Africa

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Amir Saeid Iravani, Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East (Syria). Credit: UN Photo/ Evan Schneider

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 2025 (IPS)

As sectarian violence rises in Syria, the number of displaced people has climbed exponentially since Syrian forces joined clashes between the Druze and Bedouin groups in the Sweida region.

Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric reported in the daily press briefing this Wednesday, “More than 145,000 people have now been displaced due to hostilities in the Suweida governorate.” This marks a rise of over 50,000 people since Monday, when the spokesperson reported 93,000 displaced.

The conflict originated as a dispute between the Druze and Bedouin, two minorities in southern Syria. In Sweida, a Druze-majority city, armed government forces were deployed to quell the violence and regain control of local government structures primarily led by Druze people.

However, after Israel bombed Damascus, citing harms against Druze civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined a new plan to demilitarize Syrian territory from “south of Damascus and the Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain.”

This decision was widely criticized by global actors, including Secretary-General António Guterres, who called it “essential that these attacks stop and that Israel respect Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence.”

Israel is just one of the many countries involved in Syria’s politics and violence. During the Syrian civil war, a period of general pro-democracy political uprising in the Middle East, countries like Iran and Russia backed the current regime in efforts to prevent further Western influence. Supporting various rebel groups were Turkey, the United States, and Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, each with their own strategic and ideological goals.

As a result, Syria has become a battleground not only for internal factions but also for foreign powers vying for regional influence—often with devastating consequences for the civilian population.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 15.8 million people across Syria were in need of humanitarian assistance as of March 2025, the highest number recorded since the conflict began in 2011. The escalating violence in Sweida further intensifies the crisis and strains an already overstretched aid network.

Medical services have been especially hard-hit. The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported that only 57 percent of hospitals and 37 percent of primary healthcare centers are operating at full capacity, many others struggling due to damaged infrastructure, medicine shortages and the departure of medical personnel.

According to UNDP assessments, there is only one doctor per 2,000 people due to migration over the past decades. Due to the sharp decline in public health spending, these flaws in healthcare infrastructure are particularly glaring in a time when violence has worsened.

However, problems in Syrian infrastructure extend beyond the immediate crisis. UNDP also reported that 30 percent to 50 percent of schools are out of service, damaged, destroyed or repurposed due to war-related destruction or lack of maintenance. Schools that are still operational often do not receive state funding for basic utilities like water, electricity, or heating.

UNICEF has raised alarms about the impact of the conflict on children. The agency estimates that over 2.4 million children are out of school, many of them having been displaced multiple times.

“Years of war and violence have shattered the lives of Syria’s children, with many enduring a lifetime of hardship,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. This has caused stagnation in Syria’s growth—without children to help rebuild infrastructure in education and healthcare, the system remains weakened.

Due to such precarious federal institutions, humanitarian access has similarly lessened. In past years, the UN Security Council has been unable to renew critical cross-border aid mechanisms due to vetoes from permanent members, leaving much of the aid delivery dependent on unstable domestic routes.

In a recent Geneva press briefing, it was confirmed that humanitarian convoys have been delayed or blocked from reaching Sweida and Daraa due to active fighting and lack of security guarantees.

As the power vacuum deepens in Syria, with the central government’s grip weakening and local militias and foreign actors carving out zones of influence, civilians are increasingly left without protection or basic services. The latest violence in Sweida illustrates the high cost of this fragmentation: an already fragile region now overwhelmed by displacement, cut off from aid, and exposed to indiscriminate attacks.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Excerpt:

The Syrian humanitarian crisis is on the rise. The infrastructure remains precarious since the civil war and sectarian violence continues.

Leaders, policymakers, and partners unite at Africa Day 2025. Credit: Shreya Komar/IPS

By Shreya Komar
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 2025 (IPS)

Africa is making progress on over two-thirds of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but the pace remains far too slow to meet the 2030 targets, especially in areas like decent employment, gender equality, and access to social protection.

