The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
PRINCETON, New Jersey, USA, Mar 6 2025 (IPS) - In the west of Kenya, near the shores of Lake Victoria, where I come from, a tuberculosis outbreak is no different from one that takes place anywhere else in the world. A few dozen people get sick, health workers attempt to locate and test everyone with a bad cough and other symptoms. A concerted effort is made to make sure that patients take their medications for the entire duration of treatment, at least six months, to help stem the creation of drug-resistant infections.
The problem is that Western Kenya has a high burden of HIV infections, which makes the communities more vulnerable to TB infections. People living with HIV are more than 14 times more likely to fall ill with TB disease than people without HIV.
Other locations — like the communities on the Uganda shores of Lake Victoria, Copperbelt Province in Zambia, Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, or Enugu State in Nigeria — have this vulnerability.
Of the 30 countries that the World Health Organization identified as having a high burden of TB and HIV co-infections, 22 are located in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa, India, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Kenya tragically have the most co-infections globally.
The only available TB vaccine, BCG, dates back to 1921. It protects babies and young children against severe forms of TB, but it offers inadequate protection for adolescents and adults against the most common form of the disease
HIV is not like TB. While TB treatment takes six long months, this is a curable disease. HIV, on the other hand, cannot be cured. It can, however, be kept in check through medicine that suppresses the infection.
The virus attacks the immune system, allowing other diseases like TB, kept in check by the immune system, to strengthen. In fact, TB is the leading cause of death for people living with HIV infections.
This is where partnerships with foreign donors can make a difference, with resources for programs that have located people living with HIV and then provided them with proper medicines.
These programs help keep infections in check, preventing HIV from spreading and preventing other infections like TB from becoming more widespread. Similar programs help locate people with TB and provide them with medicines throughout the six months of treatment.
The trend right now is to disrupt these partnerships and cut foreign aid, unraveling the safety net that addresses HIV and TB. This places regions like Western Kenya at extreme risk from two contagious diseases that do not respect national borders. If they are not contained in even one location, we run the risk of the contagion spreading.
There are so many ways that this situation can be improved, in sub-Saharan Africa and throughout the Global South. We need new medicines for TB, to shorten the treatment time and make it easier for patients to take the drugs. We need medicines that can cure HIV instead of just keeping the infections in check.
We also need vaccines to prevent both of these infections. The only available TB vaccine, BCG, dates back to 1921. It protects babies and young children against severe forms of TB, but it offers inadequate protection for adolescents and adults against the most common form of the disease. There is no vaccine to prevent HIV, although new prevention methods have been identified and are in need of development and distribution.
This is my work as a scientist, helping to develop solutions for infectious diseases that are barely held in check, if at all — even as the systems that address these diseases have just lost significant funding.
There is no disagreement that foreign aid makes a difference; more resources are needed, not less. An estimated US$22 billion is required annually for TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention services by 2027. Yet only US$5.7 billion was available in 2023. More resources are needed, from governments in both the Global South and Global North.
Global funding for neglected disease basic research and product development has declined by more than 20% since it peaked in 2018. As of 2023, high-income countries provided 59% of all funding; those numbers are now expected to drop further this year.
It would be great to see low- and middle-income countries generating more research that tackles diseases like TB and HIV, and we are on the path to doing so, but we are still unfortunately at the beginning stages of this journey.
Today, progress against these diseases stands at the edge of a precipice as governments face impossible decisions on where to channel diminishing resources. The funding for all of this work does not turn on like a switch if foreign aid from high-income countries is suddenly discontinued.
We have already lost so much ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 700,00 TB deaths stemmed from the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Less than half of all people infected with drug-resistant TB received treatment in 2023. And now we risk losing the ground that we have made up since COVID.
It is important that the Global South and Global North continue to work together, finding solutions to these diseases that keep too many parts of society vulnerable. The world will always be connected. Solutions to these diseases benefit us all.
Dr. Monicah Otieno, PhD, Head of Nonclinical Development, Gates Medical Research Institute
With a severe rainfall and snow deficit, some residents of Kashmir, an area known for its snow-capped mountains, lush valleys, and pristine lakes, are looking to the heavens for answers as little assistance seems to be coming from the authorities as their livelihoods dry up.
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 6 2025 (IPS) - Girls and women worldwide are facing growing threats to their security and rights, from threats to their education access to severe poverty and multiple forms of violence. In 2024, nearly one in four governments worldwide reported a backlash to women’s rights, as a new report from UN Women reveals.
