DUBLIN, Ireland, Jul 05 (IPS) - In recent years, the global landscape for human rights defenders (HRDs) has become more difficult and complex, with both new and heightened challenges. With hundreds of defenders killed every year, the scale and magnitude of threats faced by HRDs is unprecedented.

The UN’s top humanitarian officials on Wednesday voiced shock and condemnation over increasing reports of gender-based violence in Sudan as the military power struggle there continues.

Funding constraints mean that the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to limit emergency aid to only 6.2 million of the most vulnerable people in need across West Africa, scaling back from an initial target of assisting 11.6 million, the agency announced on Wednesday.

The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect launched a new policy paper on Wednesday aimed at countering and addressing hate speech online.

Iran faced calls on Wednesday from top UN-appointed rights investigators to halt the executions of people sentenced to death in connection with anti-Government demonstrations that have continued since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini last September.

Twelve African countries will receive 18 million doses of the first-ever vaccine against malaria over the next two years, care of global vaccine alliance GAVI, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on Wednesday.

Last year, 27,180 grave violations were committed against children caught up in war – the highest number ever verified by the UN, the Security Council heard on Wednesday.

The United Nations kicked off a new campaign on Wednesday to turbocharge the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the roadmap for people and planet adopted by world leaders in 2015.

A green future will remain out of reach if the world doesn’t help developing countries close a $2 trillion gap in investment towards an energy transition, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warned on Wednesday.

SAN LUIS LA HERRADURA, El Salvador, Jul 04 (IPS) - Using a few dry sticks as fuel, Margarita Ramos of El Salvador lit the fire in her wood stove and set about frying two fish, occasionally fanning the flame, aware that the smoke she inhaled could affect her health.