This was the central warning of the newly released Africa Sustainable Development Report (ASDR), launched during the 2025 Africa Day session at the UN’s High-Level Political Forum.

The report, which tracks alignment between the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN’s 2030 Agenda, offers a sobering yet actionable picture: Africa’s development efforts are gaining traction, but deep structural barriers, ranging from inadequate financing and data gaps to high youth unemployment and gender-based exclusion, continue to stall momentum.

Despite being home to several of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the continent faces an annual sustainable development financing gap of up to USD 762 billion, according to the report. Social protection coverage remains alarmingly low, with only 19 percent of vulnerable populations benefiting from any form of safety net. Public investment in social protection across most African countries is below 3 percent of GDP, significantly under the global average.

“The current pace of progress is insufficient to achieve the SDGs by 2030,” the report warns, prompting leaders to explore actionable strategies for scaling up inclusive growth, regional integration, and institutional capacity building across the continent.

Health outcomes have improved in areas like life expectancy and disease control, but maternal mortality and unequal access to care persist. Gender equality remains constrained by legal barriers, high rates of violence, and the burden of unpaid care work.

On SDG 8, the continent struggles with low productivity, informality, and youth unemployment, emphasizing the need for inclusive job creation and economic transformation. While the continent has seen some recovery in sectors like tourism, key indicators such as GDP growth per capita (down from 2.7 percent in 2021 to 0.7 percent in 2023) and youth employment remain weak. Over 23 percent of African youth are not in education, employment, or training (NEET), with women disproportionately affected. Despite its potential, tourism contributed just 6.8 percent to GDP in 2023.

Economic shocks, climate change, and geopolitical instability continue to undermine job creation and sustainable growth. The report calls for data-driven strategies, innovative financing, and integrated policies to bridge development gaps and build resilient, equitable systems aligned with both global and continental agendas.

“It is not enough to just create jobs, but we must ensure safe working conditions,” said H.E. Amb. Selma Malika Haddadi, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed acknowledged the uneven starting point for African countries, stating, “too often, Africa isn’t at the table where decisions are made but is the first to feel the impact.” She added, “Our young people deserve more than we give them,” highlighting the pressing need for inclusive investment in youth education.

Central to the discussion was the need to mobilize greater technical and financial support, scale up climate financing, tackle illicit financial flows, and reduce social and economic inequalities. Participants emphasized stronger partnerships (SDG 17), inclusive social protection systems, and youth- and women-led innovation as key enablers for transformational change. The launch of the ASDR marked a major milestone, offering data-driven insights to support national strategies.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Rescue workers line up body bags in Tal Al Sultan, in Rafah, in southern Gaza. Credit: UNOCHA

By James E. Jennings
ATLANTA, USA, Jul 30 2025 (IPS)

Why is a grinning Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, wildly cheered by both Democrats and Republicans whenever he addresses the US Congress, while at the same time in Gaza countless innocent civilians are being killed by American bombs and bullets—and now babies are starving?

Shamefully, Israel’s leader, a certified genocidaire, is one of the few global leaders to have ever been granted the privilege of speaking to Congress, which he has done frequently. But the world sees and will remember his Big Lie that “There is no starvation in Gaza.”

The mantle of righteousness that once adorned the American flag after WW II is shredded, perhaps beyond repair. President Roosevelt’s global goal of “Four Freedoms”—freedom of speech, of religion, of want, and of fear, are no longer defended or even recognized by the US government.

US presidents from Kennedy to Obama have asserted American exceptionalism by using the Biblical “City on a Hill,” as a figure of speech. President Ronald Reagan frequently claimed in his speeches during the Cold War that the United States is like that city, a position so prominent that all the world can see our purity of motives and good works in the struggle against the Evil Empire. That might have been true once but today is laughable.

Most of the jet planes and bombs Israel has used over the past months to kill and wound civilians have come from the United States. They have been instruments to pulverize a high percentage of the buildings in Gaza and torment with fire and death unarmed families seeking handouts of food or just huddling in their tents.

