Africa

A family in Der Al Balah, in the Gaza Strip, who received clothing from UNICEF. Communities in the Gaza Strip were affected by the recent exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran, as well as the ceasefire announced on June 23. Credit: UNICEF/Mohammed Nateel

By Naomi Myint Breuer
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

The Trump administration announced on June 23 that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran had been reached following 10 days of conflict between the two nations and the United States’ bombardment of three nuclear sites in Iran. The establishment of the ceasefire will return focus back to the conflict between Israel and Palestine and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations estimates that 610 Iranians and 28 Israelis were killed due to the exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran. With the cessation of the conflict, the region can recover from these damages, as well as come closer to stability, peace and a chance to focus on their already existing humanitarian crises.

Amid fears of an escalating global conflict, humanitarian organizations expressed concern about the far-reaching humanitarian implications in regions such as Gaza and the West Bank, where conditions are already dire. With the ongoing blockade in Gaza, civilians are unable to acquire food, clean water, humanitarian aid, healthcare and fuel. These regions have also been subject to routine bombardment by Israel, and conditions worsened after some communities were impacted by the strikes between Israel and Iran, according to American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).

“Nothing since WWII can equal it, with bombs deliberately targeting hospitals and civilians and UN agencies like the World Food Program and World Health Organization being blocked,” James E. Jennings, president of Conscience International and Executive Director of U.S. Academics for Peace, told IPS.

The 10 day conflict between Israel and Iran led to increased military raids, arrests, violence and damage to infrastructure. The period shifted focus away from Palestinians, reducing donations and advocacy.

The ceasefire and potential de-escalation of tensions between its neighbors should bring the international focus back to Palestine’s humanitarian crisis.

With Iran severely weakened, former New York University (NYU) international relations professor Dr. Alon Ben-Meir says the country will not be able to support its Axis of Resistance in the near future. He predicts Iran will attempt to come to an agreement with the U.S. in regard to its nuclear program. Israel, on the other hand, is now in a powerful position as it has diminished Hamas’, Hezbollah’s, and now Iran’s threat against them, according to Ben-Meir.

“Sadly, Israel’s triumphant assault on Iran may further embolden Netanyahu to try to attain his ‘total victory’ in Gaza, which, in my view, is elusive at best,” Ben-Meir said.

Israel seemed to confirm this prediction.

“Now the focus shifts back to Gaza—to bring the hostages home and to dismantle the Hamas regime,” Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, the Israeli military chief, said.

With Iran and Hamas temporarily out of the equation, Ben-Meir said Trump has a chance to demand an end to the conflict between Israel and Palestine and “to think in terms of changing the dynamic” of the conflict.

Ben-Meir said that only if Trump pushes for an end to the war can a resolution be reached. Yet, he said that while Netanyahu remains in power, it is unlikely that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will end, which will still leave the region in an unstable state.

“Although this will not lead to a regional peace that would include all the players, it has created a more positive regional atmosphere,” he said.

Ben Meir also predicts that the cessation of tensions with Iran is unlikely to change the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

“Netanyahu is riding high and will relent only if Trump tells him to stop using humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza to pressure Hamas to release the remaining hostages,” he said.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on June 22 after the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear sites. Following pushing for peace in the region, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres praised the ceasefire.

“I urge the two countries to respect it fully,” Guterres wrote on X. “The fighting must stop. The people of the two countries have already suffered too much.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

The explosion occurred at an electrical transformer near where students were taking final exams.

The government argues that the new system should help poorer families as well as boost revenue.

The government argues that the new system should help poorer families as well as boost revenue.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the debate at the UN on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine. The debate marked the 20th anniversary of its adoption at the 2005 World Summit. Credit: Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

United Nations member states this week reiterated their commitment to the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity—at a time when world powers are failing to meet these obligations.

On the 20th anniversary of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, the UN held a Plenary Meeting to discuss the landmark commitment to the doctrine. Although many speakers praised the policy’s work on prevention capacity, members largely criticized the inconsistency and hypocrisy of states that have failed to adhere to the doctrine’s guidelines.

The representative from Slovenia criticized the Security Council permanent members’ veto power on issues addressing genocide and human rights violations, arguing that the veto slows the quick response needed for such issues when people’s dignity is threatened. She further suggested that there should be no veto power from Permanent Members in cases where R2P is involved.

