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Près de 140 agents journaliers de la Société nationale d’électricité (SNEL) à Bandundu-ville (Kwilu) expriment leur ras-le-bol face à la précarité de leur statut professionnel.

Travaillant pour certains depuis deux décennies sans contrat permanent, ils exigent la concrétisation de la promesse d'embauche formulée par la direction générale de cette entreprise publique.

Plusieurs enfants du groupement de Miti, situé dans le territoire de Kabare (Sud-Kivu), sont exposés à des piqûres de tiques durant cette période de vacances scolaires.

Ces acariens parasites représentent un risque sanitaire majeur, car leurs morsures sont fréquemment à l'origine d'abcès, de cas de tétanos et de fièvres hémorragiques au sein de la communauté.

L’inexistence de chambres froides dans la ville de Kananga, au Kasaï-Central, préoccupe les vendeurs de viande. La conservation de ces produits est devenue un véritable casse-tête. Les commerçants appellent les autorités à doter les marchés de la ville d’équipements de conservation adaptés.

Children play outside their home at a shelter in the Philippines. Credit: UNICEF/Joshua Estey

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2026 (IPS)

On July 7, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented a report from the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse of children, Ai Kihara-Hunt, to the General Assembly, underscoring her goals and priorities for the implementation of protection measures for children worldwide.

The report, submitted in coordination with the Human Rights Council, highlights the systemic barriers that leave children increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse, including weak government oversight, limited support and justice services for victims, and worsening protracted crises.

“Given the complexity, hidden and transnational nature of the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, the Special Rapporteur believes that robust child protection systems and effective cooperation within each State and across borders are essential to combat the phenomena,” the report reads. “Addressing the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children requires a human rights-based approach grounded in the best interests of the child and informed by the dignity, agency and resilience of children.”

Drawing largely from contributions by UN member states, international agencies, civil society groups, and humanitarian organizations, the report outlines key mechanisms for cooperation, accountability, and the prevention of human rights violations against children. The report incorporates global perspectives from diverse stakeholders and the lived experiences of survivors, prioritizing protection, recovery, rehabilitation, and access to justice through frameworks that are gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, victim-centered, trauma-informed, and fundamentally grounded in children’s rights.

This follows the 61st session of the Human Rights Council on March 10, where former Special Rapporteur Mama Fatima Singhateh warned that emerging digital technologies are revolutionizing how perpetrators commit abuse and rendering online spaces increasingly dangerous for children. Singhateh urged closer cooperation between humanitarian actors, governments, and stakeholders to prevent digital advancements from creating “new pathways” for human rights violations.

Singhateh also issued a child-friendly version of her final report to the Human Rights Council on April 20, emphasizing the importance of accessibility so that children can engage meaningfully in the discussions that affect them most. Moving forward, Kihara-Hunt aims to build upon her predecessors’ work by addressing issues that have not received adequate attention or sustained engagement from the UN. Key priorities include the “complex or rapidly evolving” challenges linked with intersecting global crises and the alarming rise of sexual exploitation across digital contexts.

The Special Rapporteur notes that online spaces allow children to express consent and agreement based on their evolving capacities, which may grow increasingly complex amid the introduction of emerging technologies. The rise of artificial intelligence has been a major concern for humanitarian organizations as these technologies have streamlined the production and dissemination of harmful child material, as well as the collection of unauthorized images and the misuse of personal data.

Additionally, the report highlights how digital technologies—such as social media platforms, messaging applications, and cryptocurrencies—have streamlined recruitment into armed groups and trafficking and exploitation, while simultaneously helping perpetrators evade law enforcement.

“Child sexual exploitation and abuse are driven by a range of factors, including harmful social norms, stigma, gender inequality, power imbalances, poverty, and weaknesses in child protection and support systems,” Afrooz Kaviani Johnson, UNICEF Child Protection Specialist, tells Inter Press Service. “Today, the digital environment is increasingly implicated in these harms. Children face risks such as grooming, coercion, sexual exploitation, and abuse facilitated through digital platforms. Emerging technologies, including generative AI, are also expanding the scale and severity of risks.”

