Africa

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By External Source
Oct 9 2025 (IPS-Partners)

 
Mohamed M. Malick Fall was appointed as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria in February 2024. He has more than 20 years of experience in the development, humanitarian and peacebuilding fields. Prior to his appointment, he served as the UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, where he provided oversight and guidance to 21 UNICEF Countries Offices, including on the formulation and implementation of the Country Programme Documents, the UN Reform process, and the engagement with the Regional and Economic Commission and African Union and the private sector.

Furthermore, Mr. Fall has led the response to multiple and complex crises with massive humanitarian needs and high security challenges, and managed the strategic review of the country documents, research and knowledge-management-related activities, ensuring that the results are used to inform programmes and policies.

Before that, he served as UNICEF Representative in Nigeria (2016–2019), Central African Republic (2014–2016) and Mongolia (2012–2014), as the Senior Education Adviser in Haiti (2010–2012), and as Chief of Education in Indonesia (2006–2010) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2003–2006). He was also temporarily assigned as Education Officer (2001–2003).

Mohamed M. Malick Fall has a Master’s degree in Demography from Université de Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne in France and a B.A. Degree in History (Licence d’Histoire) from Université de Dakar in Sénégal.

ECW: Today, there are 18.3 million children out of school in Nigeria. How can relevant organizations – UN agencies, civil society organizations and ECW – work better together with national/state/local governments to get these girls and boys into safe and protective learning environments?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: Given the scale of the number of children that are out of school, building partnerships (as well as strengthening existing partnerships) at national, state and local level is one of the ways to support out-of-school children (OOSC) to get back to school or into alternative learning pathways. No single actor can address this challenge alone – it requires collective leadership, resources and innovation to address this profound challenge. Together with the Ministry of Education, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and religious and faith-based leaders, ECW must align their support with national education priorities. This way, interventions do not create parallel systems but instead strengthen and reinforce existing education structures.

Strengthening collaboration and leveraging resources is essential to achieving a clearly communicated goal of reducing the number of OOSC. The learning environment must be safe and conducive to encourage attendance and learning. Hence, ensuring that the learning environment is free from all forms of abuse and violence, providing inclusive classrooms for learners with disabilities, and equipping teachers with requisite skills and knowledge to support learners as need arises. The UN with ECW has demonstrated this through a Multi-Year Resilience Programme – which has brought together different INGOs and local NGOs, under the leadership of the three state governments, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY). This partnership resulted in about 200,000 children benefiting from various interventions. In addition, over 130,000 children in the BAY states will benefit from ECW-supported interventions. ECW, through its First Emergency Response, is also supporting over 100,000 boys and girls in insecurity prone areas of Northwest Nigeria to continue accessing formal and non-formal education in safe spaces. ECW’s approach of working through the cluster strengthens coordination, encourages government ownership and leadership and avoids duplication of efforts.

Aligning with the government’s plans for education is also key to sustainability of actions in addressing OOSC. The Nigerian Government’s Education Renewal initiative prioritizes the issue of OOSC in its agenda and continues to call on actors to collectively harmonize strategies and resources to answering these key questions ‘Who are they?’, ‘Where are they?’ and ‘Why are they OOSC?’

Additionally, at the national level, the UN continues to engage with the Federal Ministry of Education and its agencies such as the Universal Basic Education Commission, National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children with the aim of 1) keeping the issue of OOSC on the agenda of the government, 2) supporting development of policies and strategies for addressing the needs of OOSC, 3) implementing actions to ensure enrolment, retention and completion for learners, and 4) mobilizing and allocating resources for states in addressing these issues.

Finally, predictable and flexible funding is essential in Nigeria’s highly unpredictable context, where families are displaced multiple times. Donor support through ECW and other mechanisms is critical – not only to meet urgent needs but also to build resilience so education systems are protected during future crises.

ECW: Over your career, you have worked in some of the world’s most severe crisis contexts, including Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Indonesia (Banda Aceh post-tsunami) and Nigeria. Why should donors, the private sector and national governments invest in education as a building block for sustainable development?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: When communities are destabilized by conflict, education is often the first service disrupted and the last to be restored. Yet, it is the one investment that gives children and youth the tools to rebuild their lives and societies. In my experiences in the conflict-affected and post-disaster countries in which I have served, education provides protection, keeping children safe from recruitment into armed groups, exploitation and harmful practices, and provides post-trauma recovery.

