Africa

By CIVICUS
Jun 18 2025 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS discusses the dangers of live facial recognition technology with Madeleine Stone, Senior Advocacy Officer at Big Brother Watch, a civil society organisation that campaigns against mass surveillance and for digital rights in the UK.

Madeleine Stone

The rapid expansion of live facial recognition technology across the UK raises urgent questions about civil liberties and democratic freedoms. The Metropolitan Police have begun permanently installing live facial recognition cameras in South London, while the government has launched a £20 million (approx. US$27 million) tender to expand its deployment nationwide. Civil society warns that this technology presents serious risks, including privacy infringements, misidentification and function creep. As authorities increasingly use these systems at public gatherings and demonstrations, concerns grow about their potential to restrict civic freedoms.

How does facial recognition technology work?

Facial recognition technology analyses an image of a person’s face to create a biometric map by measuring distances between facial features, creating a unique pattern as distinctive as a fingerprint. This biometric data is converted into code for matching against other facial images.

It has two main applications. One-to-one matching compares someone’s face to a single image – like an ID photo – to confirm identity. More concerning is one-to-many matching, where facial data is scanned against larger databases. This form is commonly used by law enforcement, intelligence agencies and private companies for surveillance.

How is it used in the UK?

The technology operates in three distinct ways in the UK. Eight police forces in England and Wales currently deploy it, with many others considering adoption. In retail, shops use it to scan customers against internal watchlists.

The most controversial is live facial recognition – mass surveillance in real time. Police use CCTV cameras with facial recognition software to scan everyone passing by, mapping faces and instantly comparing them to watchlists of wanted people for immediate interception.

Retrospective facial recognition works differently, taking still images from crime scenes or social media and running them against existing police databases. This happens behind closed doors as part of broader investigations.

And there’s a third type: operator-initiated recognition, where officers use a phone app to take a photo of someone they are speaking to on the street, which is checked against a police database of custody images in real time. While it doesn’t involve continuous surveillance like live facial recognition, it’s still taking place in the moment and raises significant concerns about the police’s power to perform biometric identity checks at will.

What makes live facial recognition particularly dangerous?

It fundamentally violates democratic principles, because it conducts mass identity checks on everyone in real time, regardless of suspicion. This is the equivalent to police stopping every passerby to check DNA or fingerprints. It gives police extraordinary power to identify and track people without knowledge or consent.

The principle at the heart of any free society is that suspicion should come before surveillance, but this technology completely reverses this logic. Instead of investigating after reasonable cause, it treats everyone as a potential suspect, undermining privacy and eroding presumed innocence.

The threat to civic freedoms is severe. Anonymity in crowds is central to protest, because it makes you part of a collective rather than an isolated dissenter. Live facial recognition destroys this anonymity and creates a chilling effect: people become less likely to protest knowing they’ll be biometrically identified and tracked.

Despite the United Nations warning against using biometric surveillance at protests, UK police have deployed it at demonstrations against arms fairs, environmental protests at Formula One events and during King Charles’s coronation. Similar tactics are being introduced at Pride events in Hungary and were used to track people attending opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s funeral in Russia. That these authoritarian methods now appear in the UK, supposedly a rights-respecting democracy, is deeply concerning.

What about accuracy and bias?

The technology is fundamentally discriminatory. While algorithm details remain commercially confidential, independent studies show significantly lower accuracy for women and people of colour as algorithms have largely been trained on white male faces. Despite improvements in recent years, the performance of facial recognition algorithms remains worse for women of colour.

This bias compounds existing police discrimination. Independent reports have found that UK policing already exhibits systemic racist, misogynistic and homophobic biases. Black communities face disproportionate criminalisation, and biased technology deepens these inequalities. Live facial recognition technology can lead to discriminatory outcomes even with a hypothetically perfectly accurate algorithm. If police watchlists were to disproportionately feature people of colour, the system would repeatedly flag them, reinforcing over-policing patterns. This feedback loop validates bias through the constant surveillance of the same communities.

Deployment locations reveal targeting patterns. London police use mobile units in poorer areas with higher populations of people of colour. One of the earliest deployments was during Notting Hill Carnival, London’s biggest celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture – a decision that raised serious targeting concerns.

Police claims of improving reliability ignore this systemic context. Without confronting discrimination in policing, facial recognition reinforces the injustices it claims to address.

What legal oversight exists?

None. Without a written constitution, UK policing powers evolved through common law. Police therefore argue that vague common law powers to prevent crime oversee their use of facial recognition, falsely claiming it enhances public safety.

Parliamentary committees have expressed serious concerns about this legal vacuum. Currently, each police force creates its own rules, deciding deployment locations, watchlist criteria and safeguards. They even use different algorithms with varying accuracy and bias levels. For such intrusive technology, this patchwork approach is unacceptable.

A decade after police began trials began in 2015, successive governments have failed to introduce regulation. The new Labour government is considering regulations, but we don’t know whether this means comprehensive legislation or mere codes of practice.

Our position is clear: this technology shouldn’t be used at all. However, if a government believes there is a case for the use of this technology in policing, there must be primary legislation in place that specifies usage parameters, safeguards and accountability mechanisms.

The contrast with Europe is stark. While imperfect, the European Union’s (EU) AI Act introduces strong safeguards on facial recognition and remote biometric identification. The EU is miles ahead of the UK. If the UK is going to legislate, it should take inspiration from the EU’s AI Act and ensure prior judicial authorisation is required for the use of this technology, only those suspected of serious crimes are placed on watchlists and it is never used as evidence in court.

How are you responding?

Our strategy combines parliamentary engagement, public advocacy and legal action.

Politically, we work across party lines. In 2023, we coordinated a cross-party statement signed by 65 members of parliament (MPs) and backed by dozens of human rights groups, calling for a halt due to racial bias, legal gaps and privacy threats.

On the ground, we attend deployments in Cardiff and London to observe usage and offer legal support to wrongly stopped people. Reality differs sharply from police claims. Over half those stopped aren’t wanted for arrest. We’ve documented shocking cases: a pregnant woman pushed against a shopfront and arrested for allegedly missing probation, and a schoolboy misidentified by the system. The most disturbing cases involve young Black people, demonstrating embedded racial bias and the dangers of trusting flawed technology.

We’re also supporting a legal challenge submitted by Shaun Thompson, a volunteer youth worker wrongly flagged by this technology. Police officers surrounded him and, although he explained the mistake, held him for 30 minutes and attempted to take fingerprints when he couldn’t produce ID. Our director filmed the incident and is a co-claimant in a case against the Metropolitan Police, arguing that live facial recognition violates human rights law.

Public support is crucial. You can follow us online, join our supporters’ scheme or donate monthly. UK residents should write to MPs and the Policing Minister. Politicians need to hear all of our voices, not just those of police forces advocating for more surveillance powers.

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SEE ALSO
Facial recognition: the latest weapon against civil society CIVICUS Lens 23.May.2025
Weaponised surveillance: how spyware targets civil society CIVICUS Lens 24.Apr.2025
Human rights take a backseat in AI regulation CIVICUS Lens 16.Jan.2024

 

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Great Buddha Dordenma, a gigantic Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the mountains of Bhutan. While the country is lauded as the only carbon-negative country in the world, it’s vulnerable to climate change. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

By Zofeen Ebrahim
THIMPU, Bhutan, Jun 18 2025 (IPS)

“I can’t get this anywhere else,” says Tshering Lhamo, a 29-year-old shopkeeper in Thimphu, as she gestures toward the clean Himalayan air outside her thangka shop. She once studied in Kuala Lumpur but came back to Bhutan for the peace—and the purity. Her friend, Kezan Jatsho, who has never left the country, adds, “I cherish the peace here,” even as many of their peers migrate abroad.

But the serenity they speak of is under threat.

Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan kingdom of 745,000 people—roughly the size of Switzerland—is lauded as the world’s first and only carbon-negative country. Forests cover over 72 percent of the land, and the constitution mandates that no less than 60 percent remain forested forever. Clean air, abundant water, and natural beauty define life here.

This environmental commitment is not new. Since 1972, Bhutan’s national philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) has prioritized well-being over GDP, championing sustainability, cultural preservation, and equitable growth.

“Money can’t buy contentment,” says 33-year-old business graduate Kezan Jatsho, who dreams of opening a coffee shop one day. “I just need enough for food and clothes; too much money would be a burden, stealing my peace of mind.”

Yet Bhutan’s climate security is more precarious than it appears. The country’s location in the eastern Himalayas makes it especially vulnerable to the impacts of global warming. Glacial melt is accelerating. Flash floods and landslides have become more frequent. Hydropower infrastructure—one of Bhutan’s economic lifelines—is at risk.

