By Isaiah Esipisu
ADDIS ABABA, Sep 12 2025 – African climate negotiators and civil society organizations at the second Africa Climate Summit (ACS 2) have called on governments to include sustainable farming approaches and other Africa-led solutions in their revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and National Adaptation Plans (NAP) ahead of COP 30, as the only way to have their priorities on the global climate negotiation agenda.

NDCs are climate action plans submitted to the UNFCCC by individual countries under the Paris Agreement, outlining their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change, while NAPs outline how countries will adapt to climate change in the medium and long term.

“Most of the issues we discuss in the negotiation rooms carry political inclinations and economic implications,” said Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, the Lead of Ghana’s delegation at the UNFCCC climate negotiation conferences and the incoming Chair for the Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN).

“If we fail to prioritize sustainable farming practices and other innovations through our NDCs and NAPs, the developed nations will happily keep the status quo because Africa remains an important market for their farm inputs, particularly fertilizers, pesticides, and fossil fuel-powered machinery, among other items,” said Amoah.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed backed this call, saying that Africa must lead in championing its solutions.

“We are not here to negotiate our survival; we are here to design the world’s next climate economy,” he told delegates at the ACS2, ahead of the 30^th round of climate negotiations (COP 30) later this year in Belem, Brazil.

According to Ann Maina of the Biodiversity and Biosafety Association (BIBA), such solutions include advancing food sovereignty by rejecting exploitative industrial animal agriculture, rejecting high use of synthetic fertilizers, rejecting the grabbing of Africa’s resources in the name of greening projects, and rejecting carbon markets that come at the expense of communities while opening up polluting opportunities, especially for the Global North.

“Having Africa-led solutions will encourage just transition, which will lead to decentralized energy that should power agroecology, territorial markets, and resilient livelihoods, breaking (away from) dependence on imported fossil fuels and exploitative ‘green grabs,’” she said.

“If we make the right choices now, Africa can be the first continent to industrialize without destroying its ecosystems,” reiterated Ethiopia’s Prime Minister.

Evidence-based studies consistently show that the most viable and sustainable farming practice in Africa is the use of agroecological approaches, which emphasizeecological balance, social equity and cultural integration, thereby presenting viable strategic opportunities to address impacts of climate change while supporting sustainable development.

Yet, the progress has been very slow. A recent report by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) in all 53 African countries reveals that integration of agroecology into the NDCs and NAPS across the continent remains alarmingly low, with only 22 percent of NDCs explicitly mentioning agroecology.

“This study exposes a critical gap in policy integration and calls on all industry players to act with urgency,” said Dr. Million Belay, AFSA General Coordinator. “Agroecology is not just a farming method; it is a bold climate solution rooted in African realities, which governments should be promoting instead of working towards subsidizing harmful chemical farm inputs.”

Some of the inputs, particularly pesticides exported to Africa, are banned in countries of their origin due to their negative impact on human health, environment and important insects.

According to Amoah, recognizing agroecology at the UNFCCC level will require up to 50 countries to explicitly include it in their NDCs. “Without a deliberate and united push for sustainable farming approaches for Africa, I can foresee very serious resistance from developed countries because while such approaches benefit African economies and food systems, they are a threat to economic and political interests in the global north,” he said.

The AFSA report shows that incorporating agroecology into NDCs and NAPs, supports the dual goals of adaptation and mitigation by enhancing carbon sequestration, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and fostering climate-resilient farming systems.

So far, Africa has consistently faced a lack of adequate finance to meet the costs of adaptation. Less than two percent of global climate finance reaches small-scale actors in the entire food system.

According to the African negotiators, financing projects that foster business interests of developed countries will always be accepted in the negotiation rooms without much struggle, unlike approaches like agroecology, for which negotiators from the global north often demand evidence—just to frustrate the process.

“As followers of agroecology, we need to be very strategic because negotiations are about consensus building,” said Amoah. “It is one thing to talk about a subject and another thing to convince other parties to accept it.”

So far, African countries are in the process of updating their NDCs to be submitted to the UNFCCC probably ahead of COP 30. “AFSA is currently working with individual African countries towards integrating agroecology into their NDCs,” said Belay.