Having worked in countries that experienced the worst disasters of the past decades (for example, the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, each with over 200,000 lives claimed, millions displaced and massive destruction of infrastructure), I witnessed how education services were vital in bringing back normalcy to people’s lives and providing children with the psychosocial support they needed to recover from being separated from or having lost their parents and/or families. This is why I always carry the conviction that education in emergencies is a life-saving intervention, beyond the role it plays in immediate response as well as longer-term recovery.

Investing in education is not charity; it is a smart, long-term investment. Every dollar spent on education in conflict-affected countries is a critical contribution to building long-term human capital and resilience. Take Nigeria, for example: the country has a rapidly growing youth population, and if these young people are left without education and skills, it will create a crisis for the future.

However, if they are educated, they will be empowered to make informed health choices now and in the future, thereby leading to reduced maternal and child mortality, improved nutrition and stronger resilience against diseases. It is also important to mention that today’s socioeconomic progress is mostly based on people’s skills and knowledge, as shown by countries that have taken the lead on innovations such as new technology, artificial intelligence, etc. Therefore, in my view, in fragile contexts, education is not optional, but rather it is the foundation for recovery, peacebuilding, social cohesion and sustainable development.

It is the bridge between immediate humanitarian response and long-term stability. Without it, sustainable development simply cannot be achieved. Thanks to the generosity of donors, ECW has not only mobilized much-needed resources but also demonstrated that education response must begin at the very onset of a crisis.

ECW: As we embrace the Pact for the Future, Grand Bargain Agreements and the UN80 Initiative, how can we streamline efficiencies and activate local networks to deliver life-saving foundational education supports across the globe and make good on the promise of education for all as outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: The objectives of these initiatives revolves around a similar theme – how nations can better align their resources to reach more, especially marginalized, conflict- and disaster-affected populations, and utilize local resources.

Partnership is key – where countries have found what works to better their foundational education, these proven approaches and interventions should be scaled up and with appropriate cultural context, establishing and building on the existing government structures, communities, local CSOs and NGOs (including youth organizations). The CSOs are closest to the grassroots; they can touch and reach many communities. We must shift from centralized delivery models to locally led solutions. The localization model is gaining real momentum within the humanitarian architecture. In Nigeria, for example, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund allocates pooled funds directly to national NGOs, enabling them to deliver faster, more efficiently and in closer partnership with those on the frontlines. This approach is showing promising results. With continued investment in strengthening their institutional and technical capacities, national NGOs can take greater ownership of the response, ensuring that interventions are not only timely but also more sustainable and rooted in local realities.

The other example that remains indelible in my mind is from my tenure in the Central African Republic at the peak of the crisis there. At a time when many teachers had to flee from their positions due to religious and/or ethnic affiliation, many parents stepped in to replace them, serving as “maîtres-parents” (parent-teachers) and ensuring that children continued to receive education. The UN provided them with essential support such as basic training, teaching and learning materials. This is, to me, a great example of community engagement that maintained a sector as vital as education during one of the worst crises the country had ever experienced. The home-based schools that I saw in Afghanistan, created to provide education to girls whose right to education was denied by the Taliban, are another memory of community efforts to sustain education in the face of the strongest religious and cultural barriers.

When we go together, we achieve more. In this time of cuts to aid funding, we must align resources and avoid duplication of initiatives – so we can get more returns for every dollar invested. The availability of quality education data can help countries design and allocate resources to where it is most needed. The Federal Ministry of Education is investing a lot in the Nigeria Education Data Initiative – a government-led effort to centralize and modernize education data across all levels in Nigeria. This will help to align interventions to where it is needed most, design fit-for-purpose interventions and avoid duplication of efforts by the intervening agencies/partners.

Today, new technology offers unprecedented opportunities to accelerate both access and quality of education while, at the same time, reducing its cost. Teaching and learning can be done through low-cost tech solutions to reach maximum learners, as demonstrated during lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Distance learning using new technology helped to avoid a lost generation. The acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals related to education should make maximum use of the opportunities offered by new technology.

We can build a resilient local ecosystem that can support education for all children. By streamlining financing, empowering local networks and embedding education in crisis response, we can turn commitments under the Pact for the Future, the Grand Bargain and the UN80 Initiative into concrete action – making education not just a promise, but a guarantee for every child, everywhere, as envisioned in the 2030 Agenda.

