Sep 26 (IPS) - CIVICUS discusses the upcoming election of new members of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council with Madeleine Sinclair, New York Office Director and Legal Counsel at the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR).

SRINAGAR, India, Sep 26 (IPS) - Nearly 60 percent of Kashmir's agriculture relies on rainwater for irrigation, but this year the rainfall has been poor and the heat tremendous. With the hottest and driest seasons on record, how are farmers to survive?Abdul Hameed Sheikh sowed his crop, working tirelessly for days in his paddy field.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 (IPS) - On the heels of the Summit of the Future and the sidelines of the United Nations High-Level Meeting Week, governments and philanthropies pledged to commit at least USD 350 million to boost family planning, sexual and reproductive health and supplies on the national and global level. As enshrined in the newly-adopted Pact for the Future, seeking new international finance models is critical to solving the issues that the world faces today. The decision to pledge forward is a demonstration of commitment to ongoing health issues.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Sep 26 (IPS) - In 2017, South African activist Nonhle Mbuthuma took a stand against the powerful oil giant Shell, halting their plans to explore the pristine Wild Coast.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 (IPS) - Sudan has been plunged into a deadly cholera outbreak in the midst of the Sudanese Civil War. Sudan is currently home to an approximate 15 million people, many of which have had to bear the brunt of hostilities between warring parties, widespread food insecurity, mass displacement, and extreme weather anomalies. Flooding, in particular, has been very damaging, leading to the collapse of critical infrastructures that ensure sanitation. This has caused the cholera outbreak to become a national concern.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 26 (IPS) - As global peace hits its lowest point since the Second World War, the International Day of Peace on September 21 offered a critical moment to reflect on and strengthen our peacebuilding efforts.

The world is at a historic watershed moment, Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli told world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, with the contrasts between rich and poor, harmony and hatred, and economic development and environmental destruction more evident than ever.

The President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that while his country was committed to peace, rebels funded by parties elsewhere in the region were waging “devastating aggression” against his country.

At the UN on Thursday, world leaders urged a concerted diplomatic drive to end the war in Gaza and to avert further escalation in the region. Strong demands for genuine UN reform persisted, with several African leaders calling for permanent representation on the Security Council. In two high-level meetings, senior UN officials warned that some of the world’s most effective antibiotics are losing their effectiveness against “superbugs”, while others urged nations to “stop gambling with humanity’s future” by getting rid of nuclear weapons.

The Foreign Minister of Lebanon on Thursday said that the crisis in his country demanded urgent international action as Israeli attacks threatened to set off “a domino effect”, turning the entire Middle East region into “a black hole” of endless conflict.