The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jun 30 2025 (IPS) - On 1 June, Mexico made history by becoming the only country in the world to elect all its judges by popular vote, from local magistrates to Supreme Court justices. This unprecedented process saw Mexican voters choose candidates for 881 federal judicial positions, including all nine Supreme Court justices, plus thousands at local levels across 19 states. Yet what the government heralded as a transformation that made Mexico the ‘the most democratic country in the world’ may turn out to be a dangerous deception.
Judicial independence under attack
The judicial election was the culmination of a controversial constitutional reengineering pushed through by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and embraced by his successor, President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) party promoted the change as a bold democratic measure to eliminate corruption, increase transparency and make judges accountable to the people rather than political or economic elites. But this narrative masked a more troubling reality. The judicial overhaul was the final piece in a systematic assault on institutions that checked executive power during López Obrador’s presidency. Between 2018 and 2024, the National Electoral Institute faced repeated budget cuts and legislative attacks. The National Institute for Access to Public Information was eliminated in late 2024, leaving oversight of public information access in the hands of an executive-dependent secretariat.
The judiciary became a prime target after the Supreme Court repeatedly struck down López Obrador’s key legislative proposals as unconstitutional. The president responded with aggressive public criticism, accusing judges of corruption and cutting the judiciary’s budget. When the Supreme Court invalidated his attempt to put the civilian National Guard under military command, López Obrador declared the judiciary needed democratisation.
Following Sheinbaum’s landslide victory in June 2024, when she won with close to 60 per cent and Morena secured a supermajority in Congress, the outgoing government introduced constitutional amendments as part of ‘Plan C’, with judicial elections the centrepiece. Despite protests by judicial workers, students and opposition groups, the bill passed in September.
The new system replaced merit-based appointments with a process where candidates are pre-screened by Evaluation Committees controlled by the executive, legislative and judicial branches before facing popular election. Judicial terms have been shortened and aligned with political cycles, while judicial salaries are now tied to the president’s, effectively giving the executive control over judicial remuneration in violation of international standards requiring stable, politically independent judicial funding.
Another concerning development is the new Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal, whose five popularly elected members have broad powers to investigate and sanction judicial personnel through final, unappealable decisions. This tribunal threatens to become a tool of political intimidation against judges who rule against government interests, fundamentally undermining judicial independence.
Corrosive effect on rights
As it turned out, the judicial elections achieved only a 13 per cent voter turnout, light years from the 61 per cent who voted at the last general election. This suggested widespread public disconnection from the process, calling into question the democratic legitimacy its proponents claimed to seek. The complexity of choosing between so many unknown candidates appears to have deterred many voters.
Troublingly, dozens of candidates were identified as having potential ties to drug cartels, including the former defence lawyer for notorious drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, who got elected in Chihuahua state. Vulnerability to criminal infiltration is particularly alarming given Mexico’s context, where political violence has reached unprecedented levels – with at least 32 candidates and 24 public officials murdered during the 2024 campaign – and where criminal organisations exercise de facto governmental control in many territories.
The international community has responded with condemnation. The Rule of Law Impact Lab at Stanford Law School joined the Mexican Bar Association in filing an amicus curiae – friend of the court – brief before the Mexican Supreme Court challenging the reform’s constitutionality. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed ‘grave concern’ about judicial independence, access to justice and the rule of law. These concerns were echoed by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the International Bar Association.
The judicial elections will likely have a corrosive effect on democracy and human rights. By making judges accountable to popular majorities rather than constitutional principles, the new system will likely weaken protection for excluded groups including women, migrants and Indigenous communities who depend on judicial intervention for protection against discrimination.
Early analysis suggests that judges aligned with the ruling party performed well in the elections, potentially giving Morena unprecedented influence over judicial decision-making. From the government’s perspective, the elections appear to have achieved their underlying political objective: consolidating control across all branches of government. This eliminates the accountability mechanisms needed to prevent authoritarian drift.
Mexico’s experience highlights the dangerous tension between populism and constitutional democracy. With fewer institutional barriers remaining to prevent further concentration of power, the country’s democratic institutions now face their greatest test. For the rest of the world, Mexico offers a cautionary tale about how populist claims to democratic legitimacy can systematically undermine the institutional foundations democracy depends on.
Inés M. Pousadela is CIVICUS Senior Research Specialist, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org
ABUJA, Jun 30 2025 (IPS) - When Stanley Anigbogu heard his name announced as the 2025 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year in London earlier in March, he could hardly believe it. He had not expected to win, especially among a pool of brilliant nominees from across the globe.
The 25-year-old Nigerian energy innovator was recognised for transforming waste into solar-powered innovations that deliver clean energy to over 10,000 refugees in Africa. Anigbogu is the co-founder of LightEd, a company that turns plastic waste into solar-powered charging stations. These stations supply electricity to communities with little or no access to power. LightEd works in hard-to-reach areas and serves people in different parts of Nigeria, including thousands of displaced persons.
