The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
BELÉM, Brazil, Dec 24 2025 (IPS) - Izete dos Santos Costa, also known as Dona Nena among locals in Combu Island, welcomed hundreds of people from around the world during the recent climate conference in Belém.
Her team showcased local crafts and chocolate-making processes in the land of the Amazon rainforest—far from the deafening air conditioner sounds at the Parque da Cidade, where the COP30 negotiations were ongoing.
Yet her story’s ultimate happy ending is dependent on the outcomes of climate negotiations, as Amazonia is on the frontlines of climate change.
Delegates and participants delighted at the chocolate-making process and relished tasting chocolate treats made from cocoa from the forest.
Cocoa fruit at the backyard of Dona Nena’s factory; once it turns yellow they harvest it and use its beans to make chocolate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Harvested cocoa fruit and its beans on display with other fruits collected from Amazonia. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
A visitor exploring Dona Nena’s gift shop, where visitors can buy chocolates and locally made souvenirs. Credit: Annabel Prokopy/IPS
For nearly 20 years, Dona Nena has been making a living by promoting local tourism and chocolate made from cocoa grown in the forest near her house.
“Twenty years ago, there was no tourism in this area. There was basically one single restaurant,” Dona Nena said while smiling and waving to visitors at her chocolate factory, Filha do Combu, also known as Dona Nena’s Chocolate House [located about an hour away from the COP venue].
In the scorching heat and humidity, visitors are introduced to the process of harvesting cocoa beans and other Amazonian fruits and how these are transformed into organic chocolate.
Her product became famous when renowned Belém chef Thiago Castanho liked the chocolate so much he helped promote it within the top Brazilian culinary circles.
“At that time, he didn’t teach me how to refine the chocolate, but he did use it as a flagship in his restaurant for everyone,” she said.
Blending Organic Chocolate Factory Into Immersive Experience
For a few years her team produced the chocolate and collaborated with chef Castanho for marketing. People noticed and loved it.
“The friends of the chef started to come here. They were interested in finding out about the process,” she said. “I started to receive them at my house; that’s how the tourism side of the chocolate factory started in 2012.”
After initial interest from the chef and their friends, other people started coming. Then Dona Nena built a family-owned chocolate factory into an immersive tourism hub, letting visitors know where cocoa comes from and how the process works, and, at the end, letting them taste chocolate.
Cocoa beans in the process of fermentation; after this, they will be roasted to make chocolate. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Tour guide Juliana Cruz shares chocolates with visitors for tasting. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Chocolate made from cocoa beans at Dona Nena’s factory. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
Cocoa trees at the backyard of Dona Nena’s factory, which is within Amazonia. Credit: Tanka Dhakal/IPS
“I am proud to have brought many tourists and inspired other restaurants to settle on the island,” she added. “It is helping local communities to grow and develop.”
Twenty people work at the factory and as tour guides; the majority of them are women. One of them is Juliana Cruz, a tour guide. She takes a group of visitors into the forest, where she shows the traditional way of harvesting cacao beans and explains fermentation, bean drying, and the chocolate-making process.
Dona Nena’s chocolate factory grew as a center of attraction for people who want to have an on-the-ground experience of the Amazon rainforest and its sweet sides.
Chocolate’s ‘Dark Side’
For the last 20 years, Dona Nena’s life has revolved around cocoa and chocolate. Cocoa trees, native to the Amazon for 7,000 years, are always central to her success.
But just in two decades of working with it, Dona Nena is seeing changes.
“I am noticing declining yields of cocoa, and fruits are becoming smaller,” she said. “It’s not only cocoa; other fruits here, in general, are all decreasing.”
Confirming her observations, research shows that climate change could reduce the production of cocoa. It is sensitive to a dry climate, and it may impact yield. Research published in 2022 says it is possible that by 2050, a loss in a suitable environment for cocoa plants in the Brazilian Amazon is likely if precipitation decreases and temperature increases because of climate change.
But Dona Nena is concerned about the future of cocoa trees. “I am seeing fewer species around,” she said.
This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.
IPS UN Bureau Report
Excerpt:
For Dona Nena, a chocolatier who is central to culinary tourism in Belém, the success of her operations is dependent on the cocoa trees grown organically in Amazonia. But, she says, they are already bearing smaller fruit.