This statement, although not explicitly, calls out the United States and the Russian Federation, the two Permanent Member states who have exercised their veto power in the past year—for the US, in regard to the Middle East and Palestine specifically, and for Russia, in regard to Sudan and South Sudan.

This critique is not new; the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) coalition of small and medium-sized states proposed a “Code of Conduct regarding Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes,” which, according to the R2P website, “calls upon all members of the Security Council (both permanent and elected) to not vote against any credible draft resolution intended to prevent or halt mass atrocities.” As of 2022, 121 member states and two observers have signed.

By reframing the protection of civilians from mass atrocities as a governmental duty and responsibility, R2P was created after inadequate responses to genocide in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Although the initiative has been successful for mediating in regions like The Gambia and Kenya, as Secretary-General António Guterres noted in his report entitled “Responsibility to Protect: 20 years of commitment to principled and collective action,” R2P has failed to push the UN towards action in places like Syria or Myanmar, where veto deadlock prevented aid or policy change.

Another hindrance to R2P’s efficacy, as both Slovenia and a representative from Australia noted, is what the latter referred to as general impunity and lack of accountability for many states.

Criticizing sanctions and dismissal of international court rulings such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), this statement may have been in response to US sanctions towards four ICC judges after the court opened investigations concerning both the US and Israel’s military actions.

Neither nation recognizes the ICC’s authority, making them not subject to ICC rulings.

In a statement from the White House, President Donald Trump said, “The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our Nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

Multiple representatives reaffirmed their respect for impartial judicial rulings and international courts and tribunals in the General Assembly meeting despite verbal and economic pushback from some of the most influential member states.

The R2P’s most glaring inconsistency between principle and implementation lies in the conflict in Gaza. The representative from Indonesia highlighted the genocide against Palestine as “the R2P’s most urgent test,” urging member states to revive the sanctity of international law and restore trust in the UN’s ability to enforce their policy. As trust in the UN has waned, many feel a growing pressure to re-legitimize the institution through their actions, particularly regarding crimes against humanity.

As one representative noted, “History will judge us all.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Khaman Maluach only took up basketball aged 13, but the refugee from South Sudan has been drafted to join NBA side Phoenix Suns.

Khaman Maluach only took up basketball aged 14, but the refugee from South Sudan has been drafted to join NBA side Phoenix Suns.

At least 10 people died in the protests and 400 others injured, including 300 police officers, minister says.

At least 10 people died in the protests and 400 others injured, including 300 police officers, minister says.

A close ally of Paul Biya, in power for four decades, challenges "one-man" rule in the country.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Living in Camp Roe in the Democratic Republic of Congo Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

By Juliana White
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

The demand for cobalt and other minerals is fueling a decades-long humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In pursuit of money to support their families, Congolese laborers face abuse and life-threatening conditions working in unregulated mines.

Used in a variety of products ranging from vitamins to phone and car batteries, minerals are a necessity, making daily tasks run smoothly. The DRC is currently known as the world’s largest producer of cobalt, accounting for nearly 75 percent of global cobalt production. With such high demands for the mineral, unsafe and poorly regulated mining operations are widespread across the DRC.

The exploitation of workers is largely seen in informal, artisanal, small-scale mines, which account for 15 to 30 percent of the DRC’s cobalt production. Unlike large industrial mines with access to powerful machines, artisanal mine workers typically excavate by hand. They face toxic fumes, dust inhalation, and the risk of landslides and mines collapsing daily.

Aside from unpaid forced labor, artisanal small-scale mines can be a surprisingly good source of income for populations with limited education and qualifications. The International Peace Information Service (IPIS) reports that miners can make around 2.7 to 3.3 USD per day. In comparison, about 73 percent of the population in the DRC makes 1.90 USD or less per day. However, even with slightly higher incomes than most, miners still struggle to make ends meet.

Adult workers are not the only group facing labor abuse. Due to minimal regulations and governing by labor inspectors, artisanal mines commonly use child labor. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs reports that children between the ages of 5 and 17 years old are forced to work in mineral mines across the DRC.

“They are unremunerated and exploited, and the work is often fatal as the children are required to crawl into small holes dug into the earth,” said Hervé Diakiese Kyungu, a Congolese civil rights attorney.

Kyungu testified at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C., on July 14, 2022. The hearing was on the use of child labor in China-backed cobalt mines in the DRC. Kyungu also said that in many cases, children are forced into this work without any protection.