The report, Women’s Rights in Review 30 Years After Beijing, acknowledges that serious efforts have been made toward gender equality and women’s empowerment.
In the past five years, 88 percent of countries have passed laws to eliminate violence against women and girls. 44 percent are working towards improving the quality of education and training. More girls are now attending secondary and tertiary education compared to boys.
The report reviews the state of women’s rights since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995. Since its conception, the Beijing Platform for Action remains one of the most comprehensive roadmaps on women’s rights for countries to follow. Thirty years later, it is critical to take stock of the progress toward parity and where significant work is needed. The report highlights where these gaps persist.
Gender discrimination is still embedded in societies and institutions, beginning in governance. While women’s political participation in parliaments has vastly increased since 1995, they still only account for one in four elected parliamentarians. Only 87 countries have ever had a woman leader. Men still occupy a majority of leadership and decision-making positions.
Shrinking civic spaces are also affecting women’s participation and advocacy. This should be of concern when governments make decisions that undercut participation in civil society, such as through underfunding.
Without robust and gender-responsive social protections, vulnerable people can fall through the cracks. Women and girls are more likely to be at risk for poverty or to experience it, as evidenced in 2023, where 2 billion women and girls had no social protection coverage. In 2024, 393 million women and girls were living in extreme poverty.
When it comes to digital technology, the number of women using the internet increased from 50 percent in 2019 to 65 percent in 2024. Yet, 277 million more men had access to the internet than women. Even with this disparity, women are more likely to be targets of online harassment and violence, the nature of which is much more targeted and gendered. Legal frameworks still fall behind in addressing the prevalence of online violence, especially in the face of emerging technologies and their misuse.
Countries dealing with major crises or conflicts also see a regression in gender equality. It is rare for women to play a direct role in the peace process as mediators, even after the Beijing Platform for Action clarified that they were integral in the promotion of peace and security. As of 2023, women only made up 10 percent of negotiators and 14 percent of mediators.
Back-to-back protracted issues such as ongoing conflicts, the climate crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic have only exacerbated inequalities for women and girls. In democratic institutions, anti-rights groups have loudly and publicly rallied together to undermine key women’s issues, including reproductive health rights.
While there is still time, countries and communities must prioritize gender equality in their national strategies. To that end, the report also presents the Beijing+30 Action Agenda, which is comprised of six key actions that countries should take to make faster strides towards the commitments. The Action Agenda outlines the following actions:
A digital revolution for all women and girls: Ensuring that women and girls not only have equal access to technology but also have the skills to navigate it and online spaces securely.
Freedom from poverty: Investing in comprehensive social protection, universal health coverage, education, and care services is needed for women and girls to thrive and can create millions of decent jobs. Zero violence: Achieving this through the implementation and funding of legislation to end violence against women and girls in all forms, with strong plans and resources available through community-led organizations to extend the reach of services. Full and equal decision-making power: Increasing and ensuring women’s decision-making power in public and private sectors through temporary special measures like gender quotas. Peace and security: Gender-responsive humanitarian aid and national plans that center on women, peace, and security. This must also include sustained funding for frontline women’s organizations to help build lasting peace. Climate justice: Countries need to prioritize women’s and girls’ rights in their climate adaptation plans. Including those from rural and indigenous communities should serve to center their leadership and knowledge and gain access to new ‘green jobs,’ productive assets, and land rights.While countries may signal their commitments to gender equality through adopting gender-responsive and inclusive policies, without follow-through and proper funding, they may have little impact in the long term.
Along with the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration, this year will also mark the UN’s 50th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8. The upcoming Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) will also be a critical opportunity for governments, civil society, the private sector, and other stakeholders to make strong commitments in enshrining the Action Agenda, along with the principles that are the foundation of the original Beijing Platform for Action.
“UN Women is committed to ensuring that ALL women and girls, everywhere, can fully enjoy their rights and freedoms,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Complex challenges stand in the way of gender equality and women’s empowerment, but we remain steadfast, pushing forward with ambition and resolve. Women and girls are demanding change—and they deserve nothing less.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 6 2025 (IPS) - This week countries and communities converge in New York for the 3rd Meeting of State Parties on the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), with multiple side events to address the social, political and cultural impact of nuclear abolition across different sectors.
On March 5, the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations held an event called Fábulas Atómicas – Artists Against the Bomb in collaboration with Mexican artist Pedro Reyes, in which the relationship between the arts and the use of nuclear weapons was discussed. Throughout the last century, the arts have been used to provide cultural commentary on the threats that nuclear weapons pose to humanity.