NEW YORK, Dec 24 2025 (IPS) - 2025 has been a terrible year for democracy. Just over 7 per cent of the world’s population now live in places where the rights to organise, protest and speak out are generally respected, according to the CIVICUS Monitor, a civil society research partnership that measures civic freedoms around the world. This is a sharp drop from over 14 per cent this time last year.
Civic freedoms underpin healthy democracies, and the consequences of this stifling of civil society are apparent. At the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the world is experiencing 19th century levels of economic inequality. The wealth of the richest 1 per cent is surging while some 8 per cent of the world’s population – over 670 million people – suffer from chronic hunger. Weapons-producing firms, closely intertwined with political elites, are reaping windfall profits as death and destruction rains down in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine and many other places. It should surprise no one that the political leaders fomenting these conflicts are also squashing civic freedoms to avert questions about their motivations.
From Lima to Los Angeles, Belgrade to Dar es Salaam and Jenin to Jakarta, far too many people are being denied the agency to shape the decisions that impact their lives. Yet these places have also been the site of significant protests against governments this year. Even as authoritarianism appears to be on the march, people are continuing to pour onto the streets to insist on their freedoms. As we speak people in Sofia in Bulgaria are demonstrating in large numbers against endemic corruption which recently forced the government to resign.
History shows that mass demonstrations can lead to major advances. In the 20th century, people’s mobilisations helped achieve women’s right to vote, liberation of colonised peoples and adoption of civil rights legislation to address race-based discrimination. In the 21st century, advances have been made in marriage equality and other LGBTQI+ rights, and in highlighting the climate crisis and economic inequality through protests. But in 2025, the right to protest, precisely because it can be effective, is under assault by authoritarian leaders. Around the world, the detention of protesters is the number one recorded violation of civic freedoms, closely followed by arbitrary detentions of journalists and human rights defenders who expose corruption and rights violations.
This backsliding is now happening in major established democracies. This year, the CIVICUS Monitor downgraded Argentina, France, Germany, Italy and the USA to an ‘obstructed’ civic space rating, meaning the authorities impose significant constraints on the full enjoyment of fundamental rights. This regression is being driven by anti-rights nationalist and populist forces determined to degrade constitutional checks and balances and advance ballot box majoritarianism that denies minorities a fair say in economic, political and social life.
The push to degrade democracy by anti-rights forces now coming to fruition has been many years in the making. It accelerated this year with the return of Donald Trump. His administration immediately withdrew support to international democracy support programmes and instead built links to politicians responsible for crushing civic freedoms and committing grotesque human rights violations. Trump has laid out of the red carpet to El-Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, Hungary’s Victor Orbán, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, ushering in a new era of values-free might-is-right diplomacy that threatens to undermine decades of painstaking progress achieved by civil society.
The fallout is clear. Many wealthy democratic governments that traditionally fund civil society activities have significantly reduced their contributions. At the same time, they have linked their remaining support for civil society to narrowly defined strategic military and economic interests. In doing so, they have played directly into the hands of powerful authoritarian states such as China, Egypt, Iran, Nicaragua and Venezuela that seek to discredit domestic calls for accountability. Countries including Ecuador and Zimbabwe have introduced laws to limit the ability of civil society organisations to receive international funding.
All these developments are negatively impacting on civil society efforts for equality, peace and social justice. Yet the story of 2025 is also one of persistent resistance, and some successes. The courage demonstrated by Generation Z protesters has inspired people around the world. In Nepal, protests triggered by a social media ban led to the fall of the government, offering hope for a much-needed political reset. In Kenya, young protesters continued to take to the streets to demand political reform despite state violence. In Moldova, a cash-rich disinformation campaign run by a fugitive oligarch failed to sway the course of the national election away from human rights values. In the USA, the number of people joining the No-Kings protests just keeps on growing.
With over 90 per cent of the world’s population living with the institutional denial of full civic freedoms, anti-rights forces must be feeling pretty smug right now. But democratic dissent is brewing, particularly among Generation Z, denied political and economic opportunities but understanding that another world – one more equal, just, peaceful and environmentally sustainable – is possible. It’s far from game over yet, and even in difficult times, people will demand freedoms – and breakthroughs may be just around the corner.