“I really was not expecting to win the award,” he said. “When my name was called, I was shocked. It took me a moment to believe it. I was really grateful because it was an amazing accomplishment. Just representing Africa, being the best from Africa out of 56 countries. I knew the work we were doing was important, but the other finalists were doing amazing things as well. I was grateful that my work was spotlighted because it gives the work that I do a different level of recognition. It is a very big accomplishment.”
For Anigbogu, the award is not just a personal achievement. He sees it as a moment of pride for Nigeria and for young people across the continent.
“This award gives me hope,” he said. “It shows that people see our work and that it matters.”
Stanley Anigbogu, 2025 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year. Credit: LightEd
The Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work, known as the Commonwealth Youth Awards, is a flagship project of the Commonwealth Secretariat, which has supported youth development for over 50 years. The Secretariat’s Head of Social Policy Development, Layne Robinson, underscored the importance of highlighting the work of young leaders like Anigbogu and empowering them to do more.
He said, “These awards enable us to learn more about the work being done by young people across the Commonwealth and offer us an opportunity to support them tangibly. By amplifying their work, the awards help them become beacons to others and contribute to building the next generation of leaders.”
In pursuit of the waste-to-energy approach, Stanley Anigbogu’s project has repurposed more than 5 tonnes of plastic waste. Reducing harm to the environment is central to his innovations. Credit: LightEd
Lighting Up Communities
Anigbogu grew up in Onitsha, a bustling town in southeastern Nigeria. Like many homes in the country, his family did not have reliable electricity. Power cuts were frequent. Sometimes, they had electricity for only a few hours in an entire week. He often had to study using candles or kerosene lamps.
These struggles sparked his curiosity about how electricity worked. He became interested in finding solutions to the challenges around him. At the age of 15, he began building small inventions. He created robots and rockets using scraps and second-hand electronic components. He built simple tools to help with tasks at home and even started a science club in school.
Stanley Anigbogu stands inside a work in progress. Credit: LightEd
After secondary school, Anigbogu moved to Morocco for university. While there, he founded a start-up which aimed to turn orange peels into energy. The project failed, but it taught him valuable lessons.
“I made a lot of mistakes because I did not understand business well,” he said. “But I learnt a lot from it.”
During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Anigbogu returned to Nigeria. He wanted to create something useful that could help poor communities. That’s how LightEd started. His innovation is helping to address Nigeria’s electricity problem. According to the World Bank, 85 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity from the national grid. This means about 43 percent of the population lives without regular power, making Nigeria the country with the highest number of people without electricity.
Stanley Anigbogu’s projects work towards providing electricity to underserved people; the community is at the heart of the decisions on where to place the solar-powered charging stations. Credit: LightEd
One of LightEd’s flagship projects is the construction of charging stations made from plastic and recycled waste, fitted with solar panels. People use them to charge phones, lamps, and small devices. In many of these areas, it is the only source of electricity available.
LightEd has trained over 6,000 students and recycled more than 20,000 kilograms of plastic. The company has also raised over 500,000 dollars from donors and partners to expand its work.
“Our goal is to make clean energy available to everyone,” said Anigbogu, who added that the company works closely with communities to create solutions tailored to their needs.
Stanley Anigbogu finds light in waste. Credit: LightEd
“The solutions we provide are community-led. Each community has different needs. We begin by asking questions like: where should the station be built? What is their energy need? What does the community require? We also add artwork to the stations, designed to reflect what the community feels the station represents. When we work with an artist, we hold a workshop and collect input from the people. We also work with them to decide how the station will be managed. Once it is built, we hand it over to the community.”
Helping Displaced People
Anigbogu’s interest in helping displaced people began while he was in Morocco. He joined a volunteer group that visited families living in the Atlas Mountains. Many had been displaced and lacked access to electricity and clean water.
LightEd has set up solar charging stations in two big camps for displaced people in Nigeria. They also provided solar lights and lamps, making it easier and safer for people to move around at night, especially women and children.
“I want kids in refugee camps to be able to study at night. Before, everywhere used to be dark, and when you put in streetlights, it lights up the surroundings and creates a sense of safety and also supports their mental health. I think when you’re living in a dark environment and you’re already in an inhospitable situation, having proper lighting helps give you a sense of security. That contributes to an overall stronger feeling of safety. Aside from that, it also helps reduce costs, such as the money spent on things like kerosene or candles, because all you need to do is go and charge your lamp or other device. It also reduces the negative health effects from the smoke and fumes people inhale when using traditional lighting solutions,” Anigbogu said.
Looking Ahead
Anigbogu’s journey has not been without challenges. In the early days, one of the biggest obstacles was the lack of clear guidance on how to start an organisation in Nigeria, including navigating registration, documentation, and taxes. Today, his main challenge is scaling. While funding is important, Anigbogu says the harder task is finding the right strategies and structures to expand into new regions and countries.