Children go into the mines “…using only their hands or rudimentary tools without protective equipment to extract cobalt and other minerals,” said Kyungu.

Despite the deadly humanitarian issue at hand, the solution to creating a more sustainable and safe work environment for miners is not simple. The DRC has a deep history of using forced labor for profit. Starting in the 1880s, Belgium’s King Leopold relied on forced labor by hundreds of ethnic communities across the Congo River Basin to cultivate and trade rubber, ivory and minerals.

While forced and unsafe conditions kill thousands each year, simply shutting down artisanal mining operations is not the solution. Mining can be a significant source of income for many Congolese living in poverty.

Armed groups also control many artisanal mining operations. These groups use profits acquired from mineral trading to fund weapons and fighters. It is estimated that for the past 20 years, the DRC has experienced violence from around 120 armed groups and security forces.

“The world’s economies, new technologies and climate change are all increasing demand for the rare minerals in the eastern Congo—and the world is letting criminal organisms steal and sell these minerals by brutalizing my people,” said Pétronille Vaweka during the 2023 U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) award ceremony.

Vaweka is a Congolese grandmother who has mediated peace accords in local wars.

“Africans and Americans can both gain by ending this criminality, which has been ignored too long,” said Vaweka.

One way to mitigate the crisis is through stricter laws and regulations. Many humanitarian organizations, such as the United Nations (UN) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), strongly advocate for such change.

The UN has deployed a consistent stream of peacekeepers in the DRC since the country’s independence in 1960. Notable groups such as the UN Operation in the Congo (ONUC) and the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC) were established to ensure order and peace. MONUC later expanded in 2010 to the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO).

Alongside peace missions, the UN has made multiple initiatives to combat illegal mineral trading. They also created the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which is dedicated to helping children in humanitarian crises.

The ILO has seen success through its long-standing project called the Global Accelerator Lab (GALAB). Its goal is to increase good practices and find new solutions to end child labor and forced labor worldwide. Their goal markers include innovation, strengthening workers’ voices, social protection and due diligence with transparency in supply chains.

One group they have set up to coordinate child protection is the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS). In 2024, the ILO reported that the program had registered over 6,200 children engaged in mining in the Haut-Katanga and Lualaba provinces.

Additionally, GALAB is working on training more labor and mining inspectors to monitor conditions and practices.

While continued support by various aid groups has significantly helped the ongoing situation in the DRC, more action is needed.

“This will require a partnership of Africans and Americans and those from other developed countries. But we have seen this kind of exploitation and war halted in Sierra Leone and Liberia—and the Africans played the leading role, with support from the international community,” Vaweka said. “We need an awakening of the world now to do the same in Congo. It will require the United Nations, the African Union, our neighboring countries. But the call to world action that can make it possible still depends on America as a leader.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

Delegates at AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, which focused on the ICPD Program of Action and 2030 Agenda. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

By Cecilia Russell
MALÉ & JOHANNESBURG, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

A meeting of parliamentarians in Malé, the Maldives, pledged to provide an enabling environment for emerging women leaders by supporting them and promoting a political culture rooted in mutual respect, inclusivity, and equal opportunity.

This was one of the main features of the Malé Declaration, agreed to by more than 40 participants from parliaments, governments, international organizations, NGOs, youth organizations, and academia across 15 countries during the AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, which focused on the ICPD Program of Action and 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, aiming to address youth and women empowerment.

The meeting was co-hosted by the People’s Majlis of the Maldives and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD), with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through the Japan Trust Fund (JTF).

The lawmakers agreed to commission evidence-based research on barriers to women’s political participation. The research will “examine the social, cultural, economic, and institutional impediments to women’s pursuit of political office and leadership roles in the member states in Asia, including the Maldives,” the declaration said, with the outcomes serving as a foundation for targeted policy interventions and legislative reforms to enhance women’s political engagement.

Dr. Anara Naeem, MP, Huraa Constituency/Maldives

In an interview ahead of the meeting, Dr. Anara Naeem (MP, Huraa Constituency/Maldives) told IPS that advocating for women’s rights started when they were young and parliamentarians had an active role in ensuring that women are encouraged to become involved in the economy.

