Global Issues

Just created my first Feed on the global south: bsky.app/profile/did:... Matches any post with #GlobalSouth hashtag, or the phrase "global south", or from my also recently created Global South list: bsky.app/profile/did:... Please follow/share. Also let me know of people/orgs to add to the List.

Author argues Trump expects the Nobel because he is less belligerent than China/Russia - bombing small non-nuclear countries seems not to count Delusions by Trump is well known - read the piece to see just how bad most US presidents have been post WWII #Trump #NobelPeacePrize #USForeignPolicy

Former UN Under-Secretary-General, Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury says the General Assembly, not 2 veto-holding powers, should decide next Secretary-General He notes that the Security Council veto should not apply here; the GA appoints the Secretary General; SC only recommends #UNSecretaryGeneral

The UN needs a Secretary-General who answers to the world's people, not just powerful states, writes Mandeep Tiwana from @civicusalliance.bsky.social And a woman from Latin America and the Caribbean could be it The 5 permanent Security Council with a veto could block that #UNSecretaryGeneral

@kizmakoye.bsky.social reports the Global Catholic Congress, representing 44 countries, has endorsed a campaign to end child marriage by 2030 Despite that UNICEF says progress is too slow: 1 in 5 young women aged 20-24 married before 18 #ChildMarriage #GirlsRights #EndChildMarriage

Around 36,600 people have fled into northern Kenya as fighting flares on the Ethiopian side of the border Host communities along the border are sheltering 25,600 of them, despite already limited resources, and IOM says their needs must not be overlooked #Kenya #Ethiopia #Displacement

Women and girls were 1 in 4 of the 37,000+ civilians killed in conflict last year, double their 2021 share, a UN report finds Women are shut out of peace processes making up just 5% of negotiators. Meanwhile military spending hit a record $2.9 trillion #WomenPeaceSecurity #UNWomen #Conflict

Israel's Hebron operation raises concerns of ethnic cleansing, with over 3,000 Palestinians evacuated since Friday Officials' statements show the measures are punitive and meant to instil fear. UN rights chief calls for return, compensation and reparation #Hebron #WestBank #Israel #EthnicCleansing

UN investigators say Russia committed war crimes, deliberately striking civilian energy infrastructure crucial for winter Commanders knew those heating facilities were indispensable, the report says, leaving older people without heat, water or electricity at -21°C #Ukraine #Russia #WarCrimes

French high school students protest over mouldy classrooms and underfunding At least 250,000 people have joined the streets The government has offered little; police have detained thousands of under-18s Marine Le Pen using it to ridiculously blame "anarchic immigration" #France #GenZ #Protest

Guterres warned that the "sabre-rattling" between Iran and the US could spiral out of control and called for restraint and diplomacy He added navigation rights must be restored in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait On Gaza, he urged Israel to lift limits on aid #Iran

Violations against children in war hit record levels in 2025, with 38,558 cases affecting 24,174 children This is despite the Security Council having a mandate to protect children for 30 years Highest violations were in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (12,445) #Children #Conflict

A nurse was killed by protesters in DR Congo while responding to an Ebola alert in Bafwasende, DR Congo. Annother health worker was badly hurt The UN's Ebola coordinator, Julien Harneis, calls for a full investigation and urges communities to protect health workers #Ebola #DRCongo #HealthWorkers

War: strips forests, blocks farmers from land, prevents wildlife surveys Armenia's Shikahogh reserve near the Azerbaijan border is an example where mines also stop farming Funding mechanisms for war-damaged ecosystems is barely covered at upcoming biodiversity COP17 #Biodiversity #COP17 #Armenia

Bangladesh has the laws, but weak enforcement and low public trust hold back safe, fair business The Asia Foundation found only 20.5% of Bangladeshis rate police integrity very high, and the author says workplace safety rules need real enforcement #Bangladesh #HumanRights #WorkplaceSafety

Planes circle when airports lack room for them to land ICAO wants countries to coordinate flights like synchronised traffic lights Trials in the Americas and Europe saved 3.3+ million minutes and almost $0.5 billion Better information sharing between countries also needed #ICAO #Aviation

The Writers Guild on Musk blocking releasee of the documentary "Musk": "A small handful of billionaires now own virtually every major media company, news outlet, and social media platform and are demonstrating how this unchecked concentration over our news and media threatens democratic discourse."