Mandeep S Tiwana is Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance.
GITHUNGURI, Kenya, Dec 24 2025 (IPS) - For the past two years, Samuel Ndungu, a smallholder farmer, has been growing organic food and supplying it to the local market in Githunguri, just outside Nairobi.
On his 1.5-hectare farm, Ndungu practices organic farming, which promotes soil fertility through composting and crop rotation and controls pests with natural or biological methods. He has refused to use synthetic pesticides, fertilizers or genetically modified organisms. He grows various vegetables, including spinach, carrots and onions.
His farming venture was under threat by a Kenyan law known as the Seeds and Plant Varieties Act, making it illegal for farmers to share seeds. However, in November a Kenyan High Court case struck down parts of the Act, declaring that saving, using, and sharing indigenous seeds is a constitutional right, not a crime—a huge win for farmer sovereignty against corporate control. Government, however, has filed a notice saying it intended to appeal the ruling.
For smallholder farmers like Ndungu, the law was punitive because some of the seeds are expensive to buy as individuals, so they would buy as a group and share. The farmers also dry some of the seeds, preserve them, and store them in seed banks for future use.
An Information Technology specialist by profession, Ndungu said the law was cruel and punitive.
“The Seed Act affected us, smallholder farmers. We were being cast out,” he told IPS.
The seed banks help farmers conserve seeds of traditional and indigenous crops that are in danger of disappearing, as some farmers migrate to high-yielding varieties.
Samuel Ndungu is pictured on his organic farm in Githunguri, Kenya. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS
Fighting for Seed Sovereignty
Farmers in Kenya prefer sharing local seeds because they are better adapted to local conditions, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas. Some of these indigenous crops and vegetables do not require chemicals and farmers still get good harvests when they use natural methods to treat pests. Unlike imported hybrid seeds, which require pesticides and fertilizers.
A group of farmers with support from Seed Savers Network, a pioneering organization dedicated to preserving agricultural biodiversity and empowering farming communities across Kenya, challenged the restrictive law in the country’s highest court.
Tabitha Munyiri, an advocacy and communication officer at Seed Savers Network, said there has been a shift in the last decades from traditional farming to conventional farming, which has resulted in biodiversity loss. “We have seen a lot of seed varieties going extinct. Some of them are on the verge of extinction if we do nothing about it,” she said.
One of the workers at Samuel Ndungu’s farm in Githunguri, Kenya. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS
Munyiri said the controversial law focused on commercial firms while ignoring smallholder farmers.
Farmer-managed seed systems have been practiced in Kenya for years. There is relief now that the stringent penalties have been lifted – at least until the appeal goes to court.
About 80 percent of farmers in Kenya were at risk of being arrested and charged for violating this archaic law. Though there has been a lack of enforcement, and no farmers have been arrested and taken to court for violating this law, the law is creating uncertainty among farmers.
The government has also agreed to review the Seeds and Plant Varieties Act.
Munyiri said they hope to have integration of the two seed systems, where they operate together in complementarity.
The farmers want seed banks to be fully recognized and allowed to share and exchange seeds.
Kenya is also a signatory to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which calls for the conservation and sustainable use of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security.
Samuel Ndungu is also into livestock production at his farm in Githunguri, Kenya. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS
Justus Lavi, the national chairman of the Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum, said corporates wanted to kill the capacity of farmers to access seeds. Their influence on government policy was clear.
“The seed companies came and convinced our government. They have been effective. They are demonizing our indigenous seeds. They are convincing our farmers that our seeds, which are not certified, are not good,” he told IPS. “Yet these are the seeds we have been having in the country for centuries. It has been proven that they are effective because they have been there for years. They want to cheat us.”
Organic farming
Ndungu, who employs six other people, supplies fresh produce to the local market in Kiambu County in central Kenya.
Instead of fertilizers, he mixes chicken droppings, which are rich in nitrogen, cow dung, which is rich in phosphorus and potassium and organic matter to make organic fertilizer used at the farm.