Stanley Anigbogu hopes to use access to energy to bring people of different faiths together, helping them resolve the many conflicts in the region. Credit: LightEd
But for Anigbogu, none of this is a reason to give up. He is now working on building charging stations that also double as spaces for peace dialogue.
“I am working with the Commonwealth Peace Prize winners, who are also Nigerians. We are discussing building a charging station that can serve as a space for intergenerational and interreligious dialogue. In Nigeria, where there are many religious conflicts, I believe it is a good idea to use access to energy as a way to bring people of different faiths together to talk and understand each other,” he said.
IPS UN Bureau Report
PORTLAND, USA, Jun 30 2025 (IPS) - Approximately 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the world’s population, wish to leave their country permanently, while over a billion people believe that fewer or no immigrants should be allowed into their countries. This demographic struggle between the two sides over international migration is causing significant social, economic, and political repercussions for nations and their citizens.
The 1.3 billion individuals desiring to emigrate to another country is over four times the size of the estimated total number of immigrants worldwide in 2025, which is around 305 million. If all the people desiring to emigrate could do so, the global number of immigrants would increase to about 1.6 billion.
While an estimate of the total number of immigrants in the world is readily available, estimating the total number of unauthorized immigrants is much more challenging, with few reliable estimates available on a global scale.
If the percentage of unauthorized immigrants among all immigrants in the United States, approximately 25%, applies to the global immigrant population, the estimated number of unauthorized immigrants worldwide would be around 75 million (Figure 1).
Source: United Nations and Gallup Polls.
The global proportion desiring to emigrate permanently to another country has increased significantly in recent years, rising from 12% in 2011 to 16% in 2023.
Additionally, the desire to emigrate varies greatly across the different regions of the world. In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest proportion desiring to emigrate at 37%, a significant increase from its 29% in 2011 (Figure 2).
Source: Gallup Polls.
In almost all major regions, the proportion desiring to emigrate permanently saw a substantial increase between 2011 and 2023. For instance, the proportions for the regions of the Middle East and North Africa, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean, rose from approximately 18% to 28%.
The desire to emigrate is not exclusive to developing regions. In the European Union, nearly 20% of the population in 2023 expressed a desire to emigrate. Similarly, in the United States and Canada, around 18% of their populations in 2023 desired to emigrate, a significant increase from the 10% reported in 2011.
The significant imbalance between the desire to emigrate and the number of immigrants countries are accepting is a major demographic factor contributing to unauthorized migration. Thousands of migrants die annually on migration routes in their attempts to reach their desired destination country
The number of people desiring to emigrate permanently exceeds the number of immigrants countries are willing to admit, leading many individuals to migrate without authorization.
For example, while approximately 170 million adults wish to emigrate to the United States, the country’s annual number of immigrants granted legal permanent residence has ranged from 1 to 2 million, with net immigration expected to average just over 1 million annually in the future. Similarly, in Canada, about 85 million people desire to emigrate, but the annual number of immigrants admitted ranges from 400,000 to 500,000.
The significant imbalance between the desire to emigrate and the number of immigrants countries are accepting is a major demographic factor contributing to unauthorized migration. Thousands of migrants die annually on migration routes in their attempts to reach their desired destination country.
In addition to the demographic imbalance, other important factors contributing to unauthorized migration include poverty, unemployment, low wages, harsh living conditions, violence, crime, persecution, political instability, armed conflict, lack of health care, limited education opportunities, and climate change.
Many migrant destination countries are experiencing record-high numbers of unlawful border crossings, unauthorized arrivals, and visa overstays, leading to millions of individuals living unlawfully within those countries.
Human rights regarding international migration are relatively straightforward. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country”. While all people have the right to leave and return to their country, they do not have the right to enter another without permission nor to overstay a temporary visit.
However, Article 14 of the Universal Declaration also states that “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution”. As a result, many migrants entering a country without authorization claim asylum to escape persecution.
To be granted asylum, an individual must meet the internationally recognized definition of a refugee.
The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees codified the right of asylum. The right to asylum is for anyone with “a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
The Convention and its Protocol, however, do not require governments to grant asylum to those who qualify.
By claiming asylum, migrants lacking legal authorization to enter are in principle permitted to remain in the destination country while their asylum claims are being adjudicated. Typically, the adjudication process takes several years and the large majority of asylum claims are denied.
For example, in the United States, approximately 70 percent of asylum claims have been denied over the past several years. Similarly, high levels of asylum claim denials, often exceeding 70 percent in first-instance asylum applications, are reported among many European countries, including France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Sweden.
