May 2025
EU and six member states take 'historic step' by ratifying UN treaty to protect the high seas (LINK) 28 May 2025
— To come into force, the treaty requires ratification by 60 parties. With these latest additions, the number of ratifications has reached 28. A total of 115 countries have signed the treaty, indicating their potential commitment to ratification. Currently, only about 1 per cent of the high seas is protected. Following years of negotiations, a global consensus on the need to protect the high seas was reached in March 2023. The text of the treaty was formally adopted in June 2023 at the UN headquarters in New York. It allows for the creation of marine protected areas and supports the global goal of safeguarding at least 30 per cent of the world's oceans by 2030. Classified as a "mixed agreement", the treaty needs to be ratified by both the EU and its individual member states separately. Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal, and Slovenia joined the EU in submitting their ratification. France and Spain had already ratified the treaty earlier this year.
Malawi 100th WTO member to formally accept Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies: "we now need just 11 more to add the Agreement to the WTO rulebook!" (LINK) 28 May 2025
UN aims to transform urgency into action at Nice Ocean Conference 9-13 June (LINK) 27 May 2025
— "This is an emergency," declared Jérôme Bonnafont, Permanent Representative of France to the UN, during a press conference. "An ecological emergency: we are witnessing the deterioration of the quality of the oceans as an environment, as a reservoir of biodiversity, as a carbon sink." The goal "is to produce a Nice agreement that is pro-oceans, as the Paris Agreement 10 years ago now was for the climate." This agreement will take the form of a Nice Action Plan for the Ocean, a "concise action-oriented declaration", accompanied by renewed voluntary commitments.
— More than 50 world leaders are expected on the Côte d'Azur, alongside 1,500 delegates from nearly 200 countries. The programme includes 10 plenary meetings, 10 thematic roundtables, a blue zone reserved for official delegations, and a series of parallel forums during five days of negotiations.
Earth's average temperature for 2025-29 80% likely to exceed 1.5°C limit: WMO (LINK) — ground.news: 100 media reports (LINK) 28 May 2025
World Health Assembly passes resolution declaring rare diseases a global health priority, the first WHO resolution to identify rare diseases as a global equity issue (LINK) 24 May 2025
— It mandates the WHO to develop a comprehensive 10-year global action plan on rare diseases, with measurable targets to guide progress toward equity, inclusion, and access to care for all affected individuals.
Approximately 400 million people suffer from rare diseases. A rare disease affects fewer than 1 in 2,000 people in any WHO region. Eighty percent of the conditions are genetic and, alarmingly, one in two patients are children. Treatments exist for fewer than 10% of these conditions. — (LINK)
WHO — (LINK)
UN chief says Gaza War in 'cruelest phase' as aid trucks looted (LINK) — ground.news: 129 media reports (LINK) 23 May 2025
— On May 22, Israel allowed 107 trucks carrying flour, food, medical supplies, and drugs through the Kerem Shalom crossing, but only about a third of the 300 truckloads reached warehouses due to insecurity and looting.
Gaza's civil defence agency reported at least 16 people killed in "Israeli strikes in various areas across" the territory on Friday
A CHF 50m foundation to help international Geneva is being set up by the canton and the Wilsdorf Foundation (LINK) 22 May 2025
— There is still a chance it could be forced to a referendum. The Swiss People's party objected to an initial CHF 10m package in February.
Geneva Graduate Institute: As multilateral diplomacy falters under leaders like Trump and Putin, Geneva — a key hub of global diplomacy — must step up. What could a "new diplomacy" look like? (LINK) 22 May 2025
— In the new issue of the Global Challenges, professors and researchers from the Institute and a guest author offer contrasting analyses of the opportunities and challenges of a "new" diplomacy for International Geneva, trade, inclusiveness, UN mediation, new media, and AI.
Swiss government pledges CHF11 million to UNRWA but not for Gaza: a further CHF9 million is being allocated to support four other humanitarian organisations (LINK) 21 May 2025
Jewish Chronicle: UN corrects claim 14,000 Gazan children could die in 48 hours after it was debunked: The figure came from an independent report into instances of starvation in the Strip, but was projected over a whole year rather than two days (LINK) 21 May 2025
— The same day, buried in a story about how aid in Gaza has yet to reach the population, BBC News issued a correction to UNOCHA head's claim. However, by then, the claim had already been widely reported across t he UK and global media and cited as true by nine Members of Parliament in the Commons during a debate.