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By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 12 2025 – In recent months, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to exert dominance over nearly 90 percent of the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Rising violence, the collapse of essential services for millions, and severe cuts to humanitarian funding have left the international community struggling to provide immediate relief and find a sustainable, long-term solution.

Figures from the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) show that the security situation in Port-Au-Prince remained volatile in the second quarter of 2025, with hostilities rising outside the capital as well. It is estimated that between April 1 and June 30, at least 1,520 civilians were killed and 609 injured, primarily in the Port-Au-Prince metropolitan area, followed by Artibonite and the Centre Department.

Furthermore, roughly 12 percent of civilian casualties were a result of violent clashes between gang members and self-defense groups and civilians linked to the Bwa-Kalé movement. Approximately 73 percent of the summary executions recorded during this period involved members of the police force and the government commissioner of Miragoâne.

During a UN Security Council session on the ongoing situation in Haiti on August. 28, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell addressed the UN Security Council on the worsening impact of gang violence on the children of Haiti. According to Russell, in the first quarter of 2025 there has been a 54 percent increase in killing and maiming and a 25 percent increase in human rights violations when compared to the first quarter of 2024.

Additionally, Russell noted that the introduction of new armed coalitions and “more sophisticated technology”, such as explosive weapons, has intensified violent clashes and led to additional civilian casualties. According to BINUH, approximately 64 percent of civilian casualties were killed during security force operations against armed gangs, with 15 percent of these victims being innocent civilians that were in their homes or on the street.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres informed the Security Council that roughly six million Haitians are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The latest figures from the UN show that nearly 1.3 million Haitians have been displaced throughout the country as a result of rampant violence, half of them being children.

Armed groups continue to obstruct humanitarian access, causing a near total collapse of essential services across Haiti. As a result, millions are left without adequate healthcare, while attacks on schools have disrupted the education of approximately 243,000 children. Approximately 1.7 million people are at risk of receiving no humanitarian assistance at all. According to Guterres, Haiti now ranks among the top five highest-concern hunger hotspots worldwide and remains the world’s least-funded humanitarian appeal. Figures from the World Food Programme (WFP) show that roughly 5.7 million Haitians are facing acute hunger, with 2 million facing emergency levels of food insecurity.

UNICEF estimates that there has been a nearly 700 percent increase in the rate of child recruitments, with children estimated to make up roughly 50 percent of all gang members. Russell notes that these figures only account for the cases that the UN has been able to verify, with the true number of violations estimated to be much higher.

“Children are being forced into combat roles, directly participating in armed confrontations,” said Russell. “Others are being used as couriers, lookouts, porters to carry weapons, or are exploited for domestic labor – roles that expose them to grave and lasting physical and psychological harm”.

During the second quarter of 2025, BINUH recorded 185 kidnappings and 628 cases of gender-based violence. A significant portion of these violations involved gang rapes, with BINUH also highlighting the widespread persistence of sexual slavery, sexual exploitation, and child trafficking in Haiti.

According to Stéphane Dujarric, UN Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, one in seven gender-based violence survivors is a girl under 18. Roughly half of these incidents involve internally displaced people, with only a quarter being able to access medical care within a 48-hour window. Severe social stigma and an overwhelming lack of resources often prevent the vast majority of victims from accessing psychosocial support and justice.

The worsening crisis has been compounded by a significant reduction in international funding, particularly from the U.S., which has historically been Haiti’s largest donor. In 2025, budget cuts from the Trump administration resulted in a substantial scaling back of U.S. foreign assistance to Haiti, forcing several humanitarian organizations to suspend or reduce lifesaving operations.

“These cuts to peacekeeping funds not only undermine the administration’s plans to help stabilize Haiti, they jeopardize the global response to conflicts around the world, and they are counter to the law,” said Congressman and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks.

On August 28, acting U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Dorothy Shea announced that the United States is seeking UN authorization for a new gang suppression force. The proposal would transform the Kenya-led multinational mission—widely criticized as ineffective—into a 5,500-strong deployment working in partnership with Haiti’s government for an initial 12-months.

The force would facilitate independent, intelligence-driven counter-gang operations aimed at isolating, neutralizing, and deterring armed groups that threaten civilians and Haitian institutions. Additionally, it would provide security for critical infrastructures—such as schools, hospitals, and airports—and assist Haitian efforts to control the illicit trafficking of arms.