“Using art for disarmament can take many different forms. I started by transforming gun parts into musical instruments, for instance taking a rifle and transforming it into a flute…What is the principle of a nuclear weapon? I thought it was possible to make a chain reaction that could be a creative force rather than a destructive force. That is how Artists Against the Bomb was born,” said Reyes.
Since 1952, the United Nations Disarmament Commission (UNDC) has continuously stressed the importance of international peace and disarmament. With geopolitical tensions on the rise and world superpowers such as Russia, North Korea, and the United States wielding more atomic weapons than ever before, the threat of nuclear proliferation is the highest it has been in decades.
“The bilateral and regional security arrangements that underwrote global peace and stability for decades are unravelling before our eyes. Trust is sinking, while uncertainty, insecurity, impunity and military spending are all rising. Others are expanding their inventories of nuclear weapons and materials. Some continue to rattle the nuclear sabre as a means of coercion. We see signs of new arms races including in outer space,” said United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
Despite this, conversations surrounding nuclear weapons have been largely absent from the cultural zeitgeist. The Atomic Age, also known as the period of time between the detonation of the first atomic bombs in 1945 and the end of the Cold War in 1991, was saturated with pop culture that dealt heavily with themes of nuclear fallout.
Since the late 1980s, projects began to shift away from these themes. Reyes highlighted the importance of art in relation to cultural commentary surrounding nuclear weapons by saying, “The end of the 80s made it seem like the cold war was over. To a certain extent, people born after 1989 had not been exposed to cultural materials…With the nuclear testing ban, there haven’t been any nuclear detonations since around 1999. There’s a saying called ‘out of sight out of mind’. The threat became somewhat invisible. It is our job to use culture to bring awareness to this issue through culture by provoking rage and fear.”
Reyes adds that the current undersaturation of the nuclear weapons issue in pop culture helps to facilitate conversations as the public has become wary of discussing issues that dominate culture today. “There is no fatigue about the subject. There’s a certain fatigue surrounding projects that have been strongly discussed in the past twenty years. Nuclear weapons are an issue that we have not spoken out about enough in recent times. We need to take advantage of this lack of fatigue,” he said.
The Nuclear Art movement rose in 1945, shortly after the United States’ detonation of two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. At this time, the majority of the American public were unaware of the scale of destruction that had occurred in Japan.
Japanese photographers that had survived the attacks such as Yoshito Masushige (Hiroshima) and Yosuke Yamahata (Nagasaki), as well as American photographers such as Wayne Miller and Joe O’Donnell, published photos of the aftermath, which were classified by the United States government for decades. Much of the world instead relied on artwork that visualized the devastation.
Contemporary artists and corporations alike began incorporating themes of atomic weapons and nuclear fallout in their work shortly after the bombings in Japan. This movement grew more prominent after the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which is considered to be the closest the world has ever come to nuclear warfare.
Western art pieces, such as Charles Bittinger’s 1946 painting, Atomic Bomb Atomic Bomb Mushroom Cloud, brought the now well-known mushroom cloud imagery into public consciousness in the United States. Other examples include U.S. military artist Standish Brackus’s pieces Still Life (1946) and At the Red Cross Hospital (1945), which depicted the wide scale destruction that nuclear weapons inflict on civilian infrastructure and the human body, respectively.
Additionally, Nuclear Art also became a fixture in Western propaganda. In 1957, the Walt Disney Company released an episode of Disneyland titled Our Friend the Atom, which highlighted the ways atomic weapons can be used for peace, falling in line with the themes of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace speech at the UN General Assembly in 1953.
In the early 1950s, blockbuster films from both American and Japanese studios led to a widening public consciousness surrounding nuclear weapons. Science-fiction films such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Godzilla (1959) highlighted the unintended biological consequences of nuclear fallout.
However, On the Beach (1959) marked a pivotal shift in the depiction of nuclear fallout by explicitly marking humans as responsible for a deliberate detonation that led to a societal collapse. Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964) expanded on these themes by using absurdism to emphasize humanity’s role in nuclear proliferation.
Most recently, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (2023) brought nuclear weapons into the public consciousness once more, particularly in the West, There have been critiques on if modern artists are depicting these themes effectively. Reyes told an IPS correspondent that the arts have the ability to sway audiences in either direction. Certain representations of nuclear weapons in pop culture can be classified as either “above the cloud” or “under the cloud”.
