjackets stuck in the past.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Southeast Asia
In 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established, initially to address regional tensions following the formation of Malaysia in September 1963.

The creation of Malaysia had led to problems with the Philippines and Indonesia, while Singapore had seceded from the new confederation in August 1965.

ASEAN was not a Cold War creation in the same sense as the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO), one of several regional security arrangements established by the Americans in the early 1950s, the only significant one remaining being NATO.

ASEAN’s most significant initiative was to declare Southeast Asia a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) in 1973, two years before the end of the Indochina wars.

Regional economic cooperation
The region has since seen four major economic initiatives, with the first being the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).

AFTA was established at the height of the trade liberalisation zeal in the early 1990s. Beyond the initial ‘one-time’ trade liberalisation effects, there has been little actual economic transformation since then.

Trade liberalisation mahaguru Jagdish Bhagwati’s last (2008) book, Termites in the Trading System, saw preferential plurilateral and bilateral FTAs as ‘termites’ undermining the WTO promise of multilateral trade liberalisation.

While seemingly mutually beneficial, such FTAs are akin to termites that surreptitiously erode the foundations of the multilateral trading system by encouraging discrimination, thereby undermining the principle of non-discrimination.

Naive enthusiasm for all FTAs has thus actually undermined multilateralism, also triggering pushback since the late 20th century.

Following the 2008-09 global financial crisis, the G20’s developed economies all raised protectionist barriers, confirming their dubious commitment to free trade.

Meanwhile, US trade policies since the Obama presidency, and especially this year, have made a mockery of the WTO’s commitment to the multilateralism of the 1994 Marrakech Declaration.

Asymmetric financialization
The 1997-98 Asian financial crisis should have served as a wake-up call about the dangers of financialization, but the West dismissed it as simply due to Asian hubris.

Under Managing Director Michel Camdessus, IMF promotion of capital account liberalisation even contravened the Fund’s own Articles of Agreement.

When Japanese Finance Minister Miyazawa and Vice Minister Sakakibara proposed an East Asian financial rescue plan, which was soon killed by then US Treasury Deputy Secretary Larry Summers.

Eventually, the Chiang Mai Initiative was developed by ASEAN+3, including Japan, South Korea, and China as the additional three. Ensuring bilateral swap facilities for financial emergencies have since been multi-lateralised.

ASEAN+3 later led the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), still conceived mainly in terms of regional trade liberalisation.

Non-alignment for our times
Developing relevant institutions and arrangements in our times requires us to pragmatically consider history, rather than abstract, ahistorical principles.

2025 marks several significant anniversaries, most notably the end of World War II in 1945 and the 1955 Bandung Asia-Africa solidarity conference, which anticipated the formation of the non-aligned movement.

The world seems to have lost its commitment to creating the conditions for enduring peace. Despite much rhetoric, the post-World War II commitment to freedom and neutrality in the Global North has largely gone.

The world was deemed unipolar after the end of the Cold War. However, for most, it has been multipolar, with the majority of the Global South remaining non-aligned.

As for peace-making, the US’s NATO allies have increasingly marginalised the United Nations and multilateralism with it. Already, the number of military interventions since the end of the Cold War exceeds those of that era.

While ASEAN cannot realistically lead international peace-making, it can be a much stronger voice for multilateralism, peace, freedom, neutrality, development, and international cooperation.

East Asian potential
The world economy is now stagnating due to Western policies. Hence, ASEAN+3 has become more relevant.

Just before President Trump made his April 2nd Liberation Day unilateral tariffs announcement, the governments of Japan, China, and South Korea met in late March without ASEAN to coordinate responses despite their long history of tensions.

ASEAN risks becoming increasingly irrelevant, due to the limited progress since the Chiang Mai Agreement a quarter of a century ago. Worse, ASEAN’s regional leadership has rarely gone beyond trade liberalisation, now sadly irrelevant in ‘post-normal’ times.

Rather than risk growing irrelevance, regional cooperation needs to rise to contemporary challenges. Working closely with partners accounting for two-fifths of the world economy, ASEAN countries only stand to gain from broader regional cooperation.

President Trump’s ‘shock and awe’ tariffs and Mar-a-Lago ambitions clearly signal that ‘business as usual’ is over, and Washington intends to remake the world. Will East Asia rise to this challenge of our times?