“Bhutan remains disproportionately vulnerable to climate change, through no fault of its own,” says Karma Dupchu, director of the National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology. His agency warns that a temperature rise of up to 2.8°C by 2100 could trigger catastrophic glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Bhutan has over 560 glacial lakes, and in the past 70 years, 18 GLOF events have already caused loss of life and damage.

The Cost of Preparedness

Preparing for the future requires money Bhutan does not have. “The costs of adaptation and mitigation are extremely high,” says Finance Minister Lyonpo Lekey Dorji. The country’s National Adaptation Plan is projected to cost nearly USD 14 billion.

Despite limited resources, Bhutan is not standing still. Nearly 50,000 trained volunteers—known as desuups, or “Guardians of Peace”—can be mobilized during natural disasters. Even cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister serve as desuups. “They volunteered in Nepal’s 2015 earthquake,” the finance minister notes proudly.

But for long-term resilience, more investment is needed—in early warning systems, in climate-resilient agriculture, and in off-grid energy for the 4,000 rural families still lacking electricity. “The farmers lack the resources and capacity to address the challenges of climate change,” says Dupchu.

Tshering Lhamo, in her shop where she sells handmade paintings. Lhamo values the clean Himalayan air. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPS

Between Migration and Mindfulness

The climate crisis is only one part of the story. Bhutan is also confronting an “existential” demographic crisis, driven by a wave of outward migration. More than 12,000 people have left for Australia since the COVID-19 pandemic—many of them young, educated, and fluent in English.

“Today, 10 percent of the population has left,” says the finance minister. “Most are from the working-age group. In all, some 30,000 Bhutanese have migrated in the last two decades.”

To counter this brain drain, Bhutan’s Fifth King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, has unveiled an ambitious solution: the Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC), a futuristic economic zone grounded in Bhutanese values. “We realize that to achieve and to continue holding on to GNH, economic development is necessary,” acknowledged the finance minister.

“It’s a new Bhutan with different rules from the rest of the country and a new model of robust economic development,” says Rabsel Dorji, head of communications for the project. “It aims to attract and retain the working-age population by offering well-paid jobs, creating a place where development and wealth can co-exist alongside tradition and sacred values.”

The stakes are high. “If GMC succeeds,” Dorji says, “it can show the world that a city can be created without displacing nature or the people who already live there.”

And if it fails? Dorji just smiles: “Nothing the King does ever fails.”

Culture as a Climate Strategy

Even as Bhutan looks to modernize, its culture remains its most powerful form of resilience. In Thimphu, traffic lights have been rejected in favor of hand gestures from white-gloved police officers. Traditional dress—kira for women and gho for men—is not a costume but daily wear. Brightly colored prayer flags ripple in the mountain breeze. Sacred peaks are never climbed. “Nature is not something to be conquered, but something to be respected,” says Kinley Dorji, a journalist and editor of the Druk Journal. “We emphasize the preservation of our culture—architecture and the arts, spiritual values, and dress code—to be different and look different.”

When Bhutan transitioned to democracy in 2008 after a century of monarchy, it was by royal decree, not revolution. The literacy rate now exceeds 90 percent. Healthcare is free. And despite limited military or economic power, Bhutan’s spiritual and ecological identity remains a source of strength.

“In the absence of military might and economic strength… our unique identity is our strength,” says Kinley Dorji. “The average Bhutanese may not be widely traveled, but they know what matters. People were skeptical about democracy, as they thought it would bring corruption and violence.”

Hydropower and Hope

Nature does not only sustain Bhutan; it powers its economy. Hydroelectricity—mostly sold to India—generates 14 percent of GDP and more than a quarter of government revenue. In 2021, Bhutan produced nearly 11,000 GWh of power, exporting over 80 percent of it.

The country plans to harness an additional 20 GW of renewable energy by 2040, including 5 GW from solar. But even that will require external support. “We need huge investments for this to become a reality,” says the finance minister.

To make tourism more sustainable post-COVID, Bhutan reopened its borders with a revised Sustainable Development Fee—$100 per night for foreign tourists and just ₹1,200 (US$14) for Indian nationals.

Still, sacred sites remain off-limits. “The mountains are home of deities,” Kinley Dorji reminds. “They’re not meant to be conquered.”

A Global Story of Local Survival

In Bhutan, climate change is not a future threat—it’s a present reality. But it’s also a moral argument for global responsibility.

Unlike Greta Thunberg’s urgent call to action, Bhutanese youth aren’t protesting in the streets. Their quiet, inherited mindfulness—combined with progressive government policy—has embedded intergenerational climate justice into the national identity.

But without significant international investment, Bhutan’s future remains as fragile as its glacial lakes.

“I am full of desires for things,” says Tshering Lhamo, “but I also know if I go after them, it will destroy me.”

Bhutan stands at a crossroads between survival and sacrifice, tradition and transformation. Its model is not perfect—but it offers the world something rare: a vision of development that does not cost the Earth.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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In New York, participants attend the multi-stakeholders’ hearing for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases and mental health and well-being. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 18 2025 (IPS)

Although access to mental health and psychosocial support services is considered a fundamental human right by the United Nations (UN), hundreds of millions of people experience limited or inadequate access to mental health and psychosocial support services.

On June 6, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) published a joint summary report on the wellbeing and development of children and adolescents around the world. In this report, the two organizations underscored the risks of neglecting the importance of mental health and called for systemic change in access to critical care.

According to UNICEF and WHO, the global government expenditure for mental health services accounts for only 2 percent of the overall global health budget, with only a fraction going toward children and adolescents. This is particularly alarming, as UN-Women estimates that nearly 20 percent of global health emergencies are a result of mental and psychological conditions.

“The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health will only be realised if investment in mental health is increased and improved. It is important to understand what the current financial situation is across the world, and this report shows that it is not good,” said James Sale, the Director of Policy, Advocacy and Finance at United for Global Mental Health (UnitedGMH). “With the growing interest in improving mental health, now is the time to redouble our efforts in encouraging governments and donors to provide the money that is desperately needed by so many.”

WHO states that in some countries, up to 90 percent of individuals facing severe mental health challenges receive no care at all. Additionally, many mental health systems globally rely on “outdated institutional models”, falling short of modern international human rights standards. Furthermore, UnitedGMH states there is currently a USD 200 billion gap in annual funding for mental health and psychosocial services, with the majority of the world’s nations falling far below modest mental health baselines.

This leaves children across the world vulnerable to suicide, a reduced quality of life, and stunted social and professional development. To ensure that all young people face equal opportunities for success, it is imperative that governments and other relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, work together to increase funding for mental health and psychosocial support services.

“There are two key stages in childhood for reaching one’s full potential: the early years of life and, later, starting around the age of 10. This age represents a second opportunity to stimulate development and build adolescents’ coping mechanisms. It is essential that they are supported in making their own decisions, participating in community life, and not remaining passive,” said Angela Capcelea, Head of the Health Section at UNICEF.

Funding is particularly scarce in lower-income countries, in which it is estimated that there is fewer than one mental healthcare professional for every one million young people. Additionally, the psychosocial needs of young people in developing countries are compounded by higher rates of violence, armed conflict, natural disasters, heightened social stigma, and an overall lack of basic services.

According to figures from UN Women, almost every person that lives through a protracted humanitarian crisis experiences significant levels of psychological distress. One in five of these people are estimated to develop long-term mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

UN Women states that due to constant bombardment, displacement, and a lack of basic services in Gaza, the mental health of young women and girls is currently at a “breaking point”. It is estimated that roughly 75 percent of women in Gaza experience depression, 62 percent experience insomnia, and 65 percent experience nightmares and anxiety.

In Afghanistan, roughly 68 percent of women describe their mental health as being “bad” or “very bad”, with eight percent also reporting that they personally know someone who has attempted suicide. Due to the numerous edicts in Afghanistan that restrict women’s autonomy, as well as a strong social stigma around mental health, the majority of women and girls are left with virtually no psychosocial resources.

Additionally, cuts in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have decimated global funding for mental health and psychosocial support programs, with many reporting that they had to cease or scale back operations. According to the Global Mental Health Action Network, there were 131 global programs, including 9,343 staff, that were providing mental health care to vulnerable communities. Roughly 73 percent of these positions were cut.

Furthermore, over 50,000 people across 32 countries that were training to become mental health practitioners lost access to their education. In 2025, approximately 5,908 people will receive training, marking a stark decline from the 55,911 people in 2024. WHO projects that the global number of mental health workers will fall to roughly 10 million by 2030, with low and middle-income countries facing shortages of approximately 1.18 million mental health workers.

