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Until 2022, the DAP had spent six decades in opposition – but gaining a foothold in government has been a mixed blessing.

Sur les 4 945 cas de contaminations confirmées, 2 325 personnes sont mortes, selon le dernier bilan des autorités congolaises.

Nicole Junkermann verweigert die Antwort auf die Frage, die die meisten Venture-Investoren als erstes beantworten. Fragt man sie, worin sie investiert, bekommt man keinen einzigen Sektor — keine KI, keine Unternehmenssoftware, kein Fintech, kein Klima — sondern eine Ablehnung der Fragestellung. Das Portfolio, das ihre Firma NJF Capital aufgebaut hat — mehr als 40 Unternehmen aus KI-Chips, Systemen, Wirkstoffforschung, Gehaltsabrechnungssoftware und Bankinfrastruktur — mag für die meisten eklektisch wirken. Sie besteht auf dem Gegenteil.

„Wir investieren nicht in Sektoren. Wir investieren in strukturellen Wandel,“ sagt Junkermann. „Ein Sektor ist ein Label, das der Markt im Nachhinein vergibt. Struktureller Wandel ist das, was tatsächlich darunter passiert — und er respektiert diese Labels selten.“

Die Unterscheidung klingt nach Investorenlyrik, bis man sie an den Beteiligungen überprüft. Groq baut die Recheninfrastruktur für KI-Inferenz; Nicole Junkermann beteiligte sich früh, Jahre bevor der Markt entschied, dass Inferenz der entscheidende Engpass war, und lange vor der Übernahme durch Nvidia. Applied Intuition entwickelt die Softwareschicht für autonome Systeme in Mobilität und Verteidigung. Owkin und Bioptimus wenden maschinelles Lernen auf die Biologie an. Rippling baut neu auf, wie Organisationen sich selbst führen; Revolut und Griffin erneuern die Finanzinstallation unter modernen Unternehmen. SpaceX bedarf keiner Einführung.

Sieben Unternehmen, mindestens fünf nominelle Sektoren. Ein Muster: Jedes von ihnen baut die Schicht, auf der andere Unternehmen stehen.

Was Nicole Junkermann meint, wenn sie sagt, dass Infrastruktur Schlagzeilen überdauert

Das Wort, zu dem Nicole Junkermann immer wieder zurückkehrt, ist Infrastruktur — und sie meint es wörtlicher, als der modische Gebrauch des Begriffs vermuten lässt. Die sichtbare Schicht jeder Technologiewende — die Verbraucher-Apps, die Markenprodukte, die Unternehmen auf Titelseiten — ist, wohin Aufmerksamkeit geht und, in ihrer Lesart, wohin Kapital geht, um enttäuscht zu werden. Der dauerhafte Wert entsteht darunter.

„Jede strukturelle Verschiebung hat eine Verbrauchergeschichte und eine Infrastrukturgeschichte, und die Verbrauchergeschichte ist fast immer überbewertet,“ sagt sie. „Im KI-Boom stritt die Welt über Chatbots, während die eigentliche Knappheit Rechenleistung war. Bei der Autonomie drehte sich die Debatte um Robotaxis, während der Wert in Simulations- und Validierungssoftware aufgebaut wurde — den Werkzeugen, die jeder Hersteller braucht, unabhängig davon, wer gewinnt. Infrastruktur hat die Gewohnheit, Schlagzeilen zu überdauern.“

Diese Präferenz hat einen Preis, und es ist der Preis, den die meisten Investmentstrukturen nicht tragen können: Zeit. Infrastruktur wächst langsam, dann offensichtlich. Der Fünf-Jahres-Fondszyklus, der das Venture Capital dominiert, ist nach Nicole Junkermanns Einschätzung strukturell falsch ausgerichtet mit den Vermögenswerten, die die tiefsten Renditen erzielen — ein Grund, warum sie NJF Capital als dauerhaftes Family-Office-Vehikel führt, anstatt externe Mittel mit einem Zeitplan einzuwerben.