IPS UN Bureau

 

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The press briefing ahead of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy) of 20 October 2025 will take place on Thursday, 16 October at 10.00, followed by the press briefing ahead of the Environment Council of 21 October 2025.

The Council prolonged its sanctions  against the proliferation and use of chemical weapons until 16 October 2026.

European Council President António Costa invited leaders to the meeting of 23 October 2025 in Brussels, during which they will discuss Ukraine, Middle East, European defence and security, competitiveness and twin transition, housing, and migration. 

The Council adopted a decision for the EU and its member states to sign the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime.

Andry Rajoelina is said to have fled the country by French military jet but his whereabouts are unknown.

Nadine de Klerk gets South Africa over the line again as beat Bangladesh by three wickets at the Women's World Cup.

A Lévai járásban három alapiskolában találtak sárgaságos betegeket. Beoltják azokat, akik kapcsolatba kerültek a fertőzöttekkel.

By External Source
NEW YORK, Oct 13 2025 (IPS-Partners)

On today’s International Day of the Girl Child, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and our strategic partners call for substantial new funding to ensure every girl impacted by crises is able to access 12 years of quality education.

Worldwide, 133 million girls are out of school today. In countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the State of Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, armed conflict, forced displacement and climate impact keep girls out of school. In Afghanistan, where oppressive policies deny girls their equal rights to education, the challenges are even more dire.

Education for girls is their right. It also leads to better lives, higher incomes and reduced child marriage. If all girls completed their secondary education, countries would gain between US$15-$30 trillion in lifetime productivity and earnings, according to the World Bank.

ECW investments across the globe are making a difference in the lives and life-long trajectories of millions of crisis-impacted girls. Of the 14 million children reached through ECW’s investments, 50% are girls.

ECW and its partners’ holistic support is improving enrolment and attendance, accelerating transition rates from non-formal programmes into formal school, and building the academic and social-emotional skills girls need to thrive. ECW’s latest Annual Results Report documents deepened investment in equitable access and learning; three in four programmes show gender-equitable improvements in participation.

In Uganda for example, an ECW-financed programme is showing strong improvements in foundational literacy for conflict and crisis-affected girls. At the lower primary level, the proportion of learners demonstrating basic reading skills rose from 18% to 34%, with girls outperforming boys. At the upper primary level, reading competency nearly doubled, with girls and boys achieving near parity.

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, we must accelerate and sustain financing for girls’ education.

Girls’ education is the single best investment we can make in building a better world.

 

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Lecturers at public universities in Nigeria begin a two-week strike over pay and funding.

Eine Gaza-Demo in Bern ist am Samstag komplett eskaliert. Mehrere Gastrobetriebe wurden in Mitleidenschaft gezogen. Besonders stark beschädigt wurde das «Della Casa». Am Montag schildert der Geschäftsführer gegenüber Blick, wie sein Team den Tag erlebt hat.

Paul Biya, who at 92 is the world's oldest head of state, is being challenged by nine candidates.

By CIVICUS
Oct 13 2025 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS discusses enforced disappearances in Mexico with a member of the International Network of Associations of Missing Persons.

The crisis of disappearances in Mexico has reached alarming proportions, with over 52,000 unidentified bodies in morgues and mass graves. On 1 July, the Mexican Congress approved controversial changes to the General Law on Disappearances, which promise to modernise the search process through a national biometric system, but which human rights organisations and victims’ groups claim could establish an unprecedented system of mass surveillance.

What are the main changes and how will they affect searches?

The changes seek to strengthen the mechanisms for searching for, locating and identifying missing persons. The main innovations include the creation of a National Investigation File Database and a Single Identity Platform that will integrate various databases. The revised law also provides for the strengthening of the Unique Population Registry Code (CURP) through the incorporation of biometric data such as iris scans, photographs and fingerprints.

The law obliges authorities and individuals to provide information useful for search processes and incorporates new institutions such as the National Guard and the Ministry of Security into the National Search System. It also increases the penalties for the crime of enforced disappearance.

The new system aims to ensure faster and more efficient searches through technology and inter-institutional coordination. It also provides for the use of satellite imagery and advanced identification technologies, under the coordination of the National Search System.

What risks are posed by the authorities’ access to biometric data?

There are serious concerns that the changes give security and justice institutions, including prosecutors’ offices, the National Guard and the National Intelligence Centre, immediate and unrestricted access to public and private databases, including those containing biometric information. The official argument is that this will speed up searches.