“My program works with unaccompanied minors. Due to budget cuts, over 60% of staff have been furloughed and in process of being laid off,” said Lucy Onen Adoch, the Partnerships Program Coordinator for StrongMinds in Uganda, a nonprofit organization that provides mental healthcare support for depression. “The government halted access to funds that directly impact mental health services to unaccompanied minors and their families, as well as access to case management services and connection to community resources such as education and legal services.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

A Security Council meeting on the rapidly escalating crisis in the Middle East. 13 June 2025. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
 
Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for political affairs told ambassadors that the repercussions of the attacks were already reverberating. “I reaffirm the Secretary-General’s condemnation of any military escalation in the Middle East,” she said, urging both Israel and Iran to exercise maximum restraint and “avoid at all costs a descent into deeper and wider regional conflict”

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Jun 18 2025 (IPS)

Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities may be justified if one takes Netanyahu’s explanation at face value. I doubt, however, if he and Trump have fully considered the ominous regional ramifications of the attack and whether negotiations to limit Iran’s nuclear program would have led to much more positive results.

Netanyahu has finally executed what he has been itching to do for many years—attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and army installations and decapitating many of its military commanders and nuclear scientists.

Even though Trump first appeared to have distanced himself from the Israeli operation, there is simply no doubt that he gave the green light to it, without which Netanyahu would not have dared to make such a move that may well draw the US into the fray and plunge the entire region into a war, potentially with horrific ramifications.

Trump and Netanyahu developed a strategy whereby the United States would deny any involvement in Israel’s decision to attack Iran. They warned Tehran, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated: “We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.

President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target US interests or personnel.”

On Wednesday, Trump expressed misgivings about reaching a negotiated agreement during the sixth round of negotiations between US and Iranian representatives scheduled for next Sunday in Qatar. By that time, he was already aware of Netanyahu’s pending attack.

Although many high-ranking Democrats and Republicans repudiated Netanyahu for daring to take such an ominous action when another round of talks was set, they appear oblivious to what was agreed upon behind the scenes between Trump and Netanyahu.

Netanyahu would attack, and the US would distance itself to prevent Iran from attacking American military targets in the region, knowing that Iran would want to avoid a direct confrontation with the US. The US, however, would come to Israel’s defense by intercepting incoming ballistic missiles.

Trump’s response to the attack on his Truth Social site says it all, threatening further attacks unless Iran accepts a nuclear deal. In a lengthy post, he stated:

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to “just do it,” but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done. I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated… Certain Iranian hardliner’s [sic] spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse! There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end. Iran must make a deal before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Furthermore, Trump also described the Israeli attack as “excellent” in an ABC interview and cautioned that “there’s more to come – a lot more,” unless Iran agrees to a deal.

The problem here is that, regardless of how weak Iran is as a result of Israel’s successful campaign to diminish Iran’s axis of resistance, Hezbollah and Hamas, and their shattered air defense systems as a result of Israel’s attack a few months ago, Iran still retains a formidable military power and is not about to surrender. To suggest that the Ayatollah will resume negotiations after being humiliated is foolish.

Iran will not succumb and will retaliate against Israel, and regardless of the extent of damage and destruction it will sustain, Iran will want to preserve their pride, and for that, it will be more than willing to sacrifice a great deal more.

The Iranian people, who largely detest their regime, will now rally behind it as they view the Israeli attack with the support of the US as only humiliating, but it will further worsen the economic condition in the country, from which they have already been suffering.

Another outcome of the Israel-US miscalculation is that the attack has only strengthened the voices of many Iranian hardline officials who oppose negotiations with the US in the first place. They had serious doubts about the US’s real intentions, and now they feel vindicated as it became increasingly clear that Trump has given the blessing to Netanyahu.

Moreover, although the Arab Gulf states may quietly cheer the destruction that Israel inflicted on Iran, they are now in a state not only of apprehension but fear that they may be dragged into a war they do not want.

Any regional war will have major economic ramifications, which set back their economic development, which they prize the most, and especially their concerns over the disruption of their oil exports, which is the beating heart of their economies.

Israel’s attack on Iran with US support will further push Iran into Russia’s and China’s arms. For these two countries, it is a heaven-sent development and they will spare no effort to capitalize on it and squeeze all the geostrategic benefits at the expense of the US in particular.

Finally, even if Israel manages to destroy all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, which is unlikely, it will only be a matter of time for it to rebuild and resume its nuclear program, except this time it will do so even with greater vigor and determination to produce nuclear weapons.

Furthermore, Iran would more than likely withdraw from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and open the door to regional nuclear proliferation, which successive US administrations wanted to avoid.

Trump and Netanyahu seem to have forgotten that Iran is a regional powerhouse with a population of 90 million, has enormous natural and human resources, enjoys a crucial geostrategic location, and a rich history that endows it with a unique regional presence. Even after suffering a devastating war, Iran will emerge again as a major power that Trump and Netanyahu must reckon with. Iran is here to stay, and Israel and the US will have to live with it.

Regardless of how the current hostilities end, the long-term solution to Iran’s nuclear program is at the negotiating table. Trump’s desire to reach a quick solution to show some success, especially after having failed to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, might have doomed the negotiations with Iran.

And Netanyahu, who is politically beleaguered at home and has been itching to attack Iran and wants to emerge as a hero, decided to exploit Iran’s weakness without carefully considering that the price that Israel might have to pay later will far outweigh what he might have gained today.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Excerpt:

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

His widow tells the BBC his last words from a police station in Nairobi were: "I'll see you soon."

His widow tells the BBC his last words from a police station in Nairobi were: "I'll see you soon."

South Africa legend AB de Villiers says there is "still work to be done" on the World Test Championship format despite the Proteas' unforgettable victory.

A mother receives a birth certificate for her youngest child in the village of Bindia, East Cameroon. Photo credit: UNICEF/Dejongh

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY, Jun 17 2025 (IPS)

Registering the birth of a newborn, which is taken for granted in many countries, has profound lifelong repercussions for a child’s health, protection, and well-being. But after initially increasing this century, the global birth registration rate has declined in the past ten years, with some countries in the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa facing significant challenges. Embracing new registration technologies, increasing political will, and increasing parents’ understanding of its importance are paramount to reversing the trend.

Today about 75 percent of all children aged under 5 years are registered, up from 60 percent in 2000, reports the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

But Bhaskar Mishra, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF Headquarters in New York, told IPS that a recent slowdown is due to persistent challenges.

“Rapid population growth, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, is outpacing registration systems. Weak infrastructure, limited funding, and low political prioritization have also contributed to the stagnation. Additionally, families often face barriers such as high fees, complex procedures, and limited access,” he said.

Some of these hurdles exist in East Africa, where the birth registration rate is 41 percent and the Pacific Islands where it is 26 percent. At the country level, it varies from 29 percent in Tanzania to 13 percent in Papua New Guinea and 3 percent in Somalia and Ethiopia. Of an estimated 654 million children aged under five years in the world, about 166 million are unregistered and 237 do not have a birth certificate.

In Papua New Guinea, the birth registration rate is being raised with the aid of mobile registration, an important means to reach rural and remote communities and help protect children living in vulnerable circumstances. Mangem IDP Camp, Madang Province, PNG. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

“Systemic and social obstacles, exacerbated by the lingering effects of COVID-19, which reversed gains achieved in previous years, mean that progress must accelerate fivefold to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target of universal birth registration by 2030,” Mishra emphasized.

One country that is striving to meet the challenge is Papua New Guinea (PNG). The most populous Pacific Island nation of about 11 million people comprises far-flung islands and an epic mountain range on the mainland where people’s daily hardships include extreme terrain, lack of roads, and unreliable transportation.

More than 80 percent of people live in rural areas and, in Madang Province, in the northeast of the country, the Country Women’s Association has worked to increase maternal and health awareness among pregnant women.

“Some don’t have access to health facilities as they are in very remote areas and it takes hours to get to a health facility, so all births are done in the village. But health facilities in some communities are rundown, there is no maintenance on the infrastructure and no health workers on the ground, so that is the most challenging,” Tabitha Waka at the association’s Madang Branch told IPS.

For a mother, recording the birth of her baby could entail long journeys in community buses along dirt tracks and unsealed roads to the registration office, along with the cost of the fares.

“Lack of information is another challenge. These rural mothers don’t have this kind of helpful information and they don’t know the importance of birth registration. And, in some communities, due to traditions and customs, they only allow mothers to give birth in the village,” Waka continued. Just over half of all births in PNG take place in a healthcare facility, according to the government.

Births are registered and birth certificates issued to mothers at Nijereng Primary Health Centre, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Photo credit: UNICEF/Esiebo

But the country has made significant strides and, from 2023 to 2024, more than doubled the distribution of birth certificates from 26,000 to 78,000. Last July, 44 handheld mobile registration devices were supplied by UNICEF to the government and field officers have started a massive outreach mission to record births in local communities.

Then in December, the PNG Parliament passed a new bill to develop the national Civil and Identity Registry. “The Pangu-led government is a responsible government with policies based on inclusivity across the country… accurate and reliable identity information on our people is significantly vital for enabling effective service delivery and for their social well-being,” PNG’s Prime Minister, James Marape, told media in November.

