Collated by Peter Hulm
September 2025
Devex Exclusive: US seeks ouster of Egyptian UN drug and crime agency chief Ghada Waly, several weeks before her planned departure in November, in favour of U.S. national (LINK) 30 September 2025
— It remained unclear why the U.S. decided to press for a change so late in Waly's term. But it signaled a more proactive U.S. role at the U.N. drug agency at a time when the U.S. is militarizing its own policy towards the international drug trade.
UN Security Council approves a military force to fight gangs in Haiti (LINK) 30 September 2025
Israeli settlement activity accelerates in the West Bank, Security Council told (LINK) 28 September 2025
Iran sanctions reimposed 10 years after landmark nuclear deal. Iran says the sanctions are "unjust" and "illegal" and has urged countries not to implement them. UK, France and Germany "urge Iran to refrain from any escalatory action". (LINK) 28 September 2025
UNESCO designates 26 new biosphere reserves in 21 countries (LINK) 27 September 2025
— AP: 785 sites in 142 countries have been designated since 1971. The latest include the Indonesian archipelago of Raja Ampat, home to three-fourths of Earth's coral species, a stretch of Icelandic coast with 70% of the country's plant life and an area along Angola’s Atlantic coast, the new Quiçama Biosphere Reserve. The programme has also adopted a 10-year strategic action plan that includes studying the effects of climate change. At least 60% of the UNESCO biosphere reserves have been affected by extreme weather tied to climate change. The Trump administration in July announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO as of December 2026, just as it did during his first administration, saying U.S. involvement is not in the national interest. The U.S. has 47 biosphere reserves, most in federal protected areas.
Analysis: Half of global emissions covered by 2035 climate pledges after UN summit in New York (LINK) 26 September 2025
— China stole the show at the UN climate summit held in New York on 24 September, announcing a pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 7-10% below peak levels by 2035.
Sinking islands, vanishing forests: World leaders call for urgent climate action (LINK)
Calls grow for first female UN chief in 80 years (LINK) — ground.news: 8 media reports (LINK) 26 September 2025
Rudy Giuliani and Dominion Voting Systems settle defamation suit over his 2020 election claims (LINK) 26 September 2025
Netanyahu vows to 'finish job' in Gaza during UN speech as delegates walk out: Israeli prime minister said recognition of Palestinian state is 'insane' days after countries such as UK and France did so: Israeli loudspeakers broadcast speech into Gaza (LINK) 26 September 2025
UNCTAD and CARICOM sign first cooperation agreement to support Caribbean resilience: focus on data, digital economy, trade and food security (LINK) 25 September 2025
The oceans just hit an ominous milestone: acidification of the seas breaches the seventh of nine "planetary boundaries" (LINK) 24 September 2025
Shipping faces 'stormy seas' as trade slows and costs rise, UNCTAD warns (LINK) 24 September 2025
China gives up developing-country treatment in bid to boost WTO in face of Trump tariffs (LINK) 24 September 2025
Following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Trump says Ukraine can regain all territory lost to Russia (LINK) 23 September 2025
— Roughly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, is under Russian control, much of it throughout the war. Crimea, however, was illegally annexed well in 2014.
DRM News: Finland's President delivers most inspiring, powerful UN speech yet on multipolar world order (LINK YouTube 20 min) 24 September 2025
— President Alexander Stubb laid out a roadmap to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, warned about global power shifts, and demanded urgent UN reform, saying the current system cannot last.
Slovenian President addresses United Nations general debate: "International law appears to stand at the precipice of irrelevance" (LINK TouTube) 24 September 2025
AFP: Trump at the UN: He mocked renewables as a "joke", praised "clean, beautiful coal" and declared climate change the "greatest con job ever". (LINK) 23 September 2025
Fox News: World leaders laugh, squirm as Trump blasts UN on climate, Ukraine, Gaza at General Assembly (LINK)
Alternet: 'Your countries are going to hell': 6 of the wildest moments from Trump's rambling UN speech (LINK) 23 September 2025
- Trump claimed that 'inflation has been defeated'
- Trump slammed UN for not living up to its potential
- Trump attacked UN members for immigration policies
- Trump insisted he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize
- Trump chastised EU members for not imposing more tariffs
- Trump ripped European countries for not using more fossil fuels
CNN: Five takeaways from Trump's UN speech (LINK) 23 September 2025
— "What is the purpose of the United Nations?" he asked during his speech. And he added later: "For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It's empty words, and empty words don’t solve war."
