News headlines
Justice critical to fighting sexual violence in conflict
- UN News

Women’s rights are human rights, and universal in times of war and peace, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, urging ambassadors to ensure accountability for conflict-related sexual violence.
Drugged Water: A New Global Pandemic Hiding in Plain Sight?
- Inter Press Service

MADRID, Apr 13 (IPS) - People around the world are unknowingly being exposed to water laced with antibiotics, which could spark the rise of drug-resistant pathogens and potentially fuel another global pandemic, warns a new report.
Commonwealth Climate Finance Hub to Boost Belizes Delivery of Climate Change Projects
- Inter Press Service

Kingston, Apr 13 (IPS) - In September 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK-based Commonwealth Secretariat announced that it had dispatched highly skilled climate finance advisors to four member nations to help them navigate the often-complicated process of accessing climate funds. Belize, the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) only Central American member, was one of the recipients.
COVID-19: Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants, not more severe or transmissible, so far
- UN News

As the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, we cannot afford to ‘lose sight’ of the changes, the UN health agency said on Wednesday, warning that lower case numbers and deaths do not necessarily mean ‘lower risk’.
Unintended Pregnancy Rates Highest in Africa: a Look at the Complex Reasons
- Inter Press Service

Apr 13 (IPS) - The United Nations Population Fund recently released the 2022 State of World Population report. It highlights that almost half of all pregnancies between 2015 and 2019 were unintended. That amounts to roughly 121 million unintended pregnancies each year.
UNHCR calls for better oversight of UK ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme
- UN News

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has highlighted the need for “adequate safeguards” and vetting measures to be put in place against the possible exploitation of Ukrainian women, under the United Kingdom’s “Homes for Ukraine” scheme.
Ukraine war a crisis impacting us all: Guterres
- UN News

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres presented the first detailed policy brief to be issued by the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG), which he set up to study the effects of the war in Ukraine on the world’s most vulnerable. Here is a summary of the findings, and some of your key questions answered, on what the Group aims to achieve.
Food Systems Should Deliver Benefits in terms of Climate, Health and Society
- Inter Press Service

CAPETOWN, South Africa, Apr 13 (IPS) - Which country do you think best recognises the potential for changes to food systems to reduce emissions? Presumably a developed country, where agriculture is predominantly intensive, heavily subsidised and fuelled by fertilisers and irrigation, and where high consumption of animal proteins is the norm?
Kenya's Ticking Bomb as Unemployed Youth Lured into Traffickers' Dens
- Inter Press Service

Nairobi, Kenya, Apr 13 (IPS) - Ahmed Bakari’s ill-fated journey to ‘greener pastures’ started with a social media private message from a stranger back in 2017. The message said an international NGO was recruiting teachers and translators to work in Somalia.
Eastern Africa: Millions displaced, amid growing hunger, ‘unprecedented needs’
- UN News

Millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger as food rations dwindle due to humanitarian resources being stretched to the limit as the world grapples with a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate shocks, and COVID-19, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday.