There is already tangible progress, but the government’s goal to register up to half a million births every year “will require scaling up technology. The kits need to be deployed nationwide, especially in remote areas, and decentralizing certificate issuance,” Paula Vargas, UNICEF’s Chief of Child Protection in PNG told IPS. “There are bottlenecks in the process. For example, there is just one person in PNG authorized to manually sign birth certificates.”

On the other side of the world, more than half of all unregistered children live in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Ethiopia, among other countries in the region, is grappling with similar issues.

Located on the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is more than twice the size of PNG and has a high birth rate of 32 births per 1,000 people, compared to the global average of 16. Here the majority of Ethiopia’s more than 119 million people also live in vast and remote regions.

But while birth registration is free and the government is training healthcare extension workers in the procedures, the urban-rural divide persists. The burden on rural parents of multiple visits, with long distances and costs, required to complete registration is impeding progress.  The birth registration rate in the rural Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNP) is 3 percent, which is the national average, compared to 24 percent in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Dr. Tariku Nigatu, Assistant Professor of Public Health at Ethiopia’s University of Gondar, told IPS that improvements could be driven by “integrating the registration service with the health system, [increasing] availability of resources to support interventions to boost birth registration and infrastructure for real-time or near real-time reporting of births.”

UNICEF has also assisted Ethiopia in deploying mobile registration kits to healthcare workers in remote communities, including those experiencing instability, “ensuring that children born during emergencies or while displaced are not excluded from legal identity and protection,” Mishra said. Currently a humanitarian crisis and insecurity are affecting people’s lives in the northern Tigray region following a civil war from 2020-2022.

Lack of understanding and misconceptions about birth registration also need to be addressed, Nigatu emphasized.

Birth registration is the first step to reducing the risk of children being exploited, abused, trafficked and coerced into child marriage. A young mother in Mozambique ensures her newborn is protected with a birth certificate and legal identity. Photo credit: UNICEF/Fauvrelle

“There are myths in some communities that counting the newborn as ‘a person’ at an early age could bring bad luck to the newborn. They do not consider the child worthy of counting before people know it even survives the neonatal period,” he said. This is partly due to the country’s high neonatal mortality of 30 in every 1,000 live births, with around half occurring within 24 hours after birth, he explained.

Messaging also needs to reinforce how birth registration is of lifelong importance to a child. There are high risks and human disadvantages for the uncounted millions of children without an official existence. They will have a greater fight to rise out of poverty, to resist sexual exploitation, abuse, child labor, and human trafficking, and to access legal protection, voting rights, even formal employment, and property ownership.

But birth registration is only the first step to their protection and well-being.

“It only works when backed by strong systems and services. This includes linking registration to services such as immunizations, hospital births, and school enrollment,” Mishra said.

In the wider context, having accurate birth and population data is essential for governments to plan public services and national development and equally critical to assessing progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram, in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International, in consultative status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

 

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• FEATURED TRANSLATION – SWAHILI

Fishermen gliding on a canoe off the coast of Dar es Salaam. Photo by Kizito Makoye

By Kizito Makoye
NICE, France, Jun 17 2025 (IPS)

With less than six harvest seasons left to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the urgency to find transformative solutions to end hunger, protect the oceans, and build climate resilience dominated the ninth panel session at the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France.

In a moment emblematic of growing African leadership in ocean sustainability, Tanzania took center stage during the panel titled “Promoting the Role of Sustainable Food from the Ocean for Poverty Eradication and Food Security.” The panel offered not only a scientific and policy-rich exchange of ideas but also a rare glimpse into how countries like Tanzania are positioning aquatic foods as engines of economic recovery, public health, and ecological sustainability.

A Defining Voice From the Swahili Coast

Co-chairing the session, Shaaban Ali Othman, Minister for Blue Economy and Fisheries of Zanzibar, part of the United Republic of Tanzania, laid out his country’s blueprint for harnessing ocean resources without compromising marine ecosystems.

“Our survival is intimately tied to the ocean. It feeds us, it employs our people, and it holds the promise to lift millions out of poverty,” Othman said, advocating for a redefinition of how the world views aquatic food systems. “But this can only happen if we manage them responsibly.”

He emphasized that for Tanzania, the blue economy is not a buzzword—it is a foundational strategy woven into national development planning. As climate change intensifies and traditional farming struggles under erratic rainfall, coastal and inland aquatic foods offer a viable, nutrient-dense alternative for the country’s growing population.

“Communities in Zanzibar and along the Tanzanian coastline have fished for generations, but now we must ensure those practices are not just traditional, but also sustainable and inclusive,” Othman said.

He pointed to Zanzibar’s push to increase seaweed farming, particularly among women, as a double dividend for nutrition and gender equity. He also highlighted new investments in cold storage and fish processing facilities aimed at reducing post-harvest losses—currently among the highest in the region.

The Global Science Backs Tanzania’s Approach

His remarks resonated with the scientific panelists, particularly Jörn Schmidt, Science Director for Sustainable Aquatic Food Systems at WorldFish, who urged countries to bring aquatic foods “from the margins to the mainstream.”

“Aquatic foods are one of the few tools that can simultaneously tackle poverty, hunger, and climate risk,” said Schmidt. “But they are often left off the table—both literally and figuratively.”

Schmidt called for urgent action on three fronts: nutrition, production, and equity. He cited research showing that even modest increases in aquatic food consumption in the first 1,000 days of life could significantly reduce stunting and improve cognitive development. For production, he recommended low-impact, high-return systems such as seaweed and bivalves. On equity, he urged secure tenure for small-scale fishers, gender inclusion, and expanded social protections.

Barange noted that in 2023 alone, global fish production hit 189 million tons, delivering about 21 kilograms of aquatic animal protein per capita. However, an alarming 23.8 million tons—almost 15 percent—was lost or wasted due to poor handling and inefficient distribution systems.

“These losses are not just about food—they are lost nutrition, lost income, and lost opportunity,” said Barange, adding that if properly managed, aquatic foods could be the backbone of a global “blue transformation.”

Tanzania’s Call for Equity and Innovation

Othman used the opportunity to underline that the success of aquatic food systems must also address inequality—particularly the role of women and youth in the sector.

“Across Tanzania, from Kigamboni to Kilwa, women are drying fish, farming seaweed, and selling aquatic produce in markets. But they need access to capital, to better technology, and most importantly, to decision-making spaces,” he said.

To that end, Tanzania has begun piloting aquatic food training centres aimed at equipping youth with climate-smart aquaculture skills, including sustainable pond farming and low-carbon feed techniques.

“This is how we move from potential to prosperity,” Othman said.

A Blueprint for Global Action

The panel also featured a range of high-level contributions aimed at linking aquatic foods to broader development frameworks. Rhea Moss-Christian, Executive Director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, underscored the economic lifeline that tuna fisheries represent for small island developing states. She emphasized that tuna is not just a food source, but a pillar of public finance, especially in the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

“Let’s be clear,” she said. “In some Pacific nations, tuna revenue funds schools, hospitals and roads. A healthy tuna fishery is existential.”

Her message echoed Tanzania’s own struggle to balance economic imperatives with conservation, especially in the face of illegal fishing and weak monitoring infrastructure. Minister Othman called for stronger regional cooperation in fighting these threats, including shared surveillance and satellite-based monitoring systems.

CGIAR and the Seaweed Solution

Adding another layer of urgency, Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted of CGIAR warned that the world is “falling behind on SDG 2 and SDG 14.” She championed seaweed as a sustainable aquatic superfood with enormous potential, particularly for South Asia and Africa.

“Tanzania, with its long coastline and established seaweed culture, is ideally placed to lead in this domain,” she said.

She called for more public and private investment to scale innovations, support local entrepreneurs, and integrate aquatic foods into school feeding and public procurement programmes.

“Let us not miss this opportunity,” she added. “The sea can feed us—if we let it.”

Resilience in the Face of Crisis

Ciyong Zou, Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), highlighted the broader resilience benefits of aquatic food systems. He noted that aquatic foods support over 3 billion people globally, yet post-harvest losses—up to 30 percent in developing countries—undermine their potential.

He offered case studies from Cambodia and Sudan, where targeted investments in processing and training led to higher incomes and improved child nutrition. He announced UNIDO’s voluntary commitment to expand technical support to 10 additional coastal nations by 2030.

“For countries like Tanzania, this could mean new tools, cleaner production methods, and more resilient livelihoods,” Zou said.

Call to Action

As the panel drew to a close, one theme stood out: aquatic food systems are not merely about fish or seaweed—they are about dignity, sovereignty, and survival.

“We need to democratize access to data, empower communities, and ensure that small-scale fishers, especially women, are not left behind,” Othman insisted.

