April 2025
'Cancer' of billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally: UNODC (LINK)— ground.news: 20 media reports (LINK) — 21 April 2025.
— Transnational organized crime groups in East and Southeast Asia are spreading their lucrative scam operations across the globe in response to increased crackdowns by authorities.
Guide to the 2025 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (LINK) — 21 April 2025.
Iran files UN court case against Ukraine, Canada, Sweden and UK over 2020 downing of PS752 flight, seeking to overturn a ruling by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that held Tehran responsible for the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet. (LINK) — 19 April 2025.
— In its complaint, Iran argues that the ICAO Council exceeded its authority when it accepted a joint complaint from the four countries, whose citizens were among the 176 people killed when Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down near Tehran in 2020.
US tariffs will weaken global economy and trigger inflation but not a global recession, IMF says (LINK) — 17 April 2025.
WFP halts food shipments to Houthi-held parts of Yemen after rebels seize warehouse (LINK) — 17 April 2025.
PassBlue: UN and US budget-cuts memo — assessing the impact(LINK) — 17 April 2025.
— Junior UN staff are losing their jobs just as important health programs are being excised across many developing countries and as sweeping funding slashes diminish almost all humanitarian services rendered by the UN and its partners. (European donors, another major source of largess to UN programmes, are also decreasing their voluntary contributions.)
— Separately, the UN is facing a cash crisis, partly related to the US owing $1.495 billion to the UN regular budget and $1.1776 billion to peacekeeping operations, according to a UN source.
— "Field officers, who do most of the grunt work for the UN servicing the world's most vulnerable people, have been told to leave — some within 48 hours. Others have had their contracts discontinued. The changes raise questions as to whether senior UN officials are being affected at all."
— "Concerns were aired in a letter by some former and current staff to the management of the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that recent job cuts have disproportionately affected lower-level employees, while senior positions remain largely untouched. In the letter, obtained by PassBlue, some staffers blamed the agency's boss, Filippo Grandi, for expanding the organization by creating additional senior roles that shield them now that the knives are out." An agency spokesperson confirmed that management has received the letter. He told PassBlue that 400 jobs "directly linked to US funding have already been, or are in the process of being, separated".
— "The proportion of senior managers at P5, D1, and D2 levels at UNHCR has remained fairly stable over the past ten years, respectively 2.30%, 0.70% and 0.23% in 2025," the spokesperson said in an email to PassBlue on how the shortfall in cash flow has affected leadership. "Their salaries represent 12 percent of the overall workforce salaries."
— The UN agencies exempt from the White House proposal are technical in nature, with the most prominent, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presumably left intact because of its work monitoring Iran's nuclear energy activities. The other agencies, as reported by Reuters, are the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO); the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in Geneva; the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has been responsible for monitoring the dismantling of Syria's stockpile, among other work; and the International Maritime Organization.
Top UN envoy in South Sudan Nicholas Haysom urges Security Council to try to prevent renewed civil war in region — (LINK)— ground.news: 14 media reports — 16 April 2025 (LINK)
— Haysom warned that the escalating rivalry between South Sudan President Salva Kiir and one of the country's vice presidents has degenerated into direct military confrontation between their parties. Recent fighting in the country's north, the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar and a campaign of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech are "fueling political and ethnic tensions — particularly on social media", he said.
World Health Organization agrees legally binding treaty to ensure more cooperation between nations in the event of another pandemic. (LINK) — 16 April 2025.
Global trade outlook has 'deteriorated sharply' amid Trump tariff uncertainty, WTO warns. (LINK) — 16 April 2025.
UNICEF: Approximately 3,500 children have died in the central Mediterranean migrating by to Italy over the past decade — 15 April 2025 (LINK)
UNCTAD: Reciprocal tariffs should exclude vulnerable developing countries. — 14 April 2025 (LINK)
— 57 small economies — 11 of them least developed countries — contribute minimally to US trade deficits, UN Trade and Development notes. 28 each account for less than 0.1% of the deficits yet could still be subject to reciprocal tariffs. Tariffs range from 11% for Cameroon to 50% for Lesotho.