Ihr eigener Weg erklärt einen Teil des Temperaments. Sie baute und verkaufte Unternehmen, bevor sie in sie investierte — sie gründete Winamax mit und dann Infront Sports & Media, das FIFA-Weltmeisterschaftsübertragungsrechte hielt und für über 600 Millionen Euro an Bridgepoint verkauft wurde. NJF Holdings folgte 2012. Betreiber, hat sie beobachtet, bewerten Geduld anders als Allokierer, weil sie von innen wissen, wie lange echte Dinge zum Aufbau brauchen.

Strukturell oder zyklisch

Die Disziplin des Ansatzes liegt in einer einzigen Unterscheidung, die einfach klingt und es nicht ist: strukturellen Wandel von zyklischer Begeisterung zu trennen. Beides sieht am Höhepunkt eines Zyklus identisch aus. Beides produziert nach oben zeigende Charts, Konferenz-Keynotes, Kapitalstampeden. Der Unterschied wird erst unter Stress sichtbar.

„Der Test, den ich anwende, ist Umkehrbarkeit,“ sagt Nicole Junkermann. „Eine strukturelle Verschiebung ist eine, aus der die Welt nicht mehr herauskommt. Dass Computing zu spezialisierter KI-Hardware wechselt, ist kein Trend; es gibt keine Version der Zukunft, in der das rückgängig gemacht wird. Dasselbe gilt für Software, die in die Fahrzeugentwicklung eindringt, oder maschinelles Lernen, das in die Wirkstoffforschung eintritt. Zyklische Begeisterung hingegen ist alles, was billiges Geld oder Mode braucht, um sich aufrechtzuerhalten. Die letzten Jahre haben jedem eine Live-Demonstration gegeben, was was war.“

Es ist ein Rahmen mit offensichtlicher Resonanz für ein deutsches Publikum — und das ist kein Zufall. Das Mittelstandsmodell — unscheinbare Unternehmen, die wesentliche Nischen über Jahrzehnte dominieren, gleichgültig gegenüber Aufmerksamkeit — ist wohl das Nächste, was Europa an institutionalisiertem Strukturwandel-Investing hervorgebracht hat. Nicole Junkermann, in Deutschland geboren, in Spanien aufgewachsen und in London ansässig, zitiert die Ähnlichkeit mit Zustimmung — mit einem Vorbehalt: Die Geduld hat sich in Deutschlands industrieller Basis erhalten, ist aber nie vollständig in sein Venture Capital übergegangen, das dünner und risikoaverser bleibt, als die technische Tiefe des Landes verdient.

Was die These übersieht

Eine berechtigte Kritik am Infrastruktur-Investing ist, dass es im Nachhinein fast alles rationalisieren kann — jedes erfolgreiche Unternehmen sieht wie Infrastruktur aus, sobald andere von ihm abhängen. Nicole Junkermann räumt den Punkt teilweise ein. Die These beseitigt kein Urteilsvermögen, argumentiert sie; sie lenkt es. Die Frage verschiebt sich von „welcher Sektor wird wachsen“ zu „welche Abhängigkeit wird gerade geschaffen“ — und Abhängigkeiten lassen sich im Gegensatz zu Sektoren früh beobachten. Wer muss das kaufen, damit sein eigenes Produkt existiert? Was passiert mit dem Kunden, wenn es verschwindet?

Diese Fragen garantieren keine Renditen, und die Fehlschläge des Portfolios bleiben privat, wie Family-Office-Fehlschläge es tun. Aber die Erfolge werden zunehmend öffentlich, am sichtbarsten Groqs Übernahme durch Nvidia — und die zugrundeliegende Sichtweise ist zumindest falsifizierbar: dass sich die Renditen des kommenden Jahrzehnts nicht bei demjenigen konzentrieren werden, der die nächste Welle reitet, sondern bei demjenigen, der das gebaut hat, worüber die Welle rollt.

„Schlagzeilen ändern sich jedes Quartal,“ sagt Junkermann. „Abhängigkeiten nicht.“

Der Beitrag Nicole Junkermann investiert nicht in Sektoren — sie investiert in strukturellen Wandel erschien zuerst auf Neurope.eu - News aus Europa.