Reacting to a question on the UNFPA research, which shows that 40 percent of young women are not engaged in employment, education, or training (NEET), she noted many core challenges, including high youth unemployment despite free education up to a first university degree. The country, like others, had to deal with gender stereotypes that prioritized women’s domestic role over careers—and with social participation barriers, “stereotypes limit women’s public engagement.”

Policymakers, Naeem said, were focusing on addressing these using multiple strategies, including promoting postgraduate scholarships and vocational training (tourism, tech, and healthcare aligned with job markets), encouraging women into STEM and non-traditional fields via mentorship, and integrating leadership and career advancement programs to address the glass ceiling.

Parliamentarians were also looking at innovative ways to boost the public sector hiring of women and incentivize private sector partnerships through tax benefits, flexible work, and career progression pathways.

“We also host community dialogues (haa saaba) and engage religious leaders to shift mindsets,” Naeem said.

AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, held in Malé, Maldives. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

 

Speakers at the AFPPD’s Sub-Regional Parliamentarians’ Meeting on Women Empowerment and Investment in Young People, held in Malé, Maldives. Credit: People’s Majlis of the Republic of Maldives

The Maldivian government was working to enforce gender equality laws (anti-discrimination, parental leave, and addressing the glass ceiling) and allocate a budget for childcare, job programs, and women’s grants, including the enforcement of paid maternity leave for up to six months and no-pay leave for a year in all government offices. It was also encouraging the private sector to do likewise.

However, the success of these plans requires “coordinated action across government, the private sector, NGOs, and communities to create relevant jobs, dismantle cultural barriers (including the glass ceiling), provide critical support (childcare, robust maternity leave), and enable flexible pathways for young women’s economic and social participation.”

Parliamentarians also committed to working with the relevant Maldivian authorities to undertake a thorough “review and enhancement of national school curriculum to align it with job matrix. This initiative shall integrate principles of gender equality, women’s rights, civic responsibility, leadership, and sustainable youth development, fostering transformative educational content to instill progressive values from an early age.”

Naeem said lawmakers were also playing a special role in addressing issues affecting the youth like drug use and mental health, where they were “combining legislative action, oversight, resource allocation, and public advocacy.”

This included updating drug laws to target traffickers, decriminalizing addiction, and prioritizing treatment. While parliamentarians were lobbying for increased funding for rehab centers and the training of psychologists and medication subsidies, they were using national media to create awareness and holding local dialogues.

“Our key focus in law reform includes better rehab frameworks, funding oversight, public awareness partnerships, building support systems, minimizing service delivery gaps, and reducing relapse—shifting towards prevention and recovery in the Maldivian context,” Naeem said.

Participants at the meeting recommitted themselves to working with all stakeholders to advance the ICPD PoA and achieve the 2030 Agenda and reaffirmed the 2024 Oslo Statement of Commitment.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

For streetside sellers of artificial jewelry and for recyclers toiling under the increasingly torrid temperatures caused by climate change, innovative insurance means not all is lost when their wares are ruined or it is too hot to work. But is this a panacea or an opportunity for the authorities to ignore their responsibilities to the poorest workers of India?

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran has reported no increase in radiation levels outside Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. After surprise US bombing raids on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities over the weekend, the head of the UN-backed nuclear watchdog on Monday appealed for immediate access to the targeted sites to assess the damage that is likely “very significant”. 23 June 2025. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA

By James E. Jennings
ATLANTA, USA, Jun 26 2025 (IPS)

Chest thumping “Mission Accomplished” claims by President Trump that he ordered the world’s biggest conventional bombs to be dropped on a sleeping nation of 90 million people, were premature. To top it off he bragged that Iran’s nuclear capacity was devastated and that the whole nation fired “not a single shot” back.

That rosy scenario was greatly tempered a couple of days later when the US Defense Intelligence Agency reported that Iran’s nuclear program was set back only a few months. And the New York Times listed the doppelganger effect of echoing the Bush Administration’s claim of “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, when in fact years of struggle and loss followed.

The US withdrew from Iraq not with a bang but a whimper. Saddam Hussein never had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) as Bush alleged.

At least George W. Bush had the decency to wait awhile before making his widely mocked “Mission Accomplished” claim after invading Iraq, which proved to be ten years premature. The US attack on Iran on June 21 was based on the same kind of hallucinatory paranoia about a non-existent nuclear bomb threat as had fueled the Iraq War hysteria in Washington in 2003.

