MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Mar 25 2025 (IPS)* –The United Nations Refugee Agency faces devastating cuts that may eliminate 5,000 to 6,000 jobs, with potentially catastrophic consequences for millions of people fleeing war, repression, hunger and climate disasters.
Credit: Pietro Bertora/SOS Humanity
This 75-year-old institution, established to help Europeans displaced by the Second World War, now confronts an unprecedented financial crisis, primarily due to the US foreign aid freeze – and the timing couldn’t be worse.
(UN News)* — The word “tariff” has been catapulted from the business pages to the headlines over the last few months, as major economies impose or threaten them on other nations. But tariffs are not just a blunt weapon to be used in geopolitical brinkmanship: they can, if used effectively, help poorer countries develop their economies.
Every month, the UN trade and development agency (UNCTAD) provides an update on what’s happening in the world of global trade.
In March, the focus was on tariffs, and the report revealed that, whilst global trade reached a record $33 trillion last year, the outlook for 2025 remains uncertain, with mounting tensions, protectionist policies and trade disputes signalling likely disruption in the coming months.
27 March 2025 — United States President Donald J. Trump’s barrage of anti-immigrant policies has garnered worldwide attention, but Canada is taking a dark turn of its own.
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 1 2025 (IPS)* –The Trump administration’s ground-rules are dangerously clear—and devastating.
Credit: United Nations
If you are a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, denouncing Israeli atrocities in Gaza, you are either a supporter of the “terrorist organization” Hamas or you are described as anti-Semitic veering on hate crimes liable for prosecution.
Bogotá – A pioneering new initiative seeks to enhance understanding of mercury trade dynamics in Latin America and foster regional cooperation to improve the control of major mercury flows, aiming to prevent approximately 176 metric tonnes of mercury from entering the international market, reducing the associated negative impacts on human health and environmental integrity.
28 March 2025 — Dying glaciers, record-breaking hurricanes and wildfires, debilitating drought and deadly floods scarred the socio-economic landscape of Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024, inflicting major damage long after the headlines faded, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
ROME –The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on warned that 58 million people risk losing life-saving assistance in the agency’s 28 most critical crisis response operations unless new funding is received urgently.
(UN News)* — The UN human rights chief sounded the alarm on Friday over the rapidly deteriorating situation in Haiti, calling it a “catastrophe” fuelled by gang violence, widespread impunity and a political process that is hanging by a thread.
UN Photo/Sophia Paris |mDisplaced Haitians building a makeshift home inside a sports stadium.
Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the country had reached “yet another crisis point,” with heavily armed gangs expanding their control, public institutions in ruins and a humanitarian emergency deepening by the day.
(UN News)* — Children, refugees and displaced people worldwide are paying the price for the deep-seated funding crisis that has engulfed the international aid sector, made worse by pronounced cuts in Washington, the UN children’s and refugee agencies said on Friday .
Berlin/ Geneva, 21 March 2025 – At least 8,938 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2024, making it the deadliest year on record, according to new data collected by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Omar, an Ethiopian migrant, is treated for dehydration and exhaustion by IOM’s Mobile Unit in the Djiboutian desert. Chances of survival are low for migrants crossing the desert in extreme temperatures and the weakest are often left behind. Photo: IOM 2020/Alexander Bee
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 