ECW: Why is investing in girls’ education – especially for vulnerable girls on the frontlines of conflict, climate change, forced displacement and other protracted crises – so important?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: Investing in girls’ education – especially for vulnerable girls living on the frontlines of conflict, climate change, forced displacement and protracted crises – is not only a moral imperative, but also a strategic investment in the country’s recovery, stability, resilience and long-term development.

There is global evidence on why it’s important to invest in girls’ education, with benefits including improved income for the girls, breaking down of the cycle of poverty, low maternal and child mortality rates, and shifts in social norms. Nigeria has made strides in improving the enrolment and retention of girls in schools. In conflict and protracted crisis regions, girls are reported to be at risk of sexual exploitation, gender-based violence and early and forced marriage. Investing in education for girls will reduce their vulnerability and provide an opportunity to contribute to development and build their confidence to make informed decisions about their lives and future. The UN and its partners are ensuring that girls who have been forced into child marriage and teenage motherhood (i.e. due to socio-cultural or economic barriers) have an opportunity to enrol in school and break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. We have collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Education to develop national guidelines for the facilitation of re-entry of pregnant and married adolescent girls into school.

UNESCO estimates that child marriage would drop by 64% if all girls completed secondary education. Primary completion rate is around 73% for both boys and girls, according to the National Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF. Disparities in completion rates are shown at junior secondary school level with 69% for boys and 67% for girls; at senior secondary school, the completion rates are 57% for boys and 51% for girls. For example, the Girls’ Education Programme led by the UN brought back over 1.5 million girls in basic education and supported their retention programme. This initiative strengthened community efforts to enrol girls in school, encouraged completion and transition, and built resilience. As of July 2025, the capacity of over 290,000 girls in Kano, Jigawa and Sokoto was strengthened through Girls for Girls clubs that empowered communities to speak out around issues of gender-based violence and school safety concerns, according to UNICEF.

The UN in Nigeria is also supporting the Federal Ministry of Education to build the capacity of teachers across states to deliver Education for Health and Wellbeing to learners in Nigerian schools. Since 2020, over 3 million learners (boys and girls, especially in humanitarian settings) have been empowered with factual sexual and reproductive health information, and the required life skills to build their agency to be resilient and set goals towards becoming respectable adults.

ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally?

Mohamed M. Malick Fall: “L’enfant noir” by Camara Laye (The Black Child); “L’aventure ambigue” by Cheikh Hamidou Kane (The Ambiguous Adventure); “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama.

The first book is about a child growing up in Africa who is very close to his mother and whose upbringing was supported by the extended family. This book touched me because it highlights the importance of the mother-child relationship in the development of a child’s character and how this is defining in determining how successful a child will be.

The second book is about a Senegalese child growing up in a context of interaction between Africans and Western culture. This book helped me to navigate and find the right balance between these two cultures growing up in post-independence Senegal, and studying in both my own country and in France.

The third book helped to strengthen my leadership, mainly working in a context of hardship and extreme human suffering, where hope remains a major factor in helping communities to recover from conflict and get back on their feet.

 

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Dr. Luthando Dziba, Executive Secretary, IPBES in conversation with IPS. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Oct 9 2025 (IPS)

Global biodiversity is disappearing at breakneck speed and, in the process, threatening the future of humanity. The loss is not a future threat but a present crisis that Dr. Luthando Dziba, the new Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), believes can be tackled with science-based policy action.

Dziba assumes his role at a pivotal moment. A landmark IPBES report, launched last December, had a stark warning: biodiversity decline is galloping, whipped by humanity’s disconnect from and dominance of nature, coupled with the inequitable concentration of power and wealth.

So, how does he envision IPBES turning the tide?

“IPBES is not a new platform,” Dziba explained. “It has built a strong tradition of co-producing knowledge with member states. We are now launching our second global biodiversity assessment, alongside critical work on monitoring and spatial planning. This isn’t just about producing reports; it’s about creating a social process for change.”

The “social process” is key to IPBES’s model. Member governments prioritize key biodiversity challenges that IPBES should focus on in its research and participate in the design of the assessments. Through continuous reviews and a collaborative scoping process, there is an integration between science and policy.

Prior to his appointment at IPBES, Dziba had a strong history of working in biodiversity in his native South Africa as well as internationally. He joined the South African National Parks (SANParks) in July 2017 as the Managing Executive for Conservation Services, which oversees Scientific Services, Veterinary Services, Conservation Planning and Cultural Heritage.

