UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2025 (IPS)* —The food crisis in Sudan is starving more day by day, yet it is affecting women and girls at double the rate compared to men in the same areas.
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In Sudan, women-led households are three times more likely to deal with serious food insecurity compared to male-led households. Credit: UN Women Sudan
New findings from UN-Women reveal that female-headed households (FHHs) are three times more likely to be food insecure than ones led by men.
(UN News)* — The UN has expressed deep alarm over a large-scale assault by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia on El Fasher, the government-held capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State, and the nearby Abu Shouk displacement camp, which has been under siege since April 2024.
Monday’s attack left 40 civilians dead and 19 injured within Abu Shouk, according to humanitarian partners.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the renewed violence forced at least 500 residents of the camp to flee to other parts of North Darfur.
Acting Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Sheldon Yett, condemned “all deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians” in the strongest terms.
(UN News)* — UN-mandated independent investigators have uncovered “systematic torture” in Myanmar’s military-run detention facilities – including beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and gang rape – a pattern of atrocities which is intensifying across the country.
In its annual reportreleased on Tuesday [], the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar(IIMM) said it had made “important progress” documenting crimes and identifying those responsible, including commanders of security forces overseeing detention facilities.
Myanmar descended into civil war following the military coup of February 2021 and the detention of civilian leaders, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
At 22 pages, the current draft text contains 32 draft articles which will be discussed in fine detail, according to the UN. The text is designed to shape the future instrument and will serve as a starting point for negotiations. For 10 days from 5-14 August, delegations from 179 countries will pore over the text as they meet at UN Geneva, alongside more than 1,900 other participants from 618 observer organizations including scientists, environmentalists and industry representatives.
Plastic garbage is offloaded from a fishing boat on the east coast of China. Credit: UNEP/Justin Jin
GENEVA, Aug 12 2025 (IPS)** –– The future plastics treatyis being sold as potentially an environmental breakthrough. But in its current form during this week’s negotiations, it contains adangerous flawthat must be addressed before the final text is agreed — or it could undercut the world’s most widely ratified health treaty, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and hand the tobacco industry the tools to expand its market under the banner of environmental action.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 