Many destination countries, especially wealthy, more developed nations, view the extensive use of asylum claims by unauthorized migrants as a means of avoiding deportation. Although most claims are judged to lack merit, the large numbers of claims overwhelm the ability of countries to review them in a timely manner and enforce negative rulings to send people back to their home countries.
To address the large number of asylum claims, some countries are adopting various policies. For example, some countries are requiring unauthorized migrants to wait abroad while their asylum claims are being considered. Other countries are mandating that unauthorized migrants seek asylum in another country and have also implemented policies to transfer the migrants to different third countries for processing their asylum claim or for resettlement.
Looking towards the future, the world’s population, currently at 8.2 billion, is expected to increase by another two billion people over the next fifty years. During this time, the population of more developed regions is projected to decline by around 70 million.
In contrast, by 2075, the population of less developed regions, excluding the least developed countries, is projected to grow by close to 700 million. This significant population increase is about half the level expected for the least developed countries, which as a group are expected to increase by about 1.4 billion (Figure 3).
Source: United Nations.
While countries are addressing unauthorized migration, many of them are also experiencing or anticipating population decline. Despite the current and expected decreases in population size, countries are not ready to accept large numbers of immigrants.
Instead of increasing immigration numbers, countries are focusing on raising their low fertility rates, which have dropped and remain well below the replacement level.
Business leaders, employers, various non-governmental organizations, families, and some government officials acknowledge the benefits of international migration and may even tolerate some unauthorized migration.
However, many citizens in destination countries, particularly those on the political far right, increasingly view newcomers, especially those living in the country without authorization, as a threat to jobs, cultural integrity, national security, and a financial burden on public funds. Consequently, many governments in these countries have implemented policies and actions to deport migrants, especially those who are unauthorized.
Furthermore, opponents of increased immigration are worried that it will negatively impact their traditional culture, shared values, and national identity. They believe that immigration, particularly unauthorized migration, undermines their way of life, national security, ethnic heritage and social cohesion.
In conclusion, international migration has always been a fundamental, defining demographic phenomenon with significant economic, social and political implications worldwide. Currently, the global population of over 8.2 billion people is grappling with an escalating struggle over international migration.
On one side of this struggle are approximately 1.3 billion people desiring to emigrate, with many choosing to do so without authorization and often risking their lives to reach their destination. On the other side are over a billion people in destination countries attempting to prevent this emigration, reduce the rising numbers of immigrants, and deport those living in their territories without authorization, including many who are seeking asylum.
Given the demographics, significant differences between the two sides, and the current situations in various countries, it is likely that the struggle over international migration will persist throughout the 21st century.
Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division, and author of many publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.
Jun 28 2025 (IPS) - When Stanley Anigbogu heard his name announced as the 2025 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year in London earlier in March, he could hardly believe it. He had not expected to win, especially among a pool of brilliant nominees from across the globe.
The 25-year-old Nigerian energy innovator was recognised for transforming waste into solar-powered innovations that deliver clean energy to over 10,000 refugees in Africa. Stanley is the co-founder of LightEd, a company that turns plastic waste into solar-powered charging stations. These stations supply electricity to communities with little or no access to power. LightEd works in hard-to-reach areas and serves people in different parts of Nigeria, including thousands of displaced persons.
“I really was not expecting to win the award,” he said. “When my name was called, I was shocked. It took me a moment to believe it. I was really grateful because it was an amazing accomplishment. Just representing Africa, being the best from Africa out of 56 countries. I knew the work we were doing was important, but the other finalists were doing amazing things as well. I was grateful that my work was spotlighted because it gives the work that I do a different level of recognition. It is a very big accomplishment.”
For Stanley, the award is not just a personal achievement. He sees it as a moment of pride for Nigeria and for young people across the continent.
“This award gives me hope,” he said. “It shows that people see our work and that it matters.”
The Youth Awards for Excellence in Development Work, known as the Commonwealth Youth Awards, is a flagship project of the Commonwealth Secretariat, which has supported youth development for over 50 years. The Secretariat’s Head of Social Policy Development, Layne Robinson, underscored the importance of highlighting the work of young leaders like Stanley and empowering them to do more.
He said, “These awards enable us to learn more about the work being done by young people across the Commonwealth and offers us an opportunity to support them tangibly. By amplifying their work, the awards help them become beacons to others and contribute to building the next generation of leaders”.
Lighting Up Communities
Stanley grew up in Onitsha, a bustling town in southeastern Nigeria. Like many homes in the country, his family did not have reliable electricity. Power cuts were frequent. Sometimes, they had electricity for only a few hours in an entire week. He often had to study using candles or kerosene lamps.
These struggles sparked his curiosity about how electricity worked. He became interested in finding solutions to the challenges around him. At the age of 15, he began building small inventions. He created robots and rockets using scraps and second-hand electronic components. He built simple tools to help with tasks at home and even started a science club in school.