Women in besieged Sudan face the worst abuse and trauma They still manage to run the kitchens, counselling and aid to keep communities alive But projects sometimes go to groups led by men even where women know best #Sudan #WomenInConflict

The UN marks 81 years since its Charter took effect, working on peace, human rights and development. In his last Day message as Secretary-General, António Guterres warns of conflict, climate crisis, rising inequality, saying the UN is "needed more than ever" #UnitedNations #UNDay #Multilateralism

ENHYPEN's World Blood Donor Day drive has drawn more than 9,000 pledges to donate blood from 177 countries, WHO says That includes more than 3,250 fans of the band, who use music and social media to push voluntary, unpaid donation #WHO #BloodDonation #ENHYPEN

On Sudan: A year after El Fasher fell, 9 in 10 Sudanese aid groups UN Women surveyed found women or girls in distress with no mental health or legal support Anna Mutavati of UN Women says survivors still live with trauma from sexual violence, lost relatives and lost homes #Sudan #ElFasher #UNWomen

Both the army and the RSF are hitting civilians with drones in Sudan UN rights chief Volker Türk says foreign arms keep fuelling it Strikes are hitting displacement sites, markets and hospitals, and one truck strike on 18 October killed at least 139 #Sudan #Drones #HumanRights

After a deadly attack in Hebron, Israel sealed off the West Bank for the 4th time in a month - collective punishment that is hitting the olive harvest The UN says closures are cutting Palestinians off from services and livelihoods, while settler attacks hit a record #WestBank #Hebron #HumanRights

Kenyan farmers are getting soil maps and tests to choose fertilizer more effectively when previously they've been guessing, using more than needed Over 3,600 soil samples are mapped across 45 counties Results are sent to farmers' phones so the information at their fingertips #Kenya #SoilHealth

Children are nearly a third of humanity and hit hardest by war, but they are largely absent from peace processes Rights lawyer Mikiko Otani calls for children's participation (a right under UN conventions) at the 2027 Paris Principles conference and in peacebuilding week #Children #Peacebuilding

Ebola has infected 9,765 people in DRC. Nearly half, 4,727, have resulted in death UN agencies warn more resources are urgently needed for the response and to feed families Kenya's contacts are leaving quarantine, but WHO says nobody is safe while the DRC outbreak continues #Ebola #DRC #Kenya

Taiz City has been cut off for 20 days Aid cannot get in while people cannot get out Water prices have roughly tripled as fuel for trucks runs short More than 800,000 people in Taiz are cut off from assistance, according to the UN World Food Programme. #Yemen #Taiz

World will miss 2030 goal of ending extreme poverty Oxfam's @maxlawsontin.bsky.social says it's still possible, only if inequality falls sharply Oakland Institute's @mittaloak.bsky.social notes just $300 billion of military budgets could end extreme poverty #Poverty #SDGs #Inequality

No, says economist Francisco Rodriguez: missing $11 billion was largely barter, not theft Under US sanctions, Venezuela paid importers with oil invoices because it couldn't use bank accounts The corruption was real, but the "half of oil revenues stolen" story doesn't fit the data #Venezuela #Oil

1st recorded human case of Shamonda virus, found in livestock, has been reported in France and the patient died The patient was immunocompromised. French authorities say no risk to the general public identified so far. WHO is working to find out how he was infected #Shamonda #France #PublicHealth

Nepal emits 0.08% of global greenhouse gases but faces a $4.8 billion recovery after a glacier collapse killed over 1,500 people with 5,600 still missing A $50 million flash appeal raised only $24.5 million Outpouring of concern didn't translate to much #Nepal #ClimateJustice #GlacierFlood

Mothers get ~196 days of paid leave on average, fathers just 25, per new UN data 1/3rd of 190 economies give fathers no paid leave at all, leaving women to carry most care work UN Women calls for equitable parental/carers' leave + policies that let fathers share care #GenderEquality #PaidLeave

On elderly deaths: UN Special Rapporteur says suspicious deaths of older people are under-reported/investigated Ageist assumptions hide abuse and neglect Independent UN rights expert urges better investigations, data collection, training for professionals to spot abuse #HumanRights #OlderPeople

Guterres says the cost-of-living protests are tied to wars, and that tackling inequality and stopping conflicts from expanding is the answer He notes war exploits inequality, so those with the least absorb the biggest shocks like costs of war and high energy/food prices #Inequality #Guterres

