At the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York this past March,  UN Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the importance of stepping up national and global efforts to advance the rights of women. Guterres observed that “many women and girls are also facing a war on their fundamental rights at home and in their communities. Hard-fought progress is being reversed.”

World Food Program Faces Scrutiny Over Fraud in Sudan (Reuters) 

As Sudan suffers an immense humanitarian crisis due to an ongoing internal conflict between the Army Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has provided crucial aid to people displaced by the conflict. Yet its ability to continue this crucial work is now under threat because of allegations of illicit activities made against its top officials in that country. These developments have drawn the attention of humanitarian practitioners and diplomats—who also have concerns regarding WFP’s mismanagement and how it might have contributed to the failure to deliver enough aid in Sudan.  

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

What’s Next for the Teesta Water Disputes? (The Hindu) 

The recent political upheaval in Bangladesh which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the return of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammed Yunus as leader of an interim government is not the only tumult in this nation. A worsening trend in weather events there has heightened Bangladesh’s exposure to climate shocks and allowed a dispute over the Teesta River to reemerge.

We’re often told that we’re living during a population crisis, a time of simultaneous concerns born of too many people to sustain necessary resources for a healthy planet, and too few working-age people to support a healthy economy. Population dynamics and trends are key to national and international security and contribute to the overall wellbeing of a society. Fertility, along with mortality and migration, is central to population and its importance to demographers, policymakers, economists, and a country’s development is without question. But focusing on population trends without considering the experiences of the billions of individuals who make up those trends—each with a unique life course, personal aspirations, and individual potential—establishes an unhealthy and dangerous tension that can strip women of their rights and leave them socially disenfranchised.

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Mpox Outbreak a Global Health Emergency, Again (The Washington Post) 

Various rapidly spreading mpox strains in Central and East African countries have led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the viral infection as a global health emergency. More than 15,000 people have been infected this year alone, with over 500 deaths reported. Mpox is transmitted largely through exposure to infected animals, as well as via skin-to-skin or sexual contact, and it disproportionately affects heterosexuals and sex workers.

Resource-rich nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda—which produce minerals ranging from coltan, cobalt, gold, tungsten, and tantalum, to tin (3TG)—hold tremendous importance in the global supply chains. The DRC produces 70% of global cobalt production, while its neighbor, Rwanda, generates around 30% of Tantalum.  

A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

Worsening Health Conditions in War-Torn Gaza (BBC) 

Water infrastructure in Gaza was already weak before the beginning of the war in 2023, but intensified conflict and siege of critical infrastructure the damage wreaked by Israel’s military forces on critical infrastructure (including water, energy, and food), has left 70% of the people in Gaza exposed to salinated and contaminated water. Traces of polio have been found in wastewater flowing both between displacement camp tents and in inhabited areas, and experts suggest that this water might be circulating.