After secondary school, Stanley moved to Morocco for university. While there, he founded a start-up which aimed to turn orange peels into energy. The project failed, but it taught him valuable lessons.
“I made a lot of mistakes because I did not understand business well,” he said. “But I learnt a lot from it.”
During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Stanley returned to Nigeria. He wanted to create something useful that could help poor communities. That’s how LightEd started. His innovation is helping to address Nigeria’s electricity problem. According to the World Bank, 85 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity from the national grid. This means about 43% of the population lives without regular power, making Nigeria the country with the highest number of people without electricity.
One of LightEd’s flagship projects is the construction of charging stations made from plastic and recycled waste, fitted with solar panels. People use them to charge phones, lamps, and small devices. In many of these areas, it is the only source of electricity available.
LightEd has trained over 6,000 students and recycled more than 20,000 kilograms of plastic. The company has also raised over 500,000 dollars from donors and partners to expand its work.
“Our goal is to make clean energy available to everyone,” said Stanley, who added that the company works closely with communities to create solutions tailored to their needs.
“The solutions we provide are community-led. Each community has different needs. We begin by asking questions like: where should the station be built? What is their energy need? What does the community require? We also add artwork to the stations, designed to reflect what the community feels the station represents. When we work with an artist, we hold a workshop and collect input from the people. We also work with them to decide how the station will be managed. Once it is built, we hand it over to the community.”
Helping Displaced People
Stanley’s interest in helping displaced people began while he was in Morocco. He joined a volunteer group that visited families living in the Atlas Mountains. Many had been displaced and lacked access to electricity and clean water.
LightEd has set up solar charging stations in two big camps for displaced people in Nigeria. They also provided solar lights and lamps, making it easier and safer for people to move around at night, especially women and children.
“I want kids in refugee camps to be able to study at night. Before, everywhere used to be dark, and when you put in streetlights, it lights up the surroundings and creates a sense of safety, and also supports their mental health. I think when you’re living in a dark environment, and you’re already in an inhospitable situation, having proper lighting helps give you a sense of security. That contributes to an overall stronger feeling of safety. Aside from that, it also helps reduce costs, such as the money spent on things like kerosene or candles, because all you need to do is go and charge your lamp or other device. It also reduces the negative health effects from the smoke and fumes people inhale when using traditional lighting solutions,” Stanley said.
Looking Ahead
Stanley’s journey has not been without challenges. In the early days, one of the biggest obstacles was the lack of clear guidance on how to start an organisation in Nigeria, including navigating registration, documentation, and taxes. Today, his main challenge is scaling. While funding is important, Stanley says the harder task is finding the right strategies and structures to expand into new regions and countries.
But for Stanley, none of this is a reason to give up. He is now working on building charging stations that also double as spaces for peace dialogue.
“I am working with the Commonwealth Peace Prize winners, who are also Nigerians. We are discussing building a charging station that can serve as a space for intergenerational and interreligious dialogue. In Nigeria, where there are many religious conflicts, I believe it is a good idea to use access to energy as a way to bring people of different faiths together to talk and understand each other,” he said.
IPS UN Bureau Report
IPS UN Bureau, IPS UN Bureau Report,
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 27 2025 (IPS) - Since 1989, the United Nations (UN) has recognized June 26 as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in an effort to raise awareness around the global drug problem and foster a more compassionate world, free of drug abuse. Through this year’s campaign, “Break the Cycle. #StopOrganizedCrime”, the UN underscores the importance of addressing the root causes of global drug abuse and illegal drug trading, and investing in reliable systems that prioritize prevention, education, and health.
Concurrently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its annual World Drug Report, in which it analyzed the current trends in global drug abuse amid a “new era of global instability”. In the report, UNODC emphasizes the wide ranging implications of drug use on the economy, the environment, global security, and human society.
According to the report, roughly 316 million people used drugs (excluding tobacco and alcohol) around the world in 2023. UNODC also estimates that nearly half a million people around the world die annually as a result of drug use disorders, indicating a “global health crisis”. Roughly 28 million years of life are lost annually from disabilities and premature deaths due to addiction. Furthermore, there is an overwhelming lack of healthcare and education resources for individuals with drug use disorders, as only one in twelve people are estimated to have received treatment in 2023.
Cocaine has been described as the world’s fastest growing illicit drug in terms of global usage, production, and seizures. In 2023, approximately 3,708 tons of cocaine were produced, marking a 34 percent increase from the previous year. Roughly 2,275 tons were seized in 2023, a 68 percent increase from 2019’s figures. Additionally, global usage of cocaine has inflated to 25 million users in 2023.
As nations began to implement harsher crackdowns on drug production, the use and transportation of synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl and methamphetamine, has reached record-highs, accounting for nearly half of all global drug seizures. Drug trafficking groups have found ways to chemically conceal these drugs, making distribution much easier.
