When it comes to protecting women and girls from gender-based violence, change happens when they are “at the heart of every decision,” according to Erin Kenny, Global Coordinator of the Spotlight Initiative a United Nations–European Union partnership aimed at tackling all forms of abuse against women and girls.

NITERÓI, Brazil, January 9 (IPS) - “We moved from a context of socio-environmental exclusion to one of environmental justice,” said Dionê Castro, coordinator of the Sustainable Oceanic Region Program which led Brazil’s largest nature-based solutions project.

BULAWAYO, January 9 (IPS) - As they ate catered meals, COP30 negotiators had no appetite for fixing broken food systems, a major source of climate pollution, experts warn.

WASHINGTON, USA, January 9 (IPS) - The Trump Administration’s sweeping executive order to withdraw the United States from dozens of United Nations bodies and international organizations, as well as a treaty ratified by the United States with the advice and consent of the US Senate, is a targeted assault on multilateralism, international law, and global institutions critical to safeguarding human rights, peace, and climate justice.

The United States’ intention to withdraw from a host of UN bodies announced this week targets programmes and initiatives focusing on a wide range of crucial areas, including the climate crisis, trade, gender and development.

The UN has raised serious concerns ahead of Uganda’s elections scheduled for 15 January, warning they will take place in an environment marked by widespread repression, intimidation and shrinking civic space.

Despite reductions in the overall number of conflict-related incidents in South Sudan, a rise in abductions and sexual violence is concerning, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, UNMISS, said on Friday.

The UN human rights chief has called for an independent and transparent investigation into reports of deaths and widespread arrests during ongoing nationwide protests in Iran, amid mounting concerns over the use of force by security forces.

UN agencies are supporting efforts on Friday to keep energy services up and running in Ukraine, and families warm amid freezing winter temperatures, following a large-scale overnight attack.

Aid agencies marked 1,000 days of war in Sudan on Friday with a grim reminder that the conflict has created the world’s biggest hunger crisis and largest displacement emergency. Every day, civilians have been “paying the price for a war they did not choose”, said UN aid coordination office, OCHA.