Back in Tanzania, the ripple effects of such commitments are already being felt. In Kisiwa Panza, a small island in Pemba, a women-led seaweed cooperative recently began exporting to Europe, thanks to technical support from local NGOs and government backing. “It’s a new life,” said Asha Mzee, one of the cooperative’s founders. “Before, we fished only what we needed. Now, we grow for the world.”

With nations like Tanzania stepping forward, the ocean—so long exploited—is being reimagined as a source of renewal. But the clock is ticking.

“In 2030, we’ll be asked what we did with these six remaining harvests,” Othman said in his final remarks. “Let’s ensure our answer is-we used them to feed people, protect our planet, and leave no one behind.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: Taryn Schulz / UN News
 
Last week’s UN conference on ocean (June 9-13) was aimed at supporting and taking urgent action to conserve and sustainably use oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, UNOC3 brought 15,000 participants, including more than 60 Heads of State and Government, to France’s Mediterranean coast, in Nice.

By Iván Duque Márquez
BOGOTA, Colombia, Jun 17 2025 (IPS)

The services the ocean provides are the backbone of our collective health, wealth and food security, yet today just 2.7% of the ocean has been assessed and deemed to be effectively protected. In failing to establish adequate safeguards, not only are we condemning communities and ecosystems across the world to decline and collapse, we are also overlooking a significant economic opportunity.

By investing in protecting just 30% of the ocean globally, we stand to unlock around $85 billion per year in annual returns and avoided costs by 2050. That’s the return from three key benefits alone – preserving natural coastal defences to prevent escalating property damages; avoiding the costs of carbon emissions from seagrass loss; and reducing profit losses from declining, overexploited fisheries. These are conservative estimates – additional benefits from spillover effects on tourism, fishery yields, and job creation could raise returns even further.

Iván Duque Márquez

Currently $15.8 billion is needed annually to meet the global target to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. Just $1.2 billion currently flows to marine protection annually. That’s a finance gap of $14.6 billion – a miniscule fraction of what the global community funnels into defence spending every year. Why are we repeatedly missing the mark on this critical goal when it represents such an opportunity?

This is a question of global equity and responsibility. Fewer than one-third of coastal countries have established quantified, timebound targets aligned with 30×30. Without stronger leadership from these countries, global efforts risk stalling further.

Wealthy nations can and must deliver on the pledges made in their revised National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and continue to embed targets in national plans, regional action plans, and national biodiversity financing plans. Given the financial returns and ecological imperative, this should be an easy decision.

Luckily, there is no shortage of examples to learn from. There are already nations demonstrating the level of ambition needed to reach the 30×30 target, using innovative policy and finance models to secure the protection of their marine ecosystems – and empower the communities that rely on them.

In my home country of Colombia, a commitment to protect 34% of the country’s ocean areas by 2030 has already been exceeded, with 37.6% of marine areas currently under protection. This achievement reflects a whole-of-government approach, incorporating mechanisms to secure legal land ownership and ensure inclusive decision-making.

Meanwhile our neighbor Ecuador’s debt for nature swaps are generating proceeds for the protection of critically important Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) – including a newly-created trans-national MPA corridor – for a number of years to come.

To succeed in reaching the 30×30 goal, and unlocking the financial returns associated with this milestone, we will need to look beyond national borders and focus attention on the high seas – just 1.5% of which is currently protected.

The impending ratification of the High Seas Treaty – focused on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction – is expected to catalyse action in this area, with countries already developing proposals for the first wave of high seas MPAs. This represents a generational opportunity for cooperation on global commons.

Chile is demonstrating strong leadership in this area, proposing the creation of a high seas MPA covering the international waters portion of the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges – a 3,000km long biodiversity hotspot and vital migratory corridor for whales, sharks, and turtles.

Chile’s plans connect existing national MPAs with proposed protections in international waters, aiming to create a continuous network of conservation areas to maintain ecological connectivity for migratory species. This is exactly the kind of multilateral coordination we need to scale.

We are at a critical juncture for ocean protection. If we act now, we can deliver long-term health, food security and economic stability for coastal communities across the globe, reaping the associated economic and environmental returns.

As a former head of government, I understand what it means to make difficult budgetary decisions. But it is clear that some investments pay back many times over – for people, for the planet, and for future generations. The time to close the ocean finance gap is now. The question is no longer whether we can afford to protect the ocean – but whether we can afford not to.

Iván Duque Márquez, the youngest elected President in Colombia’s history at the age of 41, is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Transformational Distinguished Fellow at Oxford University, a Distinguished Fellow at WRI, a Leadership Fellow at FIU, a Distinguished Fellow at the Bezos Earth Fund, and a member of the Campaign for Nature Global Steering Committee. He is a global expert in sustainability, conservation, green finance, and energy transition.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Excerpt:

Iván Duque Márquez is a Former President of Colombia (2018-2022)

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Nadia Malyanah Azman
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jun 17 2025 (IPS)

Wars, economic shocks, planetary heating and aid cuts have worsened food crises in recent years, with almost 300 million people now threatened by starvation.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Why hunger?
World food production has increased almost fourfold since 1960. FAO statistics indicate enough output to feed the world’s eight billion plus another three billion!

Clearly, inadequate food due to population growth cannot explain persistent hunger. Yet, the number of hungry people has been rising for more than a decade. So, why are so many hungry if there is more than enough food for all?

The multi-stakeholder 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high and growing acute food insecurity, with 295.3 million people starving!

In 2023, 733 million people experienced chronic hunger. Over a fifth (22.6%) of the 53 countries/territories assessed in this year’s GRFC were especially vulnerable.

Food output in 2024 continued to rise. In 2022, the world produced 11 billion metric tonnes of food, including 9.6 billion tonnes of cereal crops, such as maize, rice and wheat.

Most hungry people are poor. The poverty line is supposed to reflect the poor’s ability to afford basic needs, mainly food. But the discrepancy between poverty and hunger trends implies inconsistent data and definitions.

Nadia Malyanah Azman

Over 700 million worldwide survive on less than $2.15 daily without enough food. Presumably, the 3.4 billion with less than $5.50 daily can barely afford enough nutrition.

New World Bank data estimates 838 million, 10.5% of the world’s population, were in extreme poverty in 2022, 125 million more than previously estimated. It expects one in ten (9.9%) to be in extreme poverty in 2025, with about 750 million hungry.

The extreme poverty line is now $3/day instead of $2.15/day. The poor comprised almost half (48%) the world’s population in 2022. With bleak medium-term growth prospects and inequality still growing, their prospects look especially dismal.

While dietary or caloric energy is essential for human activity, adequate dietary diversity is crucial for human nutrition. Hence, the poor typically cannot afford to eat enough, let alone healthily.

Women and girls are generally more likely to go hungry than men, with hunger rates in women-headed households usually higher. UN-recognized ‘indigenous peoples’ are under 5% of the world’s population but account for 15% of the extreme poor, suffering more hunger than others.

Why food crises?
The multi-stakeholder 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) notes 2024 was the sixth consecutive year of high and growing acute food insecurity, with 295.3 million people starving!

Worsening conflicts, economic crises, deep funding cuts and less humanitarian assistance all threaten food security. As planetary heating worsens, those experiencing acute food insecurity will likely increase again this year.

Food insecurity has worsened in 19 countries/territories, mainly due to internal conflicts, as in Myanmar, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Even before the aid cuts, half the countries/territories featured in GRFC 2025 faced food crises. Despite La Niña rains, droughts in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected to worsen.

USAID and other recent aid cuts have defunded food programmes for over 14 million children in Sudan, Yemen and Haiti alone. G7 countries are expected to cut aid by 28% in 2026 from 2024. Meanwhile, the GRFC 2025 reported humanitarian food assistance “declined by 30 percent in 2023, and again in 2024”!

In 2024, 65.9 million in Asia were food insecure, the worst in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Food crises threatened 33.5 million, or 44% of those in the eight MENA territories assessed in GRFC 2025.

Starvation as weapon
The number of starving people more than doubled in 2024! Over 95% of this increase was in the Gaza Strip or Sudan. Wars destroy and disrupt food production and distribution. A famine was declared in Sudan in December 2024, with more than 24 million starving due to the civil war.

Sudan has the largest land area for farming in Africa. Two-thirds of Sudan’s population relies on agriculture, but the ongoing conflict has caused the destruction and abandonment of much farmland and infrastructure.

Despite the Sudanese military’s devastating factional war, the country remains the world’s largest exporter of oily seeds (groundnuts, safflower, sesame, soybean, and sunflower), reflecting its agronomic potential.

Many more are starving in Haiti, Mali, and South Sudan. The UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) deems such starvation, death, destitution and severe acute malnutrition “catastrophic”.