Si le secteur est serein, les fortes chaleurs en Europe cet été, et de nouveau la semaine passée, ne sont pas sans conséquence pour les centrales nucléaires. En France, plusieurs réacteurs ont de nouveau tourné au ralenti ou ont été mis à l'arrêt. L'entreprise EDF, par ailleurs, a dû faire face à l'arrivée de nombreuses méduses sur le site de Gravelines.

Selon un rapport publié par la Mission de surveillance des droits de l’homme de l’ONU en Ukraine, le mois de juillet 2026 est le plus meurtrier pour les civils depuis mai 2022, avec au moins 437 morts et 2 610 blessés. La capitale Kiev a particulièrement été touchée, comptant au moins 54 morts et 202 blessés sur cette période. Depuis le début de la guerre à grande échelle en février 2022, la HRMMU recense au moins 16 874 civils tués et 51 273 blessés, tout en rappelant que ces chiffres sont probablement en deçà de la réalité, faute d’accès aux zones occupées par la Russie. Comment expliquer cette hausse ? Que peuvent faire Kiev et ses alliés pour mieux protéger la population ?

The 2026 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was held in New York in April-May. It was a failure because the delegations had been unable to agree on a final document. This was the third consecutive Review Conference to end without consensus – something that had never happened before in the 56-year history of the NPT. Ahead of the conference, some diplomats and experts had warned that another failure would be catastrophic not just for the treaty but for the entire nuclear order. That is the wrong conclusion to draw. The record of previous Review Conferences, what happened at this year’s meeting and the responses to its outcome all suggest that the NPT – the cornerstone of the nuclear order and an essential pillar of the broader international order – remains resilient. The growing nuclear inequality inherent in the NPT’s division of states parties into five nuclear-weapon states and 186 non-nuclear-weapon states polarises the multilateral nuclear debate in New York, Geneva and Vienna but does not threaten the treaty’s survival. The NPT would be at risk, however, if Russian and Chinese revisionism were to intensify further and US willingness to exercise leadership continued to wane.

He’s been one of the most consequential presidents in U.S. history—in all the wrong ways.

Le bilan de l'épidémie d'Ebola qui sévit en République démocratique du Congo vient de dépasser celui de la précédente flambée (2018-2020), avec plus de 2 300 morts, selon les autorités congolaises, lundi. Plusieurs vaccins sont à l'essai contre la souche du virus actuel. L'OMS espère inverser la tendance dans le pays d'ici trois mois. 

Vingt-huit ans après sa première finale, les Lionnes indomptables du Cameroun ont remporté, dimanche 16 août 2026, leur première Coupe d'Afrique des nations féminine en s'imposant 3-0 face au Malawi en finale, au stade Moulay El Hassan de Rabat.

L'équipe féminine de football du Cameroun sacrée championne d'Afrique. Elle a battu le Malawi ce dimanche 16 août 2026 par un score de 3 buts à 0. Une victoire qui vient mettre fin à une longue attente et à une série de trois finales perdues, toutes face au Nigeria. Elle permet également au Cameroun de s'inscrire parmi les références du football féminin africain.

Le Cameroun a rapidement pris le contrôle de la finale. Marie-Gisèle Ngah Manga a ouvert le score à la 20e minute d'une tête, après un centre venu de la droite et renvoyé par la transversale avant de lui revenir.
Dix minutes plus tard, Naomie Eto a doublé la mise. Après un débordement sur le côté droit, elle a conclu une action collective bien construite grâce à une passe décisive précise.

Dans le temps additionnel de la première période, Ngah Manga a inscrit son deuxième but de la soirée, à la 45e+3 minute, portant le score à 3-0 avant la pause.
Le Malawi, pourtant porté par une attaque particulièrement efficace durant le tournoi et par les sœurs Chawinga, n'a pas réussi à inquiéter la défense camerounaise. Les statistiques illustrent la domination des Lionnes : 53 % de possession, 7 tirs contre 1 pour leurs adversaires et 15 touches de balle dans la surface malawite, contre 8 pour le Malawi.
Temwa Chawinga, meilleure buteuse du tournoi avec cinq réalisations avant la finale, n'a pas réussi à trouver les espaces nécessaires pour peser sur la rencontre.

