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Un retour à la vie civile ne coupe pas tout d’un coup. Les horaires changent, l’uniforme disparaît, mais certains automatismes restent dans les gestes les plus simples. Ranger son sac la veille. Arriver dix minutes tôt. Lire une consigne jusqu’au bout. Rien de spectaculaire. Ces habitudes viennent d’années où une erreur de détail pouvait coûter […]

Quitter les drapeaux marque le début d’une nouvelle aventure personnelle et professionnelle. Beaucoup d’anciens militaires cherchent à bâtir leur propre projet pour canaliser leur rigueur et leur sens du commandement. L’entrepreneuriat offre un terrain idéal pour transformer cette expérience de terrain en valeur économique. C’est une occasion d’établir une activité indépendante sur mesure. Image source: […]

Shadrack Sibiya, who has made no comment, is alleged to have groomed a 16-year-old and raped an 18-year-old.

The BBC goes inside the prison where prisoners were trapped in stifling, cramped conditions.

1 422 nouvelles Cartes d'Égalité de Chance sont désormais disponibles pour les personnes en situation de handicap au Bénin. Le Ministère de la Famille et de l'Action Sociale les a réceptionnées auprès de l'Agence nationale d'Identification des Personnes (ANIP), vendredi 18 septembre 2026, à Cotonou.

Le nombre de personnes en situation de handicap disposant d'une Carte d'Égalité de Chance augmente au Bénin. À ce jour, 4 718 cartes ont déjà été distribuées aux bénéficiaires, sur un total de 6 140 cartes réceptionnées par le Ministère de la Famille et de l'Action Sociale.

Un nouveau lot de 1 422 cartes a été réceptionné vendredi 18 septembre 2026 auprès de l'Agence nationale d'Identification des Personnes (ANIP).

Le dispositif vise à permettre aux personnes handicapées de faire valoir plus facilement les droits et avantages liés à leur situation. Les mesures auxquelles elles peuvent prétendre tiennent notamment compte du niveau d'incapacité établi pour chaque bénéficiaire.

La ministre de la Famille et de l'Action Sociale, Véronique Tognifodé, a réaffirmé la volonté des autorités de renforcer l'inclusion des personnes handicapées. La distribution doit également permettre de toucher les bénéficiaires vivant dans les localités éloignées et ceux qui rencontrent des difficultés pour accéder aux services.

L'opération devrait connaître une nouvelle phase avec 4 000 demandes enregistrées au titre de l'année 2026. Ces dossiers seront soumis à la Commission interministérielle chargée de l'inclusion des personnes handicapées.
Pour l'ANIP, la délivrance de ces cartes s'inscrit dans la démarche visant à garantir une identité légale à tous.

L'intelligence artificielle joue un rôle de plus en plus important sur le marché du travail. Nous vous expliquons ce que vous devez savoir pour trouver un emploi.

Helen Clarkson, CEO, Climate Group at Climate Week NYC. Credit: Climate Group

By Naureen Hossain
NEW YORK, Sep 22 2026 (IPS)

The Climate Group’s annual conference in New York City has attracted thousands of attendees this year, among them world leaders, corporate heads, philanthropists, and climate advocates. Those leaders present at the opening ceremony of Climate Week have made clear calls to collectively tackle climate issues.

Climate Week NYC’s opening ceremony and conference began on Monday in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly Debate and High-Level Week (21-29 September). In addition to the main conference, held in the Glass House on 12th Avenue, there are multiple events hosted across New York City—more than 1,500. This is slated to be the biggest Climate Week yet, according to the Climate Group, the organizers of this week-long event.

Each year, Climate Week focuses on the most urgent issues when it comes to tackling climate change, from the transition to renewable energy, corporate and government responsibility, and scaling climate and economic progress.

The consequences of climate change, including extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and sea levels, are being felt worldwide. Global conflicts like the war between Russia and Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East have disrupted the world’s energy supply of oil and gas, which has put developed and developing countries alike in prolonged stress over energy needs.