Some of the plants at Samuel Ndungu’s farm in Githunguri, Kenya. Credit: Farai Shawn Matiashe/IPS
To control pests, Ndungu uses natural methods like crop rotation and the use of pest-resistant plants.
Ndungu, who turned to farming after failing to secure a job, said the vegetables produced by this farming method are safe to eat, unlike those produced by commercial farmers. Farmers believe organic food has higher nutrients since it has reduced exposure to pesticides and synthetic chemicals.
Some of the seeds of the indigenous crops are not found at the market; hence, farmers need to regenerate them.
While smallholder farmers around the world cultivate a small portion of land, they contribute between 30% and 40% of the food supply, according to a 2021 study. Smallholder farmers provide up to 60% of on-farm jobs, with over 70% of families earning their livelihoods from agriculture. These farmers invest USD 368 billion of their capital annually into their farms.
Ndungu is planning to expand his farming. “I want to capitalize and be able to produce not only more food but safer food,” he said.
IPS UN Bureau Report
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 2025 (IPS) - Despite notable improvements in the humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip following the October 10 ceasefire, progress remains critically fragile. With the enclave having averted famine across multiple regions, the United Nations (UN) and its partners warn that sustained humanitarian access, a steady flow of resources, and the restoration of critical civilian infrastructure are essential in preventing further deterioration, which could have long-lasting consequences for an already deeply traumatized population.
According to the latest figures from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), food security in Gaza saw significant improvement during the October-November period, with famine eradicated across all areas. This marks a major shift from August, when famine was recorded and confirmed. This is largely attributed to the expansion of humanitarian access since then.
“Famine has been pushed back. Far more people are able to access the food they need to survive,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Gains are fragile, perilously so. And in more than half of Gaza, where Israeli troops remain deployed, farmland and entire neighborhoods are out of reach. Strikes and hostilities continue, pushing the civilian toll of this war even higher and exposing our teams to grave danger. We need more crossings, the lifting of restrictions on critical items, the removal of red tape, safe routes inside Gaza, sustained funding, and unimpeded access, including for nonprofit organizations (NGOs).”
Figures from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that following the ceasefire, obstructions to aid deliveries have declined to roughly 20 percent—down from 30 to 35 percent prior to the ceasefire. Between October 10 and December 16, more than 119,000 metric tons of UN-coordinated aid were offloaded, with over 111,000 metric tons successfully collected.
Despite this, severe levels of hunger and malnutrition persist, particularly among displaced communities. The vast majority of the enclave’s population faces emergency levels (IPC Phase 4) of hunger, with hundreds of thousands facing acute malnutrition. Between October and November, approximately 1.6 million people, or over 75 percent of the population studied, were found to face crisis levels of hunger (Phase 3) or worse, including 500,000 people in emergency levels (Phase 4) and over 100,000 in catastrophic levels (Phase 5).
Women and children —especially those from displaced communities— are expected to bear the heaviest burdens. An estimated 101,000 children aged six to 59 months are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition through October of next year, with 31,000 of those cases expected to be life-threatening. In addition, roughly 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are projected to require urgent treatment.
In a joint statement, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Food Programme (WFP), warn that without sustained humanitarian support, increased financial assistance, and a definitive end to the hostilities, hundreds of thousands of Gazans could quickly fall back into famine conditions.
OCHA noted that approximately 1.6 million Gazans are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity through mid-April of 2026, with the agency recording aid deliveries being hampered as a result of continued airstrikes, procedural constraints, and the lingering effects of Storm Byron, which caused considerable levels of flooding. In December, the agency recorded reduced food rations from WFP in an attempt to maximize coverage. Other sectors of the humanitarian response have been deprioritized to address the most urgent food security needs.
IPC’s latest report identifies the collapse of agri-food systems as a major driver of food insecurity in Gaza, noting that over 96 percent of the enclave’s cropland has been decimated or rendered inaccessible. With livelihoods shattered and local production severely strained, families are increasingly unable to afford nutritious and diverse foods.
Approximately 70 percent of households cannot afford to buy food or secure clean water. Protein has become particularly scarce, and no children are meeting adequate dietary diversity standards, with two-thirds consuming only one to two food groups.
