The Council today appointed Ralf Schröder as new head of mission for the European Union Advisory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq).
Home Blog
Malnutrition crisis deepens for Sudan’s children as war rages on
Across the five states that make up Darfur, UNICEF data revealed a 46 per cent increase in the number of children treated for SAM in January to May 2025 compared to the same period last year.
The rate of acute malnutrition has surpassed emergency levels set by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 9 of the 13 localities across Darfur.
In North Darfur alone, over 40,000 children were admitted for SAM treatment in the first five months of the year – double the number from the same period last year.
Besieged and starved
This malnutrition surge comes amid intensifying conflict in North Darfur since April. Entire neighborhoods have been besieged, hospitals targeted by airstrikes, roads rendered impassable while aid convoys have faced looting and violent attacks.
The situation is particularly catastrophic in El Fasher, where humanitarian access has been nearly completely severed since the RSF militia besieged the city – the last held by Government forces in the region – and cut off assistance in April of 2023.
UNICEF successfully delivered a batch of supplies to El Fasher earlier this year, but efforts to send additional aid have been blocked.
“Children in Darfur are being starved by conflict and cut off from the very aid that could save them,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative for Sudan. “This is a moment of truth; children’s lives depend on whether the world chooses to act or look away.”
The crisis has triggered mass displacement in the area: in April, nearly 400,000 people fled the Zamzam camp near El Fasher. Many walked up to 70 kilometres to reach Tawila, where more than 500,000 displaced people survive with little access to food, water, or adequate shelter.
Nationwide crisis
SAM is the deadliest form of malnutrition, and children suffering from it are highly vulnerable to life-threatening complications and face a high risk of death without proper treatment.
And the crisis isn’t limited to the Darfur states – SAM admissions rose by more than 70 per cent in North Kordofan, 174 per cent in Khartoum State and a staggering 683 per cent in Al Jazirah State.
However, the report noted that the rise in admissions in Al Jazirah and Khartoum is partially due to improved security and humanitarian access, enabling more families to reach health centres.
Compounding the crisis is Sudan’s lean season – a period of food scarcity between harvests – which is rapidly increasing the risk of mass child mortality, particularly in areas already nearing famine thresholds.
Cholera outbreaks, measles cases and collapsing health services are further aggravating the crisis, putting vulnerable children at even greater risk.
UNICEF response
UNICEF and its partners are saving lives by treating the wounded and malnourished, drilling wells and distributing food. But despite their best efforts, the violence is driving needs faster than they can be met.
UNICEF is calling on all parties to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to affected populations and urges renewed diplomatic pressure on all sides for a cessation of hostilities.
The agency is also appealing to the international community for more lifesaving funds. An additional $200 million is needed this year to sustain and expand essential nutrition services, including treatment for acute malnutrition.
She fought for the girl the world left behind: Natalia Kanem’s UN legacy
She returns, over and over, to a single image: that of a ten-year-old girl – standing on the edge of adolescence, her future uncertain, and her rights still in grave doubt.
“Will she be able to stay in school, graduate, and make her way through the world?” Dr. Kanem wonders. “Or is she going to be derailed by things like child marriage, female genital mutilation, or abject poverty?”
That seismic question and that girl – not one child in particular, but an emblem of the millions worldwide whose future is at risk – have become the touchstone of Dr. Kanem’s nearly eight-year tenure as Executive Director of the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, formally known as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
From her early days working on the frontlines in East Africa to overseeing a $1.7 billion agency with operations in more than 150 countries, Dr. Kanem has shepherded UNFPA through global shifts, political headwinds, and ideological pushback.
Most of all, she has led a fierce revolution in the lives of millions of women and girls.
This month, she is stepping down from her post ahead of schedule. “It’s time to pass on the baton,” the 70-year-old told her staff – a 5,000-strong workforce – in a videotaped address earlier this year. “I have pledged to do everything in my capacity to keep positioning UNFPA to continue to do great things.”
UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem (centre) visits the Mamas Market in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Roots and ascent
Born in Panama and trained as a medical doctor, Dr. Kanem joined UNFPA in 2014 after a career in philanthropy. Her decision to serve “the noble purpose of the United Nations” first led her to East Africa and Tanzania, where she was struck by the quiet heroism of field staff. “It’s really at the country level where we prove our worth,” she told UN News.
But the job was not easy. In 2017, when she took the reins of the agency, Dr. Kanem inherited an organization grappling with waning visibility, unstable funding, and persistent pushback from conservative viewpoints. Still, UNFPA grew – not just in budget, but in stature.
“When I came, the narrative was, ‘We’re a small organization, beleaguered, nobody understands what we do,’” she said. “Now, I think it’s clearer.”
That clarity came, in part, from what Dr. Kanem calls “thought leadership.”
Whether challenging misconceptions about fertility or confronting gender-based violence enabled by technology, she pushed UNFPA to the frontlines of global discourse. “We exist in a marketplace of ideas,” she explained. “And we have to tell the truth in a way that’s compelling enough so we can garner the allies this movement requires.”
Under her leadership, the agency trained hundreds of thousands of midwives, distributed billions of contraceptives, and expanded humanitarian operations to reach women and girls in the most fragile settings – from the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar to war-scarred Ukraine and cholera-stricken Haiti.
UNFPA’s presence in crisis zones was not only logistical, but symbolic. In Sudan, Syria, and Gaza, a simple tent stocked with menstrual pads, a blanket, and a bar of soap could serve as sanctuary. “It represents the respite that a woman needs in a time of crisis,” she said. “You know, we call our kits ‘dignity kits’ for that reason.”
UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem (right), visits Sudan in March 2021.
Shifting the conversation
Beyond delivering services, Dr. Kanem elevated UNFPA’s role as a thought leader in a polarised world. She steered the agency into difficult public conversations – about teen pregnancy, climate anxiety, fertility rates, and online harassment – with an unflinching insistence on rights.
“The 10-year-old girl exists,” she said. “What her parents and her religious leaders and her community think is vital for her to be well prepared, for her to know what to do when she’s challenged by coercive practices.”
That leadership extended to data. Under Dr. Kanem, UNFPA invested heavily in supporting national censuses and building dashboards to help lawmakers shape reproductive health policy with real-time insight.
This year’s State of World Population report, the agency’s annual deep dive into demographic trends, reframed conventional narratives around so-called “population collapse” – noting that many women and men delay having children not out of ideology, but because they cannot afford to raise them.
Dr. Kanem praised the altruism of young people who say they’re choosing not to have children for fear of worsening the climate crisis. But that’s not what the data shows.
“The world replacement fertility rate is not endangering the planet,” she explained. “The facts really say: you can have as many children as you can afford.”
A rights-based compass in turbulent times
Dr. Kanem’s tenure coincided with mounting attacks on reproductive rights, rising nationalism, and growing scepticism of multilateral institutions. She faced years of US funding cuts – including under the current administration – even as demand for UNFPA’s services surged.
“UNFPA has more money than we’ve ever had,” she noted. “But it’s never going to be enough to stop the flow of need.”
Resources alone won’t secure the agency’s future – credibility and persistence are just as vital. “The multilateral system itself has come under question at a time when it is needed now more than ever,” she warned. “We do have to prove ourselves each and every day. And when we make mistakes, we’ve got to get up and rectify them and find partners who are going to be allies.”
One such partner has been the private sector. In 2023, UNFPA teamed up with tech firms to launch a development impact bond in Kenya, delivering mobile-based sexual health services to prevent teenage pregnancy and new HIV infections among adolescent girls.
Dr. Natalia Kanem, head of the United Nations Population Fund (left) talks to UN News and Media Deputy Director Mita Hosali.
Changing mindsets
UNFPA has long worked to end harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage. Under Dr. Kanem, that work became as much about shifting mindsets as changing laws.