Australian PM M Anthony Albanese. Credit: Climate Group

It is the latter point that the day’s first speakers urged on, as even in the face of mounting evidence that clean energy is more affordable, countries still rely on fossil fuels. But blaming the situation solely on fossil fuel companies would not be accurate. Helen Clarkson, the founder of Climate Group, pointed out in her opening remarks that incumbents still use and rely on fossil fuels for their energy needs. She also pointed her finger at right-wing pundits in traditional and social media that spread misinformation about renewable energy and politicians who “weaponize people’s fear.” Meanwhile, some leaders and even media outlets choose not to use the word ‘climate’ in relation to these issues in a form of erasure or denial. Silence is a form of inaction, Clarkson noted soberly, and that inaction leads to more climate change.

“It’s time to face the truth, and that’s hard in a world where truth has lost so much of its currency. But the truth is, we’ve been making ourselves smaller and quiet at the exact moment we should be bigger and louder,” said Clarkson.

Climate and nature loss should also be treated as a matter of national security, said Ed Miliband, the United Kingdom’s Foreign Minister. Miliband, who served as the energy secretary under Prime Ministers Gordon Brown and Keir Starmer, remarked that climate destruction was once treated as a peripheral matter that was separate from economic growth or energy security. The job growth in the clean energy sector proves their potential for a sustainable transition. The latest conflicts in Ukraine and Iran underline the dependence of countries on fossil fuels while also highlighting the “energy independent imperative” of clean energy.

Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom at Climate Week. Credit: Climate Group

Countries struggle with the overlapping consequences driven by climate change, for they are no longer confined to borders. In 2026 alone, over 150 million hectares burned in the first four months. This year has also confirmed a “super” El Niño that will likely drive global recorded temperatures and extreme weather events to new levels.

“This is why these facts, what is happening in our world, and why climate breakdown, in my view, must be an issue for foreign ministers and prime ministers, as well as energy and climate ministers,” said Miliband.

Miliband recommended governments pool information on climate issues so that it can be used to inform forecasts and early warning systems to “[act] before the crisis hits, rather than picking up the pieces afterwards.”

This sense of collective responsibility between countries was the core of the keynote speech, delivered by Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“The global community cannot afford to be frozen in time while the world falls around us,” said Albanese. “Australia understands the dangers of global warming and the emergency of climate action as well as any nation. We’ve seen it up close from increasingly intense bushfires and floods.”

Albanese also spoke to the specific context of the Pacific region, where states are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and have been among the most vocal advocates for climate action. He cited Australia’s efforts to fund and support Pacific Island states in their climate resilience plans. There is also the Pacific Resilience Facility, established last year, which he claimed was the first Pacific-led climate financing mechanism.

Adopting climate-friendly and sustainable initiatives is possible and better in the longterm to build necessary resilience. Iceland provides one such example, as a country that holds geothermal reserves but had been running on imported oil until the early 1970s during the oil crisis that disrupted their supplies. Through financing, political will, and cutting-edge technology, Iceland began developing large-scale geothermal heating districts across the country. Today, over 90 percent of households in Iceland are heated by geothermal energy. For Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, the lesson that countries should take from their example is to invest in climate-friendly infrastructure and initiatives before the next shock.

“The transition each of you is managing—in energy, in supply chains, in infrastructure, in economic competitiveness—won’t be won by the country or the company that reacts fastest to the next disruption. It’ll be won by the one that has already built the capacity to absorb it, years before it arrives. Resilience, in other words, isn’t a response. It’s a foundation you pour long before anyone tells you the storm is coming,” Frostadóttir said.

As Frostadóttir and the other world leaders remarked in their addresses, the solutions to climate change already exist. But it will require an equal measure of financing and political will to push through with the necessary steps. It cannot be a matter of waiting for the next climate or geopolitical shock to adopt those changes.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

 

 

Ce sommet est l'un des plus grands rassemblements diplomatiques au monde, où les dirigeants discutent des questions qui affectent l'avenir du monde.

Ce sommet est l'un des plus grands rassemblements diplomatiques au monde, où les dirigeants discutent des questions qui affectent l'avenir du monde.

La présidente de la Haute Cour de justice, Mme Dandi Gnamou, invitée par l'OIF pour l'observation des élections législatives au Maroc, a été reçue, lundi 21 septembre 2026, à Rabat, au cabinet du président de la Cour constitutionnelle, M. Mohamed Amine Benabdallah.