A core pillar of Kihara-Hunt’s mandate is to urge the private sector to adopt stricter safety policies rooted in human rights and children’s privacy—a responsibility that extends across organizations, from employees and volunteers to business partners. The report notes that market incentives and commercialization and profit-driven systems will be monitored in the ways they may or may not be contributing to a harmful environment that facilitates the sexual exploitation of children, particularly online.

“A safety-by-design approach involves assessing and mitigating foreseeable risks that platforms, messaging services, gaming environments or artificial intelligence systems may facilitate the sale of children, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and to actively detect, report and remove child sexual abuse materials,” the report states. “Beyond these responsibilities, the Special Rapporteur intends to examine how business actors can play proactive roles, in collaboration with States and other relevant stakeholders, in prevention, safeguarding, reporting and support for children.”

The report also noted that children residing in areas affected by armed conflict and humanitarian crises face heightened risks of sale and sexual exploitation, leaving them roughly twice as likely to experience rape and sexual assault during childhood compared to the global average. Other related drivers of sexual exploitation include forced displacement, natural disasters, and climate change. In these contexts, humanitarian aid is significantly limited, which often leads to constraints on protection measures and civil society intervention.

“Humanitarian crises such as conflict, displacement, climate-related shocks, and public health emergencies can disrupt the systems that help keep children safe,” said Johnson. “They can increase children’s exposure to risk while reducing access to essential services and support.”

“Poverty and financial hardship can also increase vulnerability, particularly in situations where exploitation involves an exchange of money, goods, or other benefits. Children who are displaced, on the move, living with disabilities, or affected by humanitarian crises often face multiple and overlapping risks.”

Economic instability and inequality also serve as primary drivers of child sexual exploitation. According to the report, children who are “outside the formal protection networks”—such as those experiencing statelessness—frequently are the victims of abuse from adults, peers, and in some instances, even law enforcement officials. Displaced children are similarly vulnerable, often barred from reporting crimes out of fear of detention or deportation. Without official identity documentation to access support services, and frequently separated from family members, stateless and migrant children face reduced adult supervision, which drastically increases vulnerability.

To build on her predecessors’ initiatives, Kihara-Hunt intends to prioritize youth participation and develop a mandate that empowers children. She aims to urge governments, tech companies, and stakeholders to build safer online spaces. Furthermore, Kihara-Hunt is committed to pressing for stronger cooperation between sectors, particularly within public health and education.

“The role of the public health sector in the rehabilitation of child victims and survivors extends beyond recovery and reintegration and includes promoting a shift from a criminal justice response towards one centered on the health and well-being of the child. Meanwhile, the education sector contributes across all stages of prevention, protection and response, as further elaborated on below.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Carol Koech, Vice President for Africa at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet

By Benson Kunchezera
LILONGWE, Aug 12 2026 (IPS)

For years, Malawi’s electricity supply has been at the mercy of droughts, floods and cyclones that have repeatedly exposed the vulnerability of a power system heavily dependent on hydropower.

Cyclones Anna and Freddy damaged energy infrastructure, triggering prolonged blackouts that disrupted businesses, hospitals, schools and households while forcing the country to rely on expensive diesel generators to keep essential services running.

Now Malawi is betting on battery storage technology to make its electricity network more resilient to climate shocks while accelerating its transition to renewable energy.

The country has commissioned its first standalone utility-scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a 20-megawatt, 40-megawatt-hour facility in Kanengo, Lilongwe, developed by the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) with support from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP).

Backed by a USD 20 million catalytic grant from GEAPP, the project is expected to stabilise the national grid, unlock approximately 100 megawatts of renewable electricity that has previously been curtailed, reduce dependence on diesel generators and avoid more than 10,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

For Carol Koech, vice president for Africa at the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, the project represents more than another piece of energy infrastructure.