According to a draft resolution from the U.S. and Panama, the force would primarily be funded through voluntary contributions, also receiving logistical support from the newly created UN Support Office in Haiti. With the Security Council mandate for the Kenya-led multinational force to end on October 2, council members are expected to vote at the end of the month on this draft resolution.

“The next international force must be resourced to hold territory, secure infrastructure, and complement the Haitian national police. In parallel, a comprehensive approach is required to disrupt gang financing, arms trafficking and other illicit flows fueling instability,” Shea told the Security Council.

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By Vijay Prashad
SANTIAGO, Chile, Sep 12 2025 – At eighty, the United Nations is bogged down by structural limitations and political divisions that render it powerless to act decisively – nowhere more clearly than in the Gaza genocide.

There is only one treaty in the world that, despite its limitations, binds nations together: the United Nations Charter. Representatives of fifty nations wrote and ratified the UN Charter in 1945, with others joining in the years that followed.

The charter itself only sets the terms for the behaviour of nations. It does not and cannot create a new world. It depends on individual nations to either live by the charter or die without it.

The charter remains incomplete. It needed a Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and even that was contested as political and civil rights had to eventually be separated from the social and economic rights. Deep rifts in political visions created fissures in the UN system that have kept it from effectively addressing problems in the world.

The UN is now eighty. It is a miracle that it has lasted this long. The League of Nations was founded in 1920 and lasted only eighteen years of relative peace (until World War II began in China in 1937).

The UN is only as strong as the community of nations that comprises it. If the community is weak, then the UN is weak. As an independent body, it cannot be expected to fly in like an angel and whisper into the ears of the belligerents and stop them.

The UN can only blow the whistle, an umpire for a game whose rules are routinely broken by the more powerful states. It offers a convenient punching bag for all sides of the political spectrum: it is blamed if crises are not solved and if relief efforts fall short. Can the UN stop the Israeli genocide in Gaza?

UN officials have made strong statements during the genocide, with Secretary General António Guterres saying that ‘Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop’ (8 April 2025) and that the famine in Gaza is ‘not a mystery – it is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself’ (22 August 2025).

These are powerful words, but they have amounted to nothing, calling into question the efficacy of the UN itself.
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The UN is not one body but two halves. The most public face of the UN is the UN Security Council (UNSC), which has come to stand in as its executive arm. The UNSC is made up of fifteen countries: five are permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and the others are elected for two-year terms.

The five permanent members (the P5) hold veto power over the decisions of the council. If one of the P5 does not like a decision, they are able to scuttle it with their veto. Each time the UNSC has been presented with a resolution calling for a ceasefire, the United States has exercised its veto to quash even that tepid measure (since 1972, the United States has vetoed more than forty-five UNSC resolutions about the Israeli occupation of Palestine).

The UNSC stands in for the UN General Assembly (UNGA), whose one hundred and ninety-three members can pass resolutions that try to set the tone for world opinion but are often ignored. Since the start of the genocide, for instance, the UNGA has passed five key resolutions calling for a ceasefire (the first in October 2023 and the fifth in June 2025).

But the UNGA has no real power in the UN system. The other half of the UN is its myriad agencies, each set up to deal with this or that crisis of the modern age. Some predate the UN itself, such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which was created in 1919 and brought into the UN system in 1946 as its first specialised agency.

Others would follow, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which advocates for the rights of children, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which promotes tolerance and respect for the world’s cultures.

Over the decades, agencies have been created to advocate for and provide relief to refugees, to ensure nuclear energy is used for peace rather than war, to improve global telecommunications, and to expand development assistance. Their remit is impressive, although the outcomes are more modest.

Meagre funding from the world’s states is one limitation (in 2022, the UN’s total expenditure was $67.5 billion, compared with over $2 trillion spent on the arms trade).

This chronic underfunding is largely because the world’s powers disagree over the direction of the UN and its agencies. Yet without them, the suffering in the world would neither be recorded nor addressed. The UN system has become the world’s humanitarian organisation largely because neoliberal austerity and war have destroyed the capacity of most individual countries to do this work themselves, and because non-governmental organisations are too small to meaningfully fill in the gap.