- A lecture on migration
- Climate change the 'greatest con job'
- No major shift on Ukraine or Gaza – until after the speech
- Broken equipment — and a broken institution
- Veering off-script
Trump UN escalator snafu: White House wants investigation of sudden stop (LINK) 23 September 2025
— White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt fumed Tuesday that if anyone at the United Nations "intentionally" stopped an escalator right before President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stepped onto it, "they need to be fired and investigated immediately."
The New Humanitarian: aid and AI (LINK) 22 September 2025
— "The assumption that AI inherently reduces costs ignores its hidden expenses. For example, testing and evaluating AI systems [...] carry significant financial costs and time, which are often overlooked or excluded when calculating the costs of AI solutions."
— "A failure to properly test and assure AI systems risks increasing harm to the individuals and communities humanitarians are meant to serve. Without deeper analysis, the sector risks pursuing AI for its own sake rather than addressing structural inequities."
— "On one side, AI could accelerate long-overdue shifts towards decentralization and shared power. On the other, it could entrench existing hierarchies, reversing gains in localization. [...] The sector must interrogate whose interests are being served and how decision-making is structured. Donors must help smaller organisations — particularly those in the Global South — increase access to AI providers and incentivise partnerships between large and small organisations where skills and expertise on AI are shared."
— "Certification in standards related to the non-technical management and deployment of AI (such as ISO/IEEE 42001:2023, which is designed to help organisations responsibly govern their use of AI) should become mandatory, ensuring organisations deploy AI solutions responsibly."
UN General Assembly 2025: What happens, key moments and speakers ahead (LINK) 23 September 2025
'We'll leave you to rot': UN OHCHR report details horrific torture of 508 Ukrainian civilians in Russian captivity (LINK) 23 September 2025
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights denounces mock executions of Ukrainian prisoners — (LINK)
Three West African countries to quit UN top court: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger (LINK) 23 September 2025
— The three military juntas, who came to power through coups, say the judicial body is 'incapable' of handling 'proven war crimes'.
'AI red lines' by 2026 campaign launches at U.N.: More than 200 Nobel laureates and other artificial intelligence experts plus 70 organizations that deal with AI, signed a letter calling for global "red lines to prevent unacceptable AI risks" (LINK) 23 September 2025
AP: Trump to take aim at 'globalist institutions', make case for his foreign policy record in UN speech (LINK) 23 September 2025
PBS: What to expect at this week's U.N. General Assembly meetings (LINK) 22 September 2025
— Trump addresses U.N. General Assembly live. Zelenskyy anticipates intense diplomacy at UN. Iran threatening to back out of coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
UN General Assembly: High-level week opens with celebration of women's empowerment (LINK) 23 September 2025
— Girls are far more likely to finish school today, than at any other time in history. The number of women in parliament has almost doubled and nearly 100 discriminatory laws have been reversed around the world in the past five years alone. But none of the gender equality Sustainable Development Goals are on track. Furthermore, 676 million women and girls now live under the shadow of deadly conflict, the highest recorded since the 1990s.
Conflict, aid cuts and equality backlash causing ‘stagnation and regression’ of women’s rights — UN — (LINK)
Police are warning of a new trend in Switzerland: paedophile vigilantism. Zurich police recently arrested 6 teenagers after they'd beaten up a middle-aged man. They'd lured the man to a park through social media, pretending to be a girl under 16 (LINK) 22 September 2025
ICC charges ex-Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte with murder during his anti-drugs campaign (LINK) — ground.news: 39 media reports (LINK) 22 September 2025
Edith Lederer: As the world convulses in war and contentiousness, its leaders convene at the UN to figure it out (LINK) 21 September 2025
UN 'high seas' treaty clears ratification threshold, to enter into force in January (LINK) 20 September 2025
— It establishes legally binding rules to conserve and sustainably use marine biodiversity, share benefits from marine genetic resources more fairly, create protected areas, and strengthen scientific cooperation and capacity building.