La rencontre de ce lundi entre la présidente de la Haute Cour de justice du Bénin et le président de la Cour constitutionnelle du Maroc s'est tenue en marge de la mission d'observation de l'OIF pour le suivi des législatives du 23 septembre 2026.

Mme Dandi Gnamou, présidente de la Haute Cour de justice et membre de la Cour constitutionnelle de la République du Bénin, est au Maroc dans le cadre de la mission de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) pour l'observation desdites élections.

Les discussions entre les deux personnalités ont porté sur la compétence de la Cour constitutionnelle et son rôle dans les élections, notamment par le biais du contrôle préalable des lois régissant l'élection des parlementaires, puis par le règlement des litiges électoraux après la proclamation des résultats.
Le président M. Mohamed Amine Benabdallah a souligné que la Cour constitutionnelle rend ses arrêts soit en rejetant les pourvois, soit en annulant le processus électoral.

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Doyle was best known for reporting on African conflicts in the 1990s and 2000s, notably in Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

Une opération menée, lundi 21 septembre 2026, par le commissariat du deuxième arrondissement de Parakou a permis de libérer 22 ressortissants nigérians retenus dans une résidence du quartier Nima.

Vingt-deux ressortissants nigérians ont été libérés, lundi 21 septembre 2026 à Parakou, lors d'une opération de police menée dans le quartier Nima. Ces personnes se trouvaient dans une résidence utilisée par un réseau soupçonné d'activités d'escroquerie liées à QNET.

L'intervention du commissariat du deuxième arrondissement est intervenue à la suite de renseignements.

Les 22 ressortissants nigérians auraient été attirés au Bénin par des compatriotes leur faisant miroiter des opportunités de réussite et de gains financiers.

Les victimes auraient engagé leurs économies dans ce système avant de se retrouver dans une situation dont elles ne maîtrisaient plus les contours. Les personnes qui les ont recrutées avaient déjà quitté les lieux au moment de l'intervention policière.

M. M.

Un homme et sa belle-mère, ont été interpellés lundi 21 septembre 2026 dans le quartier Kpabaï, commune de Savè, pour détention d'un crâne humain.

Alerté sur le déplacement de restes humains vers Cotonou, les éléments de la Police Républicaine de Savè ont mis en place un dispositif qui a permis d'interpeller S. Hervé au volant d'un véhicule. Selon ‘'Le Potentiel'', les premières fouilles du véhicule n'ont pas permis de retrouver le crâne humain.

Les recherches menées dans une zone broussailleuse située à proximité du domicile de S. Hervé ont conduit à la découverte d'une boîte de tomate contenant une partie d'un vieux crâne humain et une perle conservée dans un sachet noir.

Selon les premiers éléments de l'enquête, S. Hervé aurait reconnu avoir récupéré cette partie de crâne environ un an auparavant, alors qu'il intervenait comme fossoyeur lors de l'ouverture d'une tombe. Il aurait ensuite remis une partie des restes à sa belle-mère, à la demande de celle-ci. La belle-mère aurait confirmé les déclarations de son beau-fils. A l'en croire, le reste humain devait servir dans le cadre du traitement d'un problème au genou. Les deux mis en cause sont gardés à vue. Ils seront présentés au procureur pour la suite de la procédure.

Les enfants de personnalités politiques clés emprisonnées il y a 25 ans sans laisser de traces en Érythrée réclament des réponses.

Treating the polycrisis as one undifferentiated agenda has never worked; treating them as three coherent families might. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By External Source
APEX, North Carolina / SAN FRANCISCO, California / VIENNA, Austria / SHEFFIELD, United Kingdom / GENEVA, Switzerland, Sep 22 2026 (IPS)

In March 2025, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres launched “UN80”. Recognizing that the world is in a state of dramatic and rapid change at a time when funding for the UN is under threat from budget cuts, Guterres declared that, on the anniversary of the UN’s 80th birthday, a review of its work was long overdue. Now, UN80 is coming to a head with a set of recommendations that cover almost every aspect of the UN’s work.

Some of the recommendations are focused on reducing budgets. With some major governments cutting their funding and heavily in arrears, the UN needs to cut its spending.