“Yes, absolutely,” she said when asked if progress was real. “It’s been very important to see religious leaders and traditional leaders standing against certain practices… and to work with school systems so that the girls themselves will understand the risks and be able to take better decisions about their options.”
The coronavirus“>COVID-19 pandemic, she admitted, was a setback. With schools closed, some communities increased the number of weddings and FGM ceremonies. But in many countries – including populous Indonesia – UNFPA has seen the practice decline, in part thanks to youth advocates speaking out from within their own communities.
New generation, next chapter
Looking ahead, Dr. Kanem didn’t dwell on uncertainty. She spoke instead of possibility. “We’ve transformed ourselves, modernized ourselves,” she said. “There’s just unlimited possibility for UNFPA.”
Her own future includes what she calls a “mini-sabbatical” – more time for music, her family, and, finally, herself. But she won’t stay silent for long. “I know that my passion for issues of women and girls is not going to recede,” she said. “It’s been a labour of love.”
Her parting thought? One final return to the girl at the centre of it all.
“When that 10-year-old girl succeeds, everyone succeeds,” she said. “It is a better world.”
Media advisory – Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 14 July 2025
Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities. Source link
Gaza: “unacceptable” choice between being shot or feeding
United Nations Human Rights Office (Ohchr) Spokesman Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva on Friday that “we raised concerns about atrocity crimes. The risk of additional atrocity crimesWhere people queue for essential supplies such as food and medicine and where they are attacked, where still … they have the choice between being shot or feeds. ”
Mortal lottery
“” It’s unacceptable and it continuesShe deplored.
Ms. Shamdasani said that her office was still examining the incident in which at least 15 Palestinians, including women and children, would have been killed by a strike before a Deir al-Balah clinic led by the help group based in the United States Project Hope, a partner organization of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
In a statement on Thursday, UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said that the murder of families trying to access vital aid was “unacceptable”.
The Israeli army would have said that it was targeting a member of Hamas involved in terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Asked about the justification for the establishment of civilians, including children, in fatal danger during the targeting of a specific person, Ms. Shamdasani said that during the conflict in Gaza, Ohchr had serious concerns concerning the respect of the essential principles of international humanitarian law, in particular that of distinction and proportionality.
“We have seen this of the overall number of death in Gaza; A large proportion are women and children. And Again, this raises serious questions as to whether these principles are respected“She said.
Hungry people in Gaza run the risk of facing food aid.
Hundreds were killed by queuing for food
The murders of Gazans on or around aid distribution sites and close humanitarian convoys have become regular in a context of restrictions at the entrance to food, fuel and rescue products in the band and in particular since the establishment of food distribution sites by the UN operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
Since the end of May, this militarized aid distribution model, supported by Israel and the United States, has sought to put the touch of the UN and its experienced humanitarian partners.
Ms. Shamdasani of Ohchr said that from May 27, when the GHF began its operations in Gaza, until July 7Ohchr recorded 798 murders “including 615 near the GHF sites and 183 probably on the roads of help convoys”.
Ball injury
The death of nearly 800 people trying to access the aid was “mainly due to … ball injury,” said Shamdasani.
Join her to condemn the murders, the World Health Organization (WHO) Spokesman Christian Lindmeier said he was ” Daily lacking in words to describe the scenario».
“People are slaughtered on distribution sites … dozens of women, children and men and boys and girls who are killed while obtaining food or in what is supposed to be safe shelters or on the path of health clinics or health clinics-that is far beyond the inacceptation.”
Fuel crisis
Invited to comment on Wednesday a 75,000 -liter fuel delivery in Gaza, the first provision of this type in more than 130 days, Mr. Lindmeier said that “as well as this quantity of fuel has finally arrived … We should not count on special special deliveries”, whether on fuel, food or other emergency items.
“There should be a recurring delivery to Gaza to keep the living lines open, to provide ambulances, hospitals, water desalination factories, bakeries … everything you need to keep a little life buoy there, to manage the incubators,” he said.
The WHO spokesman stressed that 94% of Gaza hospitals are now damaged or destroyedWhile the trip continues and civilians are pushed into ever smaller spaces.
