IOM: Pacific Climate Mobility Programme receives 2026 Human Security Award, recognizing their leadership in addressing climate mobility through rights-based and human-centred approaches (LINK) — 26 June 2026

IOM has called for greater investment in people, community participation and sustainable return pathways as essential pillars of Ukraine's recovery during the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026) in Gdansk (LINK) — 26 June 2026

U.S. Supreme Court deals a serious blow to the Make America Healthy Again movement by restricting Americans' ability to sue pesticide makers over alleged health harms stemming from their products. (LINK) — 25 June 2026

PassBlue: Can the Pact for the Future restore UN confidence quickly? (LINK) — 25 June 2026

— Our comprehensive review found that more than half of assessed sub-action indicators showed some level of progress. From 452 indicators in 40 Pact "actions", we found substantive progress in 132, minimal progress on 120, no progress on 136 and regression on 64.

World Economic Forum: China's 15th Five-Year Plan priorities span innovation, domestic consumption, industrial upgrading, green energy and continued opening to the global economy, speakers said at the World Economic Forum's 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian (LINK) — 25 June 2026

UN nuclear chief says Iran inspections will happen, Tehran says after deal (LINK) — 24 June 2026

Trump cancels signing of bipartisan housing bill until his SAVE America Act is passed (LINK) — 24 June 2026

Russian opposition leader jailed for 7 years over anti-war social media posts in 2022 (LINK) — 24 June 2026

U.S.: Judge permanently blocks Trump EO requiring proof of citizenship to vote (LINK) — 24 June 2026

China says it has a right to target people overseas who contravene it new ethnic unity law (LINK) — 24 June 2026

Bill Gates gives Epstein testimony about blackmail fears: newly-published transcript of Gates' testimony to Congressional panel on June 10 (LINK) — 24 June 2026

'If AI is to help build a better future, it must be honest about what it costs us now': UN Secretary-General António Guterres urges AI giants to reveal full extent of environmental damage (LINK) — 24 June 2026

— "By 2030, they could use ?more power than all but five countries — and enough water to meet the basic needs ?of all 1.3 billion residents of sub-Saharan Africa for an entire year," he said. His speech (via Reuters) also included the launch of the UN's AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, which offers AI companies the opportunity to publicly disclose water, the environmental impacts of their water usage, carbon emissions, and land use.

New global rules clear the road for driverless vehicles (LINK) — 24 June 2026

UN Working Group calls for action to ensure AI serves equality, not discrimination (LINK) — 24 June 2026

— The Working Group on discrimination against women and girls today warned that the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital technologies absent meaningful regulation may deepen existing gender inequalities and create new risks for the human rights of women and girls worldwide.

— "AI and digital technologies are reshaping the conditions under which women and girls exercise their rights," the Working Group said. "Without deliberate, gender-responsive governance, these systems risk amplifying exclusion, reinforcing harmful stereotypes, and exacerbating structural inequalities."

— The Working Group identified three urgent preconditions for achieving substantive gender equality in the digital age: closing the digital divide, harnessing AI and digital technologies to bolster rather than undermine women's and girls' human rights, and promoting their meaningful participation and leadership in public and political life. The experts also echoed calls for multilateral dialogue on AI redlines. They expressed alarm about some of the most extreme harms, including the gendered impact of AI in armed conflict and lethal autonomous weapons, climate change, mass surveillance and technology-facilitated gender-based violence. "These harms are not hypothetical, they are already being felt around the world," the Working Group said, stressing that intersecting forms of marginalisation are regularly mirrored and exacerbated by AI.

— They also underscored the potential of AI to advance gender equality, including by expanding access to education, healthcare, financial services, and justice — if developed responsibly and inclusively.

UN Women: Five reasons why the care economy is one of the most transformative investments of our time (LINK) — 24 June 2026

• An estimated 350 million children require childcare services globally.
• If given a monetary value, unpaid care work would account for up to 40 per cent of GDP in some countries
• Investments in care sectors can create two to three times more jobs than investments in the construction sector.
• Women and girls spend 2.5 times more hours per day on unpaid care work than men.
• Globally, 45 per cent of working-age women (708 million women) are outside the labour market because of unpaid care responsibilities, compared with just 5 per cent of men.
• Women make up 80 per cent of paid domestic workers globally. Yet 90 per cent of domestic workers lack social protection and social security coverage.
• In crisis settings, women spend nearly four times more hours on unpaid care work than men.For example, in Ukraine, women spend 16 more hours per week on unpaid care work than men, resulting in an estimated USD 72.5 billion loss to the economy.
• Investments in care services could create nearly 300 million new decent jobs by 2035.
• Investing in care sectors has the potential to be 30 per cent less polluting than investing in the construction industry.
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— UN Women's Transform Care Initiative aims to strengthen care systems in over 50 countries. By 2035, the initiative has the potential to contribute to:

• Reaching 2.9 billion women and girls;
• Creating 260 million decent jobs for women;
• Freeing up 10 trillion hours of women's and girls' time by 2035.