NICE, France, Jun 2 2025 (IPS)** – As David Attenborough reflects in his new documentary Ocean, “After living for nearly 100 years on this planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea”.
Credit: NOAA Photo Library
The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC 3), scheduled to take place in Nice, France from 9-13 June, will bring together Heads of State, scientists, civil society and business leaders around a single goal: to halt the silent collapse of the planet’s largest – and arguably most vital – ecosystem.
(UN News)* —As coral reefs bleach, fish stocks collapse, and sea temperatures break records, world leaders are heading to the French Riviera — not for leisure, but for one of the most urgent diplomatic gatherings of the year.
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 5 2025 (IPS)* – A particularly virulent outbreak of cholera was detected in the Khartoum State of Sudan and is a direct result of the Sudanese Civil War, warns the United Nations.
UNICEF’S cholera response in Sudan. A doctor mixes an oral rehydration solution, which treats cholera. Credit: UNICEF/Ahmed Mohamdeen Elfatih
“The resurgence of cholera is more than a public health emergency – it is a symptom of deep, persistent inequality. Cholera takes hold where poverty is entrenched, where healthcare is scarce, and where conflict has shattered the systems that keep children safe…”
(UN News)* —A draft resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza failed to pass in the UN Security Council on Wednesday after the United States cast its veto – blocking the initiative backed by all ten elected members of the Council.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe | UN Security Council members voting in favour of the draft resolution.
The text, co-sponsored by Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, the Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia – collectively known as the E-10 – received 14 votes in favour, with the US casting the lone vote against.
Rome, 26 May 2025 – Less than five percent of the Gaza Strip’s cropland area remains available for cultivation, according to the latest geospatial assessment carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), further deteriorating food production capacity and exacerbating the risk of famine in the area.
(UN News)* — As the hurricane season gets underway in the Caribbean, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is sounding the alarm over Haiti’s humanitarian situation.
With roughly half the population, 5.7 million people, facing some sort of emergency level of hunger, Haiti is one of five countries in the world with catastrophic levels of hunger.
“Despite all the violence, displacement and collapse”, WFP remains in Haiti, Lola Castro, Regional Director in Latin America and the Caribbean, said during a briefing on Tuesday , having recently returned from the country.
More than one million people in Haiti are displaced due to ongoing gang violence and insecurity.
4 June 2025 — Like generations before her, Haoua farmed cattle in the Central African Republic (CAR). But one day, about ten years ago, armed fighters appeared in the village, intent on killing people and animals.
“We didn’t want to leave our herd of oxen, so we were the last to flee,” says Haoua. With her husband and children, she made it across the border to Cameroon.
With her back bent and a broom in her hand, 47-year-old Haoua briskly sweeps away the red soil in the courtyard. Swish, swish. As if every swish were a year that has passed. Swish. The dust of what once was. Swish.
GAZA STRIP, Occupied Palestinian Territory, 2 June 2025 –“Sometimes I need pads and soap more than I need food,” said Aisha*, a young displaced girl in Gaza, revealing a serious burden too often overlooked in crisis settings – menstrual health.
Since 2 March 2025, Israel has imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza that has caused the complete depletion of hygiene supplies, including sanitary pads for menstrual health.
Almost 90 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza has been either destroyed or partially damaged, and fuel for water pumping and distributions has now run out.
(UN News)* — The UN Secretary-General has condemned the reported killing and injury of Palestinians seeking food aid in Gaza on Sunday 1 June 2025, calling for an investigation into the matter.
More than 30 people were killed and over 100 wounded while waiting in the morning to get food from two sites in Rafah and Middle Gaza run by the newly established Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to media reports.
The organization is backed by Israel and the United States and uses private US security contractors supervised by the Israeli military.
JERUSALEM – Dozens of Palestinians were killed and hundreds more injured on 1 June 2025, as they waited for food at the newly-created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centres in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine, and close to the Netzarim Corridor, according to the Ministry of Health.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams joined the mass casualty response in Nasser hospital, Khan Younis. Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 