Mr. Lindmeier also expressed his hope for a positive result of the current ceasefire talks.
“Peace is the best medication and the opening of the doors remains the only viable option,” he concluded.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
Speech by President António Costa at the ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide
The President of the European Council, António Costa, visited Srebrenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 11 July 2025 and delivered a speech at the ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.
Knowledge and competence of staff providing information on crypto-assets – ESMA criteria published
DISCLAIMER: Information and opinions reproduced in the articles are the ones of those stating them and it is their own responsibility. Publication in The European Times does not automatically means endorsement of the view, but the right to express it.
DISCLAIMER TRANSLATIONS: All articles in this site are published in English. The translated versions are done through an automated process known as neural translations. If in doubt, always refer to the original article. Thank you for understanding.
Fight to end AIDS: ‘This is not just a funding gap – it’s a ticking time bomb’
The 2025 Global AIDS Update released on Thursday by UNAIDS – the global body’s agency fighting AIDS and HIV infection – warns that a historic funding crisis now threatens to unravel decades of hard-won gains unless countries radically rethink how they fund and deliver HIV services.
Yet even amid these challenges, many of the most-affected countries are stepping up. Of the 60 low and middle-income nations surveyed in the report, 25 have signaled plans to increase domestic HIV budgets in 2026 – a clear sign of growing national leadership and commitment to the response.
Although promising, such efforts are not sufficient to replace the scale of international funding in countries that are heavily reliant on global donors.
Global emergency
Despite marked progress in the HIV response in 2024, this year has seen many disruptions to HIV prevention programmes and treatment services, due to abrupt funding shortfalls in Washington and other major donor capitals.
Even before the large-scale service disruptions, reported data for 2024 showed that 9.2 million people living with HIV still did not have access to life-saving treatments, contributing to 75,000 AIDS-related deaths among children in 2024.
“This is not just a funding gap – it’s a ticking time bomb,” said Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director, as many AIDS-relief programmes are being defunded, pushing people out of critically needed care.
If US-supported HIV treatment and prevention services collapse entirely, UNAIDS estimated that an additional six million new HIV infections, and four million additional AIDS-related deaths could occur between 2025 and 2029.
Call for solidarity
Despite the grim landscape, “there is still time to transform this crisis into an opportunity,” said Ms. Byanyima, as countries and communities are stepping up to protect treatment gains.
As of December 2024, seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa had achieved the 95-95-95 targets: 95 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, 95 per cent of those are on treatment, and 95 per cent of those on treatment are virally suppressed.
While such successes must be maintained and further scaled up, the global HIV response cannot rely on domestic resources alone.
“In a time of crisis, the world must choose transformation over retreat,” said Ms. Byanyima.
“Together, we can still end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 – if we act with urgency, unity and unwavering commitment,” she added.
International Criminal Court: War crimes, systematic sexual violence in progress in Darfur
Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told ambassadors to the UN Security advice that the ICC has “reasonable reasons for believing” that war crimes and crimes against humanity are committed in the region, where a Conflict deepening Between the Sudanese armed forces and the rapid support forces (RSF) plunged the region into a humanitarian disaster.
Among the most disturbing models, she said, is the targeted use of sexual violence, including rape, kidnapping and sexospecific assaults-a campaign often directed against women and girls of specific ethnic communities.
‘An essential model’
“” There is an essential scheme of offense, targeting of gender and ethnicity by rape and sexual violence,Ms. Khan said, stressing that such crimes must be translated into proof that the court and the world hear.
She detailed the current efforts of the Darfur Unified team of the ICC to document atrocities, in particular through repeated field missions in refugee camps in Chad, the collection of more than 7,000 evidence and increased cooperation with civil society and groups of victims.
Ms. Khan also underlined a renewed accent on gender crimes, supported by the dedicated gender unit of the Court, and Called all partners to work more closely to “make sure that there is no gap in our efforts to hold responsible authors”.
Deteriorate the humanitarian crisis
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation is getting worse.