Ebola has spread to an 8th DRC province and now to Nigeria, which confirmed its first case in a traveller from Uganda Around 6 in 10 deaths happen outside health centres, so community spread is hard to stop, especially in insecure areas #Ebola #DRC #Nigeria

Story by @kizmakoye.bsky.social on how a single litre of seawater can reveal around 100 species UNESCO is now expanding that method, its eDNA programme, worldwide As he notes, "The technology’s practical value will depend on whether its findings help communities" #eDNA #OceanHealth #UNESCO

Temporarily passing the 1.5 degree Paris limit is now unavoidable Current national climate commitments fall far short How far and how long temperatures overshoot depends on cutting emissions 18% by 2030 and 45% by 2035, compared with 2025 levels #ClimateAction #ClimateChange

Bangladesh has no full yearly count of what climate change costs households and businesses, so much of the damage stays hidden The author calls for a yearly national climate loss report #Bangladesh #ClimateChange #Adaptation

The strongest El Niño on record already hitting vulnerable communities @wmo-global.bsky.social warns it may go beyond anything on record @tomfletcherun.bsky.social says the next 2 weeks are critical to get funding and supplies to Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya before heavy rains #ElNino #Climate

Aid cuts and climate shocks are putting child wellbeing at risk Child deaths under 5 are expected to rise in 2025 for the first time this century WHO says 80%+ of children with cancer are cured in high-income countries but below 30% in many poorer ones #ChildrensRights #Samarkand #ChildhoodCancer

Smugglers took between $388 and $509 million on European sea routes in 2025, UNODC estimates Many paid but never made it: 3,404 died or went missing, and 104,200 were intercepted and returned #Migration #Smuggling #Mediterranean

On Abyei, Sudan: UN chief Guterres condemned Monday's drone strikes near a busy market that killed dozens of civilians He called on Sudan and South Sudan to help prevent more attacks and keep Abyei demilitarised #Abyei #Sudan #UN

Settler attacks, often with Israeli forces protecting/joining in, marred the West Bank olive harvest ~160 attacks recorded in the first 2 weeks of October Thousands of farmers can't reach their trees, while settlers are allowed onto Palestinian land to harvest #WestBank #OliveHarvest #Palestine

UN experts say 3 years on, the fate of North Koreans forcibly returned from China is still unknown Returnees lack protection from disappearance, torture and execution due to no independent monitoring They urge China: stop repatriations, and Pyongyang: say where returnees are #DPRK #China #Rights

Nigeria has confirmed its first Ebola Bundibugyo case: a woman who travelled from Uganda Contact tracing has identified 44 people being monitored The DRC outbreak has passed 9,500 cases with no approved vaccine still #Ebola #Nigeria

Nearly 2 dozen countries met in Geneva on Sudan, but neither the Sudanese Government nor the RSF were at the table Switzerland's Alexandre Fasel noted drones now mostly kill civilians, and almost 34 million people need aid #Sudan #Geneva #HumanitarianAid

Francisco R. Rodríguez says the answer is no: Venezuela's own trade data doesn't support the claims; Rodriguez argues missing payments reflect barter under sanctions, not theft #Venezuela

Warming will pass 1.5°C, but UNEP says deep, fast cuts could limit the peak to 1.7 to 1.8°C and bring it back by 2100 Current policies point to 2.8°C, worse than last year's projections after the US left the Paris deal With decades of stalling, what's the chances? #ClimateChange #Emissions #COP31

The Sámi have had their land and culture squeezed for centuries Now, wind farms, mines and tourism are spreading across Sápmi, the homeland of the Sámi people in the Scandinavian Arctic Circle Courts have found some of this has violated Sámi rights #Sámi #Sápmi #IndigenousRights

#Afghanistan faces record #hunger, and the UN warns it could worsen this winter, with up to 19.2 million people at Crisis-level hunger or worse. UN has received only 31% of its funding as of mid-September @unocha.org calls out the Taliban's exclusion of women and girls a primary driver too

The head of @unidir.org warns human judgment in warfare is shrinking fast as AI takes over targeting, drones and cyber-attacks Adds that opaque systems raise the risk of error/escalation, even in the nuclear domain Asks: "Are we going to let machines target and kill human beings?" #AI #Warfare