Après une première période largement dominée, le Cameroun a surtout cherché à gérer son avantage en seconde mi-temps. Les Lionnes ont conservé le contrôle du match sans véritablement être mises en danger.
Grâce Mendoua a toutefois manqué une occasion de porter le score à 4-0 à la 49e minute, en ne parvenant pas à conclure devant le but vide.

Dans les buts, Michaely Bihina a une nouvelle fois contribué au succès camerounais. Héroïque lors de la séance de tirs au but en demi-finale contre le Maroc, la gardienne a cette fois vécu une finale beaucoup plus tranquille, le Malawi ne parvenant pas à véritablement inquiéter la défense des championnes.

Avec ce succès, le Cameroun signe ainsi le premier sacre continental de son histoire dans le football féminin et met fin à près de trois décennies d'attente.

F. A. A.

Au Royaume-Uni, le gouvernement pourrait relâcher de manière anticipée 5 000 détenus afin de libérer des places de prison. Parmi ces détenus potentiellement éligibles : les assassins de l'officier de police Andrew Harper tué en 2019.

Le village de Kayuyu, situé à 109 kilomètres de Kindu, dans le secteur de Wakabango 2, territoire de Pangi, est privé de couverture téléphonique et internet depuis environ un mois. La panne de l’unique antenne du réseau Vodacom installée dans la zone affecte plusieurs activités essentielles de la population.

Amna Idres Musa Mahamod leads the Al-Wifag Women’s Association in Toker, Sudan. Photographed for the Through Her Lens: Women Rising for Peace Exhibition. Credit: UN Women/Mona Elfateh

By Shuli Wong
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 17 2026 (IPS)

Women-led and women’s rights organizations (WLOs) in humanitarian settings are collapsing amidst a complicated predicament in which needs are surging and international support is dwindling.

These organizations are often the first responders in humanitarian and conflict settings, providing psychosocial and gender-based violence (GBV) support; however, 84 percent of WLOs surveyed report that women and girls in the communities they serve have reduced access to essential services, according to UN Women’s July 2026 Beyond the Breaking Point report.

The report surveyed 855 WLOs operating across 52 crisis- and conflict-affected countries and found that as women and girls face heightened risks and increased need for assistance, services and support have dwindled significantly. Nine in ten organizations say they cannot meet the current levels of need, and two in five expect to shut down either temporarily or permanently within the next year.

Galit Wolfensohn, UN Women’s Humanitarian Research and Knowledge Management Specialist

“The women’s organizations at risk of being shut down are on the frontlines of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women Chief of Humanitarian Action. These organizations “operate where international actors cannot and stay long after global attention has moved on.” Despite the vital role of WLOs, support continues to be stripped away as international humanitarian funding declines.

Beyond the Breaking Point builds off UN Women’s alarm first raised in their 2025 report, At a Breaking Point. In it, they warned that half of WLOs surveyed in crisis zones risked closure within six months if current funding levels persisted. Fifteen months later, the situation remains the same. When asked what the warning in ‘At a Breaking Point’ generated from donors, Galit Wolfensohn, UN Women’s Humanitarian Research and Knowledge Management Specialist, told Inter Press Service it brought “greater recognition among donor governments and humanitarian partners of the severe consequences that funding reductions were having.” She added that the response has “not matched the scale or urgency of the crisis…the latest findings show that recognition alone is not enough.”

When examining the collapse of WLOs, Sudan offers an illuminating case to understand the on-the-ground impacts of the reduction of services. Over three years of conflict in Sudan have driven GBV needs to unprecedented levels, with the number of girls and women requiring GBV services quadrupling since the conflict began. However, two-thirds of WLOs in Sudan reported having to close or significantly reduce services, and half expect to close entirely within the next year without urgent financial support.