UNODC Executive Director Ghada Fathi Waly states that organized drug trafficking groups around the world continue to exploit global crises, disproportionately targeting the most vulnerable communities. With worldwide synthetic drug consumption having surged in recent years, the UNODC forecasts that civilians displaced by armed conflicts face heightened risks of drug abuse and addiction.
Although the cocaine market was once contained in Latin America, trade has extended through to Asia, Africa, and Western Europe, with Western Balkans having greater shares in the market. This is a testament to the influence of organized crime groups in areas facing instability, natural disasters, and economic challenges.
According to the report, since the end of the Assad regime in Syria and the subsequent political transition, nationwide use of fenethylline — also known as captagon, a cheap, synthetic stimulant — has soared. Although the transitional government of Syria has stated that there is zero tolerance for captagon trade and consumption, UNODC warns that Syria will remain a significant hub for drug production.
Angela Me, the Chief of Research and Analysis at UNODC, states that captagon use in the Arabian peninsula was spurred by regional violence, with members of terrorist organizations using it on battlefields to stay alert. Due to its highly addictive properties, as well as its severe impacts on physical and mental health, the drug has seen widespread consumption over the past several years.
“These groups have been managing Captagon for a long time, and production is not going to stop in a matter of days or weeks,” said Me. “We see a lot of large shipments going from Syria through, for example, Jordan. There are probably still stocks of the substance being shipped out, but we’re looking at where the production may be shifting to. We’re also seeing that the trafficking is expanding regionally, and we’ve discovered labs in Libya.”
Global drug trafficking is estimated to generate billions of dollars per year. National budgets to combat drug trafficking, in terms of law enforcement and prosecution, cost governments millions to billions annually as well. Healthcare systems, which are often underfunded for addiction-related treatments, are overwhelmed by the vast scale of needs. Furthermore, damages related to theft, vandalism, violence, and lost productivity in the workplace have significant impacts on gross domestic products.
Additionally, increased rates of deforestation and pollution are linked with global drug cultivation. Additional adverse environmental impacts include ecosystem damage from drug waste, which yields notable costs in environmental restoration efforts.
It is imperative for governments, policymakers, and other stakeholders to invest in programs that disrupt illicit drug trafficking groups and promote increased security, especially along borders, which are critical hubs for transporting concealed substances. Furthermore, cooperation at an international level is instrumental for the transfer of information and promoting a joint and multifaceted approach.
“We must invest in prevention and address the root causes of the drug trade at every point of the illicit supply chain. And we must strengthen responses, by leveraging technology, strengthening cross-border cooperation, providing alternative livelihoods, and taking judicial action that targets key actors driving these networks,” said Waly. “Through a comprehensive, coordinated approach, we can dismantle criminal organizations, bolster global security, and protect our communities.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
GENEVA, Jun 27 2025 (IPS) - In an era defined by the gig economy and pervasive job insecurity, advocating for permanent contracts within the United Nations might seem anachronistic, even counterintuitive.
Yet, clinging to a culture of short-term, precarious contracts is not just detrimental to staff well-being; it’s a strategic and financial misstep that undermines the UN’s core mission.
Simultaneously, while internal restructuring under the banner of “UN 2.0” or “UN80” absorbs significant energy, the world burns with geopolitical fires demanding urgent, credible multilateral action. It’s time to re-focus: prioritize quality hires with stability AND make multilateralism genuinely effective, starting where it matters most – preventing mass atrocities.
The False Economy of Job Insecurity
The argument for limiting permanent contracts often hinges on perceived flexibility and cost savings. However, the reality is starkly different:
1. The High Cost of Turnover: Constantly recruiting, onboarding, and training staff for short-term roles is immensely expensive. Studies consistently show replacing an employee can cost 50-200% of their annual salary. For complex UN roles requiring deep institutional knowledge, context-specific understanding, and intricate diplomatic networks, these costs are amplified exponentially. Permanent staff represent a long-term investment whose value compounds over time.
2. Loss of Institutional Memory & Expertise: The UN tackles the world’s most complex challenges – climate change, pandemics, conflict resolution. Success requires deep historical understanding, nuanced relationships, and specialized expertise. A revolving door of staff erodes this vital institutional memory. Permanent contracts foster the accumulation and retention of irreplaceable knowledge critical for navigating protracted crises.
3. Diminished Loyalty & Engagement: Job insecurity breeds anxiety and disengagement. Staff on short-term contracts, constantly worried about renewal, are less likely to invest fully in long-term projects, challenge inefficient practices, or build the deep cross-departmental collaborations essential for UN effectiveness. Permanent status fosters commitment, psychological safety, and the courage to speak truth to power – vital assets for any organization, especially this one.
4. Quality Over Contract Length: The focus should shift decisively from “how long”someone is hired to “how well” they are selected and perform. Rigorous recruitment processes aimed at securing the best talent, coupled with robust performance management and accountability mechanisms, are the true guarantors of efficiency and effectiveness.