However, civil society warns that the Single Identity Platform and the biometric CURP could become instruments of mass surveillance. It is feared the authorities could misuse the information and, instead of helping to find missing persons, use it to help control the population, putting the rights to privacy and security at risk.

How have victims’ groups reacted?

Victims’ collectives have rejected the reform as opaque and rushed. They complain that, although round table discussions were organised, these were merely symbolic and their proposals were not taken into account.

The families of missing persons argue the changes focus on technological solutions that don’t address the underlying structural problems of corruption, cronyism, organised crime and impunity. But no technological solution will work as long as the institutions responsible for abuses and cover-ups remain in charge of implementing it.

This law runs the risk of repeating the mistakes of the 2017 General Law on Enforced Disappearances. That was an important step forward, as it criminalised the offence, created a national search system and sought to guarantee the participation of families in locating and identifying missing persons. Unfortunately, it was never properly implemented. There are fears this new law, in the absence of effective enforcement mechanisms, will only deepen frustration and perpetuate impunity.

What alternatives do victims’ groups propose?

Their demands go beyond legislative changes: they demand truth and justice through thorough investigations, the prosecution of those responsible in state institutions and organised crime groups and an effective search in the field, with the coordination and active participation of victims’ groups.

The collectives also stress the urgency of identifying the over 52,000 unnamed people in morgues and mass graves, and are calling for the creation of an Extraordinary Forensic Identification Mechanism. And they demand real protection for those searching for their relatives, who continue to face threats and attacks.

Above all, they demand an end to impunity through the dismantling of the networks of corruption and collusion between authorities and organised crime. As one local activist summed it up, at the end of the day, without a genuine National Plan for Missing Persons, none of this will work. Each state also needs its own plan. Otherwise, we will remain in the same situation: without results, without reports and without answers about our disappeared.

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Tirtha Prasad Saikia, Director of the North-East Affected Area Development Society, speaks to IPS at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Credit: Diwash Gahatraj/IPS

By Diwash Gahatraj
ABU DHABI, Oct 13 2025 (IPS)

As global conservation leaders gather in Abu Dhabi for the IUCN World Conservation Congress, communities in the hills of Darjeeling, thousands of kilometers away, are still counting their losses. In early October, heavy rains triggered deadly landslides that buried homes, blocked key roads, and left several people dead. The destruction has once again exposed how vulnerable India’s mountain regions are to extreme weather.

The Congress, convened every four years, started on October 9, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This flagship global forum unites over 10,000 conservation experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to advance nature-based solutions amid escalating climate and biodiversity crises. Key agendas of the Congress include localizing climate finance, nature-positive development, and post-2025 biodiversity targets, with sessions on Himalayan resilience. 

On October 4 and 5, intense late-monsoon rains hit Darjeeling, setting off multiple landslides across the tea-producing district in West Bengal. At the same time, starting October 3, continuous downpours flooded large parts of North Bengal’s Terai and Dooars regions. By October 10, the death toll had climbed to 40, with thousands forced into relief camps in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Kalimpong.

The recent Darjeeling landslides and North Bengal floods killed dozens of people and displaced thousands—for Tirtha Prasad Saikia, Director of NEADS, these disasters are more than statistics. They’re an urgent wake-up call.

Speaking with IPS on the sidelines of the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi, Saikia drew on years of frontline experience responding to floods and climate disasters across Assam and northeast India. His message is clear: India’s fragile hill regions need immediate action combining nature-based solutions, local wisdom like Meghalaya’s living root bridges, and fair climate finance.

The Congress, he believes, offers a crucial platform to push these priorities forward, ensuring vulnerable communities and ecosystems can survive and thrive as climate risks escalate. Read excerpts from the conversation below.

IPS: How do you interpret this event, IUCN WCC 2025 from a conservation and climate-resilience perspective?

Saikia: The Abu Dhabi IUCN Congress is perfectly timed to advance the global conservation agenda, emphasizing nature-based solutions and integrated resilience. This focus is crucial for mountain and riverine ecosystems, where safeguarding biodiversity is inseparable from ensuring human safety.

IPS: What do such disasters reveal about the state of preparedness in India’s hill regions?

Saikia: They reveal predominantly reactive systems, poor enforcement of hazard zoning, weak micro-catchment early warnings, and infrastructure placed in high-risk locations, so extreme rainfall turns rapidly into catastrophe.