Both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the President’s own Director of National Intelligence denied that Iran has either a nuclear weapons program or enough high-grade uranium to produce a bomb.

Even the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Trump’s pal in Jerusalem, Bibi Netanyahu, admit that 60% enrichment is not 90%, the percentage required to make a bomb.

Administration advocates are therefore reduced to claiming that the US bombed Iran solely on “suspicious intentions,” which is exactly what the George W. Bush Administration used as a pretext to attack a practically defenseless Iraq in 2003.

A criminal charge based on a that claim would get the plaintiff tossed out, if not laughed out, of every courtroom in the United States.

The marvelously choreographed US stealth attack on Iran, long urged by Israel, was based on protecting not just Israel’s security, but its total domination of the Middle East with US backing. There are two things wrong with that policy. Neither a secure ally in Jerusalem nor a steady partner in Washington supports it.

Israel is a tiny country in a vast area and cannot hope to forever dominate the countries around it, as a glance at the map will demonstrate. The thin margin in the Israeli Knesset is sure to be unstable. Then too, American support is variable, depending on public attitudes, budget constraints, a volatile Congress, and events and political parties that change over time.

The main reason for the 2003-2011 war, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was false. The claim of the G.W. Bush Administration that the US faced the threat of a “mushroom cloud” over Washington was a wild fantasy. Vice President Cheney went so far as to say that there is “no doubt” that Iraq already has WMD.

The idea that Iraq somehow supported the 9/11 attacks against the US was also untrue. None of the reasons given for the war were true—all were lies. The evidence was available and plain to see, but the war was started anyway.

The world was shocked when Israel went ahead and attacked Iran, presumably with a green light from Mr. Trump, only a few days before diplomatic talks were scheduled to begin. That deception is reminiscent of the deadly Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into WW II while diplomacy was being simultaneously offered in Washington.

The fact is that this war has been advocated and planned for decades by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. If you use the WW II test for which side is guilty of blatant aggression, Hitler and his Axis allies in Tokyo or Roosevelt, you would say Hitler and Tojo.

Today the shoe is on the other foot. Israel and the United States, acting in concert, have indeed launched an illegal war of aggression (which defenders call “choice”) against Iran. No matter how many talking heads and newspapers cheer the attack, it was still illegal.

The UN charter has been breached and the American Constitution violated. What are US citizens going to do about it?

Violence cannot make friends, bring peace with 90 million Iranians whose sovereignty has been violated, or enable Israel to rule the Palestinian people. Their watchword is sumud, steadfast resistance.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Excerpt:

James E. Jennings, PhD is President of Conscience International

A bustling Kabul street near the unmarked stairway down to the women-only restaurant—located in a basement to ensure no women can be seen from outside, since they are barred from working or dining in public with men. Credit: Learning Together.

By External Source
KABUL, Jun 25 2025 (IPS)

It was a sunny winter day in Kabul. I decided to step out and take a stroll around my surroundings. With my long dress and hijab on, I left the house. Since I was not too far from home, I did not need the company of a Mahram, a male guard, by my side – a strict restriction placed on Afghan women by the Taliban.

Life in the city was bustling, children selling plastic bags by the roadside while ordinary people went about in various ways.

As I walked, my eyes caught a sign that indicated a restaurant for women only, serving a variety of local and national dishes. I was intrigued, given that in a city filled with numerous hotels and restaurants, mostly run by men, this particular one was operated by women catering to only women customers.

I decided to pursue further. The sign took me fifteen stairs deep into the basement of a building, where the women working in the restaurant could not be seen from outside.

 

From Home-Kitchen Hustle to Full-Blown Restaurant

I was met by a woman who friendly welcomed me. As I sat in the restaurant, memories of the past flooded my mind. I had visited restaurants with my family and friends prior to the Taliban takeover of our country. There used to be laughter, we shared meals and enjoyed each other’s company without fear or restriction.

We could sit together, converse openly, and enjoy life, free from the oppressive atmosphere that now defines our current situation. Those days were full of joy and possibility, and the memories are among the happiest I have ever had; now they feel like a distant, almost unreachable past.

A waitress snapped me back to the present as she took my order. I was curious to know how the women had managed to set up a workplace outside home in the heart of Kabul.

One of the proprietors who wanted to remain anonymous narrated the story: “My daughter and I were driven by unemployment and poverty into preparing delicious food at home and selling it online at low price”.