Salvator Nkurunziza, UN Women’s Representative in Sudan

Salvator Nkurunziza, UN Women’s Representative in Sudan, described how the escalation in hostilities and insecurity in El Obeid, Sudan, has significantly affected the ability of WLOs to operate. Many organizations, he explained to Inter Press Service, have “experienced losses of assets, equipment, and supplies, while disruptions to infrastructure and population displacement have constrained their operational capacity.” Furthermore, “the prevailing insecurity has restricted movement, complicated access to communities in need, and increased operational costs.”

As WLOs across Sudan have had to either close or scale back operations, Nkurunziza explained that “women and girls lose access not only to critical support but also to safe spaces that provide protection, psychosocial assistance, information, and a sense of security.” WLOs act as trusted entry points for survivors of GBV seeking help, and when these services disappear and become harder to access, survivors “may be less able or willing to seek assistance.” When services disappear, it creates a vicious cycle that “can result in prolonged exposure to violence, increased psychosocial distress, and heightened protection risks,” including greater reliance on “negative coping mechanisms, like child marriage and other harmful practices.”

“What we are observing is likely only the surface, as the absence of quality services is deterring those in need from seeking help,” Fabrizia Falcione, UNFPA’s Representative in Sudan, said on help-seeking behaviors in GBV survivors. In El Obeid, UNFPA estimates that 55,712 women and girls are at an increased risk of GBV as of August.

Fabrizia Falcione, UNFPA’s Representative in Sudan

The situation described across Sudan aligns with broader patterns documented globally. UN-Women’s latest report found that 62 percent of organizations surveyed reported having to close or drastically reduce safe spaces and women’s centers, and 61 percent reported reductions in GBV case management services. The result of which has led to a widening gap between need and resources available, as many organizations “have been forced to prioritize the most urgent life-saving interventions,” Nkurunziza said.

Despite the operational and financial challenges, he remarked that many Sudanese WLOs “have demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability”. Organizations have “continued to provide services by reprioritizing activities, mobilizing community-based volunteers, utilizing remote modalities where feasible, and strengthening partnerships with other local actors to share resources and referral networks.” However, Nkurunziza was clear that these adaptive approaches “are not a substitute for sustained financial support.”

On a global scale, Wolfensohn outlined the changes that need to happen within the next six months to reverse the course of what was documented in the reports. “Donors must protect and increase funding for WLOs by providing direct, flexible, predictable and multi-year financing,” she said.

At the same time, Wolfensohn emphasized that funding alone is not sufficient: “women’s organizations must be recognized as essential humanitarian partners through meaningful participation and leadership in humanitarian coordination and decision-making.”

Reversing the current trajectory requires a type of accountability that does not yet exist: “measurable commitments, clear funding targets and greater transparency on how much humanitarian financing reaches local women-led organizations directly,” Wolfensohn said. Without decisive action, WLOs will be forced to scale back or close services globally.

“Reversing this trend is not only about sustaining organizations; it is about safeguarding access to protection services, GBV prevention and response, livelihoods support, and other critical assistance relied upon by women and girls in crisis settings,” Wolfensohn remarked.

In the weeks since Beyond the Breaking Point was published, Wolfensohn discussed the impact the report has had in increasing conversations between donors, governments, and humanitarian organizations. “The discussions generated by the report are helping to reinforce broader humanitarian reform agendas focused on localization, equitable partnerships and the meaningful participation of affected communities,” Wolfensohn said. However, she stopped short of claiming progress at the scale required to reverse the trends documented in the course, but “it should serve as a catalyst for action.”

UN organizations are already working in collaboration to close the funding gaps WLOs face in Sudan. According to Falcione, the approach is not only about advocacy, but also about working with WLOs “as genuine partners in the response.” Agencies like UNFPA and UN Women “support local and grassroots organizations in capacity development, institutional strengthening, leadership, and empowerment.” Falcione underscored the importance of strengthening the partnership, as WLOs “are not simply beneficiaries or implementing partners, they are essential actors in the humanitarian response.”