Food deprivation has become the primary Israeli weapon against the people of Gaza. Gaza’s 2.1 million Palestinians have been at “critical risk” of famine due to the Israeli blockade on food and humanitarian aid since October 2023!

Despite official Israeli denial of mass starvation, growing international outrage, including from some of its staunchest allies, has forced the Netanyahu government to gloss over its actions. In May, it set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to “calibrate” calorie rations to continue starvation but not to death.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By Yasmine Sherif
NEW YORK, Jun 16 2025 (IPS-Partners)

As we commemorate International Day of the African Child, we honor the courage, resilience and dreams of millions of children and youth across Africa. Their potential is limitless, their right to a quality education is non-negotiable.

There is clear evidence highlighting the value of education in building strong economies and ensuring peace and stability across the continent. Foundational learning has the potential to double the GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa by 2050, according to the World Bank. Additional analysis indicates that every US$1 invested in tripling pre-primary education enrolment in sub-Saharan Africa can generate up to US$33 in returns.

With just a small investment in education for all of Africa’s children, we could transform a continent, open vast untapped markets, and deliver on the promises outlined in the Pact for the Future and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Yet, too many children are being left behind. About half of the world’s 234 million crisis-impacted school-aged children reside in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Education Cannot Wait (ECW). Learning poverty is further exacerbating cycles of poverty, displacement and crises. Did you know that four out of five African children cannot read or understand a simple text by age 10?

To address these challenges, we must invest in quality education for the youngest and fastest-growing continent in the world. Across Africa, ECW investments have already reached over 7.4 million girls and boys, with a focus on foundational learning, gender equality, teacher training and psychosocial support – a whole-of-child learning approach.

Today – expanding on the African Union’s ‘Year of Education 2024’ efforts to build resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning in Africa – we call on world leaders, donors and the private sector to fund education in emergencies through proven multilateral funds like Education Cannot Wait.

We can and we must keep hope alive for the children of Africa.

 

Excerpt:

International Day of the African Child Statement by ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif

A displaced mother from Khartoum brings her child for treatment at the UNICEF-supported Alkarama clinic in Kassala state. Credit: UNICEF/Ahmed Mohamdeen Elfatih

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 16 2025 (IPS)

Over the course of 2025, the food security situation in Sudan has taken a considerable turn for the worst. Compounded by the Sudanese Civil War, millions of civilians face alarming levels of food insecurity and are at risk of experiencing famine. Humanitarian experts have described the situation in Sudan as being the worst hunger crisis in the world today.

Over two years of warfare has decimated critical infrastructures and countless livelihoods in Sudan, leaving many unable to access basic services. The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that roughly 24.6 million people, or half of the population, is acutely food insecure. Additionally, about 638,000 people are estimated to be facing the most severe levels of hunger, the highest of anywhere in the world.

On June 12, the WFP, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a joint press release detailing the food security situation in the Upper Nile State. With armed conflict intensifying in this area, humanitarian aid deliveries have been hampered and food sources have been decimated. According to the latest findings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), roughly 11 in 13 people in Upper Nile State counties are now facing emergency levels of hunger.

The two most vulnerable counties in the Upper Nile State are Nasir and Ulang, which have been ravaged by armed clashes and airstrikes since March. Rates of displacement have soared in these areas and experts have projected that famine is imminent. Approximately 32,000 people in these counties are experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5), marking a threefold increase from previous projections.

“Once again, we are seeing the devastating impact conflict has on food security in South Sudan,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, Country Director and Representative for WFP in South Sudan. “Conflict doesn’t just destroy homes and livelihoods, it tears communities apart, cuts off access to markets, and sends food prices spiraling upward. Long-term peace is essential, but right now, it is critical that our teams are able to access and safely distribute food to families caught in conflict in Upper Nile, to bring them back from the brink and prevent famine.”

In addition to worsening levels of hunger in Upper Nile counties, the food security situation has deteriorated significantly in the areas surrounding Khartoum State, where the fighting has been concentrated over the course of the war. According to WFP’s Country Director in Sudan, Laurent Bukera, Khartoum and its surrounding areas have experienced “widespread destruction”, with several areas at high risks of famine.

“The needs are immense,” said Bukera. He underscored the prevalence of a particularly virulent outbreak of cholera, as well as a lack of access to water, healthcare, and electricity. Jabal Awliya, which is roughly 25 miles south of Khartoum, has been described by Bukera as having an intense “level(s) of hunger, destitution, and desperation”.

Bukera has also expressed concern over the possibility of displaced civilians returning to highly damaged and dangerous areas such as Khartoum, which would further complicate relief efforts. “We have rapidly scaled up our operation to meet increasing needs,” Mr. Bukera said. “We are aiming to reach seven million people on a monthly basis, prioritizing those facing famine or other areas at extreme risk.”

Shortfalls in funding have greatly exacerbated the food security situation, with lifesaving nutritional supplies being pushed out of reach for millions, including many young children as well as pregnant or nursing women. The number of children in South Sudan facing the risk of acute malnutrition has risen to 2.3 million in the past few months, marking an increase of over 200,000 people.

“The ongoing challenges with access in some of the most affected areas, as well as health and nutrition site closures reduce the chances of early intervention and treatment. In addition, the cholera outbreak has added to an already difficult situation, putting young lives in a precarious fight for survival,” said Noala Skinner, UNICEF’s country representative in South Sudan. “Now more than ever we need continuity and scale-up of services for prevention and treatment of malnutrition,” added McGroarty.

Despite hostilities presenting numerous accessibility challenges throughout Sudan, the United Nations (UN) is currently assisting over 4 million people a month, marking a four-fold increase from the start of 2024. Additionally, previously unreachable areas, such as Khartoum, have experienced an easing of restrictions, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid. WFP is aiming to reach 7 million people as restrictions continue to loosen.

However, the stability of relief efforts remain fragile. According to Bukera, WFP urgently requires $500 million for “emergency food and cash assistance” for the next six months of operations. Additionally, the upcoming rainy season is projected to stretch resources, with flooding compounding risks of disease transmission and damage to critical infrastructures.

Furthermore, the security situation has become increasingly volatile for aid personnel, which threatens to disrupt humanitarian efforts. “Indiscriminate and unacceptable attacks on humanitarian personnel and operations are escalating – including last week’s strike on a WFP-UNICEF convoy when it was just hours from reaching besieged El Fasher in North Darfur,” said Bukera. “In April, aid workers were killed during a major escalation of fighting in Zamzam camp also near El Fasher.”

For a sustainable end to this crisis, it is imperative that there is a lasting cessation of hostilities. The joint report from WFP, FAO, and UNICEF states that areas that have lower volumes of violence have seen improvements in food security. These areas have been linked to better rates of crop production and smoother humanitarian operations, underscoring the positive outcomes that are possible if peace is established.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Plow moving rubble in Hatay Turkey after earthquake. Credit: Çağlar Oskay, Unsplash

By Maximilian Malawista
NEW YORK, Jun 16 2025 (IPS)

Floods, earthquakes, and droughts are striking the wallets of the world harder than any other time in history. According to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, the cost of disasters is only growing, with annual expenditures exceeding 2.3$ trillion; accounting for over 2% of global GDP, and if represented as a nation, it would have the seventh largest GDP.

The $2.3 trillion expenditure accounts for indirect and ecosystem impacts. While direct costs are $180 – 200 billion on average annually during 2001 to 2020, which represents a 153% increase from the $70 – 80 billion between 1970 and 2000.

The report mentioned that “a national debt of just $300 billion was enough to trigger the European sovereign debt crisis.” displaying a financial threat on global stability, if left unchecked.

In the report, regions with higher economic stability directly transferred to a nation’s ability to be resilient to disasters, as when North America incurred $69.57 billion in losses during 2023, it only had an impact of .23% on its GDP. On the other hand, Micronesia, a subregion of oceania made up of 2,000 small islands, incurred a loss of $4.3 billion, which represented a 46.1% impact on its nominal $1.43 billion GDP.

Developed nations have the ability to bounce back, but developing nations with less capital have to choose between continuing economic expansion, or rebuilding from the rubble. Now there seems to be a solution.

In Pakistan, floods and storms have posed a continuing threat to the development of further economic growth, among sustainable infrastructure. To smartly invest, Pakistan looked at mangroves, an industry which brings economic stability but also storm protection. This protection ensures safety for their new industries, as the industries surround the mangroves, the mangroves become Pakistan’s insurance against disasters.

According to the IUCN, Pakistan made a “20 fold return”, revealing that mangroves were not only a defence mechanism, but also a foster for large economic returns bringing sustainable development among stability through offering habitats for fish and animals, protecting coasts against storms, and even storing “3 to 4 times more carbon then tropical forests”.