Permanent contracts for highly qualified, competitively selected, high-performing staff provide the stability needed for excellence, not complacency. It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish to sacrifice long-term capability for illusory short-term budget flexibility.
UN80 Reforms: A Distraction from Existential Challenges?
While streamlining processes and modernizing tools under initiatives like UN80 has merit, it risks becoming a consuming internal exercise that diverts attention from the UN’s fundamental crisis: the erosion of effective multilateralism in the face of escalating global turmoil.
The world confronts a resurgence of conflict, climate catastrophe accelerating faster than responses, democratic backsliding, and a fragmenting international order. Yet, the UN Security Council, the body charged with maintaining peace and security, remains paralyzed by the very tool meant to ensure great power buy-in: the veto.
The ghost of the League of Nations haunts us – an institution fatally weakened by its inability to act decisively against aggression because powerful members could simply block consensus.
Reform Must Prioritize Action, Especially Against Genocide
True UN reform cannot be confined to internal restructuring. It must courageously address the structural flaws that prevent the organization from fulfilling its primary mandate:
1. Veto Restraint on Atrocity Crimes: The most urgent starting point is suspending the use of the veto in Security Council resolutions aimed at preventing or stopping genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.
When a permanent member wields its veto to shield perpetrators of these most heinous crimes, it betrays the UN’s foundational purpose and renders collective security a mockery. This specific, targeted reform is not about abolishing the veto wholesale but about preventing its most morally indefensible application. It is a litmus test for the credibility of UN reform.
2. Effectiveness Over Bureaucracy: Reforms must demonstrably enhance the UN’s ability to deliver tangible results on the ground – mediating conflicts effectively, delivering humanitarian aid unhindered, holding human rights abusers accountable, and implementing climate agreements with urgency. This requires empowering agencies, improving coordination, and ensuring mandates are matched with resources and political backing.
3. Reinvigorating Multilateralism: The UN must become a platform that fosters genuine dialogue and compromise, not just a stage for grandstanding. Reform should seek ways to better integrate emerging powers, strengthen the role of the General Assembly where feasible, and rebuild trust among member states around shared principles of the Charter.
Conclusion
Advocating for permanent contracts is not a retreat into comfort; it’s a strategic investment in the UN’s human capital – the bedrock of its effectiveness. It fosters the expertise, loyalty, and long-term perspective needed to tackle generational challenges.
Simultaneously, obsessing over internal restructuring while the mechanisms for global peace and security remain fundamentally broken is a dangerous distraction.
The UN was born from the ashes of catastrophic failure. Its reformers must have the courage to confront the structural impediments – including the unchecked veto enabling atrocity and the erosion of staff stability – that threaten to lead it down the same path.
Let’s prioritize permanent expertise and permanent purpose. The world, beset by crisis, demands nothing less than a United Nations capable of fulfilling its promise.
Naïma Abdellaoui describes herself as a Concerned International Civil Servant and Staff Representative
IPS UN Bureau
Jun 27 2025 (IPS) -
CIVICUS discusses autonomous weapons systems and the campaign for regulation with Nicole van Rooijen, Executive Director of Stop Killer Robots, a global civil society coalition of over 270 organisations that campaigns for a new international treaty on autonomous weapons systems.
Nicole van Rooijen
What are autonomous weapons systems and why do they pose unprecedented challenges?
Autonomous weapons systems, or ‘killer robots’, are weapons that, once activated by a human, can select and engage targets without further human intervention. These systems make independent decisions – without the intervention of a human operator – about when, how, where and against whom to use force, processing sensor data or following pre-programmed ‘target profiles’. Rather than using the term ‘lethal autonomous weapons systems’, our campaign refers to ‘autonomous weapons systems’ to emphasise that any such system, lethal or not, can inflict serious harm.
The implications are staggering. These weapons could operate across all domains – air, land, sea and space – during armed conflicts and law enforcement or border control operations. They raise numerous ethical, humanitarian, legal and security concerns.
The most troubling variant involves anti-personnel systems triggered by human presence or individuals or groups who meet pre-programmed target profiles. By reducing people to data points for algorithmic targeting, these weapons are dehumanising. They strip away our inherent rights and dignity, dramatically increasing the risk of unjust harm or death. No machine, computer or algorithm can recognise a human as a human being, nor respect humans as inherent bearers of rights and dignity. Autonomous weapons cannot comprehend what it means to be in a state of war, much less what it means to have – or to end – a human life. Enabling machines to make life and death decisions is morally unjustifiable.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has noted it is ‘difficult to envisage’ scenarios where autonomous weapons wouldn’t pose significant risks of violating international humanitarian law, given the inevitable presence of civilians and non-combatants in conflict zones.