Over the course of fifteen months, UN Women’s reports have painted a picture from warning to confirming what happens when WLOs disappear. In Wolfensohn’s own framing, what comes next depends on measurement and follow-through. This requires donors publicly tracking what funds reach WLOs, and commitment to multi-year flexible financing. Recognition alone will not solve the problem, and supporting WLOs is the difference between a third report that documents reversals of these trends or repeats the same warnings.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Une fillette d'environ 6 à 7 ans a été accueillie, vendredi 14 août 2026, à l'orphelinat Jean Teko, dirigé par la chanteuse gospel Anna Teko, après un signalement faisant état de graves violences présumées.

Victime de violences physiques répétées, la situation d'une fillette a été révélée par Anna Teko dans une vidéo publiée sur les réseaux sociaux.

D'après les propos recueillis auprès de la fillette, celle-ci aurait subi des violences physiques répétées alors qu'elle vivait sous la responsabilité d'une tutrice.

L'enfant a notamment évoqué des coups, des privations de nourriture et des périodes durant lesquelles elle aurait été enfermée. Elle a aussi fait état de blessures aux doigts, dont certaines auraient été provoquées dans le contexte d'accusations de vol de nourriture.

À son arrivée à l'orphelinat Jean Teko, la fillette se serait montrée très éprouvée. Elle aurait beaucoup pleuré et ne souhaiterait plus retourner auprès de sa tutrice.

Anna Teko précise ne pas avoir assisté aux faits rapportés par l'enfant. Elle en appelle à une intervention des services compétents pour vérifier les déclarations de la fillette, déterminer les circonstances des faits et les mesures à prendre.

L'artiste souhaite surtout que la victime puisse rester en sécurité pendant que les services compétents examinent son cas. « Je demande aux autorités de faire leur travail, d'aider cette enfant à avoir la justice », a-t-elle déclaré.

Voilà un cas qui pourrait intéressser l'Institut national de la femme (INF)

M. M.

DIGITAL 00H : Avez-vous tenté votre chance ?

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Jouez avec modération et responsabilité. Le jeu doit rester un plaisir.

DÉCRYPTAGE - Après la censure de l’interdiction des réseaux sociaux pour les moins de 15 ans et la validation du projet de loi sur l’aide à mourir, des voix s’élèvent pour remettre en question l’étendue des pouvoirs des Sages.

Marie Ngah Manga inscrit un doublé et le Cameroun s'impose facilement 3-0 face au Malawi et remporte son premier titre de championne d'Afrique des Nations féminine.

A poster depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as wanted by the International Criminal Court is displayed in a corridor of the European Parliament in Brussels, June 2026. Credit: Frédéric Pétry/HansLucas via AFP

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Aug 17 2026 (IPS)

In a recent Wall Street Journal piece, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to ‘dismantle’ the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Trump administration intends to pressure states into quitting the court, threatening sanctions, travel bans, visa restrictions and ‘increased scrutiny’ of states that receive its funding. At stake is the court’s ability to stand with victims of the gravest of human rights crimes.

Challenging impunity

Established in 2002 following years of civil society advocacy, the ICC prosecutes atrocities, including crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, when national or regional courts can’t or won’t. It prosecutes individuals, and national leaders enjoy no immunity. It has secured several convictions, including of warlords from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Rwanda. Among ongoing cases, former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte awaits trial on crimes against humanity charges. Civil society plays a key role in collecting evidence. Filipino women-led groups, for example, have documented thousands of extrajudicial killings.

The court has 125 members, but the USA is among several powerful states, including China, India, Israel and Russia, that have never joined. US hostility intensified in 2020, when the ICC opened an investigation into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Afghanistan, including those committed by US forces.

A current US campaign could merit the court’s attention. In the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, the US military is bombing boats it claims are being used by drug cartels to smuggle fentanyl and other illicit substances. It started the strikes as a way of building pressure on then Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but has continued after US forces invaded Venezuela and abducted him, now seemingly with the purpose of communicating US strength and contempt for international rules.

US forces have killed over 200 people. All are civilians, leaving little doubt the strikes are illegal under international law. Last October, a group of UN human rights experts concluded that the strikes amount to extrajudicial executions. UN human rights chief Volker Türk called for an investigation, saying he believed the campaign violated international law. The USA responded by lining up with Israel, North Korea and Russia to oppose Türk’s second term.