The current target is a reduction of roughly 20%. This has already resulted in a decision to shift staff from high-cost duty stations like New York or Geneva, to lower-cost locations such as Bonn and Nairobi.

There has also been more “structural and programmatic alignment”—in other words, finding ways to make different parts of the UN work together more efficiently, or even merge different groups. So far, this has included the UN General Assembly agreeing to merge the UN System Staff College (UNSSC) and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) into the UN Institute for Capability and Learning Innovation.

On the research side, the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) has been integrated into the UN University. Meanwhile, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has been absorbed into the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Finally, in the development agenda, there have been proposals to merge the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and to join together the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women, while also integrating the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) into existing programs.

 

Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation: Improving Multilateral Environment Agreements

But what about all-important environmental issues? Does UN80 address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution?

The short answer is, yes. UN80 includes “Work Package 27” dealing with the environment. We are delighted to see the inclusion of several issues we believe would improve how multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) are organized, including the idea of “clustering.”

The UN80 process of the past 18 months has generated some excellent ideas. The window for acting on them is narrower than it looks: a new Secretary-General takes office in January 2027, and proposals that have not been anchored in a mandate by then will be inherited by someone who did not make them. Now is the time to bring them to fruition

Over the past year, we have advocated taking up an idea first mooted by UNEP’s Executive Director Klaus Töpfer back in the 2000s. He proposed grouping—or clustering—MEAs and making them work more closely and effectively together. These could be grouped along the lines of the triple planetary crisis (or “polycrisis”): (i) chemicals, waste and pollution; (ii) biodiversity loss and (iii) climate change.

The logic of the groupings matters. Chemicals and waste are fundamentally about pollution and health; biodiversity is about conservation and sustainable use, while climate change sits at the nexus of these challenges. This means effectively exploiting all synergies. Treating the polycrisis as one undifferentiated agenda has never worked; treating them as three coherent families might.

Achim Steiner, who took over from Töpfer as Executive Director of UNEP in 2006, made the first attempt at clustering. The chemicals and waste conventions—Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm—agreed a synergies process that produced joint decisions and, from 2010, back-to-back conferences of the parties, a shared secretariat structure and common administrative services.

It has been largely a success on the terms it set itself: it improved collaboration and cut costs, even if programmatic integration has gone less far than administrative integration.

Steiner also started efforts to cluster MEAs focused on biodiversity. However, this process was never completed. We believe UN80 provides an ideal opportunity for this to be revisited and moved forward.

We are pleased to see that UN80 recommends establishing “a time-limited, independent and regionally representative Consultative Group of Ministers or High-level representatives of UN Member States to evaluate benefits, feasibility and possible options for MEA consolidation.” (Action 5.1)

This group should focus on two areas: clustering the three biodiversity conventions administered by UNEP—the Convention on Biological Diversity, CITES and the Convention on Migratory Species—with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as a unifying umbrella; and bringing the Minamata Convention on Mercury closer to the other chemicals and waste MEAs (Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm).

If achieved, such clustering would strengthen both the treaties seeking to address biodiversity loss and those dealing with chemicals and waste.

Clustering the three UNEP-administered biodiversity conventions is only the start: working relationships will also be needed with the biodiversity-related conventions outside UNEP—Ramsar (wetlands), World Heritage, the Plant Treaty, and Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) —and with the other Rio conventions.

We already have more than a decade of experience of what the chemicals and waste cluster has achieved and believe there is much to learn from it, and to replicate.

 

Better Science

Another recommendation that should be implemented is the better coordination of environmental science, and closer links between science and policy.

This matters because so many environmental issues, such as biodiversity loss and climate change, are interlinked. Connecting the scientific work in these areas helps us “join the dots” and also develop and implement better policy.

The UN80’s recommendations include several very good ones on science coordination and science policy. For instance, it proposes that we:

• “Institutionalize a periodic science–policy dialogue anchored in UNEP’s science function that informs UNEA, as well as MEAs and other UN entities governing-bodies, as appropriate.” (Action 2.1)
• “Promote structured coordination and collaboration among chairs of MEA scientific and technical bodies and other science-policy interfaces, using existing mechanisms while respecting mandates.” (Action 3.1)
• “Build a user-driven, modern knowledge ecosystem and repository of environmental science and knowledge as a shared UN asset, linking country-to-global data and existing science platforms through shared standards and interoperable search.” (Action 3.2)

These are also the cheapest recommendations on the list, and the ones with the widest benefit. It is worth making this very clear at a moment when everything is being weighed against a 20% savings target: coordination costs very little and duplication costs a great deal.