“This project was envisioned after Cyclones Anna and Freddy exposed the fragility of Malawi’s hydropower-dependent grid,” Koech told IPS in an interview.

“The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) strengthens grid resilience by storing electricity and dispatching it instantly during peak demand or climate-related disruptions. It also reduces reliance on costly diesel backup generation while unlocking about 100 megawatts of renewable energy capacity that is currently being curtailed.”

Unlike conventional power plants, battery storage does not generate electricity. Instead, it stores excess energy when demand is low and releases it when demand rises or generation falls, helping stabilise voltage and frequency across the electricity network.

Energy experts say such systems are becoming increasingly important as African countries expand renewable energy generation while confronting increasingly severe climate impacts.

For Malawi, where hydropower accounts for most electricity generation, prolonged droughts reduce river flows while floods and cyclones damage transmission infrastructure, making battery storage a critical adaptation tool.

Powering Economic Growth

Reliable electricity remains one of the biggest barriers to Malawi’s economic growth.

Frequent blackouts force manufacturers to halt production, increase operating costs through diesel generation and discourage private investment.

Agriculture, which employs the majority of Malawians, also depends increasingly on electricity for irrigation, agro-processing and cold storage.

Koech says reliable electricity could transform these productive sectors.

“Energy plays a significant role in enabling resilient agricultural systems,” she said.

“Irrigation, agro-processing and cold storage all depend on reliable electricity. Having a stable grid means these activities can continue with minimal interruptions.”

She added that manufacturers and small businesses also stand to benefit from fewer power outages.

“A reliable electricity supply means manufacturers do not have to worry about production losses or the high costs associated with alternative power sources. Small businesses equally benefit because they can operate consistently without disruptions.”

The project is expected to improve electricity reliability for households, industries and critical public services while supporting Malawi’s ambition of expanding electricity access to 70 percent by 2030.

Strengthening Regional Energy Trade

Beyond national benefits, the battery storage project could strengthen Malawi’s role within the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), the regional electricity market linking several countries across southern Africa.

Malawi already has an electricity interconnector with Mozambique, while additional connections to Zambia and Tanzania are planned or under development.

According to Koech, battery storage provides the stable national grid needed for countries to participate effectively in regional electricity trading.

“Malawi is strategically positioned within the Southern African Power Pool,” she said.

“Battery storage strengthens grid stability, making it essential for cross-border electricity trade and regional energy security. As regional electricity markets continue evolving, resilient national grids will become increasingly important.”

Improved regional integration could enable countries to share electricity during shortages, improve renewable energy utilization and reduce the costs of maintaining reserve generation capacity.

Building African expertise

The Malawi project also aims to strengthen Africa’s technical capacity in battery storage technology.

Koech said the initiative forms part of GEAPP’s wider effort to deploy 90 gigawatts of battery storage globally while building local expertise to support future projects.

A Southern Africa BESS Centre of Excellence anchored at Mzuzu University will train engineers and power sector specialists in battery operations, grid modelling and system integration.

“We are building a local ecosystem for battery storage in Africa,” Koech explained.

“The Centre of Excellence will equip the next generation of African energy professionals with the technical skills needed to design, operate and manage these systems while allowing countries to learn from each other and reduce project delivery costs.”

She said knowledge generated through Malawi’s experience would support similar projects across the continent, including utility-scale battery developments already emerging elsewhere in southern Africa.

Attracting Future Investment

For GEAPP, Malawi’s project also serves as proof that utility-scale battery storage is commercially viable in Africa.

Instead of relying on diesel generators to stabilise electricity networks, utilities can increasingly use batteries to provide frequency regulation, voltage support and other ancillary grid services.

“This project demonstrates that Africa is ready for utility-scale battery storage,” Koech said.

“It shows utilities can replace expensive diesel with battery systems that charge during periods of low demand and discharge during peak demand while providing critical grid services.”

She believes the demonstration effect could encourage greater public and private investment in modern electricity infrastructure across the continent.