“Films like Oppenheimer show the overwhelming power of science and the moral conflict of atomic bombs but never show the victims or consequences. Films like that are almost pro-bomb because they fail to humanize these conflicts. Other films show what’s really at stake. It’s important to be able to identify which side cultural productions are on,” said Reyes.
It is crucial for contemporary artists to depict the correct messages in their work to achieve any substantial cultural progress in nuclear disarmament. Pop culture must continue to show the true extent of the dangers that nuclear weapons pose.
“We have to be very clear in arguing that nobody can win a nuclear war,” said Reyes. “And that’s why it’s very important to show the consequences. It has been normalized through video games and other mediums that make them seem not as problematic as they are. It’s our job to do a lot of explaining and find entertaining ways for people to understand.”
IPS UN Bureau Report
NEW YORK, Mar 6 2025 (IPS) - The United Nations has chosen “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” as the theme for International Women’s Day on March 8, 2025. This theme emphasizes the importance of equal rights, power, and opportunities for all women and girls, urging action to create a feminist future where no one is left behind.
The UN has long been a champion of gender equality, advocating for women’s rights and empowerment across the globe. However, despite its strong stance on gender issues, the UN has yet to elect a female Secretary-General in its nearly 80-year history.
This paradox highlights significant issues regarding the organization’s internal dynamics and the broader challenges of achieving gender parity in global leadership. It emphasizes the need for continued efforts to remove systemic barriers that prevent women from attaining top leadership positions.
Entrenched Selection Process
The UN Secretary-General is appointed by the General Assembly, but only upon the recommendation of the Security Council, in accordance with Article 97 of the UN Charter. The selection process is both complex and politically charged.
The Security Council, where the five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — hold major influence, also has the power to veto candidates. This structure has historically favored individuals with strong political backing and extensive diplomatic experience, most of whom have been men.
Of the five permanent UN Security Council members, only France and the United Kingdom have had a female head of state, while China, Russia, and the United States have not. This contributes to an estimated 40% probability of selecting a female UN Secretary-General in 2026.
To be chosen as the Secretary-General, a candidate must secure at least nine votes (60%) from the Security Council’s members, with no vetoes from the permanent members. Of the current ten non-permanent members of the Security Council, only Denmark, Pakistan, and the Republic of Korea have had a female head of state. Without any vetoes from permanent members, the chances of selecting a female Secretary-General are about 33%.
As of November 2024, only 30 women were serving as Heads of State and/or Government in 28 countries, reflecting a significant gender disparity in global leadership. This represents a small fraction of the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly. Based on current trends, there is only about a 15% chance of selecting a female UN Secretary-General.
Historical Precedents
All nine UN Secretaries-General to date have been men, reflecting a historical pattern where candidates with strong political backing and alignment with the interests of the permanent members of the Security Council have been favored.
The historical dominance of men in the UN’s highest office creates a challenging legacy to overcome. This precedent can shape perceptions and biases, making it more difficult for female candidates to be seen as viable options.
Based on historical precedents of selecting only men, the possibility of having a woman as the next Secretary-General is close to zero.
Gender Disparity in Political Leadership
Men hold the majority of positions of power and influence worldwide. This is because global power predominantly has a male face.
Historically, leadership roles have been shaped by masculine norms and values, which continue to influence the structures and practices of power today. For example, international politics often mirrors masculine traits such as dominance, conflict, and hegemony.
Globally, women remain under-represented in political and diplomatic roles. As of January 1, 2024, women represented 23.3% of Cabinet members heading ministries and leading policy areas. Only 15 countries have women holding 50% or more of the Cabinet Minister positions in leading policy areas.
As of January 2025, women represent approximately 28.2% of the U.S. Congress, despite comprising 51% of the U.S. population.
This global under-representation of women extends to the pool of candidates for UN Secretary-General, where political and diplomatic experience is key. This significantly lowers the chances of a female candidate, with the likelihood estimated to be around 20%.
Geopolitical Interests
The geopolitical interests of the Security Council’s permanent members heavily influence the selection process, with their veto power often used to block candidates who do not align with their priorities.
The need for consensus among these powerful nations often results in the selection of candidates who align with their geopolitical interests, rather than prioritizing gender equality. These dynamics can overshadow the push for gender equality, leading to the selection of male candidates who are perceived to better serve the strategic interests of these nations.
The interplay of international politics and gender considerations creates a challenging environment for female candidates.
Regional Rotations
Historically, the office of the Secretary-General has been held by individuals from various regions, including Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Western Europe. This practice aims to balance regional influence within the UN and promote leadership diversity.
