If the UN COP17 Is Serious About Biodiversity, It Needs to Follow the Money By Stephanie Dowlen Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

If the UN COP17 Is Serious About Biodiversity, It Needs to Follow the Money By Stephanie Dowlen MALMO, Sweden, Oct 16 2026 (IPS) - On Monday, governments from across the world will gather in Armenia for COP17, the UN biodiversity summit, to assess progress on the global agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. For anyone who cares about the livability of our planet for future generations, and the richness of life on earth, the stakes could hardly be higher. Policy makers will debate targets, implementation, and the lack of money to protect nature, in particular the failure of developed countries to fulfil their obligations. But there is a more basic question that should put at the center of those discussions: what happens when the financial system governments are counting on to fund nature protection is also financing its destruction? https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/10/if-the-un-cop17-is-serious-about-biodiversity-it-needs-to-follow-the-money/ Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

ACT to End Violence against Women

ACT to End Violence against Women https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/act Violence against women and girls is the most pervasive human rights violation worldwide. Nearly 30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, and despite concerted efforts by UN Member States, levels of violence against women have remained largely unchanged. The world is failing to eliminate violence against women.

FAQs: Digital abuse, trolling, stalking, and other forms of technology-facilitated violence against women and girls

https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/faqs/digital-abuse-trolling-stalking-and-other-forms-of-technology-facilitated-violence-against-women Imagine receiving a message from a stranger that contained chillingly accurate details about your daily routine. Or consider the shock of discovering that your footage has been digitally altered into explicit content and splashed across the internet. These are not hypothetical scenarios of digital abuse — they are a frightening reality for millions of women and girls navigating the digital world today.

Tipping point: The chilling escalation of online violence against women in the public sphere

https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2025/12/tipping-point-the-chilling-escalation-of-online-violence-against-women-in-the-public-sphere Online violence against women has become a growing global crisis. What begins on a screen can quickly fuel harassment, intimidation, and even real-world harm. Women who speak up, report the news, or defend human rights are increasingly targeted with threats, abuse, and misinformation designed to push them out of public life. This publication examines this urgent issue. Developed under UN Women’s EU-funded ACT to End Violence against Women Programme, the publication draws on a global survey reaching women from 119 countries. It highlights how online attacks—once dismissed as “virtual” problems—are now spilling offline, affecting women’s safety, well-being, and ability to participate freely in public debate. The report also explores how new technologies, including artificial intelligence, are making abusive content easier to create and harder to control, further heightening risks for women in public life.

AI is advancing fast. Women are being left behind in the workforce and leadership.

AI is advancing fast. Women are being left behind in the workforce and leadership. Men hold nearly 8 in 10 artificial intelligence jobs and almost 9 in 10 senior leadership positions shaping the technology, according to a new UN Women report launched at the United Nations General Assembly. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2026/09/ai-is-advancing-fast-women-are-being-left-behind-in-the-workforce-and-leadership New York, 22 September – While much of the public debate around artificial intelligence (AI) focuses on potential threats to humanity in the future, urgent consequences are already unfolding today for women and girls, which is reinforcing existing inequalities.

UN Women launches the Digital, Innovation and AI Hub dedicated exclusively to gender equality

UN Women launches the Digital, Innovation and AI Hub dedicated exclusively to gender equality New global platform brings together researchers, governments, technology companies and women’s rights organizations to help shape AI and digital transformation in ways that advance gender equality and benefit women and girls. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2026/09/un-women-launches-the-digital-innovation-and-ai-hub-dedicated-exclusively-to-gender-equality New York, 25 September 2026 – Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping how people work, communicate, access public services, and exercise their rights. Yet women remain significantly underrepresented among those developing the technologies and making decisions about how they are governed and deployed: men hold nearly eight in 10 artificial intelligence jobs and almost nine in 10 senior leadership positions shaping the technology.

Media fact sheet: Nearly 50,000 women and girls killed or severely injured in Gaza in three years of war – one in 21 Gazan women and girls 8 October 2026

Media fact sheet: Nearly 50,000 women and girls killed or severely injured in Gaza in three years of war – one in 21 Gazan women and girls 8 October 2026 https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2026/10/media-fact-sheet-nearly-50000-women-and-girls-killed-or-severely-injured-in-gaza-in-three-years-of-war Since October 2023, 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or seriously injured. UN Women estimates that nearly 50,000 women and girls in Gaza have been killed or severely injured since the onset of war in October 2023 [1], amounting to one in 21 Gazan women and girls losing their life or living with lifelong disabilities [2]. More than 38,000 women and girls have been killed and 11,700 severely injured, the result of Israeli airstrikes and land military operations. While most of the casualties recorded took place during the first two years of the war, women and girls continue to be targeted despite a ceasefire agreement entering into effect in October 2025. Two hundred seventy-seven women and girls are among those who have been killed in Gaza over the past year.