“The business gradually flourished, even though initially we made many mistakes”, said the young woman, a law degree holder, forced by the Taliban to abandon further studies.

After saving 800,000 Afghanis, and an additional 100,000 European Union support, they decided to start their own restaurant. The rented place has a fully equipped kitchen and a large hall for customers.

Inside the beautifully decorated walls, girls are busy preparing dough for bolani, a thin-crusted flat bread widely consumed in Afghanistan often filled with potatoes, leeks, grated pumpkin, or chives.

Due to the Taliban crack down on women outside home, the restaurant has become a lifeline to most of the women working there, who recently lost their jobs.

Among them is Wahida, a young girl who said she lost her job as an office worker. “It has been over three years since my colleagues and I lost our jobs with the arrival of the Taliban,” she said, adding, “I was left wondering what to do”.

But now with the opening of the women-only restaurant by the two enterprising women, she and ten of her colleagues, have had a salaried job for the past one month.

And that was precisely one of the motivations for Farhard and her mother opening the restaurant – creating jobs and providing financial independence for women who had been thrown out of jobs by the Taliban.

“Women’s work outside the home has brought great hope to the women working in our restaurant, because they can support their families with their salaries”, said Farhard.

“Besides that”, she continued, “a restaurant is a good source of income and reintroduces the culture of cooking authentic Afghan food for people in the most beautiful way possible”.

They are licensed by the Ministry of Commerce and their customer base is steadily increasing. The proprietors provide training in catering and service to applicants before hiring them.

 

Navigating the Tightrope of Taliban Rules

Ever since the Taliban burst onto the political scene four years ago with indiscriminate ban on women from working outside home, Afghan women are exploring income-generating business options. Tailoring and custom-made dressmaking are among the most common, while the restaurant sector also provides a viable alternative for many others.

This women-only restaurant can only operate because it strictly follows all Taliban rules. It’s located in a basement to ensure that no women can be seen from outside, as women are not allowed to work outside or eat in public with men.

They pay monthly taxes to the Taliban, all staff are women, and they follow hijab and other religious regulations set by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Yet in spite of the great lengths, which women take to generate incomes, the Taliban are still looming not far behind.

“Officials from the so-called Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice conduct weekly inspection visits to our restaurant,” complains Wahida.

The inspections, she says, “ensure that all the women are wearing their hijabs properly, with their faces covered, and dressed in the appropriate long dress, as the regulations demand”.

Apart from that, they thoroughly check the entire restaurant to ensure no men are working there, since women are strictly forbidden to work in the same place as men.

To the women working in the restaurant, these inspections are undoubtedly viewed as unnecessary harassment. They feel scrutinized and yet powerless to fight against it.

However, Wahida has a message for the brave Afghan women: “Don’t despair, find the small niches the private sector allows, and keep moving forward.”

 

 

Excerpt:

The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons

By External Source
Jun 25 2025 (IPS-Partners)

 
The Commonwealth Climate Access Hub responds to the needs of its member countries, including their most vulnerable people to build resilience and climate-smart communities.

The hub, which started with USD 10 million ten years ago, now has supported countries to unlock close to USD 500 million in climate finance and has half a billion dollars worth of projects in the pipeline.

 

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy says he left the west London club because Al-Ahli had a better chance of winning silverware.

Donors talk about “African capacity” and “ownership,” while retaining the power to decide when, how, and even if the money will arrive. All of this is subject to the political tides and election cycles of the Global North. Credit: Flickr/UN Photo/Marie Frechon.

By External Source
ADDIS ABABA / NAIROBI, Jun 25 2025 (IPS)

Imagine investing US$14 billion, or even slightly less, to achieve universal literacy in 17 African countries where more than half the adult population still cannot read or write . Pair that with another US$36 billion to connect Africa’s landlocked nations through 12,000 kilometres of new railway lines along priority transport corridors.

These are not distant ambitions; they are costed, achievable interventions. And even after financing both, donors would still have billions left — if they had honoured the $71.74 billion in aid they pledged to Africa but never delivered.

The truth is the aid system is not “broken.” It’s working the same way it always has. Instead of transforming the Global South, the architecture of the aid system stabilizes the Global North. It protects commercial and foreign interests, rather than prioritizing efforts to end abject poverty

Over the last two decades, G7 and multilateral donors committed $292 billion of aid to Africa. But $71.74 billion of the promised funds were never disbursed. This is not mere bureaucratic slippage, it is Overseas Development Aid (ODA) debt: development funds owed but withheld. It is a debt that undermines the very premise of partnership.