Regional rotation plays an important, though informal, role in selecting the UN Secretary-General, as candidates typically need support from their regional groups to gain wider acceptance.
However, the final selection is still subject to the approval of the Security Council, where any of the five permanent members can veto the choice.
The practice of regional rotation has not yet resulted in the selection of a female Secretary-General. In 2016, there was a significant push to select the first female Secretary-General, with several female candidates from Eastern Europe being considered. However, António Guterres from Portugal was finally selected.
Lack of Concrete Actions and Commitment
In November 2024, during the debate on revitalization of the work at the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, delegates overwhelmingly urged the appointment of a female Secretary-General, supported by a joint statement by 78 Member States.
In February 2025, during the thematic debate at the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the General Assembly, around 90 Member States called for greater women’s representation in the UN leadership, including in the selection of the next Secretary-General.
Although many Member States have expressed support for a female Secretary-General, the lack of concrete steps to reform the selection process means that this support remains largely symbolic. Without specific actions and commitments, the chances of achieving this outcome remain slim.
Growing Advocacy
Advocacy for appointing a female Secretary-General as the UN’s 10th Secretary-General in 2026 is gaining momentum. Various organizations and influential figures are calling for gender equality in the UN’s highest office.
This advocacy underscores the need to address the historic gender imbalance and ensure that the UN genuinely represents and champions gender equality. Breaking this glass ceiling will be a significant step towards true gender equality, both within and outside the organization.
The advocacy campaign for a female Secretary-General needs not only strong individual candidates but also a concerted effort to address systemic barriers that prevent women from reaching top leadership positions. Without substantial reforms and concrete actions, this goal remains distant.
Conclusion
Electing a female Secretary-General would send a powerful message about the UN’s commitment to gender parity and set a precedent for gender equality in global governance.
While it is challenging to assign a precise probability of having a female Secretary-General for the next term, a reasonable estimate is around 20-30%. This takes into account the historical lack of female Secretaries-General, balanced by the increasing advocacy for a female Secretary-General and potential shifts in political support.
Women have yet to achieve the rights, power, and opportunities needed to hold the UN’s highest office.
Shihana Mohamed, a Sri Lankan national, is a founding member and Coordinator of the United Nations Asia Network for Diversity and Inclusion (UN-ANDI) and a US Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project and Equality Now on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls. She is a dedicated human rights activist and a strong advocate of gender equality and advancement of women.
The author expresses her views in this article in an entirely unofficial, private, and personal capacity. These views do not reflect those of any organization.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/shihana-mohamed-68556b15/
IPS UN Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 6 2025 (IPS) - The United Nations, whose primary mandate is to maintain international peace and security, has been one of the longstanding leaders in the global campaign for a world without nuclear weapons.
But the progress has been relatively slow – despite the growing number of anti-nuclear treaties. Perhaps the only consolation is the absence of a nuclear attack or a nuclear war in over 80 years.
And now, the Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor, published by Norwegian People’s Aid in cooperation with the Federation of American Scientists, shows the number of nuclear weapons available for use has increased from 9,585 at the beginning of 2024 to 9,604 at the beginning of 2025. This is described as equivalent to just over 146,500 of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima killing 140,000 people in 1945.
And 40 % of these weapons are deployed and ready for immediate use on submarines and land-based missiles, as well as at bomber bases.
The world’s nine countries armed with nuclear weapons are: the US, Russia, France, China, the UK, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea.
The Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor also reports that while the total number of nuclear warheads has slowly decreased since the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted in 2017 because of old warheads being retired, the number available for use has steadily increased–from 9,272 in 2017.
“This upward trajectory is expected to continue as countries modernize and, in some cases, expand their arsenals, unless there is a breakthrough in arms control and disarmament efforts”, said Hans M. Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists and one of the main contributors to the report.
Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, told IPS the expansion of the capacities of the nuclear arsenals of the nine states with the weapons, whether quantitatively or qualitatively, represents the paradox of nuclear deterrence posture.
“The more the weapons are improved in their accuracy and destructive capacity the less security is obtained. Even by reducing the yield in some instances it might make the use more likely and breaking the taboo against use opens a pandora’s box of dangers we might not outlive,” he said.
Whether making the weapons more powerful or less powerful, the entire venture of pursuing global security with these devices represents a risky business of proportions beyond the capacity of the mind to fully grasp.
“Let’s reflect on the core logic of the status quo. Suppose nine nations said, “No nations shall use polio or small-pox or any biological horror as a weapon but nine nations can use or threaten to use the plague as a weapon to advance national and international stability and security.”