Makkio Yashiro, regional ecosystems coordinator for UNEP, says “Mangroves are an important tool in the fight against climate change. They reduce carbon in the atmosphere and they also make financial sense. Restoring mangroves is five times more cost effective than building ‘grey infrastructure’ such as flood walls, which also don’t help with climate change,”

UNEP also found that “for every dollar invested in mangrove restoration there is a benefit of four dollars” evaluating it as an investment with no cons.

The Three Harmful Cycles

Structural engineers in disaster relief training in earthquake ruins. Credit:This is engineering, Unsplash

Aromar Revi, Director of the Indian Institute for Human settlements (IIHS), identified three spirals commonly associated with the risk of disasters.

First, he said the rise in debt along with falling income. Adding that “Many companies carry hidden disaster risks because they are underinsured,” this underinsurance makes companies “vulnerable to disasters facing not only supply chain disruptions, but also wider financial instability”

Second, according to Theodora Antonakaki, Director of Bank of Greece’s Climate Change and Sustainability Centre (CCSC), is “a decrease in insurability.” adding that “traditional risk transfer methods are failing to keep up.”

For the third cycle, Ronald Jackson, Head of Disaster Risk Reduction, Recovery and Resilience Building Team, UNDP, noted an over reliance on costly humanitarian aid. He argued this reliance “weakens resilience” and underscores the crucial need for “disaster financing strategies,” specifically “budget tracking systems” to address regionally specific risks.

While many countries remain stuck in these harmful cycles, Japan, like Pakistan, has taken steps towards a proactive future through disaster risk reduction (DRR). Through investing in mitigation strategies, identifying key risks, and implementing sustainable devices, they have protected their economies and infrastructure, reducing all three cycles.

Japan, which frequently faces tsunamis and earthquakes, has adapted to disasters by using “seismic safety” measures. One of these technologies has been seismic isolation bearings, which allow buildings to have horizontal movement during earthquakes, minimizing any possible damage. For Tsunamis, Japan has employed seawalls and coastal forests, which either block or displace water, both strategies which have been effective in reducing damage.

The report argues that disasters themselves are not necessarily becoming more frequent or stronger, but rather things are getting more expensive to replace, raising economic tolls. A major reason for this is the lack of safe and resilient housing catered to regional risks. With estimates of “Approximately 1.2 billion people are expected to be living in cities by 2050 compared to 2020.”, urban densities must be built with DRR methods at the forefront of construction. Without such measures, infrastructure investments would risk being entirely lost. Research has consistently displayed that “disaster losses are already considerably larger than mitigation costs,” making preventionary DRR measures not only proactive and wise, but economically necessary.

United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres stated “This report clearly shows that investing in disaster risk reduction saves money, saves lives, and lays the foundation for a safe and prosperous future for us all. I urge all leaders to heed that call.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Protestors march down Valletta's Republic Street on the first anniversary of Daphne's assassination. Credit: Miguela Xuereb/Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Jun 16 2025 (IPS)

“We didn’t want revenge. We want justice—justice for Daphne and for the [crimes exposed in] her stories.”

Corinne Vella, sister of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, is speaking to IPS soon after the sentencing of two men to life imprisonment for their involvement in the killing.

She explains that while the long sentences are an important step forward in her family’s pursuit of justice for her sister, they have wider ramifications for press freedom too.

“These sentences are a step towards that justice, but also a step towards making a safer world for journalists,” she says.

Caruana Galizia, Malta’s most prominent investigative journalist, was killed by a car bomb in October 2017 outside her home in the village of Bidnija.

Her murder made headlines around the world, focusing attention on the rule of law in Malta, as well as highlighting the murky links between Maltese politicians and big business—her investigations had exposed high-level government corruption linked to companies.

It also highlighted issues around the safety of journalists. A public inquiry held in the wake of the killing delivered a damning verdict of the state’s role in her murder and pointed to institutional failures to protect Caruana Galizia.

The inquiry’s findings, released in a 457-page report in 2021, were that her death had been preventable and that responsibility lay with the state for creating “an atmosphere of impunity… which led to the collapse of the rule of law.”

The report said, “…acts, certainly illicit if not illegal, were committed by persons within State entities that created an environment that facilitated the assassination. This even by failing to do their duty to act promptly and effectively to give proper protection to the journalist.”

Four years on from the publication of that report, Caruana Galizia’s family believes that the life sentences handed down on June 10 to local crime gang members Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, who were found guilty of complicity in the murder by supplying the bomb that killed her, have sent a powerful message.

“We believe the sentences will have a deterrent effect, telling potential killers that there are serious consequences when a journalist is murdered. The sentences have sent out shockwaves already. People literally thought they could get away with murder, and this has shown that they can’t,” Corinne Vella says.

She points out that the significance of the sentences for press freedom reaches well beyond just Malta.

Since the death of Caruana Galizia, other journalists investigating alleged corruption linked to high-level political figures have been killed in Europe, and press freedom groups have said it is imperative state institutions, including the judiciary, are seen as being able to not just protect journalists but bring to justice those behind killings to show they cannot act with impunity.

“The fight against impunity for the murder of journalists in Europe and around the world is fundamental to the wider climate for the safety of journalists,” Jamie Wiseman, Europe Advocacy Officer at the United International Press Institute (IPI), told IPS.

“Convictions like these send an important signal that those who carry out such assassinations will not escape accountability. So these sentences are another big step forward in the push towards full justice and emblematic of media freedom in Europe more widely,” he added.

However, despite the sentences, both Corinne Vella and press freedom groups remain concerned that the failings they say led to Caruana Galizia’s death have not been dealt with.

“Daphne’s murder did not take place in a vacuum. The murder of a journalist for their work happens because of failures in the system that happen before that person has been murdered. And the circumstances that led to Daphne’s murder have not been addressed. The whole post-inquiry history has been one of a lack of urgency and reluctance to respond to the problems identified in that inquiry,” said Corinne Vella.

Media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the convictions of Agius and Vella mark progress in the quest for justice for Caruana Galizia.

But they pointed out the alleged mastermind behind the killing has yet to be brought to trial, and the majority of recommendations on journalist safety and press freedom that emerged from the public inquiry—including, among others, detailed legal and procedural proposals to bolster protection of journalists and journalism’s role in protecting democracy and helping ensure the rule of law—have yet to be implemented.

RSF says it is now essential that Maltese authorities ramp up efforts to do both.

Pavol Szalai, Head of the European Union-Balkans Desk at RSF, told IPS the sentences of Agius and Vella would act as a deterrent to other potential journalist killers but that “the biggest deterrent would be a timely conviction and long sentence for the mastermind of the killings.”

“Globally there is a clear pattern of the masterminds of such killings escaping justice while the middleman and hitmen are convicted. So it’s vital that we keep pushing and ensure the mastermind behind Daphne’s assassination is put behind bars. The Maltese government must also fully implement the recommendations of the Public Inquiry into Daphne’s murder, which would help tackle the culture of impunity in Malta that created an environment in which a leading journalist could be murdered in an EU member state,” added Wiseman.

Meanwhile, Caruana Galizia’s family continues to pursue justice for her.

Prior to the convictions of Agius and Vella, three other men were already serving sentences for installing and detonating the bomb in Caruana Galizia’s vehicle: brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, sentenced to 40 years in prison, and Vincent Muscat, who negotiated a reduced sentence of 15 years in exchange for testimony, which was seen as key in the trial of Agius and Vella.

Another man, Melvin Theuma, the middleman in the murder, was granted a pardon in exchange for information on the suspected mastermind, businessman Yorgen Fenech.

Fenech, who was charged with complicity in Caruana Galizia’s murder in 2019 but released on bail in February this year, is awaiting trial.

“The convictions and sentencing [of Agius and Vella] are a step closer to justice for Daphne. But it’s not over yet,” said Vella.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters via Gallo Images

By Inés M. Pousadela
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jun 16 2025 (IPS)

At a White House meeting, presidents Nayib Bukele and Donald Trump exchanged praises and joked about mass incarceration while discussing an unprecedented agreement: the USA would pay El Salvador US$6 million a year to house deportees – of any nationality, potentially including US citizens – in its Centre for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), a notorious mega-prison. This agreement marked the evolution of Bukele’s authoritarian model from a domestic experiment to an exportable commodity for strongmen worldwide.

Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, Bukele had tweeted an offer to help the US outsource its incarceration system. Less than six weeks later, hundreds of Venezuelan deportees were sent to CECOT under the 1798Alien Enemies Act. Among them was Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran man who’d lived in Maryland for 15 years and was deported despite being granted protections by a US immigration judge. When the US Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return, Bukele refused on the grounds that he wouldn’t ‘smuggle a terrorist into the United States’. For Trump, this was one of the perks of having an ally who disregards the rule of law as much as he does.