With the global community appearing to be so divided and splintered across so many issues, we understand that not all ideas will command universal support.

This is why we applaud the idea of developing “coalitions of the willing” or communities of practice around various MEAs. We believe UNEP can and should play a convening role in this, as well as related discussions about how the Rio treaties dealing with climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss can work more closely and effectively together.

 

Environmental Interlinkages

When UNEP was set up in 1972, one of its key missions was to help coordinate environmental work by different UN bodies. Much of this has fractured over the years as new MEAs and organizations have emerged to address major environmental issues like climate change. However, we believe it is time to reinvigorate UNEP’s mission.

UN80 addresses this by proposing that the UN’s Environment Management Group (which is chaired by the head of UNEP) should:

• “Develop and roll-out a new EMG strategy and operating model. (Action 4.1)
• “Adopt a common UN system-wide results framework for environmental mainstreaming.” (Action 4.2)
• “Establish effective linkages with the UN Secretary-General and key governing bodies (e.g., UNEA, World Health Assembly, Human Rights Council, World Meteorological Congress, etc.).” (Action 4.3)

It is worth being clear about which of these the UN can simply decide to do, and which it cannot. The science function, the knowledge ecosystem and a reinvigorated Environment Management Group are Secretariat matters: they can be delivered by the UN system itself. Clustering conventions is not.

MEAs are autonomous treaties, and only their Parties can agree to consolidate them. That is precisely why Action 5.1 proposes a group of ministers rather than an administrative decision—and why governments, not officials, will determine whether this part of UN80 goes anywhere.

 

Strengthening Political Leadership

What else should be done? In 2025, we proposed reintroducing the Global Ministerial Environment Forum—a body that met annually through the 2000s in conjunction with UNEP’s Governing Council, until it was superseded by the creation of the UN Environment Assembly. The Forum’s goal was to elevate discussions on environmental issues to a high political level.

Work Package 27 suggests a slightly different approach, but with similar aims. It suggests a Global Environment Leaders’ Summit, to be held every four years and attended by heads of state and government. We support this (or similar) initiatives intended to bring presidents and prime ministers to the table. In short, we need decision makers at the highest level coming together to address global environmental matters.

But four years is almost too long given the speed and acceleration of global environmental change. A simpler answer is available: a ministerial segment attached to each session of the Environment Assembly, which already meets every two years and already has universal membership, with a leaders’ summit every four. That adds almost no additional costs, and it builds political attention into a cycle that already exists rather than competing with it.

 

A New Secretary-General — and the Question of Who Carries This Forward

There is one complication none of this can avoid. UN80 is António Guterres’ initiative, and his term ends in December 2026. The recommendations in Work Package 27 have been prepared for a Secretary-General who will not be in office to implement them.

Whoever succeeds him will inherit these proposals rather than own them—and on the evidence of the selection process so far, will arrive with no particular commitment to them. Eight candidates have published vision statements and taken part in interactive dialogues with the General Assembly since April.

So, what can we expect? Continuity on the efficiency agenda, almost certainly. Every candidate has endorsed UN80 in some form, and the Organization’s financial position leaves little choice.

Several have committed to sustained mandate discipline, which the General Assembly’s March 2026 resolution on the creation, implementation and review of mandates now underpins. That is genuinely useful, and over time it should reduce reporting burdens across the system.

But it carries a risk worth naming. Mandate discipline affects Secretariat mandates. It does not reach the treaty bodies, whose mandates are made by their own Parties.

If an incoming Secretary-General treats Work Package 27 primarily as a savings exercise, clustering becomes consolidation by austerity. This means the functions most likely to be cut are precisely those with no treaty constituency to defend them: science coordination, the knowledge ecosystem, the Environment Management Group.

Two practical conclusions follow. The first is that the Consultative Group proposed under Action 5.1 should be established now, with a mandate and a reporting line designed to survive the transition, rather than left to a successor to constitute. The second is that in whatever dialogue remains before the appointment, candidates should be asked a question none has yet been put to them: what do you intend to do with Work Package 27?

