LILONGWE, May 22 2025 (IPS)* – Women in fishing communities in Malawi’s lakeshore districts of Nkhotakota and Mangochi are frequently targets of sexual exploitation for fish, a practice commonly known as ‘sex for fish.’
Women are often exploited when buying fish from fishers or traders in lake Malawi. Credit: Benson Kunchezera/IPS
A recent report by the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has unearthed disturbing accounts of women being coerced into transactional sex to access fish from male boat owners, exposing a widespread violation of their rights.
Fetching water in Gorom Gorom. Photo: Hassimi Zoure/NRC
In northern Burkina Faso, communities like Gorom Gorom face daily hardship from displacement and water scarcity. Yet amid these challenges, solidarity endures.
With support from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and its partners, a single water tower now brings more than just water – it brings relief, restores dignity, and strengthens community ties. When basic needs are met, hope has room to grow.
The African Union commemorates Africa Day 2025[24 May 2025] with a renewed call to justice, unity, and shared progress. Speaking on behalf of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the AUC, delivered a stirring address that reflected on Africa’s historic journey while calling for bold steps toward a just and prosperous future.
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This year’s theme, “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,” honours the memory of those who suffered under slavery and colonialism, while asserting the right of Africa and its diaspora to truth, justice, and restoration.
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“While justice and reparations remain long overdue,” the Chairperson affirmed, “Africa will not be held hostage by the pain of its past.”
Myanmar, 21 May 2025 – When a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar in late March of this year, 76-year-old Daw Khin Yee was at home with her daughter. In what felt like a split second, she was buried under the rubble, unable to move.
Daw Khin Yee and her grandchild are among many who survived the devastating Myanmar earthquake. Photo: IOM/Nang Seng Nang
In excruciating pain, Daw Khin remembers feeling bricks fall on her “like rain”. “I told my daughter, ‘You can’t get me out alone, you need help,’” she recounts. “There was a large stone above me, and I just prayed that it wouldn’t fall.”
(UN News)* — Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and more international support is urgently required, senior UN aid officials said on Friday .
Wrapping up a visit to the country, Edem Wosornu, who heads operations and advocacy for the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said that she could “feel the momentum for change” on the ground after years of suffering and hardship under the Assad regime ended with its overthrow last December.
But formidable challenges remain as 16.5 million Syrians require humanitarian assistance and protection, andneeds are “staggering”.
Humanitarian aid teams highlight growing anxiety in Gaza after food is looted
(UN News)* —Long-awaited food supplies have been looted in Gaza overnight while being transported to desperate communities in the war-torn enclave, UN aid teams reported on Friday.
WPF | Trucks carrying bags of flour arrive at Al-Banna Bakeries in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, at dawn on Friday.
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“Fifteen World Food Programme trucks were looted late last night in southern Gaza, while en route to WFP-supported bakeries,” the UN agency said.
“These trucks were transporting critical food supplies for hungry populations waiting anxiously for assistance.”
(UN News)* — More than half the people killed in Gaza over the past week were in shelters and residential buildings, the UN human rights office OHCHR said on Thursday .
UN News | A displaced family travels on a donkey-pulled cart carrying their belongings.
.629 Palestinians were reportedly killed in the last week, according to OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
At least 358 were killed because of attacks targeting houses and tents for displaced people, with children and women comprising at least 148 of the victims.
“The high number of strikes on shelters, in the context of the existing destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, raises grave concerns that not all strikes were targeting military objectives,” OHCHR said.
()* — UN agencies in Gaza confirmed on Thursday that desperately needed aid has finally arrived at warehouses inside the enclave after an 11-week blockade by Israeli authorities.
UN News | UN-supported bakeries throughout Gaza have closed as supplies of flour have run out.
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“Today will be crucial. Truckloads of lifesaving aid finally on move again,” said top UN aid relief coordinator Tom Fletcher.
Hours earlier and in a major development, 198 trucks entered Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south of the enclave, carrying nutrition supplies, medicines and wheat flour.
Announcing the news online, top UN aid relief coordinator Tom Fletcher reported that humanitarian organizations then retrieved“about 90 truckloads of goods” in a nighttime operation to prepare them for distribution.
NEW YORK, May 21 2025 (IPS)* –The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must not be allowed to collapse under the weight of geopolitical cynicism, the preparatory committee at the UN heard.
The closing session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Credit: UN TV
(UN News)* — UN aid workers said on Wednesday that they are still waiting for permission from Israel to distribute five trucks’ worth of lifesaving relief that was allowed into Gaza at the start of the week, after an 11-week blockade.
Existing supplies of basic necessities have been running dangerously low and on Wednesday 21 May 2025 the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said that its nutrition stocks to prevent increasing malnutrition “are almost gone”.
“Humanitarian assistance is being weaponised to serve and support political and military objectives,” said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 