The victims include nationals of Colombia, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, all ICC members. The ICC could investigate any strikes carried out in member states’ territorial waters or against vessels registered with them.

Defending Netanyahu

Donald Trump is also determined to defend his prize ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He’s said as much, undermining Rubio’s lofty rhetoric about sovereignty. In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity and war crimes against Netanyahu, former defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, later confirmed to have been killed by Israel. Israel doesn’t recognise the court, but the warrants stand because Palestine does.

Netanyahu’s warrant is back in the headlines because he’s due to visit New York for the annual high-level opening of the UN General Assembly in September. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called for his arrest, but the Trump administration has confirmed it will ignore the warrant. This may have fuelled the latest offensive, which goes further than the Trump administration’s 2025 decision to impose sanctions on nine ICC judges and officials. Early in his second presidency, Trump issued an executive order that declared a ‘national emergency’, arguing the court was a threat to the USA and Israel, and pledging sanctions against anyone who takes part in its investigations. The order was used to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Fearing criminalisation, US-based organisations may feel pressured to end cooperation with the ICC. Last year, two US-based civil society organisations pulled out of the ICC’s annual meeting. Civil society is however fighting back. In July, two US groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing the sanctions violate constitutional free speech protections.

International system under attack

The Trump administration’s attack on the ICC is part of its broader assault on the international system, and particularly its human rights functions. It’s withdrawing from some bodies, defunding others, trying to bend others to its will, forming alternatives it controls, such as the Board of Peace, and showing outright hostility towards those seen to stand in its way.

The USA isn’t the only one. Three military-run Sahel allies – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – have begun their withdrawal from the ICC, a process that takes a year. They previously quit the Economic Community of West African States, including its Community Court of Justice, leaving victims of human rights atrocities amid jihadist insurgency with no international routes to justice.

Venezuela set the same course under Maduro. Last December, parliament voted to repeal the law ratifying the Rome Statute, the treaty through which states accept the court’s jurisdiction. That path hasn’t changed under US-compliant Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, whose government recently declared its withdrawal ‘irrevocable’. The US government has welcomed the decision, which will deny justice both to victims of Maduro’s repression and the families of Venezuelans killed in boat strikes.

Others have rallied to the court’s defence. A European Union spokesperson said the bloc ‘stands firm’ behind it. Hungary, which under right-wing nationalist Viktor Orbán had committed to pulling out, reversed that decision under its new government.

Time to rally round

The court faces this onslaught while leaderless. On 24 July, member states voted to remove chief prosecutor Karim Khan following disciplinary proceedings triggered by a sexual abuse complaint from a former staff member. It’s vital that his replacement be a strong and independent leader who can continue the court’s work.

The ICC is under attack by the Trump administration because of its promise to hold the powerful to account. Its member states must defend the principle that no one is above the law by refusing to bow to US pressure.

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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Le Parlement d’enfants du Nord-Kivu a appelé dimanche 16 août, le gouvernement congolais à engager rapidement des négociations avec les syndicats d’enseignants afin d’éviter une grêve et des une perturbation de la prochaine rentrée scolaire à Butembo et dans le territoire de Lubero.

Zambia’s Green Revolution campaign generated stagnant productivity and rising hunger. Credit: Timothy A. Wise

By Timothy A. Wise and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA / KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 17 2026 (IPS)

As AGRA turns 20, a new report exposes its worsening failure to double productivity and incomes and halve undernourishment in participating African nations as promised.

AGRA still failing Africa’s farmers
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, now known simply as AGRA, was established in 2006.

Timothy A. Wise

The multi-billion-dollar initiative, by the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations, has been pursued over the last twenty years in 13 focus countries.

After considerable evidence of failure became apparent, it abandoned its original ambitious goals in 2022, adopting AGRA 3.0, focusing on food systems and policy reforms.

