GENEVA –As temperatures start to drop in many regions, millions of refugees and people displaced within their own countries are facing a gruelling winter with far less assistance as humanitarian giving plummets, and many will be left with little to protect them from the bitter cold, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warned on 11 November 2025.
“Humanitarian budgets are stretched to breaking point and the winter support that we offer will be much less this year,” said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s Director of External Relations, who just returned from Syria and Jordan.
Organized crimethrives worldwide, affecting governance and political processes, and weakening the advancement of the rule of law. It encompasses, inter alia, illicit trafficking of firearms, drugs, protected species, cultural property, or falsified medical products and, among its most severe manifestations, human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants.
With all forms of organized crime shifting ever more to being dependent on or incorporating online aspects, including the use of virtual assets, its reach and capability of harm is increasing. PHOTO:eugenegg / Generated with AI
(UN News)* —The world is facing a cross-border “chain of violence” driven by small arms and light weapons, UN disarmament and law enforcement officials told the Security Council on Monday [].
UNICEF/Rich | Illicit trade of small arms and light weapons fuels armed violence, terrorism and organized crime in regions across the world.
They urged coordinated global action to stop the illicit flows that are driving conflict, organized crime and displacement – from Haiti to the Sahel.
Adedeji Ebo, deputy disarmament chief, highlighted that despite recent steps to strengthen arms control frameworks, “more than one billion firearms are in circulation globally,” sustaining conflict, terrorism and criminal networks across multiple regions.
BELÉM, BRAZIL – Millions of refugees, people forced to flee, and their hosts are trapped in an increasingly vicious cycle of conflict and climate extremes, according to a new report released on 10 November 2025 by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
The report warns that climate shocks are undermining chances of recovery, increasing humanitarian needs, and amplifying the risks of repeated displacement.
By mid-2025, 117 million people had been displaced by war, violence and persecution. Three in four of them are living in countries facing high-to-extreme exposure to climate-related hazards.
(Beirut) – At least 600 migrant workers employed by Saudi Arabian Baytur Construction Company have not received their salaries for at least eight months, Human Rights Watch on 6 November 2025 said.
(UN News)* — As health emergencies multiply linked to the climate crisis, governments are joining forces with the UN to protect access to clean water, while data indicates that 118 million people in Europe alone live near healthcare facilities lacking basic sanitation.
“Healthcare facilities are where the vulnerable seek healing. Yet, without adequate water, sanitation and hygiene, for too many people, expected care can become inadvertent harm,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Regional Director for Europe.
Emphasizing that healthcare is “being tested as never before”, Dr. Kluge insisted that bolstering them is an investment in withstanding crises.
— That is how experts are describing the findings of a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report that says that global temperatures are on track to exceed the most ambitious end of the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
6 November 2025 — The alarming streak of exceptional temperatures continued in 2025, which is set to be either the second or third warmest year on record, according to the State of the Global Climate Update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The mean near-surface temperature in January-August 2025 was 1.42 °C ± 0.12 °C above the pre-industrial average, said the WMO report.
(UN News)* — Nearly 100 people in Syria have been abducted or forcibly disappeared since January, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday [], calling for greater accountability from the authorities.
IIMP Syria | The issue of missing persons in Syria is one of the most prominent humanitarian challenges resulting from years of conflict.
“Eleven months after the fall of the former government in Syria, we continue to receive worrying reports about dozens of abductions and enforced disappearances,” Spokesperson Thameen Al-Keetan said at a press briefing in Geneva.
Syria is undergoing a political transition following the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024 and 13 years of brutal civil war.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 7 2025 (IPS)* – “Has the world given up fighting climate change?” was a rhetorical question posed recently by the New York Times, perhaps with a degree of sarcasm.
Credit: United Nations
It might look that way, says Christiana Figueres, a founding partner of the nongovernmental organization Global Optimism, “as US president Donald Trump blusters about fossil fuel, Bill Gates prioritizes children’s health over climate protection, and oil and gas companies plan decades of higher production.”
But that’s far from the whole picture, said Figueres, pointing out that the overwhelming majority of the world’s people — 80 to 89%, as Covering Climate Now partner newsrooms have been reporting — want stronger climate action.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 