SANTIAGO, Chile, Sep 12 2025 (IPS)** – At eighty, the United Nations is bogged down by structural limitations and political divisions that render it powerless to act decisively – nowhere more clearly than in the Gaza genocide.
There is only one treaty in the world that, despite its limitations, binds nations together: the United Nations Charter. Representatives of fifty nations wrote and ratified the UN Charter in 1945, with others joining in the years that followed.
The charter itself only sets the terms for the behaviour of nations. It does not and cannot create a new world. It depends on individual nations to either live by the charter or die without it.
Women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men
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Women in the health and care sector face a larger gender pay gap than in other economic sectors, earning on average 24 per cent less than their male peers. PHOTO:ILO
The International Equal Pay Day, celebrated on 18 September, represents the longstanding efforts towards the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value.
It further builds on the United Nations’ commitment to human rights and against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.
Across all regions, women are paid less than men, with the gender pay gap estimated at around 20 per cent globally.
(UN News)* — Attacks on schools in conflict zones around the world have increased by a “staggering 44 per cent” over the past year according to the United Nations, resulting in the death, abduction and trauma of thousands of teachers and students.
Over 41,000 incidents of violence against school-age children were reported by the UN in 2024.
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Countries with the highest levels of violations in were Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, notably the Gaza Strip, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia, Nigeria, and Haiti.
(UN News)* — UN rights chief Volker Türk on Monday [] condemned what he called a worldwide “glorification of violence” which is underway, as well as “coordinated efforts” to undermine fundamental birthrights. “It is time for States to wake up and to act,” he insisted.
Millions of women and girls worldwide still cannot afford menstrual products or access water and sanitation facilities to manage their menstrual health and hygiene.
Periods make them miss school, work, and negatively impact their health, but it does not have to be that way.
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In Sitamarhi State, Bihar, India, in 2022, women hold sanitary pads during an awareness campaign as part of a menstrual hygiene management program organized by UNICEF. Photo: UNICEF/Priyanka Parashar
Frosty morning in Pingjum Friesland, The Netherlands.
PHOTO:WMO Photostream/Anna Zuidema
Air pollution is the biggest environmental health risk of our time. It also exacerbates climate change, causes economic losses, and reduces agricultural productivity.
It knows no borders – everyone has a responsibility to protect our atmosphere and ensure healthy air for all.
By collaborating across borders, sectors, and silos, we can reduce air pollution through collective investments of time, resources and efforts.
PORTLAND, USA, Sep 4 2025 (IPS)** ––It is becoming increasingly apparent that planet Earth is evolving into the planet of the aged. In nearly every country around the world, the numbers and percentages of the aged, commonly defined as individuals aged 65 years or older, haveincreased rapidly.
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Despite living longer lives, the aged are opposed to raising official retirement ages, reducing retirement benefits, or raising taxes on the elderly. They are increasingly protesting, resisting, and demanding that retirement ages stay the same and benefits remain intact. Credit: Shutterstock
(UN News)* — Governments, academia and other stakeholders must “double down on delivering reparatory justice” for people from the African diaspora, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said in a report published on Wednesday [].
2 September 2025 —More than 1 billion people are living with mental health disorders, according to new data released by the World Health Organization (WHO), with conditions such as anxiety and depression inflicting immense human and economic tolls.
WHO / Christopher Black | Community mental health teams are one way of providing mental health care, Ukraine, 2023.
While many countries have bolstered their mental health policies and programmes, greater investment and action are needed globally to scale up services to protect and promote people’s mental health.
Mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in all countries and communities, affecting people of all ages and income levels.
4 September 2025 — In this Q&A, Human Rights Watch examines the application of the right to reparation to redress past and present harms stemming from colonial atrocities, including enslavement,[1]systemic racial inequalities, and other related human rights violations.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 