UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 2025 (IPS)* –– Faced with an impending cash crisis primarily due to non-payment of dues by the US and over 100 other member states– along with threats of a US withdrawal from the world body– there were widespread rumors the United Nations was re-costing and reducing its approved budget for 2025 while deciding to freeze hiring new staffers.
The UN Secretariat building in New York City, where staff of the UN Secretariat carry out the day-to-day work of the UN. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
The United States currently pays about 22% of the United Nations’ regular budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget. As of now, the United States owes $1.5 billion to the UN’s regular budget.
And, between the regular budget, the peacekeeping budget, and international tribunals, the total amount the US owes is $2.8 billion.
PORTLAND, US, Mar 4 2025 (IPS)* –As the world’s population increased five-fold since the start of the 20th century, the changes in the geographic distribution of the billions of people across the planet have been ongoing and significant.
In contrast to the rapid growth of the high fertility countries like the DRC and Nigeria, some of the largest populations in 1950, such as Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, have grown relatively slowly during the recent past. Credit: Shutterstock.
Those continuing changes in the distribution of the world’s population have weighty economic, political, social and environmental consequences (Table 1).
(UN News)* — Amid deep cuts to global humanitarian funding, the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund, CERF, on allocated $110 million to neglected crises across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The UN’s top aid official, Tom Fletcher, said that more than 300 million people urgently need assistance.
But funding has been falling annually, and this year’s levels are projected to drop to a record low.
GENEVA, 7 March 2025 – On this year’s International Women’s Day, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns that critical funding shortages are leaving displaced women and girls at unprecedented risk.
Reports of conflict-related sexual violence have surged by 50 per cent in recent years. Yet funding shortfalls are forcing humanitarian organizations to cut essential services in crisis-affected regions.
Gender equality is a must for a world of zero hunger; where all women, men, girls and boys can exercise their human rights, including the right to adequate food.
This is why the pursuit of gender equality and women’s empowerment (Sustainable Development Goal 5) is central to fulfilling the World Food Programme (WFP)’s mandate.
(UN News)* — The aid response in Burundi to the crisis in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) “is literally buckling”, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Friday warned on , as it relayed dramatic testimonies from people forced to flee the unchecked advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.
“Over 63,000 people now have crossed into the country, Burundi, fleeing atrocities, deadly conflict in parts of eastern DR Congo,” said Faith Kasina, UNHCR Regional Spokesperson for East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes.
(UN News)* — The basic rights of women and girls are facing unprecedented growing threats worldwide, from higher levels of discrimination to weaker legal protections -and less funding for programmes and institutions which support and protect women.
.
UN Women’s latest report Women’s Rights in Review 30 Years After Beijing, published ahead of the UN 50th International Women’s Day on 8 March, shows that in 2024,nearly a quarter of governments worldwide reported a backlash on women’s rights.
(UN News)* —A decline in democracy and harmful content spread on social media platforms are helping to drive a backlash against feminism, and the growth of misogynistic and retrograde ideas about the roles of men and women and society.
UN Women Colombia | March for Women’s Rights during the 16 days of activism in Colombia.
The pushback against gender equality is one of the findings in a major report from UN Women, the UN agency for gender equality, on the progress made so far in advancing women’s rights worldwide.
Yemen/ Geneva, 7 March 2025(IOM)* – Two boats carrying over 180 migrants capsized off the coast of Yemen’s Dhubab district in Ta’iz Governorate on 6 March, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s field reports.
The recent shipwreck brings to light the danger of normalizing migration tragedies. Photo: IOM
The incident occurred amid some of the worst weather in years, as described by local reports. The vessels, which were attempting the dangerous journey from the Horn of Africa, sank in rough seas, a known risk during this season. Among those on board were at least 124 men and 57 women.
DAKAR, Senegal, 7 March 2025 –The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that life-saving food and nutrition assistance in Central Sahel and Nigeria will halt in April 2025 without urgent funding.
Photo: WFP/Evelyn Fey
This warning comes as the lean season – the period between harvests when hunger peaks – is anticipated to arrive earlier than usual this year across the Sahel region. Millions, including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), still rely on WFP’s food assistance for survival.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 