 

Optimism and Action

The suggestions in UN80 and Work Package 27 offer a new approach to environmental issues and show great potential. A more empowered UNEP could provide stronger systemwide coordination across the UN and significantly enhance the integration and coherence of science, policy, and environmental protection.

To succeed, decision makers will need to be bold and to move forward quickly and decisively. The UN80 process of the past 18 months has generated some excellent ideas. The window for acting on them is narrower than it looks: a new Secretary-General takes office in January 2027, and proposals that have not been anchored in a mandate by then will be inherited by someone who did not make them. Now is the time to bring them to fruition.

 

Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence have participated in United Nations talks on climate change and other environmental negotiations since the 1990s. They co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Courage (Routledge, 2022) and wrote Environmental Lobbying at the United Nations: A Guide to Protecting Our Planet (Routledge, 2025). Their next book, Political Heroes of the Environment: Profiles in Courage, is due for release in 2027.

Hugo-Maria Schally is former Head of the Multilateral Environmental Cooperation Unit at the Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission.

Peter Bridgewater is an Associate Researcher at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.; Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia; a former Director of the Division of Ecological Sciences in UNESCO; and former Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Craig Boljkovac is Executive Director of Green Cross International, a Geneva-based Senior Advisor with a Regional Centre for the Basel and Stockholm Conventions, and an independent international environmental consultant with over 35 years of experience in relevant fields. He has participated in several INCs and related meetings for the global plastics agreement.

The opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the individuals listed and do not necessarily reflect those of the organizations with which they are affiliated.

Le militant panafricaniste Kémi Séba comparaît à nouveau ce mercredi 23 septembre 2026 devant le tribunal de Pretoria, en Afrique du Sud.

Kémi Séba comparaîtra à nouveau devant la justice sud-africaine. Initialement prévue le 11 août dernier, l'audience avait été reportée en raison d'une panne d'électricité ayant empêché son transfert depuis le lieu de détention vers le tribunal.

Détenu en Afrique du Sud depuis avril 2026, Kémi Séba fait l'objet d'une procédure liée aux lois sud-africaines sur l'immigration. Les autorités béninoises, de leur côté, demandent son extradition vers le Bénin dans le cadre des poursuites engagées contre lui.

Lors des précédentes audiences, sa défense avait notamment contesté les conditions de sa détention et demandé sa remise en liberté sous caution, sans succès.

Un jeune homme poursuivi pour des faits présumés d'escroquerie en ligne a comparu, jeudi 10 septembre 2026, devant la Chambre correctionnelle de la Cour de répression des infractions économiques et du terrorisme (CRIET).

Interpellé à Cotonou, un jeune homme a tenté de cacher son identité en donnant un faux nom aux policiers. Son identité a finalement été établie au commissariat après l'intervention de son père, venu à la recherche de son fils selon Libre Express.

À l'audience du jeudi 10 septembre 2026, le prévenu a reconnu avoir communiqué un faux nom aux policiers. Il a rejeté les accusations d'escroquerie en ligne et contesté être le propriétaire du téléphone retrouvé en sa possession. À l'en croire l'appareil lui avait été remis par un ami.

Le ministère public s'est appuyé sur les éléments retrouvés dans le téléphone, notamment des données présentées comme liées à des activités cybercriminelles et une photo de profil WhatsApp attribuée au prévenu.

Le procureur a requis cinq (05) ans d'emprisonnement et une amende de deux (02) millions de francs CFA. Il sera fixé sur son sort le 12 novembre 2026.

For many couples cohabitation has become an alternative to marriage rather than simply a step toward it. Credit: Shutterstock

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Sep 22 2026 (IPS)

Marriage is declining in many countries, with fewer people marrying and many postponing marriage until later in life. At the same time, increasing numbers of men and women are choosing cohabitation instead of marriage.

Various social, economic, and legal factors have contributed to this shift from marriage to cohabitation. Moreover, cohabitation is increasingly not simply a prelude to marriage but, in many cases, an alternative to it. Although its prevalence varies considerably across regions and countries, cohabitation among unmarried couples has continued to rise in many parts of the world.