“Gaza’s farmers, herders and fishers are ready to restart food production, but they cannot do so without immediate access to basic supplies and funding,” said Rein Paulsen, Director of FAO’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience. “The ceasefire has opened a narrow window to allow life-sustaining agricultural supplies to reach the hands of vulnerable farmers. Only funding and expanded and sustained access will allow local food production to resume and reduce dependence on external aid.”
The latest figures from OCHA indicate that at least 2,407 children received treatment for acute malnutrition in the first two weeks of December. Additionally, as of December 16, more than 172,000 metric tons of aid positioned by 56 humanitarian partners are ready for transfer into Gaza, with food supplies accounting for 72 percent of the total.
Even in the face of these consistent needs, some humanitarian deliveries carried out by the UN and its partners continue to be routinely denied by Israeli authorities. Between December 10 and 16, humanitarian agencies coordinated 47 missions with Israeli authorities, 30 of which were conducted, 10 were impeded, four were denied, and three were cancelled.
According to Kate Newton, Deputy Country Director for WFP in Palestine, missions requiring prior coordination with Israeli authorities—including winterization efforts, assessment and clearance missions, and cargo uplifts—are particularly uncertain. “We still have all the issues that we’ve been talking about for months and months – the logistical challenges, the fact we’re very limited in terms of the number of roads we can use, that we still have a very high level of insecurity, that bureaucratic processes are still impeding humanitarian delivery,” said Newton.
On December 17, a coalition of UN agencies and more than 200 international and local NGOs called for urgent measures pressuring Israeli authorities to lift all impediments to humanitarian aid, warning that current restrictions severely undermine relief efforts and threaten the collapse of an effective humanitarian response. The joint statement underscores that humanitarian action is now more critical than ever and stresses that Gaza cannot afford to slip back into pre-ceasefire conditions.
“UN agencies and NGOs reiterate that humanitarian access is not optional, conditional or political. It is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law, particularly in Gaza where Israel has failed to ensure that the population is adequately supplied,” the statement reads. “Israeli authorities must allow and facilitate rapid, unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief. They must immediately reverse policies that obstruct humanitarian operations and ensure that humanitarian organizations are able to operate without compromising humanitarian principles. Lifesaving assistance must be allowed to reach Palestinians without further delay.”
IPS UN Bureau
Dec 23 2025 (IPS) -
CIVICUS discusses migrants’ rights in Libya with Sarra Zidi, political scientist and researcher for HuMENA, an international civil society organisation (CSO) that advances democracy, human rights and social justice across the Middle East and North Africa.
Sarra Zidi
What risks do migrants face in Libya?
Libya has no asylum system, which leaves migrants and refugees without legal protection and highly vulnerable to abuse. From the moment people enter the country, they face the risk of arbitrary arrest, torture and, in some cases, ending up in mass graves or being killed extrajudicially.
Detention is the default approach to migration management. While the DCIM formally oversees detention centres, many are effectively run by militias that hold people indefinitely without registration, legal processes or access to lawyers. Centres are severely overcrowded, with hardly any food, healthcare, sanitation or water, and disease outbreaks are common. Sexual and gender-based violence are systematic. Militias and guards subject detained women to forced prostitution, rape and sexual slavery.
Extortion is widespread. Officials torture detainees to force ransom payments from relatives, and their release often depends on intermediaries paying bribes. Those who manage to get out typically have no documents or resources, leaving them exposed to being arrested again.
Smuggling networks shape much of the movement across Libya. Traffickers routinely subject migrants to economic exploitation, physical violence and racial discrimination. Some CSOs have documented slave auctions where Black migrants are sold as farm workers. Officials and traffickers treat migrants as commodities in an economy built on forced labour across agriculture, construction and domestic work.
Accountability is almost non-existent. Libya lacks laws criminalising key offences under the ICC’s Rome Statute, including sexual and gender-based violence and torture. In this context, many migrants try to flee through the Central Mediterranean Route – the world’s deadliest migration route – as the only escape they can see.
What’s the EU’s role?
Although Libyan authorities are the ones who commit these human rights violations, they operate within a wider EU policy designed to externalise migration control. By relying on Libya to contain migration along the Central Mediterranean Route, the EU prioritise containment over protection.