The Israeli army’s dominance of Gaza’s tiny territory is total, with no military objectives left, yet they keep bombing despite the worldwide outcry that this is not truly a war but a genocide against the civilian population. US citizens have mostly ignored the fact that for nearly two years President Biden and President Trump have merrily kept feeding the Israeli war machine’s Turkey Shoot.

So far, the result of nearly twenty-two months of unremitting bombing of Gaza’s homes and tents with US-supplied money and weapons has been killing and wounding more than 100,000 mostly unarmed, innocent, unprotected civilians, the greatest number of them women and children.

By now Hamas has no power to resist, if they ever did in the past. They have repeatedly agreed to release the remaining hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire. No deal. The Likud government is greedy for land for new settlements and is down to three options for the millions of people in Gaza—either kill them by continued bombing; blockade and starve them as now; or forcibly remove them.

But forcible transfer is the very definition of genocide. Another option—to enslave them, has already been tried on a smaller scale before the Hamas outbreak of October 7, 2023. Many Gazans used to travel to jobs in Israel under punishing and humiliating low wage conditions, but no longer.

The US government and people cannot continue to deny the plain fact of what has happened and is happening daily and nightly in Gaza. We Americans must choose the high road of civilized behavior or else forever be classed with the some of the most rapacious, bloody, and evil regimes in history.

James E. Jennings PhD is President of Conscience International. A former professor of Middle East History, he has led numerous aid teams to Gaza since 1987.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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By CIVICUS
Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS speaks with Matthew Renshaw, a partner at a UK law firm that represents Nigerian communities taking legal action against Shell over environmental damage caused by its operations in the Niger Delta.

Matthew Renshaw

Two Nigerian communities, Bille and Ogale, are suing Shell in the UK over decades of oil spills in the Niger Delta that have devastated their land, water and way of life. The High Court has ruled that Shell and its former Nigerian subsidiary can be held liable for ongoing environmental damage, even if caused by oil theft or sabotage, and regardless of how long ago the spills occurred. The decision builds on a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that allowed UK-based parent companies to be sued for harm abroad. A full trial is set for March 2027.

How has oil pollution affected these communities?

Each of the three communities we represent in the Niger Delta have been affected by Shell’s operations in different ways.

The Bodo community endured two major oil spills from Shell pipelines in 2008 that released over half a million barrels of oil, causing the largest devastation of mangrove habitat in history. Families who once depended on fishing can no longer provide for themselves. Even swimming in the waterways is dangerous due to oil contamination. Despite bringing the case before UK courts in 2011, the community is still demanding a proper cleanup that they say has never materialised.

As for the Bille and Ogale communities, they brought their cases against Shell in the UK in 2015. The Ogale community depends primarily on farming and fishing, but since the 1980s, Shell has recorded around 100 spills in and around the area that have resulted in serious contamination of the drinking water. The United Nations conducted tests in 2011 and declared a public health emergency, but very little was done in response. Shell briefly provided safe water to residents, but that ended years ago. With no alternative sources available, many people have been forced to use visibly polluted water to drink and bathe their children.

The Bille community lives on islands in a riverine area where residents depend heavily on fishing and harvesting shellfish. A major pipeline runs directly through the community, very close to where people live. Between 2011 and 2013, multiple oil spills from Shell destroyed mangrove habitats. As with the Bodo community, fishing has become impossible for many people, forcing some to abandon their homes and communities entirely.

Why sue in the UK rather than Nigeria?

The decision to sue Shell in the UK came from our clients. While Shell operates in Nigeria through a local subsidiary, the parent company is based in the UK and has profited immensely from its Niger Delta operations, so our clients view it as equally responsible for the pollution in their communities.

They also believe they can’t get justice in Nigeria. The Nigerian legal system is notoriously slow: cases can take decades to reach judgement due to automatic rights of appeal. Many people won’t live to see justice. Bringing this type of case before Nigerian courts is also prohibitively expensive, because it requires extensive expert evidence that’s inaccessible to most affected communities.