Biodiversity loss is accelerating and threatening global food security. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Before joining SANParks, Luthando managed the ecosystem services research area at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), leading a team of more than 50 researchers on biodiversity, ecosystem services, coastal systems, and earth observation.

Dziba has served as the co-chair of the Africa Regional Ecosystem Assessment, commissioned by IPBES and published in 2018. He has been an advisor to South Africa’s delegations at the IPBES plenaries, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Combating Science Skepticism

Beyond the well-documented drivers of biodiversity loss—pollution, unplanned development, and unsustainable consumption—Dziba identifies a greater emerging threat: the credibility of science itself.

“A growing challenge that we are going to have to confront is the question around the credibility of the science that underpins the work of IPBES,” Dziba told IPS in an exclusive interview. “We want to ensure that we continue to produce credible work, policy-relevant work but not policy-prescriptive work, which allows governments to take the knowledge and information that we produce to make policy-relevant decisions.”

Dziba, a veteran conservationist and thought leader, says IPBES has excelled in providing groundbreaking science assessment reports that have informed policy and decision-making on biodiversity conservation.

Established in 2012, IPBES unites over 145 member governments in providing independent, science-based assessments on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Its mission is to deliver credible knowledge that informs policymakers and drives sustainable action.

Dziba identifies key threats, including unchecked human population growth, unplanned development, pollution, and consumption patterns to biodiversity. A critical challenge is maintaining the credibility of scientific work while producing policy-relevant—not policy-prescriptive—knowledge to empower governments to make informed decisions.

The First IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, launched in 2020, highlighted the need to integrate biodiversity considerations in global decision-making in all sectors because effective biodiversity conservation needed a multifaceted approach. The assessment noted alarming rates of habitat loss, particularly in tropical forests and coral reefs, and stressed that the overarching causes of biodiversity loss are closely linked to human resource use.

An IPBES report, Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control, found that more than 37,000 alien species have been introduced by many human activities to regions and biomes around the world. The report found that the global economic cost of invasive alien species exceeded USD 423 billion annually in 2019, with costs having at least quadrupled every decade since 1970.

The solution to global biodiversity loss, Dziba argued, is in transformative, “nexus” approaches that look at issues holistically.

“We need to take a nexus approach and not just tinker at the edges when we are facing problems but rather look at transformative ways of pushing meaningful solutions that bring about change,” he told IPS. “We believe that we will be able to shift towards issues that have an impact not just at a local scale but at a wider scale that are positive for biodiversity and the people.”

When asked how IPBES plans to affect global policy as biodiversity continues to decline, Dziba pointed out that they are currently working on assessments that improve understanding and monitoring related to global biodiversity plans.

“We co-produce knowledge with member states and experts, ensuring our assessments respond directly to policy needs,” he explained.

He stressed IPBES’s agility in tackling emerging challenges, pointing to expert analyses during the COVID pandemic of the links between biodiversity and pandemics, as well as integrating climate change considerations.

Only transformative solutions can reverse biodiversity loss and benefit people globally,” Dziba notes.

Yet there are promising models. He points to a compelling case from rural Senegal, where the scourge of bilharzia was tackled not just as a health issue but through a biodiversity lens. By addressing the pollution and invasive species that allowed the parasitic worms to thrive and using the cleared invasives for livestock feed, communities saw a 32 percent reduction of infection in children and improved livelihoods.

Africa’s conservation successes, such as saving the white rhino and protecting primate habitats through innovative community-based strategies, exemplify effective conservation shaped by combining science and local knowledge.

Dziba emphasizes IPBES’s unique collaborative process: governments engage actively from the outset in designing and reviewing assessments alongside experts, integrating both scientific and indigenous knowledge.

Weaving Local Wisdom

A cornerstone of IPBES’s credibility has been its pioneering effort to embed scientific knowledge with local and indigenous knowledge.

“We make a very deliberative effort to integrate indigenous and local knowledge right from the start,” Dziba said. The platform appoints knowledge holders as experts, holds dialogues, and has a specific taskforce to guide the process. This ensures that the assessments reflect an understanding of how ecosystems function and impact the communities.

Balancing economic development with biodiversity protection is a persistent challenge. While not a policymaker itself, IPBES supports governments by synthesizing evidence on sustainable management and conservation of ecosystems.