Since the 2017 Malta Declaration between Italy and Libya, the EU has funded and trained the LCG. This support enables Libya to maintain a vast search and rescue zone and intercept people attempting to cross the sea. This approach draws inspiration from other offshore detention models, such as Australia’s, and focuses on preventing people from reaching European territory. This has strengthened Libya’s capacity to intercept migrants while doing little to address the systematic violations occurring in detention centres and at the hands of militias.
What are CSOs doing to help, and what challenges do they face?
CSOs play a crucial role in documenting violations, gathering survivor testimonies and building evidence archives that can support future accountability efforts. They are also a vital source of information and protection for migrants. Many work closely with international partners such as Doctors Without Borders and the World Organisation Against Torture, and often intervene directly in individual cases to save lives.
But because security risks remain extremely high, activists, human rights defenders and journalists must carry out much of their work discreetly. They face constant surveillance, threats and pressure from authorities and militias, and some have been arbitrarily detained, tortured and forcibly disappeared.
Their work is becoming increasingly difficult as authorities further restrict Libya’s civic space. The government uses draconian laws to silence organisations that expose abuses, call for reforms or maintain ties with international partners. The 2022 Cybercrime Law is routinely applied to target activists and bloggers under vague charges such as ‘threatening public security’. In March 2023, a new measure invalidated all CSOs registered after 2011 unless they were founded under a specific law from the era of Muammar Gaddafi.
On 2 April, the Internal Security Agency ordered the closure of 10 international CSOs, accusing them of ‘hostile activities’ and of trying to alter Libya’s demographics by assisting African migrants. This move has cut off essential services for asylum seekers, migrants and refugees, leaving them even more vulnerable.
What actions should the international community take?
The international community must urgently refocus its attention on Libya. When donors de-prioritise the crisis or divert funds elsewhere, Sub-Saharan migrants are left even more exposed to exploitation and violence.
International bodies also need to strengthen their support for Libyan civil society and ensure activists can participate safely in global forums in Brussels, Geneva and New York. Policymakers need their testimonies to shape informed, rights-based decisions.
Protection systems need major improvements too. The International Organisation for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency struggle with long bureaucratic processes that result in many people never receiving the help they need. Migrants need places where they can report abuse safely and receive proper legal advice and psychosocial support.
Only with adequate resources, renewed political will and a rights-based approach that brings local voices to the table can we address the ongoing crisis in Libya and protect migrants trapped in a system of abuse.
This interview was conducted during International Civil Society Week 2025, a five-day gathering in Bangkok that brought together activists, movements and organisations defending civic freedoms and democracy around the world. International Civil Society Week was co-hosted by CIVICUS and the Asia Democracy Network.
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ABUJA, Dec 23 2025 (IPS) - On 20 November 2025, a Nigerian court in Abuja sentenced separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of terrorism and several related offenses, bringing an end to a decade-long legal battle.
Kanu, founder of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), led the call for an independent Biafran state in Nigeria’s southeast, a demand that violates the Nigerian constitution. The group has also been accused of orchestrating deadly attacks on security personnel and civilians.
Kanu was first arrested in 2015, granted bail, but fled after a deadly raid on his home in 2017. In 2021, he was apprehended in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria, where he was held.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty, but the presiding judge rejected the request, noting that capital punishment is increasingly “frowned upon.”
Throughout the trial, Kanu insisted he was innocent and challenged the court’s jurisdiction. He had earlier dismissed his legal team and later refused to defend himself. He was absent during the verdict after being removed for disruptive behavior.
The Quest for Biafra
Kanu’s sentencing has sparked debate in Nigeria. Some of his supporters have called for his release or amnesty, arguing that his campaign stems from longstanding political and economic grievances among the Igbo people, a major ethnic group concentrated in the country’s southeast.
Others suggest that his life sentence reflects perceptions of ethnic bias, noting that militants from other regions have sometimes received lighter sentences or amnesty.
Kanu’s messages through his online radio resonated with many Igbos, whose 1967 attempt to establish an independent nation—the Republic of Biafra—was violently suppressed in a three-year civil war that killed more than a million people.