In contrast, UK funding mechanisms make it far more feasible for our clients to pursue justice. They also trust they’ll receive a fairer hearing in London. This approach has already shown results: in the Bodo case, Shell finally brought in international experts to attempt cleanup. International litigation generates meaningful outcomes that wouldn’t happen otherwise.

Even when Shell argued that the case should be heard in Nigeria, in 2021 the UK Supreme Court ruled that because Shell PLC may share responsibility with its subsidiary, the case could proceed in London.

How is Shell defending itself?

Shell claims that most Niger Delta pollution stems from oil theft by local criminals, commonly known as ‘bunkering’. According to Shell, these criminals steal oil from pipelines to sell directly or refine into fuel. The company insists its operations are clean and criminals are to blame, arguing it’s doing its best to stop theft and therefore shouldn’t be held responsible.

This defence is fundamentally flawed. While oil theft is certainly a significant problem in Nigeria, Shell’s claims are overstated. Numerous spills have nothing to do with theft. They’re caused simply by poorly maintained infrastructure and decades-old pipelines that are not fit for purpose. This stands in stark contrast to other countries where maintenance is taken far more seriously.

Even accepting Shell’s argument, our clients contend that Shell should have taken reasonable precautions to prevent foreseeable theft. In other countries, pipelines are buried, fitted with detection systems and monitored closely to detect intrusion attempts or spills. Our clients contend that Shell has failed to implement these basic measures in the Niger Delta.

What did the recent court ruling say, and what do you hope to achieve?

The High Court sided with our position, ruling that if Shell failed to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm, it can be liable for pollution caused by bunkering. Significantly, the court also rejected Shell’s claims that it couldn’t be held liable for spills older than five years, ruling that if a spill has still not been cleaned up – even if it happened decades ago – the company can still be held accountable.

This ruling has far-reaching implications. It’s particularly significant for the Ogale case where pollution dates back to the 1980s, and it opens the door for many other Niger Delta communities affected by legacy spills dating to the 1970s or earlier. Beyond Nigeria, the ruling sends a warning to multinational companies attempting to divest from polluting operations without accepting responsibility for the damage left behind.

Our clients seek three main outcomes from the 2027 trial: proper cleanup and environmental remediation of their polluted lands, emergency provisions such as access to clean drinking water and compensation for lost livelihoods and damaged property.

A pressing concern is Shell’s recent divestment from its onshore operations in Nigeria. The company has sold its assets to a consortium and is attempting to walk away from decades of pollution. While the communities we represent have at least secured court proceedings, many others have been left behind with no cleanup and no accountability.

We’re determined to prevent Shell and other multinational companies from abandoning polluted sites without taking responsibility. Success in holding Shell accountable, including for decades-old spills, could establish crucial legal precedents. Legally, it would confirm that companies remain responsible for long-term environmental damage. Morally, it’s about basic fairness: after decades of extracting resources and making huge profits, companies shouldn’t be allowed to leave behind a toxic legacy.

While our case won’t create internationally binding precedents, it could significantly influence how similar claims are litigated in other countries, particularly in common law jurisdictions.

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Four-year-old Ma July Phyo sits in a makeshift shelter in Mandalay with her mother, Ma Khin Phyo Kai, on April 2, 2025, five days after the deadly earthquake that struck Myanmar. Despite a ceasefire announced after the earthquake, the Tatmadaw continued its aerial attacks on local villages in its fight against armed resistance groups across the country, which continues to have deadly consequences for civilians. Credit: Maung Nyan/UNICEF

By Naomi Myint Breuer
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 2025 (IPS)

In Myanmar, airstrikes occur almost daily. The phenomenon has become common since civil war broke out following the 2021 military coup that replaced the democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) with the Tatmadaw, Myanmar’s military. Several human rights organizations report that these airstrikes are disproportionately targeting civilians and harming lives.