Looking ahead to enhancing global collaboration, Dziba said he is committed to strengthening partnerships with UN agencies and conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These alliances are key to embedding IPBES’s scientific advice into international policy and action.

For Dziba, success during his tenure means delivering timely, high-quality assessments that decisively shape the post-2030 global biodiversity agenda. He also prioritizes securing IPBES’s financial sustainability through innovative funding, including engaging the private sector and philanthropic foundations—a critical strategy amid global economic uncertainty.

“It’s going to take more than just publishing an assessment,” he conceded. “It’s going to take an intentional strategy. Engaging businesses and philanthropies is not just about funding; it’s about recognizing the deep links between biodiversity and sustainable development.”

His ultimate goal is to ensure that when policymakers are asked about what they are doing to protect biodiversity, the answers are informed by the best possible science.

Dziba believes that, with the planet in peril, bridging science and policy is a lifeline to stop biodiversity loss and secure a sustainable future.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Oct 9 2025 (IPS)

Democracy was the winner and Russia the loser in Moldova’s 28 September election. The incumbent pro-Europe Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) won a parliamentary majority on just over half of the vote, while support for a pro-Russia coalition collapsed to a record low. The result came in the face of Russia’s most intense attempt yet to influence an election, with a propaganda and disinformation operation allegedly orchestrated by Ilan Shor, a disgraced Moldovan oligarch who fled to Russia to escape jail time for his role in a massive fraud.

Moldova, a landlocked country with a population of under 2.4 million, rarely commands headlines. But its location, sandwiched between EU member Romania and war-torn Ukraine, makes it prime territory for an ongoing tussle over the future of former communist states.

Since 2009, every Moldovan prime minister has been committed to European integration, and Moldova formally applied to join the EU following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As support for pro-Russia parties has declined at the ballot box, Russia has increasingly turned to covert influence operations, with Shor the reported lynchpin.

Shor is believed to have been a key figure in Moldova’s biggest scandal: in November 2014, around US$1 billion was fraudulently transferred from three banks in fake loans. The banks went bankrupt, forcing the government to provide a bailout equivalent to one eighth of GDP.

Shor, chair of one of the banks, was accused of being among the masterminds. In 2017, he was convicted of money laundering, fraud and breach of trust and sentenced to seven and a half years in jail. But in 2019, while under house arrest pending appeal, he fled the country, first to Israel and then Russia, where he now has citizenship. Shor’s only hope of returning without going to jail is a pro-Russia government, and he’s able to use his riches to promote his cause.

Shor was accused of paying people to take part in protests triggered by high energy prices when Russia used gas supplies as a weapon, slashing them in the winter of 2022-2023. Ahead of the 2024 presidential election and a referendum on the EU, he promised to pay people to register for his campaign to oppose the referendum or publish anti-EU posts; the government said he’d paid close to US$16 million to 130,000 people, sharing instructions on how spread disinformation on the messaging app Telegram. The 2024 campaign was awash with disinformation, including deepfake videos and false claims about President Maia Sandu. Fake social media accounts proliferated, opposing the EU and Sandu and promoting pro-Russia views.

The 2025 campaign saw a further intensification of these influence efforts. A secret network, again coordinated via Telegram, offered to pay people for posting pro-Russia propaganda and anti-PAS disinformation on Facebook and TikTok, and to help carry out selective polling that would overstate pro-Russia support, potentially as part of a plan to dispute the results should they be close. A BBC investigation found links between this network, Shor and one of his organisations, Evrazia, with money sent via a Russian state-owned bank used by its defence ministry.

The network ran online training sessions on how to use ChatGPT to produce social media posts, including those making ludicrous claims that Sandu is involved in child trafficking and the EU would force people to change sexual orientation. At least 90 TikTok accounts receiving over 23 million views since the start of the year were involved. The investigation found no comparable disinformation campaign in support of PAS.

Russia also evidently tried to target Moldova’s million-strong diaspora, who tend to favour pro-EU parties. People in diaspora communities were offered cash, evidently from Russian sources, to serve as election observers, with large bonuses for providing any evidence of fraud. This seemed to be an attempt to promote doubt about the integrity of the diaspora vote.

The influence campaign extended to the Orthodox Church: last year, Moldovan clergy were treated to an all-expenses-paid trip to holy sites in Russia, then promised money if they took to social media to warn their followers about the dangers of EU integration. They duly established over 90 Telegram channels pushing out almost identical content positioning the EU as a threat to traditional family values.