WHO members agree to 20% rise in mandatory contributions (LINK) 21 May 2025
— World Health Organization member states have agreed in committee talks to raise their mandatory contributions by 20% from 2026. If the resolution is backed in the plenary session, the organisation's budget for 2026-2027 will rise to $5.1bn.
Gazans wait for aid as UN says supplies sitting in warehouse despite Israel easing blockade (LINK) 21 May 2025
New UN Task Force is launched to curb illegal taking of migratory birds in South-West Asia (LINK) 21 May 2025
WHO: World Health Assembly adopts historic Pandemic Agreement to make the world more equitable and safer from future pandemics (LINK) 20 May 2025
— Agreement's adoption follows three years of intensive negotiation launched due to gaps and inequities identified in national and global COVID-19 response.
Report of the Director-General to Member States at the 78th World Health Assembly (LINK) 19 May 2025
— Member States have given us, US$ 4.2 billion for two years Member States have given us, US$ 4.2 billion for two years — or 2.1 billion a year — is not ambitious, it's extremely modest. I hope you will agree with me, and I will tell you why: US$ 2.1 billion is the equivalent of global military expenditure every eight hours; US$ 2.1 billion is the price of one stealth bomber — to kill people; US$ 2.1 billion is one-quarter of what the tobacco industry spends on advertising and promotion every single year. And again, a product that kills people.
Hundreds of Rwandans who fled to Congo after the 1994 genocide return in UN repatriation (LINK) 17 May 2025
UN says it won't take part in US-backed Gaza aid plan as it isn't impartial or neutral (LINK)15 May 2025
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs forecasts slower global economic growth following Trump's tariffs and trade tensions (LINK) 15 May 2025
— The U.N. is now forecasting global economic growth of 2.4% this year and 2.5% next year, a drop of 0.4 percentage point each year from its projections in January. Last year, the global economy grew 2.9%. In the poorest and least developed countries, growth prospects have fallen from 4.6% to 4.1% just since January.
UN aviation body ICAO finds Russia responsible for downed MH17 flight when almost 300 died in 2002 over Ukraine: rules that Russian-backed separatists were to blame (LINK) 12 May 2025
— Dead included 96 Dutch and 28 Australian citizens.
Switzerland to give CHF39 million ($47 million) to three UN organizations: Unicef, UN Women, UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The contributions are in addition to the CHF282 million recently approved by the government for other UN organizations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The contributions set an example for International Geneva, said the foreign ministry. The funds will be charged to the commitment credit for financing international cooperation from 2025 to 2028. (LINK) 8 May 2025
UNAIDS to slash workforce by more than half as major funding dries up (LINK) 6 May 2025
Human Development progress slows to a 35-year low according to UN Development Programme report but "Artificial Intelligence (AI) could reignite development" (LINK) 6 May 2025
Report site — (LINK)
Nicaragua withdraws from UNESCO in protest over press freedom award to Nicaraguan newspaper, La Prensa (LINK) 4 May 2025
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on the situation for children in the Gaza Strip after two months of aid blockade: children "face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death — nothing can justify this" (LINK) 2 May 2025
UN judge Lydia Mugambe jailed for 6 years 4 months in UK for keeping housekeeper as slave (LINK) 2 May 2025
UN eyes major overhaul amid funding crisis, internal memo shows (LINK) — 1 May 2025
- Task force suggests merging U.N. agencies to improve efficiency
- UN document refers to 'duplication', bloating of senior management
- Suggests relocating staff to lower-cost cities
— Under one option, operational aspects of the World Food Programme, the U.N. children's agency, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.N. refugee agency would be merged into a single humanitarian entity.
— It suggests merging the U.N. AIDS agency into the WHO, and reducing the need for up to six translators at meetings. Another suggestion proposes merging the World Trade Organization, which is not a U.N. entity, with U.N. development agencies.
Swissinfo: Nearly 500 UN staff demonstrate against budget cuts in Geneva (LINK) — 1 May 2025
AFP fuller story — (LINK)
Conferences of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions (28 April to 9 May 2025), Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG): theme of the meetings and the high-level segment will be "Make visible the invisible: sound management of chemicals and wastes" (LINK) 5 May 2025
Over 70 Ministers gathered for the high-level segment held on 30 April and 1 May — (LINK)
— Katrin Schneeberger, State Secretary Federal Office of Environment, Switzerland: "We must also acknowledge that multilateralism is facing challenges. Geopolitical tensions and financial crises can at times weaken our ability to act collectively. That is why this conference — and this high-level segment in particular — are also valuable opportunities to reinforce international dialogue, a space where exchange and trust prevail."
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