Bukele’s path to authoritarianism

Bukele’s systematic assault on democracy began after his 2019 election victory, when he broke from El Salvador’s traditional two-party system and secured 53.4 per cent of the vote. The first significant sign of his willingness to ignore democratic norms came when the opposition-controlled Legislative Assembly refused to approve a multi-million-dollar loan for his security and anti-gang programme. Bukele called on supporters, police and the army to pressure legislators.

In the 2021 legislative election his party won a supermajority, enabling him to pass any laws and dismiss the judges who’d declared policies unconstitutional, appointing compliant replacements who gave him the green light to run for an unconstitutional second term.

The cornerstone of Bukele’s authoritarian project was his March 2022 declaration of a state of emergency following a spike in gang killings. Initially presented as temporary, the state of emergency has been repeatedly renewed and expanded into a new normal where constitutional rights, including due process, legal defence and freedom of assembly, no longer exist.

Bukele’s security policy involves massive deployment of security forces to ‘extract’ suspected gang members and jail them for life in extremely overcrowded conditions with no visits or rehabilitation programmes. This approach has led to the warrantless detention of over 80,000 people, giving El Salvador the world’s highest incarceration rate. Visible gang activity has dramatically fallen and the homicide rate plummeted from 105 per 100,000 people in 2015 to 1.9 in 2024, earning Bukele high approval ratings and re-election with 85 per cent of the vote. But the human rights cost has been devastating.

Since his unconstitutional re-election, Bukele has accelerated his institutional dismantling. On 29 January, the Legislative Assembly ratified a constitutional amendment eliminating the previous requirement that constitutional amendments be ratified by two successive legislatures. Bukele can now change the constitution without proper consultation and debate. Safeguards protecting key constitutional norms, including those prohibiting presidential re-election, have been removed.

Constitutional manipulation has been accompanied by judicial capture. In September 2024, the Legislative Assembly elected seven new Supreme Court judges, despite civil society criticism of the lack of procedural transparency and concerns about the candidates’ lack of independence.

Civic space under assault

The deterioration of civic space has been equally systematic, with the state intensifying its criminalisation of activists. In March 2024, Verónica Delgado was arbitrarily detained and charged with ‘unlawful association’ for her work as a member of the Search Block group, which searches for relatives who’ve disappeared under the state of emergency. In February 2025, at least 21 activists and civil society leaders were arbitrarily detained in coordinated operations. Among them was Fidel Zavala, spokesperson for the human rights organisation Unit for the Defence of Human and Community Rights, who’d recently filed a complaint against prison authorities citing cases of torture.

Bukele’s assault on press freedom has reached unprecedented levels. The Association of Journalists of El Salvador recorded 466 cases of attacks against journalists in 2024. Bukele has directly targeted independent media, using his Twitter/X account to discredit El Faro, a digital news outlet that investigated COVID-19 procurement contracts. Physical intimidation has escalated, with police raiding journalist Mónica Rodríguez’s home in December 2024, seizing hard drives and USB devices without a search warrant or any legal explanation.

State surveillance has become systematic and brazen. In November 2024, the Legislative Assembly adopted two laws on cybersecurity and data protection that grant authorities broad powers to remove online content and demand deletion of material deemed ‘inaccurate’, paving the way for systematic censorship.

The latest civic space attack is a Russian-inspired Foreign Agents Law passed in May, requiring anyone receiving foreign funding to register with a Registry of Foreign Agents. It imposes a punitive 30 per cent tax on all foreign payments and grants the authorities sweeping powers to approve, deny or revoke registrations. This is a devastating blow because most Salvadoran organisations depend on foreign donations and many have been critical of Bukele’s human rights violations, making them vulnerable to being labelled political threats.

Authoritarianism for export

Bukele’s model has attracted admirers worldwide. His re-election was hailed by many who seek to emulate him, and he receives sky-high approval ratings in other countries in the region, particularly those enduring rising crime.

The Trump-Bukele deportation agreement is the most visible manifestation of authoritarian collaboration, but the partnership extends beyond immigration policy. Trump has expressed admiration for Bukele’s methods, recently announcing plans to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz Island, arguing the notorious prison would help circumvent judges that fail to do his bidding. Bukele has encouraged Trump’s defiance of judges, calling legal challenges to Trump’s policies ‘a judicial coup’ and urging Republicans to remove what he calls ‘corrupt judges’. Trump must find Bukele’s systematic dismantling of civil society inspiring, viewing his criminalisation of activists and silencing of independent media as effective tools for consolidating power.

The international community’s response has been muted, reflecting the dilemma posed by Bukele’s genuine popularity and security achievements. The enthusiasm with which international observers have embraced what they see as Bukele’s success story demonstrates the dangerous appeal of authoritarian responses to complex social problems. His ability to achieve genuine, if not necessarily long-lasting, security improvements while systematically dismantling democratic institutions offers a seductive blueprint for other leaders frustrated by the constraints of democratic governance.

Bukele’s transformation of El Salvador from a fragile democracy into an authoritarian state is one of the most dramatic examples of democratic backsliding in contemporary Latin America, serving as a warning about the fragility of democratic institutions and an indication of how authoritarianism can adapt and spread. When Salvadorans eventually seek alternatives to Bukele’s increasingly repressive rule, they’ll face the struggle of having to repair the democratic machinery necessary for peaceful political change.

Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, 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

 

The following piece explores the urgent need to mobilize private capital in support of sustainable development – particularly in advance of the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), taking place in Sevilla, Spain from June 30 to July 3.
 
Meanwhile the International Business Forum will be held alongside FFD4. Organized by the FFD4 Business Steering Committee, it will bring together Heads of State, Ministers, CEOs, and prominent global business leaders to drive solutions that unlock private finance and investments for sustainable development.

By John W.H. Denton AO, José Viñals and Shinta Kamdani
NEW YORK, Jun 16 2025 (IPS)

Geopolitical tensions – from deepening rivalries between major powers to regional conflicts – have placed acute pressure on the international development agenda. Development assistance from major funders has been on the decline. The world is becoming more unpredictable.

Today, capital is not flowing to where sustainable and development finance is most needed. In developing markets, the sustainable development financial shortfall is estimated to be around USD 4 trillion annually, with investment lacking in areas including critical basic infrastructure and access to water.

To address this funding gap, every stakeholder must come to the table in recognition of the fact that global challenges, including poverty, pandemics and social inequality don’t respect borders. Collaboration is needed now more than ever, and of all the convenings taking place this year, the UN’s Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development(FFD4) in Sevilla, Spain from June 30-July 3 will facilitate the collaboration needed at the highest levels across the public and private sectors.

The private sector has an indispensable role to play in helping to deliver capital to solutions at scale. Public-private partnerships can multiply the impact of development spending, whether co-investing in clean infrastructure or delivering essential services in hard-to reach areas. Yet, private capital all too often remains on the sidelines of global development funding.

The reason for this is well known. As World Bank President Ajay Banga recently noted, “Private investment flows only where the right conditions exist and where there’s a clear probability of return.” So, we need to urgently create these conditions, putting in place the reforms necessary and creating investable opportunities that will allow capital to flow.

On the demand side, more must be done to translate high level national ambitions and transnational agendas into investable opportunities that align and channel private capital into developing markets.

Solutions, such as funds that invest in the development of project pipelines and platforms that pool investment capital across a range of projects, will help scale the mobilization of private capital by making more projects bankable and providing institutional investors with predictable returns.

We should also embrace innovative approaches to finance, such as Indonesia’s green sukuk bonds and the Barbados debt-for-climate swaps.

On the policy side, regulatory fixes are necessary to address prudential regulations that misprice the benefits of guarantees and the risk of infrastructure investment in emerging markets, creating artificial and unnecessary barriers to investment.

More can also be done to mitigate local currency exchange risk – the mismatch between investments made in hard currencies for projects that operate in more volatile local currencies.

These reforms, supported by the greater use and enablement of technology to overcome the financing gap for small and medium enterprises in emerging markets, will create a pathway to de-risk and unlock the investment opportunities, facilitating the flow of capital at scale.

The International Business Forum at FFD4, of which we three serve as the co-chairs, will provide this year’s – if not this decade’s – best opportunity for stakeholders to come together to set out and deliver a new path for public-private partnerships, one that supports these and other common-sense solutions to unlock investment for developing markets.

We ask you to join us alongside heads of government in Seville at FFD4, to inform negotiations and advance practical solutions. The private sector has both the means and motive to act – and if it does, can shape a path for sustainable and enduring global growth.

Now is the time to join us, to build an equitable and resilient future for all.

The authors serve as the Co-Chairs of the FFD4 Business Steering Committee. Mr. Denton is the Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce and a board member of IFM Investors. Mr. Viñals and Ms. Kamdani serve as Co-chairs of the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance, and Mr. Viñals also served as the Group Chairman of Standard Chartered and Ms. Kamdani is the CEO of Sintesa Group.

More information about the FFD4 International Business Forum can be found here.

IPS UN Bureau