Big foundations and nonprofits still flood to the sidelines of a diminished United Nations (LINK) — ground.news: 21 media reports (LINK) 20 September 2025
UN Security Council rejects resolution to extend Iran sanctions relief: vote of 4 to 9 meaning sanctions will return by September 28 if no significant deal is reached beforehand (LINK) 19 September 2025
U.S. Senate confirms Mike Waltz as UN ambassador: the vote means Waltz will be partially in his role in time for U.N. General Assembly (LINK) 19 September 2025
Israel begins ground offensive in Gaza City, as UN commission says Israel is committing genocide (LINK) 16 September 2025
— Over 10% of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed or injured since the war began, the Israeli military's former chief said — a figure very close to that reported by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
WMO says ozone layer is healing, hole could disappear within decades (LINK) 16 September 2025
WTO global agreement aimed at reducing overfishing takes effect 3 years after its adoption (LINK) 15 September 2025
Work on U.N.-Ferney tram beginning: line due to open in December 2028 (LINK) 15 September 2025
UN special rapporteur Mary Lawlor: Gaza's human rights defenders in their own words (LINK) 14 September 2025
U.N. condemns reported massacre in Haiti after gangs killed more than 40 in fishing village on 11 September (LINK) — ground.news: 15 media reports (LINK) 13 September 2025
UN general assembly votes 142-10 to back Hamas-free government for Palestine: compromise plan sees Arab states condemning 7 October attacks in return for clear UN support for a Palestinian state (LINK) 12 September 2025
GEN: Sea-level rise and the role of Geneva: IPCC says "sea-level rise is now unavoidable for centuries" (LINK) 12 September 2025
— "Extreme sea levels that have been historically rare will likely be experienced annually by 2050 in many low-lying cities and small islands, and will become common by 2100 due to projected global mean sea-level rise."
Algorand Foundation releases Aid Trust Portal to track and visualize humanitarian aid payments (LINK) 9 September 2025
— The Aid Trust Portal is already being used by HesabPay to track aid payments made by several of its clients, including multiple UN agencies, who are using the HesabPay wallet to deliver aid in some of the world’s most fragile contexts. "Ensuring the transparent and efficient distribution of aid funds is critical, especially in regions such as Afghanistan and Northeast Syria, where political instability, security concerns, risks of aid diversion, and limited infrastructure can impede aid delivery to the most vulnerable populations. The Aid Trust Portal shows interactive network graph visualizations that analyze the flow of disbursed funds, facilitating transparency for donors, aid organizations, government agencies, compliance teams, and regulators. Such advanced blockchain analytics tools have never before been made available for free to the aid sector with the explicit intent of revolutionizing trust in humanitarian aid payments."
Iran and nuclear watchdog sign agreement seeking path to restart cooperation (LINK) 9 September 2025
Future Investment Conference tackles global shifts in investment, sustainability and technology: concludes with a call to meet the rising demand for sustainable and responsible investment amid technological advances and evolving geopolitical dynamics (LINK) 9 September 2025
Guardian: WHO Foundation accepts increasing amount of dark money from corporate donors (LINK) 9 September 2025
— Through the end of 2023, the last year for which records were available, the foundation had taken about $83m in corporate donations, and concealed the identity of donors for about 60% of the sum, a new report into the issue published in BMJ Global Health states. The level of dark money donations are increasing each year — 80% of the foundation's funding in 2023 came from anonymous sources who made contributions of at least $100,000, up from 15% during the first year, the report's authors found. There is no mechanism for tracking corporate donations.
Who funds the WHO Foundation? A transparency analysis of donation disclosures over the first 3 years of its operation: 23 July 2025 — (LINK)
US visa refusal for Palestinian delegation prompts calls to move UN meeting to Geneva (LINK) 8 September 2025
World Health Organization Director-General says US CDC needs to be protected (LINK) 7 September 2025
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X: "No institution is perfect and continued improvements are always needed to make sure the latest science and evidence is applied to emerging challenges in real time, but the work of the US CDC has been invaluable and must be protected."
Seven of the world’s 10 most valuable companies are now digital giants — UNCTAD LinkedIn (LINK) 7 September 2025
— UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Global Trade Update, released on 8 July: "These firms do not lead in just one area — they span the entire digital economy, from cloud computing and e-commerce to artificial intelligence and advertising. Between 2017 and 2025, the combined share of sales held by the top five digital multinational enterprises more than doubled from 21% to 48%. Their share of total assets also increased from 17% to 35% during the same period."