Historical demographic trends indicate that marriage has become less common over the past several decades, with particularly pronounced declines among younger adults. Nearly 90% of the world’s population lives in a country where marriage rates are declining. This change in union formation is part of the broader transformation in family and household patterns around the world.

In the mid-20th century, about 65% to 70% of adults worldwide were married. By 2021, however, the global share had declined to approximately 50% to 55%.

The proportion of married adults has declined across major age groups. In the United States, for example, the share of adults who were married decreased across all major age groups between 1960 and 2010 (Figure 1).

Source: U.S Census Bureau.

In addition, declines in marriage rates have been accompanied by substantial delays in marriage. Several decades ago, women in many countries typically married in their early or mid-twenties. Today, the median age at first marriage for women has risen to the late twenties or early thirties in many developed countries.

Historical demographic trends indicate that marriage has become less common over the past several decades, with particularly pronounced declines among younger adults. Nearly 90% of the world’s population lives in a country where marriage rates are declining. This change in union formation is part of the broader transformation in family and household patterns around the world

Marriage is therefore becoming less common in an increasing number of countries. At the same time, cohabitation has become increasingly widespread.

Once more common among people with lower levels of education and socio-economic status, cohabitation has in recent decades spread across educational and socioeconomic groups, making it a more broadly established form of partnership.

Cohabitation is particularly common in Central and South America, where levels are among the highest in the world. Rates of 40% or more of all unions are found in Panama, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti.

Brazil provides another striking example. In 2022, nearly 40% of couples were in consensual or cohabiting unions, compared with about 38% in civil and religious marriages. For the first time, consensual unions surpassed civil and religious marriages as the most common form of union.

The rise of cohabitation in Latin American countries has also been accompanied by increasing proportions of children being born outside of marriage. From roughly 2016 to 2020, approximately 75% of children in Latin America were born outside marriage. The proportions ranged from about 60% in Guatemala and Ecuador to more than 80% in Colombia and Panama.

By contrast, cohabitation remains less common in Asia and the Middle East. These lower rates are generally attributed to the continuing influence of traditional family structures, marriage practices, and cultural and religious norms.

In addition, some countries have cultural restrictions and laws prohibiting sex outside of marriage, effectively making cohabitation illegal. These include Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. In most of these countries, a large majority of adults aged 18 to 49 are married.

Various factors have contributed to the shift from marriage toward cohabitation in many countries. Unlike marriage, cohabitation generally involves fewer legal procedures, costs, and formalities and may avoid some of the financial and legal complications that may arise from divorce (Table 1).

Source: Author’s compilation.

Cohabitation also gives men and women opportunities to get to know each other, assess their compatibility, financial circumstances, and make decisions about their future without immediately assuming the legal obligations of marriage. For many couples, therefore, cohabitation has become an alternative to marriage rather than simply a step toward it.

The widespread availability of modern contraceptives has given men and women greater flexibility in forming personal relationships and greater control over the timing and number of their children. Other important factors include urbanization, rising educational attainment, increasing female labor-force participation, financial pressures and unemployment, changing priorities regarding careers, personal growth, and independence, and evolving social and economic roles of men and women.

Additional factors include the rising costs associated with marriage, the potential financial consequences of divorce, changes in laws governing unmarried couples, and growing social acceptance of cohabitation.

Among OECD countries, about 12% of adults aged 20 and older lived in a cohabiting union around 2023. The proportions were considerably higher in some OECD countries, including Iceland (22%), Sweden (20%), and France (19%).

As in many Latin American countries, a large proportion of the births in OECD countries now occur outside marriage. A half century ago, fewer than 10% of children were born outside of marriage in most OECD countries. By 2020, that share had risen to more than 30% in most countries and to more than half in several, including Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.

In sum, although substantial regional variations persist, particularly in more traditional and religious societies, marriage has declined significantly in most countries over the past several decades. Many men and women are also postponing marriage until later in life. At the same time, cohabitation among unmarried couples has become increasingly common, reflecting a broader transformation in partnership patterns.

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division.

 

Des hauts responsables américains et chinois se sont entretenus dimanche à New York en vue du sommet Trump-Xi prévu cette semaine.