After nearly three decades on the frontlines of UN’s peace operations – from Timor-Leste’s turbulent independence referendum to Western Sahara’s protracted ceasefire and Cyprus’ frozen conflict – Colin Stewart is leaving the Organization with his faith in it intact.

“People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.”

Amid growing geopolitical turbulence, the United Nations is deepening its collaboration with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to help address some of the world’s most complex and protracted conflicts, from Gaza and Sudan to Myanmar and Afghanistan.

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) has concluded at United Nations Headquarters in New York following a week-and-a-half of substantive discussion between Member States, civil society representatives and UN agencies.

Afghans returning to their country face “serious violations” of their human rights committed by the Taliban de facto authorities, according to a United Nations report published on Thursday amid mass deportation campaigns from Iran and Pakistan.

Nations are pursuing underwater exploration for highly sought-after rare earth minerals, but the head of the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) said the deep-sea belongs to no single country or corporation as efforts are underway to ensure this rich resource will not become “the Wild West” of exploitation.

THE HAGUE & JOHANNESBURG, July 23 (IPS) - The case was “unlike any that have previously come before the court,” President of the International Court of Justice Judge Yuji Iwasawa said while reading the court’s unanimous advisory opinion outlining the legal obligations of United Nations member states with regard to climate change.

NARAYANGANJ, Bangladesh, July 23 (IPS) - Nikli Upazila, located in the Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh, is part of the haor region, a vast wetland ecosystem characterized by bowl-shaped depressions. This unique geography subjects the area to significant climatic challenges, particularly recurrent flooding. The haor region, including Nikli, experiences a subtropical monsoon climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. During the monsoon season, heavy rainfall often leads to extensive flooding. Flash floods have become increasingly unpredictable and severe in recent years, causing substantial damage to agricultural lands and affecting the livelihoods of local communities. These people, trapped by water and driven by poverty, journey from the Haor to brickfields, where their lives become an endless cycle of hardship.

PORTLAND, USA, July 23 (IPS) - The recent legislation passed by the US Congress, oddly named the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), and signed by the US President, reveals that Republican lawmakers in the nation’s capital do not care about excessive and premature mortality in the United States.

NEW YORK, July 23 (IPS) - As incomes rise in middle-income countries, so does the demand for animal-sourced calories, resulting in large increases to global food production, and raising the importance for sustainable agriculture amidst growing concerns of climate change.