Since then, many Igbos have continued to feel politically and economically sidelined. Infrastructure development in the region has lagged, federal funding has been limited, and no Igbo has held Nigeria’s presidency or vice presidency since the return to democracy in 1999.
Nnamdi Kanu reacts to his life sentence. Credit: YouTube
Critics, however, fault Kanu’s tactics, accusing him of promoting violence to advance his message and targeting those who do not align with IPOB’s ideology.
But analysts told IPS that IPOB only became violent following a bloody crackdown on the group from the Nigerian government, which failed to address the group’s concerns.
Founded in 2012, IPOB initially adopted peaceful methods like rallying supporters, organizing protests, and calling for election boycotts. However, the government viewed Kanu’s growing influence as a threat and responded with heavy-handed tactics.
According to Amnesty International, more than 150 Biafra supporters were extrajudicially killed between 2015 and 2016. Many others have been arrested with their whereabouts unknown. The crackdown forced IPOB to adopt a more confrontational approach. In 2015, Kanu began calling for arms, using incendiary broadcasts to spread hate and disinformation.
In 2020, Kanu launched a militia, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), claiming it would protect Southeasterners from attacks by herders and jihadists. However, the group quickly became embroiled in violent clashes with Nigerian security forces and began targeting civilians to assert dominance in the region.
In February 2021, IPOB announced that the second Biafra war had begun.
The resulting violence devastated the southeastern economy, worsening insecurity. Between 2020 and 2021, over 164 police facilities were destroyed, and 175 officers were killed. Amnesty International reports that at least 1,844 people were killed in Nigeria’s Southeast between 2021 and 2023 due to escalating insecurity in the region.
One of the victims is 28-year-old Chinedu Obiora, who is still haunted by the disappearance of his father, a traditional leader taken during a raid on their family compound in Orsu, Southeast Nigeria, in November 2022. Armed secessionist fighters stormed the compound before dawn, firing into the air as they dragged away his father, who had been outspoken against the violence in the region.
“We watched from our windows, too terrified to do anything. Within minutes, they had taken my father, and we haven’t heard from him since,” Obiora recalled, describing how militants have established a parallel government in rural areas, maintaining control through fear and violence.
“My father wasn’t the only victim. Some villagers were beheaded, with their bodies left in the market square. It’s a brutal reality. Some of these attackers invade homes, rape women in front of their families, and then shoot the men,” he said.
Dengiyefa Angalapu, a research analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Development, argues that while some view Kanu’s sentencing as a major blow to the Biafra agitation and a setback for armed groups, ignoring the deeper issues driving the separatist movements risks paving the way for new leaders and factions to emerge.
He noted that pro-Biafran movements existed long before IPOB and warned that heavy-handed government crackdowns may temporarily suppress a group but rarely resolve the underlying grievances, often leading to the rise of new movements.
“If you sentence Nnamdi Kanu to life imprisonment, another Nnamdi Kanu will inevitably emerge because the grievances that gave rise to him remain potent and unresolved. For me, sentencing him to life imprisonment will not end the agitation; addressing the root causes of the conflict is what will truly make a difference.
“The question we should be asking ourselves is why Nnamdi Kanu’s message resonates with so many people and how he was able to gather such a large following. If we dig deeper, we find that the messages of marginalization, inequality, and the absence of transitional justice after the Biafra War are still very potent in the Southeast. If these issues are not addressed, it is only a matter of time before another, more dangerous group resurfaces in a different form,” Angalapu said.
Boko Haram’s Playbook
Angalapu’s view is echoed by many observers who caution that a court ruling alone cannot end the Biafra separatist movement, pointing to Boko Haram as an example. After its founder, Mohammed Yusuf, was killed in police custody in 2009, the group became more extreme under Abubakar Shekau, adopted a harsher ideology, militarized its operations, and eventually split into even deadlier factions.
Kunle Adebajo, former editor at HumAngle—one of Africa’s leading conflict-reporting platforms—fears IPOB may be following a similar trajectory. He notes that the group has grown beyond a movement centered on one man, building a structure that now stretches beyond Nigeria’s borders. He worries that even after Kanu’s arrest, new factions have formed, strengthened by diaspora funding used to buy arms.