According to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs Coordination (Ochha), the convoys of aid are targeted, the hospitals bombed and the food and the water have deliberately retained.
In early June, five humanists were killed in an ambush in northern Darfur, while air strikes west of Kordofan killed more than 40 civilians, including patients and health staff.
Active bombing
In El Fasher, the capital of Northern Darfur, active bombings and the encirclement armed by RSF forces have actually cut civilians with rescue aid. Extortion and hijacking reports in the surrounding areas have further aggravated the crisis.
The triggering of cholera is spreading in conflict zones, Darfur is now experiencing a cross -border transmission to Chad and South Sudan.
Health officials warn that the current rainy season could worsen the epidemic by contaminating the already Scarce water sources.
Attached to justice
In addition to humanitarian challenges, the ICC is also faced with great obstacles.
The deputy Prosector Khan noted a series of challenges, including obstruction and hostility towards field investigators, critical under-funding, limited cooperation of certain states and difficulties surrounding the arrest and transfer of people under mandate of the ICC.
However, despite the challenges, she affirmed the commitment of the ICC to justice.
She underlined the pending verdict in the trial of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, as an important step for responsibility-and a warning to the authors who always believe themselves out of the reach of international law.
“” They must understand: we work intensively to ensure that this test is only the first of many,She said.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
The United Nations warn against the civilian victims record in Ukraine
The Russian forces launched an attack overnight focused on kyiv, deployment of 397 drones of attack and lure without pilot, as well as 18 high power missiles, killing two and wounding at least 16 years, according to to the United Nations Human Rights Surveillance Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, noted during his daily briefing in New York that four kyiv districts had been affected, damaging residential buildings, a clinic and a television channel, while a ambulatory clinic was destroyed during the bombardment.
Dujarric also relayed reports from local authorities from recent attacks in other regions that have left more than nine dead and at least ten injured civilians.
June record
These attacks occur after June, the highest number of monthly civilian victims in Ukraine since the start of Russian invasion began in February 2022, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured.
These data reflect a worsening of the trend: 6,754 civilians were killed or injured in the first half of 2025 – a sharp increase of 54% compared to the same period in 2024When 4,381 civilian victims were documented.
This decreases to a 17% increase in civilian deaths and a 64% increase in injuries.
The use increased by Russia of missiles and long -range drones in urban areas – and their improved destructive power – were key engines behind the tip of the victims.
The growing number of attacks also played a crucial role, because Russia launched ten times more missiles and drones unmanned in June 2025 than in June 2024.
“” Civilians across Ukraine are faced with levels of suffering that we have not seen for more than three years“Said Danielle Bell, head of HRMMU.” The push of long -range missiles and drone strikes across the country brought even more death and destruction to civilians far from the front line. »»
The suffering child intensifies
Also on Thursday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef)) reported Than about 70% of children in Ukraine (3.5 million) experienced “material deprivation” – against 18% in 2021.
Material deprivation refers to a lack of essential goods and services, in particular nutrient food, appropriate clothing, home heating and access to education.
According to the UNICEF report, One in three children in Ukraine lives in a house without water supply or functional sewer systemAnd almost half lack access to a space to play.
This deprivation is motivated by continuous attacks against infrastructure – including water, sanitation and energy systems – as well as on houses, schools and health establishments, as well as the increase in poverty across the country.
Looking at recovery
These warnings arise as the fourth Ukraine Recovery conference opened in Rome on Thursday. It aims to strengthen awareness and maintain momentum for international support and investment in the recovery, reconstruction, reform and modernization of Ukraine.
The director general of the United Nations Migration Agency (Iom), Amy Pope, is one of the participants. The agency plays a major role in Ukraine, where nearly four million people are in internal, and five other refugees reside across Europe.
“The displacement on this scale requires many challenges to Ukraine and its inhabitants”, it said.
“Restoring must start with a concentration on people in need – connecting them to the services and restoration of their livelihoods, so it becomes more than going home, but to regain their place in society.”
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