Would that make sense? Is that not exactly the situation we are living with by accepting the current predicament? asked Granoff.
Speaking on the International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness on March 5, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said humanity’s future depends on investing in the machinery of peace, and not the machinery of war. Yet, he warned, global tensions are increasing, the nuclear threat is rising, and guardrails are eroding.
Guterres urged world leaders to strengthen the systems and tools that prevent the proliferation, prevent the testing and prevent, of course, the use of deadly weapons and live up to their disarmament obligations.
He also called for a concerted effort in meeting the disarmament commitments contained in the recently adopted Pact for the Future.
Meanwhile, Norwegian People’s Aid, a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), emphasized that all this is happening against a background of rising geopolitical tensions involving nuclear-armed states with conflicts over Ukraine and in the Middle East, as well as grave tensions on the Korean Peninsula, which is why nuclear experts see the risk nuclear weapons could be used as being as high – if not higher – as during the Cold War.
This is reflected in the Ban Monitor which finds that in contravention to the TPNW, Russia and North Korea both threatened to use nuclear weapons last year. Pyongyang overtly threated to use them against South Korea, while Moscow implicitly threatened to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Dr M.V. Ramana, Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and Graduate Program Director, MPPGA at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, told IPS the numbers of nuclear weapons available for use should be viewed in the context of an increased risk of war in general and investments by nuclear weapon states in modernizing their arsenals.
The United States and Russia are replacing just about every nuclear delivery system. In the United States, the overall modernization process is estimated to cost well over a trillion dollars.
China is believed to have the fastest growing arsenal, albeit from a small base in comparison with Russia and the United States. Simultaneously, the danger of military confrontation between nuclear armed powers has been high.
The danger is exacerbated by the development and deployment of new technologies, in particular artificial intelligence and cyberwarfare. Instead of accelerating this rush towards catastrophe, countries should focus on arms control and disarmament, and the abolition of nuclear weapons
The Executive Director of ICAN, Melissa Parke, welcomed the report’s publication: “This latest edition of the Ban Monitor demonstrates both the problem we face – the growing number of nuclear weapons ready to be used – and the solution – the growing international support for the TPNW. It is the only treaty that outlaws nuclear weapons and provides an established pathway to fair and verifiable disarmament.”
She said it is time for the nuclear-armed states and their pro-nuclear allies to drop their opposition to it and join the global majority”.
The report further shows how European countries stand out as a significant impediment to further progress on nuclear disarmament despite all of them being committed to it under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The authors call on the European Union to initiate processes to reflect on and address this. They also point out that in some umbrella states opposed to the TPNW there is an ongoing discussion on the merits of the treaty which suggests a change in policy is possible.
IPS UN Bureau Report
ROME, Mar 5 2025 (IPS) - “The PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) should dissolve. I make this call and take historical responsibility,” read the letter from Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish guerrilla, on Thursday, 27 February.
This could be the last chance for a democratic solution between the Kurdish people and the Turkish state, says PKK spokesman Zagros Hiwa
The statement was read at a press conference by members of the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM)—Turkey’s pro-Kurdish and progressive political party—and broadcast on social media.
After four decades of armed conflict between the Kurdish guerrillas and the Turkish state, there seemed to be an opportunity to bring one of the longest-running disputes in the Middle East to an end.
Once again, Abdullah Öcalan emerges as a central figure. Born in Şanlıurfa (Ankara-controlled Kurdistan) in 1949, he was one of the founders of the PKK, which he led into armed struggle in 1984.
After years of directing the group from exile in Syria, Öcalan was captured in 1999 in Kenya by Turkish special forces while travelling from the Greek embassy to Nairobi airport.
He has since been serving a life sentence for charges of “treason” and “terrorism” on İmralı, a small island in the Sea of Marmara between European and Asian Turkey, which houses a high-security prison.
The Women’s Centre in Qamishlo, the capital of north-eastern Syria. It is there that the Kurds have been self-governing since 2012, following the lines of a political and social programme drawn up by Abdullah Öcalan from his captivity. Credit: Karlos Zurutuza/IPS
There are 40 million Kurds spread across Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Half of them live under Ankara’s rule, where their demands for basic rights —such as recognition of Kurdish identity, freedom of expression, and other democratic guarantees— have historically been met with repression.
Previous attempts at reconciliation between Ankara and the PKK —including the most recent in 2013 and 2009— failed. As early as 2004, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now Turkey’s president but then prime minister, vowed to solve the Kurdish issue.