“IPOB has thousands of loyal members across the world, and I think the only way to really incapacitate the group is for Nigeria to cooperate and work with the governments of the countries where they are strongest. The focus should be on targeting their finances and ensuring that those identified as fueling armed violence in Nigeria face the law in those countries.
“Otherwise, we will keep seeing cases where the top leader is arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned, only for others to rise and try to take charge, dwelling on the perceived injustice of their idols they believe have been unfairly treated by the government,” Adebajo said.
In the southeast, some residents who oppose the Biafra movement hope Kanu’s sentencing will at least lower the morale of secessionist fighters, whose actions have prompted intense military operations across the region. The area is now heavily militarized, and security forces have faced criticism for raiding villages, profiling, and allegedly torturing or killing Igbo civilians, including those unaffiliated with the Biafran cause. The Nigerian armed forces deny these allegations.
Since late 2022, Ifeoma Chinedu from Awomamma, Southeast Nigeria, has been sourcing funds to rebuild her business after soldiers, seeking revenge for the death of a comrade at the hands of armed separatists just a few meters from her home, set fire to her shop.
“They broke into my compound with an armored tanker. They accused me of hiding the men who killed the soldier. They threatened to burn down my house. I was pleading with tears, telling them I do not support Biafra. Unknown to me, they had already set fire to my shop outside. I lost millions of naira worth of soft drinks,” she recalled.
But some still believe that the Biafran dream must become a reality. Ikenga Ebuka, a 30-year-old trader, is one of them. Despite the escalating violence, he believes Biafra is the only way for Igbos to achieve their full potential in Africa.
“Biafra is the only hope for our future,” said Ebuka, who says he seeks justice for those killed during the civil war and for the many young people slain by security forces in the southeast. “I love Nnamdi Kanu, and I am ready to fight for Biafra if the time comes.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 2025 (IPS) - The UN Staff Union is on edge — hoping for the best and expecting the worse — as the General Assembly will vote on a proposed programme budget for 2026 by December 31.
The President of the UN Staff Union (UNSU), Narda Cupidore, has listed some of the proposals which will have an impact on staff members, including:
• Proposed decrease of the 2026 regular budget by 15.1%• A total of 2,681 posts (about 18.8%) proposed for abolishment across the Secretariat, more than half of which are already vacant.
• Administrative functions will be centralized through new Common Administrative Platforms (CAPs) beginning in New York and Bangkok next year.
• Proposed relocation of approximately 173 posts to lower cost duty stations, including Nairobi, Bonn, Valencia, Tunis, and Vienna.
IF the proposed changes are approved by the General Assembly, the following measures are expected to take effect:
• Mitigating measures: reductions in staffing will be managed through vacancy elimination, the early separation programme, lateral reassignments within entities, followed by global placement.• Downsizing policy: if further staff reductions are required, the downsizing policy will be enacted in accordance with the established rules under ST/AI/2023/1, considering appointment type, performance, and years of service.
WHAT HAPPENS Next…
• December 2025: Await General Assembly resolution• January – March 2026: mitigating measures
• April 2026 onward: Downsizing policy applied if needed
Early Separation Program (a mitigating measure): Office of Human Resources has advised:
• Rounds 1 and 2 are still open and will not be finalized until January 2026.• Round 3 is currently active, focused on a specific criterion as outlined in this round.
• Colleagues who expressed interest in the program will receive individual responses confirming approval or non-approval once all rounds of the exercise are closed.
Support for Staff
The Staff Support Framework 2.0 – expected to be available soon – to help navigate upcoming changes, provide structured guidance on prioritizing reassignment over terminations, and minimize involuntary separations.
As the Fifth Committee continues its deliberations in the coming days toward adopting a resolution and approving the budget, the UN Staff Union (UNSU) remains actively engaged in monitoring the negotiations, says Cupidore in a memo to staff members.
“At the same time, we are evaluating the potential implications of these decisions, our entitlements and working conditions”.
Meanwhile, the US State Department is in the process of eliminating over 132 domestic offices, laying-off about 700 federal workers and reducing diplomatic missions overseas.
The proposed changes will also include terminating funding for the UN and some of its agencies, budgetary cuts to the 32-member military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and 20 other unidentified international organizations.
IPS UN Bureau Report