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the entire balance of the world system changed and the UN went into a cycle of internal reform initiatives: from Boutros Boutros-Ghali’s An Agenda for Peace (1992) and An Agenda for Development (1994) and Kofi Annan’s Renewing the United Nations (1997) to Guterres’ Our Common Agenda (2021), Summit of the Future (2024), and UN80 Task Force (2025).

The UN80 Task Force is the deepest reform imaged, but its three areas of interest (internal efficiency, mandate review, and programme alignment) have been attempted previously (‘we’ve tried this exercise before’, said Under-Secretary-General for Policy and Chair of the UN80 Task Force Guy Ryder).

The agenda set by the UN is focused on its own organisational weaknesses and does not address the largely political questions that scuttle the UN’s work. A broader agenda would need to include the following points:

Move the UN Secretariat to the Global South. Almost all UN agencies are headquartered in either Europe or the United States, where the UN Secretariat itself is located. There have been occasional proposals to move UNICEF, the UN Population Fund, and UN Women to Nairobi, Kenya, which already hosts the UN Environment Programme and UN-Habitat.

It is about time that the UN Secretariat leave New York and go to the Global South, not least to prevent Washington from using visa denials to punish UN officials who criticise US or Israeli power. With the US preventing Palestinian officials from entering the US for the UN General Assembly, there have been calls already to move the UNGA meeting to Geneva. Why not permanently leave the United States?

Increase funding to the UN from the Global South. Currently, the largest funders of the UN system are the United States (22%) and China (20%), with seven close US allies contributing 28% (Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, and South Korea).

The Global South – without China – contributes about 26% to the UN budget; with China, its contribution is 46%, nearly half of the total budget. It is time for China to become the largest contributor to the UN, surpassing the US, which wields its funding as a weapon against the organisation.

Increase funding for humanitarianism within states. Countries should be spending more on alleviating human distress than on paying off wealthy bondholders. The UN should not be the main agency to assist those in need. As we have shown, several countries on the African continent spend more servicing debt than on education and healthcare; unable to provide these essential functions, they come to rely on the UN through UNICEF, UNESCO, and the WHO. States should build up their own capacity rather than depend on this assistance.

Cut the global arms trade. Wars are waged not only for domination but for the profits of arms dealers. Annual international arms exports are nearing $150 billion, with the United States and Western European countries accounting for 73% of sales between 2020 and 2024. In 2023 alone, the top one hundred arms manufacturers made $632 billion (largely through sales by US companies to the US military).

Meanwhile, the total UN peacekeeping budget is only $5.6 billion, and 92% of the peacekeepers come from the Global South. The Global North makes money on war, while the Global South sends its soldiers and policemen to try and prevent conflicts.

Strengthen regional peace and development structures.

To disperse some of the power from the UNSC, regional peace and development structures such as the African Union must be strengthened and their views given priority. If there are no permanent members in the UNSC from Africa, the Arab world, or from Latin America, why should these regions be held captive by the veto wielded by the P5? If the power to settle disputes were to rest more in regional structures, then the absolute authority of the UNSC could be somewhat diluted.

With the genocide unrelenting, another wave of boats filled with solidarity activists – the Freedom Flotilla – attempts to reach Gaza. On one of the boats is Ayoub Habraoui, a member of Morocco’s Workers’ Democratic Way Party who represents the International Peoples’ Assembly. He sent me this message:

What is happening in Gaza is not a conventional war – it is a slow-motion genocide unfolding before the eyes of the world. I am joining because deliberate starvation is being used as a weapon to break the will of a defenceless people – denied medicine, food, and water, while children die in their mothers’ arms. I am joining because humanity is indivisible. Whoever accepts a siege today will accept injustice anywhere tomorrow.

Silence is complicity in the crime, and indifference is a betrayal of the very values we claim to uphold. This flotilla is more than just boats – it is a global cry of conscience that declares: no to the siege of entire populations, no to starving the innocent, no to genocide. We may be stopped, but the very act of sailing is a declaration: Gaza is not alone. We are all witnesses to the truth – and voices against slow death.

Vijay Prashad is Director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
https://thetricontinental.org/

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