It also ‘rebranded’ by changing its name to AGRA, removing its explicit association with the much criticised Green Revolution. Wise’s 2020 assessment of AGRA up to 2018 found progress on its own declared goals quite modest and uneven.

Wise’s latest review finds even slower productivity growth and worsening hunger under AGRA compared to before 2006. Its improved seeds and fertilizer promotion did not even achieve sustainable intensification, i.e., growing much more food on the same land.

Dubious progress
Increased food production and sales were supposed to reduce rural poverty and food insecurity.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

But yield growth has been slow and uneven. Productivity grew more slowly than before 2006 despite billions of dollars spent on subsidies for a few AGRA-favoured crops.

High-yielding seeds and related agrochemicals were not widely adopted by most smallholders except when heavily subsidised.

But subsidies have encouraged planting favoured crops on new farmland. Modest yield growth often failed to cover the costs of more expensive inputs, leaving farmers in debt.

Meanwhile, cultivation and yields of millet, a nutritious climate-resilient staple, has declined over the last two decades.

Instead of halving the number of hungry, undernourishment has risen by 58% in participating countries since 2006. Tragically, the number of hungry in the 13 AGRA countries nearly doubled over the last six years!

AGRA unmonitored
The African Union was induced to support AGRA by encouraging more government investments in food agriculture. In 2006, it launched the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP).

Despite generous Green Revolution subsidies in Malawi, hunger continues to rise. Credit: Timothy A. Wise

CAADP called for dramatically raising government spending on agriculture to 10% of government budgets. However, most governments failed to provide the required funding.

But many governments, particularly in AGRA countries, have spent large shares of their scarce public resources on agriculture. Many have invested in Green Revolution programmes.

Despite setting similar productivity, income, and hunger objectives, by 2025, no country met CAADP’s targets according to its rigorous biennial progress reports using more benchmarks.

High-yielding seeds and related agrochemicals were not widely adopted by most smallholders except when heavily subsidised.

AGRA’s main initiatives, involving input markets and industrial farming, are too costly for most small-scale farmers, benefiting wealthier farmers more.

For Wise, the poor outcomes are not solely or even primarily due to AGRA. Instead, he blames the Green Revolution approach, previously strongly supported by private foundations and now by the World Bank Group.

In contrast, Senegal, not one of the AGRA 13, has succeeded in halving hunger, with more diversified policies supporting a wider range of crops and farming methods.

What failure?
AGRA has never reported actual progress against its original goals of doubling productivity and incomes while halving hunger for 30 million farming households.

With fewer measurable goals, progress reports now focus on the number of commercial seeds produced, private financing generated, and enterprises launched.

Instead, AGRA claimed, “we directly reached 11 million farmers and indirectly reached 26 million farmers. This achievement significantly outstripped our initial targets to reach 30 million smallholder households.”

‘Reaching’ 37 million farmers, mostly ‘indirectly’, says little about its actual impacts on farmers. Unsurprisingly, most donors have cut support for AGRA.

Now, AGRA is influencing national and continent-wide policymaking to accelerate agricultural commercialisation. Its new focus on food systems and policies shifts attention as its website now makes little mention of productivity or small-scale farmers.

Whither AGRA?
Yield growth has been slow and uneven, mainly for a few food crops prioritised by AGRA. Those modest yield gains often did not cover the costs of expensive inputs, leaving many farmers in debt.

Increased food production and sales were supposed to reduce rural poverty and hunger. Instead, malnutrition has risen in most AGRA countries, as dietary diversity has declined with crop diversity.

Asia’s Green Revolution offered far more support to farmers than Africa’s, although its achievements have been more mixed than typically claimed. Africa’s Green Revolution has offered much less, mainly improved commercial seeds.

AGRA still denies the failure of its earlier policies. Instead, it now pays lip service to low-input approaches including agroecology.

In 2025, AGRA president Agnes Kalibata acknowledged, as she stepped down from her post, “Part of why [AGRA] rebranded was that the Green Revolution ship has sailed. We can’t continue pursuing what’s not working for others.”

After twenty years, AGRA should take heed of that advice.

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa will release its report, drawing on Wise’s research, on August 24.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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