Even when aid does arrive, it’s too short-term to support structural transformation. G7 projects now last an average of just 3.18 years, far below the standard five-year cycles of African national development plans.

In conflict-affected and fragile states, the durations are even shorter. Across all contexts, the problem is compounded by chronic disbursement delays: by year five, one-third of committed aid remains undelivered.

The African Union has declared 2025 the Year of Reparations, a recognition that today’s development crisis cannot be understood without considering centuries of slavery and colonial history and their continuation under the current global economic systems. But reparations are not just about the past.

They directly address the continuing drain on Africa’s potential while dressing up inequality in the language of “aid” and “development cooperation.”

The truth is the aid system is not “broken.” It’s working the same way it always has. Instead of transforming the Global South, the architecture of the aid system stabilizes the Global North. It protects commercial and foreign interests, rather than prioritizing efforts to end abject poverty.

Aid flows are often tied to commercial conditions, such as requiring recipient governments to purchase goods and services from the donor country. These arrangements boost the donor’s exports and support its domestic industries.

At the same time, aid enables donor countries to maintain political influence in strategic regions, aligning development cooperation with their foreign policy goals. It is neither altruism nor an attempt to correct historic injustice. Rather, it is an economic strategy cloaked in moral obligation.

Donors talk about “African capacity” and “ownership,” while retaining the power to decide when, how, and even if the money will arrive. All of this is subject to the political tides and election cycles of the Global North.

We are told to be accountable, yet the aid system itself remains deeply unaccountable. France has proposed slashing its development aid budget by 40%, despite having passed a law this year to increase its aid to meet the UN’s target of at least 0.7% of gross national income dedicated to ODA.

Belgium has announced a 25% cut. Meanwhile, the United States’ sweeping aid reductions have hit Africa particularly hard, undermining programs in health, nutrition, and food security. More Global North countries are expected to follow suit including Germany, the world’s second-largest ODA provider.

These are not isolated policy choices. These are symptoms of a global architecture that was never designed to deliver justice.

This is why the African Union’s Year of Reparations must become a rallying cry. Reparations are not just about colonial theft; they confront the ongoing conditions that perpetuate continued economic exploitation. The same extractive patterns that fuelled slavery and colonial empires now manifest in trade agreements, debt regimes, tax havens, and the aid system.

In this system, “global partnership” often feels more like containment. What is offered as “solidarity” is underpinned by hierarchy. This kind of “support” is not aid – it is managed underdevelopment.

Justice can be pursued through existing global and African-led mechanisms — from UN-led platforms such as the Financing for Development (FfD) process, to emerging African-led financing reforms. This is a call for meaningful political will to reorient the system.

Here’s what must change:

1. Reframe aid as a tool of justice, not charity.

Development cooperation must be grounded in historical obligation and global solidarity, not donor discretion. Africa needs long-term, predictable financing aligned with national priorities, not three-year projects designed in Brussels or Washington.

2. Make aid commitments enforceable.

The 0.7% target cannot remain symbolic. Donor pledges must be backed by binding frameworks, regular reporting, and consequences for non-compliance.

3. Dismantle the colonial architecture of aid.

Aid delivery systems must shift control to African institutions. The current model, designed around donor risk management and political optics, must give way to one centred on recipient sovereignty.

4. Decisively deal with the commitment–disbursement gap.

Delays in disbursing committed aid are breaches of trust that must carry consequences. There is no justification for donors to operate without accountability when African governments often face penalties or interest for delayed payments.

The $71.74 billion that Africa was promised but never received over the past 20 years could have done so much. It still can – if it is repaid.

Africa is not asking for generosity. It is asserting its right to fairness, redress, and a future shaped on its own terms. Let us not pretend that another accountability dashboard or aid conference will fix this. The system must be reconstructed inclusively and grounded in justice—for Africa.

This article is co-authored by Martha Bekele (Co-founder, DevTransform), based in Addis Ababa, and Vitalice Meja (Executive Director, Reality of Aid – Africa), based in Nairobi.

The BBC's Ian Wafula is in central Nairobi amid the protests to honour those killed a year ago.

The BBC's Ian Wafula is in central Nairobi amid the protests to honour those killed a year ago.