ITC: potential impact of US tariffs on developing countries — and the best response. — 11 April 2025 (LINK)
— Pamela Coke-Hamilton, ITC Executive Director: "Least developed countries, including Lesotho, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Madagascar and Myanmar, are most exposed to instabilities in the global trading system and least equipped to pivot as needed. The same goes for small businesses in those countries, which don't have the capacity to absorb additional costs or to navigate such changes, as their bigger counterparts do.
— "Some of these least developed countries rely heavily on the US market for their exports, using preferences such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act or AGOA, which has allowed imports from Sub-Saharan African countries to enter the US market duty-free, since 2000. Lesotho has been making use of AGOA, sending 60% of its apparel exports to the US market, exporting on average more than $230 million in apparel a year, over the past five years. Before the pause in "reciprocal" tariffs, Lesotho faced the highest rate of 50%. A 50% tariff would imply export potential losses of $210 million in the US market by 2029.
— "Bangladesh, the world's second largest apparel exporter, would face a reciprocal tariff of 37%, should it come into effect, which could lead to a loss of $3.3 billion in annual exports to the US by 2029.
— "A key part of the solution for developing countries to navigate any kind of global shocks — be it a pandemic, climate disaster or sudden changes in policies — lies in prioritizing three areas, something we've been saying for years: diversification, value addition and regional integration.
— "If ever there was a time to make this pivot to [...] what I call "strategic reglobalization" — this is it. It's characterized by mutually beneficial trade, rather than traditional development aid.+
NPR: Dozens of USAID contracts worth $1.3 billion were canceled last weekend. The rationale was to address "mismanagement, fraud, and misaligned priorities". Former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk reported reversals and inconsistences in the cancellations. All U.S. humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and Yemen has been eliminated. — 11 April 2025 (LINK)
— According to OneAid's data, the World Food Programme had at least $464 million in aid contracts cut over the weekend and then subsequently reversed for programs in Ecuador, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Somalia and Syria. Aid contracts with other humanitarian groups were also canceled and then reinstated in the Marshall Islands ($1.6 million), Micronesia ($2.1 million), Palau ($2 million) and Papua New Guinea ($6 million).
Major nations at IMO (without U.S.) agree in London on first-ever global fee on greenhouse gases with plan that targets shipping: The agreement, reached with the United States notably absent, is expected to be formally adopted at an October meeting to take effect in 2027. — 11 April 2025 (LINK)
— Many of the world's largest shipping nations decided to impose a minimum fee of $100 for every ton of greenhouse gases emitted by ships above certain thresholds, in what is effectively the first global tax on greenhouse gas emissions. WMO estimates $11 billion to $13 billion in revenue annually from the fees, with the money to be put into its net zero fund to invest in fuels and technologies needed to transition to green shipping, reward low-emission ships and support developing countries so they aren't left behind with dirty fuels and old ships. The thresholds set through the agreement will get stricter over time to try to reach the IMO's goal of net zero across the industry by about 2050.
UN humanitarian agency set to lay off 500 staff (20%) and scale back operations in nine countries due to severe funding crisis (nearly $60 million shortfall). — 11 April 2025 (LINK)
— OCHA will withdraw from or adjust operations in Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.
Measures at UNOG to address the "liquidity crisis" — 4 April 2025 (LINK)
— "In 2023, the UN faced its worst financial shortfall in years, with the lowest dues collection in five years and only 142 Member States paying in full. This led to a fragile financial outlook for 2024, prompting significant cost-saving measures."
Past week Ukraine Gaza Switzerland AI / ChatGPT Media UN Putin watch China Youth Travel
Afghanistan Bahamas Thailand Trump Alt-News Biden News Metoo Covid-19 News Sites to explore Digital tools
*, ! = read with care
● = may require sign-up or subscription