A few days before the vote, Moldovan authorities detained 74 people suspected of planning post-election violence. Authorities claimed they’d travelled to Serbia, under the guise of an Orthodox pilgrimage, to be trained in how to resist security forces, break through cordons and use weapons. On election day, officials reported attempted cyberattacks and bomb scares at polling stations in Moldova and abroad.

Challenges ahead

Moldova’s democratic institutions have survived a crucial test, repaying efforts to strengthen the country’s defences against Russian interference made since the 2024 votes. But the struggle for Moldova’s future is far from over. As it moves closer to the EU, Russia isn’t simply going to walk away. Even dirtier tricks may come.

Meanwhile the government faces many other problems. In one of Europe’s poorest countries, people are struggling with the high cost of living. Public services have come under strain as Moldova hosts proportionately more Ukrainian refugees than anywhere else. Corruption concerns haven’t been adequately addressed. Many young people are seeking better lives abroad.

In combating future Russian influence attempts, the government faces the challenge of striking the right balance on regulating social media and political financing, strengthening its intelligence services and building stronger social media literacy and awareness of disinformation. It will need help from EU countries, as it will to further modernise its energy infrastructure, including through more investments in renewable energy to disarm one of Russia’s most potent tools.

Moldova’s hopes of EU membership will rest on its progress in addressing these challenges. Even then, as the experience of Hungary shows, becoming an EU member doesn’t guarantee protection against the dangers of authoritarianism. But there’s no hope for democracy and human rights should Moldova fall under Russia’s grip.

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

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

 

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By Gina Romero
BOGOTA, Colombia, Oct 9 2025 (IPS)

The collapse of aid architecture is one of the greatest dangers for civic space. This shift is not accidental but systemic, reflecting deliberate policy choices – not only by the US but accelerated by its decisions- that prioritize security agendas over human rights and solidarity.

Aid cuts, securitization, and geopolitical rivalries have led to the defunding of grassroots organizations, especially those led by women, LGBTQI groups, and marginalized communities. As a result, associations that once filled critical gaps are disappearing. These dynamics as existential because without resources, protections, and solidarity, civil society cannot survive—let alone flourish.

This is the center of my more recent report, that will be presented at the UN General Assembly on October 16th.

Civil society’s weakening has direct consequences for human rights protection and democratic participation. Without independent associations, accountability mechanisms collapse, and corruption flourishes. The report highlights that marginalized groups are disproportionately affected, as grassroots organizations are often their only safety net. The dismantling of solidarity also jeopardizes progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

For example, women’s organizations that once advanced gender equality and access to reproductive health are closing. LGBTQI associations providing health services face funding cuts. Environmental defenders, crucial in climate justice, are left exposed.

Thus, the report warns that the rollback of aid and civic freedoms undermines not only democracy but also global commitments to equality and sustainability.

The report makes a call for urgent action to rebuild international solidarity and redesign the architecture of aid in ways that strengthen rather than weaken civic space. The vision is for a people-centered, rights-based, and sustainable system of cooperation. Key elements include:

Guaranteeing equitable access to resources: ensuring groups with high vulnerabilities, have direct and fair access to funding. Includes aid models that channels resources to local civil society, avoiding intermediaries, and simplified bureaucratic procedures.

Repealing restrictive laws and counter-terrorism measures: ending the misuse of security frameworks—such as counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering— and repealing laws that stigmatize NGOs as “foreign agents” or limit their ability to operate freely.

Ensuring meaningful participation of civil society: in multilateral decision-making, as equal partners shaping priorities, including global financing mechanisms and SDG implementation frameworks.

Aligning aid with human rights and civic space protection: Condition aid and credits on compliance with obligations to protect freedoms and rights and promote long-term, flexible funding instead of short-term project-based support.

Protecting digital freedoms and resisting securitization: Safeguarding the use of technologies, including spyware and facial recognition technologies, for association and assembly while preventing its misuse for surveillance and repression.

Reimagining solidarity: Shifting from a charity-based approach to one of global justice and shared responsibility; supporting civil society is not an act of benevolence but a legal and moral obligation under international human rights law.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Excerpt:

Gina Romero is UN Special Rapporteur for the rights to freedom of assembly and of association.

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