IPS: In your work across the northeast of India, do you see similar patterns of vulnerability emerging?

Saikia: Yes, the northeast shows the same mix of steep, fragile terrain, increasing extreme rainfall, deforestation, and unplanned hill-cutting, producing repeated landslides, erosion and compound flood impacts.

IPS: What makes Darjeeling and other Eastern Himalayan areas so susceptible to landslides and flooding?

Saikia: A natural baseline of steep slopes, young/unstable geology and intense orographic rain combined with human pressures such as hill-cutting, vegetation removal and riverside construction that weaken slope and river resilience.

IPS:  How much is this crisis driven by human actions versus changing climate patterns?

Saikia: It’s a combination of both. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall that’s often the trigger. But local human actions like deforestation, unplanned road construction, and illegal building remove natural buffers and increase exposure. These factors work together, turning what could  have been manageable events into major disasters.

IPS: Do current development models in India’s hill regions take ecological limits into account?

Saikia: Not sufficiently! Many development choices prioritize short-term growth (tourism, housing, roads) without rigorous catchment assessments, undermining long-term resilience.

IPS: When disasters strike, what immediate challenges do local communities face (displacement, livelihoods, relief)?

Saikia: Rapid displacement, loss of homes and farmland, ruptured connectivity that blocks relief, loss of seasonal incomes and acute health/sanitation risks are immediate and severe.

IPS: Are there examples of community-led efforts or local knowledge that reduce these risks?

Saikia: Yes, living root bridges of Meghalaya, stilted/raised houses and granaries among the Mishing communities and other indigenous peoples of Assam and locally run flood shelters and community early-warning practices show strong, low-cost resilience rooted in local knowledge.

IPS: How can these local practices be scaled up or integrated into formal disaster management and planning?

Saikia: Systematically document and evaluate practices, fund pilots via micro-grants, adopt hybrid designs (traditional and engineering standards), secure community tenure and embed proven models in state DRR and climate plans.

IPS: How can restoring forests, wetlands and slopes reduce landslide and flood risks in regions like Darjeeling?

Saikia: Restoration increases infiltration, reduces peak runoff and sediment load, and stabilizes soils, recreating natural buffers so heavy rains are less likely to produce catastrophic landslides or extreme floods.

IPS: Examples where ecosystem-based interventions have outperformed conventional infrastructure:

Saikia: Living root bridges and mature catchment reforestation resist heavy rains better and last longer than many concrete fixes, and wetland/floodplain reconnection reduces downstream peaks more sustainably than embankments that simply transfer risk.

IPS: What are the biggest governance or institutional gaps that limit adaptation?

Saikia: Weak enforcement of hazard zoning, siloed sectoral planning, limited local fiscal autonomy, poor micro-catchment data and inadequate local early-warning systems.

IPS: How can state and local governments better coordinate with communities and civil society?

Saikia: Create support for the local disaster planning units, finance communities on micro-projects, institutionalize the communities and convene multi-stakeholder basin platforms.

IPS: Is climate finance reaching the ground, or are structural barriers locking it up?

Saikia: Much finance remains centralized or tied to complex procedures; slow disbursement, weak local fiduciary capacity and donor timelines misaligned with ecosystem recovery keep funds from reaching communities quickly.

IPS: What funding mechanisms could ensure faster, more direct support for community-led resilience?

Saikia: Use micro-grant windows, locally managed climate funds and blended finance that pairs seed grants with technical assistance and results-based payments to accelerate on-the-ground action.

IPS: Do you see opportunities at IUCN WCC 2025 for regional collaboration on mountain adaptation and resilience?

Saikia: Yes, WCC is ideal to launch transboundary basin platforms, share hazard-mapping tools and early-warning protocols, and co-finance coordinated restoration targets across the Eastern Himalayas.

IPS: One key action India should take in the next five years to strengthen hill resilience:

Saikia: Set up and fund a National Mountain and Riverine Resilience Mission to map hazards, enforce land use, finance community nature-based solutions and build multi-level basin governance and local capacity.

IPS: How can the IUCN Congress and global gatherings turn conversations into concrete action for places like Darjeeling and the Eastern Himalayas?

Saikia: Fast-track pilot financing for community-led nature-based projects, publish an implementation handbook of proven local practices and broker multi-year donor–government–community agreements with measurable resilience targets to convert pledges into delivery.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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