Back in 1993, Turkey’s then-president, Turgut Özal, publicly acknowledged his Kurdish heritage and advocated for peace and dialogue. However, he was found dead in his office, with causes ranging from “cardiac arrest” and allegations of poisoning. Özal´s death also put an end to what had been a promising peace initiative.
“Öcalan’s latest letter is a continuation of that 1993 peace initiative. This could be the last chance for a democratic solution between the Kurdish people and the Turkish state,” PKK spokesman Zagros Hiwa told IPS over the phone from the Kurdish mountains.
The guerrilla fighter recalled that the PKK had declared more than ten unilateral ceasefires since the armed struggle began in 1984, the latest being announced last Saturday.
A PKK guerrilla fighter in a guerrilla cemetery in the Qandil Mountains. The Kurdish-Turkish armed conflict is one of the longest-running in the Middle East and has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Credit: Karlos Zurutuza/IPS
A Recurring Pattern
For the Kurds, this is a well-worn cycle of failed peace efforts. Every attempt by the PKK to initiate dialogue has placed the ball in Turkey’s court, yet Ankara has never played it back. Perhaps this explains why so many Kurds remain sceptical.
“This is the déjà vu we experience every five or ten years,” said Mehmet K., a Kurdish journalist who writes under a pseudonym for security reasons, speaking to IPS by phone from Amed (the capital of Turkish Kurdistan).
In his latest letter, Öcalan stressed that the process requires “the recognition of a democratic policy and a legal framework.” However, unlike in previous appeals, he provided no details on specific demands or a proposed roadmap.
Sources within DEM confirmed to IPS that the PKK leadership in Qandil had been consulted before the document’s publication. They also emphasised that discretion was key and that details would be discussed “at a negotiation table with the Turkish state and political parties.”
“At first glance, it seems like a blank cheque. We have no idea what they are asking for in exchange for their dissolution, so all we can do is speculate,” said Dünya Başol, a political analyst and professor of International Relations at Batman University in eastern Turkey, speaking to IPS from Ankara.
According to Başol, possible concessions could include recognition of Kurdish language rights, such as cultural programmes in local councils, as well as easing restrictions on civil movements and the potential release of political prisoners.
“In some ways, it would be a return to Turkey’s 1960s, when Kurds had greater freedom of expression and tensions were lower,” the analyst pointed out. However, a military coup in 1971 put an end to that period of relative openness.
A tribute to Abdullah Öcalan in the Kurdish mountains. The PKK leader was arrested in 1999 in Kenya by Turkish special agents while traveling from the Greek embassy to Nairobi airport. Credit: Karlos Zurutuza/IPS
A “New Paradigm”
From the Kurdish Peace Institute—an independent research organisation based in Washington with offices in Kurdistan—researcher Kamal Chomani expressed “mixed feelings” about Öcalan’s recent statement.
“History pushes me towards pessimism, but we cannot give up when there is even the slightest chance of peace,” Chomani told IPS by phone from Leipzig, Germany. He noted that the announcement comes at “a historic moment when the Middle East is being reshaped.”
According to Chomani, possible Kurdish demands could include constitutional recognition of the Kurdish language, amnesty for guerrilla fighters, some autonomy, and greater political representation within the Turkish state.
“This would be a roadmap that Turkey must accept if it wants lasting peace,” he argued. He also stressed that the Kurdish issue “is no longer just a security problem or an internal affair, but an international matter that Turkey can no longer ignore.”
The Kurds in Syria, just across Turkey’s southern border, have been self-governing since 2012 under the principles of democratic confederalism—a progressive and decentralised political model outlined by Öcalan while in captivity.
Ankara has responded to this ideological affinity with military interventions in Kurdish-Syrian areas, using allied Islamist militias to seize territory and displace hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, Turkish airstrikes on key infrastructure in northeast Syria continue unabated.
But with Turkey’s growing influence following the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria—replaced by an Islamist government sympathetic to Ankara— what incentive does Erdoğan have to offer anything to the Kurds?
Chomani questions the nature of Turkey’s supposed victory and believes there are still many unanswered questions.
“Turkey is militarily stronger than in 2015, but economically and socially, it is far weaker. Moreover, we still don’t know what direction Syria will take under Ahmed Al Sharaa (the country’s current president). I believe he will align more closely with the Saudis, Turkey’s regional rivals,” Chomani explained.