Currently, no international law governs these weapons’ development or use. As the technology advances rapidly, this legal vacuum creates a dangerous environment where autonomous weapons could be deployed in ways that violate existing international law while escalating conflicts, enabling unaccountable violence and harming civilians. This is what prompted the UN Secretary-General and the ICRC president to jointly call for urgent negotiations on a legally binding international instrument on autonomous weapons systems by 2026.
How have recent consultations advanced the regulatory agenda?
The informal consultations held in New York in May, mandated by UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 79/62, focused on issues raised in the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 report on autonomous weapons systems. They sought to broaden awareness among the diplomatic community and complement the work around the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), emphasising risks that extend far beyond international humanitarian law.
The UNGA offers a crucial advantage: universal participation. Unlike the CCW process in Geneva, it includes all states. This is particularly important for global south states, many of which are not a party to the CCW.
Over two days, states and civil society explored human rights implications, humanitarian consequences, ethical dilemmas, technological risks and security threats. Rich discussions emerged around regional dynamics and practical scenarios, examining how these weapons might be used in policing, border control and by non-state actors or criminal groups. While time constraints prevented exhaustive exploration of all issues, the breadth of engagement was unprecedented.
The Stop Killer Robots campaign found these consultations energising and strategically valuable. They demonstrated how UN processes in Geneva and New York can reinforce each other: while one forum provides detailed technical groundwork, particularly in developing treaty language, the other fosters inclusive political leadership and momentum. Both forums should work in tandem to maximise global efforts to achieve an international legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems.
What explains the global divide on regulation?
The vast majority of states support a legally binding treaty on autonomous weapons systems, favouring a two-tier approach that combines prohibitions with positive obligations.
However, roughly a dozen states oppose any form of regulation. Among them are some of the world’s most heavily militarised states and the primary developers, producers and likely users of autonomous weapons systems. Their resistance likely stems from the desire to preserve military superiority and protect economic interests, and the belief in inflated claims about these weapons’ supposed benefits promoted by big tech and arms industries. Or perhaps they simply favour force over diplomacy.
Whatever their motivations, this opposition underscores the urgent need for the international community to reinforce a rules-based global order that prioritises dialogue, multilateralism and responsible governance over unchecked technological ambition.
How do geopolitical tensions and corporate influence complicate international regulation efforts?
It is undeniable that geopolitical tensions and corporate influence are challenging the development of regulations for emerging technologies.
A handful of powerful states are prioritising narrow military and economic advantages over collective security, undermining the multilateral cooperation that has traditionally governed arms control. Equally troubling is the expanding influence of the private sector, particularly large tech companies that operate largely outside established accountability frameworks while wielding significant sway over political leaders.
This dual pressure is undermining the international rules-based order precisely when we most need stronger multilateral governance. Without robust regulatory frameworks that can withstand these pressures, development of autonomous weapons risks accelerating unchecked, with profound implications for global security and human rights.
How is civil society shaping this debate and advocating for regulation?
Anticipating the challenges autonomous weapons systems would pose, leading human rights organisations and humanitarian disarmament experts founded the Stop Killer Robots campaign in 2012. Today, our coalition spans over 270 organisations across more than 70 countries, working at national, regional and global levels to build political support for legally binding regulation.
We’ve played a leading role in shaping global discourse by highlighting the wide-ranging risks these technologies pose and producing timely research on weapons systems evolution and shifting state positions.
Our multi-level strategy targets all decision-makers who can influence this agenda, at local, regional and global levels. It’s crucial that political leaders understand how autonomous weapons might be used in warfare and other contexts, enabling them to advocate effectively within their spheres of influence for the treaty we urgently need.
Public pressure is key to our approach. Recent years have seen growing weapons systems autonomy and military applications, particularly in ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, alongside rising use of technologies such as facial recognition in civilian contexts. Public concern about the dehumanising nature of these technologies and the lack of regulation has grown online and offline. We frame these concerns along the whole spectrum of automated harm, with autonomous weapons representing the extreme, and highlight the critical need to close the gap between innovation and regulation.
We also collaborate with experts from arms, military and technology sectors to bring real-world knowledge and credibility to our treaty advocacy. It is crucial to involve those who develop and deploy autonomous weapons to demonstrate the gravity of current circumstances and the urgent need for regulation.
We encourage people to take action by signing our petition, asking their local political representatives to sign our Parliamentary Pledge or just spreading the word about our campaign on social media. This ultimately puts pressure on diplomats and other decision-makers to advance the legal safeguards we desperately need.
GET IN TOUCH
Bluesky
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
Nicole/Bluesky
Nicole/LinkedIn
SEE ALSO
Facial recognition: the latest weapon against civil society CIVICUS Lens 23.May.2025
Weaponised surveillance: how spyware targets civil society CIVICUS Lens 24. Apr.2025
Technology: Human perils of digital power CIVICUS | 2025 State of Civil Society Report