— "Stronger enforcement of competition rules — paired with infrastructure investment, stronger regulatory systems, skills development and financing opportunities for startups in the digital economy — is essential to ensure the digital economy works for all, not just a few global tech giants," UNCTAD argues.
Postal traffic to US down by over 80% amid tariffs, UPU says: 88 operators worldwide have fully or partially suspended the shipping of parcels to the US (LINK) 6 September 2025
Wildfires producing 'witches brew' of air pollution: WMO (LINK) 5 September 2025
UN body finds US and UAE responsible for Afghan refugee's arbitrary detention for over 2 years (LINK) — ground.news: 9 media reports (LINK) 4 September 2025
— The former police colonel who had worked with US forces and received threats from the Taliban movement , was evacuated by private US operators under former President Joe Biden in 2021 and was supposed to be transferred to the US within 14 days, but was instead held in the Emirates Humanitarian City. In 2023, Human Rights Watch said the EHC complex was "essentially a prison" with as many as 2,700 Afghans held there. The Working Group has asked both states to provide compensation and reparations for violating the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
UN Technology Bank: Building Bridges in Geneva: Advancing STI for the LDCs (LINK) 4 September 2025
At least 21,000 children disabled in Gaza since fighting began: UN committee (LINK) — ground.news: 72 media reports (LINK) 3 September 2025
— Around 40,500 children have suffered "new war-related injuries" in the nearly two years since the war erupted, with more than half of them left disabled, said the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
US approves $32.5 million in assistance to WFP Nigeria to help address hunger (LINK) — ground.news: 19 media reports (LINK) 3 September 2025
— According to a U.S. statement, the funds will enable the WFP to assist a total of 764,205 beneficiaries in Northeast and Northwest Nigeria. It said the assistance includes complementary nutritional support for 41,569 pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls, as well as 43,235 children, facilitated through electronic food vouchers.
At least 21,000 children disabled in Gaza since fighting began: UN committee (LINK) — ground.news: 72 media reports (LINK) 3 September 2025
— Around 40,500 children have suffered "new war-related injuries" in the nearly two years since the war erupted, with more than half of them left disabled, said the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
UN raises number of staff detained by Yemen's Houthis to 19: 1 international staffer (LINK) 3 September 2025
Guardian: Five children in Gaza among at least 9 killed by Israeli strike while fetching water: Israel’s military urges people to leave Gaza City (LINK) 2 September 2025
Al Jazeera: At least 105 Palestinians killed, including 32 aid seekers, as Israel pushes ahead with plans to seize Gaza City — (LINK)
U.N. peacekeeping missions struggle, threatening their capacity to safeguard civilians in conflict zones, due to U.S. funding cuts (LINK) 2 September 2025
— President Trump's administration has canceled $4.9 billion in foreign aid, affecting peacekeeping operations crucial for protecting civilians in areas like South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.S. contributes 27% of the $5.6-billion U.N. peacekeeping budget. Trump's administration has signaled intentions to end funding entirely by 2026, citing inefficiencies.
WHO sounds alarm as mental health conditions soar past one billion worldwide (LINK) — ground.news: 63 media reports (LINK) 2 September 2025
— Suicide claimed an estimated 727,000 lives in 2021 and is a leading cause of death among young people, with the world likely to fall short of the UN target to reduce suicide deaths by a third by 2030. The reports highlight that women are disproportionately impacted, with 581.5 million women facing mental health disorders as compared to 513.9 million men. "Women who have experienced intimate partner violence or sexual violence are particularly vulnerable to developing a mental health condition," said the World Mental Health Today report.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit: Guterres calls for strengthening multilateralism (LINK) 1 September 2025
UNAIDS exhibits posters in Geneva throughout September to dispel myths and misconceptions about HIV (LINK) 2 September 2025
Landslide in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan kills at least 1,000 people, rebel group says, appeals for humanitarian assistance from the United Nations and other regional and international organizations (LINK) 1 September 2025
Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit: Guterres calls for strengthening multilateralism (LINK) 1 September 2025
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