While the PKK has openly expressed its willingness to disarm, the Kurdish-Syrian forces of the Syrian Democratic Forces —whom Ankara considers an extension of the PKK— have distanced themselves from any potential disarmament as part of a Turkish peace process.
According to Chomani, Öcalan´s recent announcement marks a “new paradigm” in which armed struggle would be replaced by political and social activism.
“The guerrillas would have taken this step back in 1993 had Özal’s initiative succeeded,” lamented the Kurdish expert. Three decades and tens of thousands of deaths later, the ball is once again in Turkey’s court.
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, Mar 5 2025 (IPS) - Over 200 million women and girls around the world have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM). This is the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons.
The largest share of these cases is happening in Africa. FGM has lifelong consequences, including complications during childbirth and painful sex. It also disrupts girls’ education and often serves as a gateway to child marriage, trapping them in cycles of poverty. There is a clear pathway to change this.
In Sierra Leone, 83 percent of women aged 15–49 have been subjected to FGM. The practice is deeply tied to the Bondo Society – a female secret society that is integral to the cultural identity of Sierra Leonean women; where girls are prepared for womanhood. The Society is defended as a powerful space for sisterhood and solidarity.
But sisterhood cannot come at the cost of girls’ bodily autonomy. Cutting a girl’s genitals in the name of tradition is not a rite of passage, it is violence – and it must stop.
The data is clear; 71 percent of girls who undergo cutting do so before the age of 15. Passing this legislation will ensure that the rights of girls are legally protected and perpetrators are held accountable - which in turn would have a deterrence effect
If we are to end this harmful tradition, we must first break the silence that perpetuates the practice. Growing up, FGM was not debated, questioned, or acknowledged in my household. Although my mother is a member of society, she did not subject me and my sister to this horror. Just the same, we also never spoke about it.
Looking back, I see her silence not as indifference but as survival. A quiet act of defiance against a harmful practice in a society that socially and culturally punishes outright defiance. Nonetheless, silence can be complicity.
When silence allows the practice to go unchallenged, it reinforces the assumption that FGM is a cultural tradition rather than a human rights violation.
There are survivors and activists who refuse to stay silent. They are using creativity and innovation to challenge societal norms perpetuating the practice, pushing for open dialogue towards mitigation, and ultimately eradicating the practice.
These include integrating the fight against FGM with advocacy for universal education. Additionally, leveraging technology to tell stories that vividly capture the dual realities of FGM – that is, the beauty of cultural traditions and the brutality of the practice. Such initiatives are crucial in the fight to end the long-standing practice.
But dialogue is not enough. Progressive legal and policy frameworks must galvanise the cultural shift. On paper, there has been some progress.
At the recently concluded African Union Heads of State Summit, African leaders adopted the AU Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, which proposes a comprehensive, legally binding framework for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including FGM.
It calls for addressing root causes, strengthening legal and institutional mechanisms, and promoting a culture of respect for human rights, gender equality, and the dignity of women and girls. It builds on the Maputo Protocol, which Sierra Leone ratified in 2015.
This is Africa’s comprehensive legal instrument on the rights of women, which eliminates harmful practices and provides for the right to reproductive health, dignity and security of persons, among others. Yet, despite these commitments, the country has yet to pass domestic legislation ending female genital mutilation.
There is, however, an opportunity to do so with the Child Rights Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend the Child Rights Act of 2007. Here there is the welcome proposal to explicitly prohibit the cutting of minors.
The data is clear; 71 percent of girls who undergo cutting do so before the age of 15. Passing this legislation will ensure that the rights of girls are legally protected and perpetrators are held accountable – which in turn would have a deterrence effect.
This will significantly reduce the depressing statistics on human rights violations of children and the widespread deleterious implications on their lives.
Ending FGM is possible, but it will need a concerted effort with varied strategies. The bottom line is that we must refuse to stay silent and challenge harmful norms and narratives that endorse the practice.
Additionally, the citizenry must demand progressive laws and their full implementation to ensure the safety, dignity and rights of women and girls. Until this happens, most women and girls in our country will continue to suffer preventable harm to their health and lives.
Kaata Minah is an African feminist activist, and 2024 Impact West Africa Fellow dedicated to achieving gender equality through transformative feminist education and community-led initiatives. Kaata has experience in policy advocacy, program design and management, feminist education, and event management. Kaata drives campaigns that challenge power structures, foster movement-building, and promote social justice and gender equality. Kaata’s commitment extends into academia, where she volunteers as a lecturer at the Institute for Gender Research and Documentation (INGRADOC) at the University of Sierra Leone (Fourah Bay College).