Week in Review

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Week in Review 21 June 2025

Catch up on this week's must-read stories The Middle East was front and centre this week as the Human Rights Council in Geneva heard Israel's latest actions in Gaza constitute war crimes and the Security Council met in emergency session to discuss escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran on Friday, which we covered live.  With the world "on the brink," the Secretary-General urged both countries to give peace a chance instead of continuing to exchange deadly missile fire, while civilians bear the brunt.  Similarly, for the world's children, solutions remain few and far between with children increasingly victims of grave violations during conflict and threatened by the slower burn of climate change.  In the Maldives and Nepal, though, we got a close-up look at how UN agencies are working to put children at the heart of climate solutions, creating lasting change for future generations. Notable interviews this week featured women on the frontlines – and in the headlines – including a former woman refugee journalist in Afghanistan, the founder of a feminist organization in Haiti who works with victims of sexual violence and the top UN economist who is a key organiser of the upcoming financing for development conference in Sevilla (a lot more to come on this in the next few weeks) which many see as a key health check on multilateralism.  This editor's favourite story of the week featured the intersection of two worldwide phenomena – football and the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals – against the backdrop of the world expo in Japan. With progress on the SDGs way off-track, a boost from world football may just be the sort of innovative spark we need.

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS LIVE: 'Give peace a chance' UN chief urges Israel and Iran One week since the Israel-Iran conflict erupted, diplomatic efforts to end the war are ramping up in Geneva as foreign ministers from France, Germany, the UK and the EU prepare to meet their Iranian counterpart. In New York, meanwhile, the UN Security Council heard the UN Secretary-General warn ambassadors that "we are on course to chaos" if the war widens "which could ignite a fire that no one can can control." UN News app users can follow here. Read more Peace and Security From Syria, UN refugee chief calls for greater solidarity with displaced people Although record numbers of people – over 122 million worldwide – have been uprooted due to war, violence and persecution, their ability to find safety and support is threatened more than ever.  Read more Migrants and Refugees Gaza horrors continue as the weakest succumb to injuries and disease Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday.  Read more Peace and Security Sudan: 'I survived rape, but I do not know how to survive life after it' Over two years after civil war erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and their former allies-turned rival militia, the RSF, Sudan is now the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with nearly 13 million displaced.   Rape used as a weapon of war, together with other sexual violence, has disproportionately shattered the lives of women and girls. Today, gender agency UN Women estimates that 12.1 million people – 25 per cent of the population – is at risk.   Just ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, UN News's Emma Trager-Lewis spoke to Esméralda Alabre, who leads the UN reproductive health agency UNFPA's work to counter gender based-violence in Sudan.   Read more UN Interviews Power of football inspires team effort towards development goals The power of football to inspire fans to take positive action for a healthier planet and a fairer society is taking centre stage at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan – a world fair focused on building a sustainable global future. Read more SDGs Nobody wants to give up on financing sustainable development, top official says "Sevilla is a moment in time. It is really the beginning, not the end of the process," says one of the senior UN officials helping Member States navigate high-stakes negotiations ahead of a landmark conference on sustainable development in Spain later this month. Shari Spiegel is Director of Financing for Sustainable Development at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). She told UN News's Matt Wells that the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development aims to address a staggering $4 trillion gap in global financing. Countries reached agreement this week on an outcome document that sets out critical reforms. Read more UN Interviews Monitoring Iran and promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy– the IAEA's role explained Just days before Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, the UN watchdog agency monitoring Iran's nuclear activities warned that the country was in violation of its non-proliferation commitments.  Read more Peace and Security From Himalayan melt to drowning shores, children lead the climate fight From the high Himalayas down to sea level, climate change is no longer a distant threat for children in Nepal and the Maldives – it is a daily struggle: landslides tear through mountain villages washing away homes and farms, while rising seas surge over island shorelines, threatening to swallow entire communities. Read more Climate and Environment MIDDLE EAST CRISIS: Live updates for 16 June After a weekend of massive strikes and counter-strikes between Tel Aviv and Tehran, the UN's human rights chief, Volker Türk on Monday condemned the violence and echoed wider calls for a negotiated end to the attacks. Meanwhile in Gaza, aid workers report that mobile communications networks continue to be cut in the shattered enclave. We'll be covering these developments and more across the UN system and beyond today, thanks for joining us. UN News app users can follow our live coverage here. Read more Peace and Security Israeli actions in Palestinian territories constitute war crimes, Human Rights Council hears The ongoing crises in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Sudan are in the spotlight this week at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. Read more Peace and Security Development is 'the first line of defence against conflict,' Guterres tells Security Council Of the 700 million people worldwide living in extreme poverty, 40 per cent live in conflict-affected or fragile settings and this is on track to worsen, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Thursday.  Read more Peace and Security

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