As African countries pursue ambitious renewable energy targets while confronting worsening climate extremes, battery storage is increasingly being viewed not simply as an energy technology but as climate resilience infrastructure.

For Malawi, where climate change continues to threaten electricity generation and economic development, the Kanengo battery project could become an important model for how clean energy investments strengthen resilience, expand energy access and stimulate sustainable growth.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Inter Press Service (IPS),

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By Anis Chowdhury
SYDNEY, Aug 12 2026 (IPS)

Should anyone be surprised that Israel has rebuffed Donald Trump? The unconditional support of the US and its Western allies for Israel has emboldened the rogue state. Thus, Israel continues its genocide against the Palestinians in defiance of international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention, and despite the so-called ceasefire agreement under the Trump plan. This is the pay-back for protecting Netanyahu from his arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Anis Chowdhury

The West’s making of a Frankenstein

The creation of Israel in the Palestinian land was a western project. The West ignored the fate of the Palestinians and granted impunity to Israel in the guise of Israel’s right to exist. The genocidal intent of the Zionists founders of Israel was well-known. It became an open fact in 1948 when 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced and dispossessed to pave the way for the creation of the State of Israel. The Palestinians refer to this as “Nakba”, meaning catastrophe in Arabic.

Between 1947 and 1949 Zionist forces captured more than 78% of historic Palestine even though the State of Israel was supposed to get around 56% of the land under the United Nation’s plan. The Zionist forces ethnically cleansed and destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed about 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities, and more than 70 massacres. In less than six months, from December 1947 to mid-May 1948, Zionist armed groups expelled about 440,000 Palestinians from 220 villages.

Since the establishment of Israel, the state has extended its systematic ethnic cleansing while the West looked the other way. Even though the Zionist project fulfilled its dream of creating “a Jewish homeland” in Palestine in 1948, the process of ethnic cleansing and displacement of Palestinians never stopped.

The West’s Frankenstein now dreams of a greater Israel from “the River to the Sea”. The Zionist Israel always finds excuses to scuttle any peace plan or ceasefire agreement. This time, Netanyahu rejected Trump’s so-called peace plan demanding that Hamas be “genuinely” disarmed first.

Trump says “the relationship is very good,” even as Netanyahu rejects Gaza peace plan. No surprise; Netanyahu’s predecessor, Ariel Sharon, former Prime Minister of Israel was reported to have said to his Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, “Don’t worry about American pressure; we control America”.

However, to be fair, Israeli sources denied that Sharon made any such comment. Nonetheless, Israel’s control over the US and its Western allies is visible to the naked eye.

The West has no clothes

The Western allies of the rogue State Israel give a lip service to the fate of the Palestinian in the guise of a so-called “Two-State solution” while takes no real actions against Israel’s continued expansion of settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in defiance of the verdict of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

On 19 July, 2024, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion declaring Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza – illegal under international law. The court demanded that the occupation must end as rapidly as possible.

Meanwhile rising settler violence, aided by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) against the Palestinians continues unabated.

In arrogant defiance Israel’s parliament (the Knesset) voted 68 to 9 on July 18, 2024 to pass a resolution rejecting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

Yet, there is no protest from the US and its Western allies. Even the Western countries that symbolically recognised the State of Palestine remain silent as the Frankenstein tightened its grip on its creators.

They are loud in demanding Palestinian disarmament as condition for so-called peace while the rogue State of Israel defiantly reject the Palestinian’s right to have their own sovereign state and basic human rights.

If the Palestinians are asked to disarm then the rogue state must also be asked to rescind its bill rejecting the creation of an independent Palestine. It must also dismantle its illegal settlements in the Occupied Territory– including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza as demanded by the ICJ.

Anis Chowdhury, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney University (Australia). He held senior UN positions in Bangkok and New York and served as Special Assistant to the Chief Advisor for Finance (with the status and rank of State Minister) in the Professor Yunus-led Interim Government. E-mail: anis.z.chowdhury@gmail.com; a.chowdhury@westernsydney.edu.au

IPS UN Bureau

 

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