The Tatmadaw uses airstrikes to fight armed resistance groups, such as the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), and regain control of areas from these groups, who control about 42 percent of the country’s territory, according to a BBC investigation published December 19, 2024.

After the March 28 earthquake, the Myanmar military and other groups involved declared a ceasefire, but attacks continued. Myanmar Witness reported 80 airstrikes occurred between March 28 and April 24, including in emergency-declared areas.

The Karen Human Rights Group reports that airstrikes are part of a broader attack on civilians in the country. Human rights groups and the UN found that the military disproportionately targets civilians with not only bombs but also mass executions of detained people and large-scale burning of homes.

Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said these strikes are part of a pattern of attacks across the country.

“There are frequent reports of people being killed, injured or displaced by violence—as well as increasing attacks on civilian infrastructure,” he said at a July 16 press briefing.

Recent airstrikes, such as a July 11 strike on a monastery in Lin Ta Lu village, which killed 23 and injured 30, have redrawn attention to the country’s ongoing conflict. The Lin Ta Lu attack came weeks after the military began an offensive to reclaim territories controlled by resistance groups.

Public and religious sites have become targets. Myanmar Witness, a Centre for Information Resilience project investigating human rights in Myanmar, reported a trend of military operations hitting large civilian gatherings, with 109 cases of airstrikes damaging religious sites in 2024. A wedding held in a monastery in Magway Region was bombed on Feb. 25 after an invitation was posted on social media. They estimate that 11 people were killed.

“These trends highlight that religious and cultural sites are becoming increasingly at risk of complete destruction as a result of internal conflict in the country,” Myanmar Witness reported.

Dozens of schools have also been attacked, resulting in deaths and injuries of children. Many children have stopped attending school due to safety concerns. An aerial attack on a school in Oe Htein Kwin village in the Sagaing region on May 12 killed around 20 students and wounded dozens.

A Karen Education and Culture Department (KECD) school principal told the Karen Human Rights Group that all four of the school’s buildings were destroyed by bombs in a March 23, 2024 airstrike in a village in Doo Tha Htoo District. The cost of rebuilding is expensive, and they did not know whether anyone would be able to help rebuild it.

“I am sad to see the destruction of my school and worry that children will not be able to go to school…” the principal said. “I do not know how to describe my feelings of extreme fear. My whole heart breaks when I see the destroyed school. I cannot do anything now.”

Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar, an activist group, accused international governments and corporations that fund, arm and train the Tatmadaw of empowering the military’s violent actions.

“The Myanmar military’s escalating violence against civilians, including through the intensification of airstrikes that target children, is not happening in a vacuum,” Maung told IPS.

Maung praised Airbus’ recent divestment from AviChina Industry & Technology Company Limited due to its links to the violence in Myanmar.

“Others must follow,” Maung said. “Governments must also act with stronger targeted sanctions on the military, its businesses, cronies and partners.”

The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is investigating whether the Tatmadaw’s actions can be classified as crimes against humanity. The Mechanism called for information on aerial attacks for its investigation. They are prioritizing investigating attacks on children.

“Airstrikes that are indiscriminate or which target civilians may be war crimes or crimes against humanity,” the Mechanism wrote.

The airstrikes make it difficult for the UN to deliver humanitarian assistance to people in need. Currently, one in three people in Myanmar face acute hunger, according to Dujarric.

“We urgently, and once again, call on all parties to respect human rights and international humanitarian law,” he said.

Myanmar receives far less attention than other regions undergoing conflict and distress. Without the same level of attention, the war cannot end and the humanitarian situation will not be alleviated. Myanmar Witness said that it is important to continue reporting on the situation in Myanmar so as to keep other nations updated. They said the situation is complex and can be difficult for foreigners to understand.

“The international community isn’t as aware of this continuing internal conflict due to other important conflicts taking media attention, particularly in Western news outlets,” Myanmar Witness wrote to IPS. “It is important to continuously push to get news about Myanmar out to the international community as much as we can.”

 

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