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Civil Society Actions Send Global Call for a Just Recovery
A week of actions from the 18th to the 26th September, including a new wave of global climate strikes are calling on world leaders at the UN assembly to #TurnItAround for a Just Recovery from COVID-19 and the climate crisis.
GLOBAL
A week of actions from the 18th to the 26th September, including a new wave of global climate strikes are calling on world leaders at the UN assembly to #TurnItAround for a Just Recovery from COVID-19 and the climate crisis.
Five years have passed since national governments signed historic international treaties and agreements - the Paris climate agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the broader 2030 Agenda to push for a more just and sustainable world. These inter-linked agendas promised to transform the world, to end poverty, to reduce inequality, ensure peace and address the climate crisis. So far, delivery has failed to live up to that ambition.
The covid-19 pandemic and subsequent health and economic crisis have thrown into stark relief the disparities and injustice between and within our societies. Access to affordable healthcare, education, employment opportunities, clean energy and nourishing food: it's on these key markers of human wellbeing that political choices need to be assessed. Instead, economic models rooted in extractivism and inequality have failed us and brought us as close as we've ever been to a constant state of disaster. The 2020 pandemic has united the world in grief; it must also mark a turning point in the way we humans relate to each other and to nature. We can't afford to wait another five years.
We stand today at a crossroads. We must take drastic action to cut emissions worldwide, protect people in the most affected areas, preserve our forests and oceans, safeguard communities and all forms of life on our beautiful planet. We must also address the underlying inequalities of our societies and ensure universal provision of the right to health and social protection for all, as well as long-term sustainable development, as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals.
This requires a political and cultural transformation of unprecedented scale and scope. This week, as world leaders meet at the UN General Assembly on the 5th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), more than 800 community groups, NGOs and civil society organizations are mobilizing and calling on leaders to make this a turning point moment for a more just and sustainable world. On September 25th, a year after 7 million people took part in Global Climate Strikes, thousands of strikes will lift the voices of the people and areas most affected by the climate crisis and demand a just recovery for all.
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Quotes
"Fossil fuel companies announce net-zero plans, yet they plan to expand production, all the while getting public bailout money, our money. We've had enough: world leaders need to start treating the climate crisis with the same level of urgency as they have COVID-19 and kickstart a green and just recovery" Agnes Hall, Global Director of Digital Organising and Campaigning, 350.org
"Around the world, we have seen disproportionate impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic on those who are already most at risk, there must be rapid action if we are to truly leave no one behind. As we mark the 5th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals, our partners and allies around the world are mobilising and sharing stories of people who are at the frontline of this emergency but we expect world leaders to take urgent action now to build a fairer, more just and sustainable future." Oli Henman, Global Coordinator of Action for Sustainable Development
"The people's strike happening today around the globe is a reminder to world leaders, particularly of high-emitting rich countries, that their failure to take the climate emergency seriously is criminal and unforgivable. These past months, many governments have in fact used the Covid19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis to double down and increase spending of public money on fossil fuels even as climate disasters escalate. We will not have the COP26 meeting this year but this is no excuse to put climate ambition on the back-burner or delay the submission of enhanced national climate plans in line with a 1.5 degree C pathway, the bare minimum that was promised in the Paris Agreement five years ago. This unprecedented confluence of crises requires the highest levels of multilateral cooperation and international solidarity and we demand that governments listen to the people and protect their citizens." Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network
We stand with everyone demanding a fairer world and a safer climate. In recent decades the richest 1% contributed twice the carbon emissions of the poorest half of humanity combined, yet it is poorer and young people that pay the highest price. Governments must ditch their obsession with grossly unequal, polluting growth at all costs, and start building a better world for us all." Tim Gore, Head of Climate Policy, Oxfam International
Governments must step up action to meet the test of Covid-19 and the climate emergency. With 495 million jobs lost and trillions of dollars in lost income in the past six months, the impact of the next climate disaster on top of the pandemic will be devastating. A New Social Contract with Just Transition plans can help the global economy recover while building the resilience required to meet the convergent challenges of the pandemic, climate change and inequality." Sharan Burrow, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
"The climate crisis is one of the biggest human rights issues of our time. Leaders must avoid pandemic-induced tunnel vision and commit to the long-term well-being of their people. COVID-19 has driven many to the very edge of their capacity to survive and tested our collective resilience. But it has also renewed our determination for a radically different future - a more just, equitable and sustainable world that is fit for our children and grandchildren." Ashfaq Khalfan, Director of Law and Policy, Amnesty International
"The climate crisis is an issue of the present, not just the future. World leaders have failed to act on the crisis. We, the people from the most affected areas are going to change the climate narrative and lead climate negotiations. We are going to lead a revolution that chooses people over profits!" Disha A Ravi, Fridays For Future, India
"In order to fight the covid19 pandemic, governments have taken strong and bold measures, pulling on the brakes, deciding on a long lockdown. We've stopped striking temporarily - but we know that the only way we can contain climate change is by our actions. That's why we are striking again today, and will keep on mobilizing in the future." Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, Fridays for Future Uganda
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
'Defunded and Vulnerable' Corporation for Public Broadcasting Dissolves Amid GOP Attacks
"The dissolution of CPB is a direct result of Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican allies' reckless crusade to destroy public broadcasting and control what Americans read, hear, and see," said Sen. Ed Markey.
Jan 05, 2026
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting—which helped fund NPR, PBS, and many local public television and radio outlets—announced Monday that its board of directors has voted to dissolve the 58-year-old private nonprofit, a move one Democratic US senator blamed on Republican efforts to destroy the venerable American institution.
CPB said in a statement that Sunday's board of directors vote "follows Congress’ rescission of all of CPB’s federal funding and comes after sustained political attacks that made it impossible for CPB to continue operating as the Public Broadcasting Act intended."
Patricia Harrison, CPB's president and CEO, said Monday that "for more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans—regardless of geography, income, or background—had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling."
"When the [Trump] administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks," Harrison added.
CPB board chair Ruby Calvert said: “What has happened to public media is devastating. After nearly six decades of innovative, educational public television and radio service, Congress eliminated all funding for CPB, leaving the board with no way to continue the organization or support the public media system that depends on it."
"Yet, even in this moment, I am convinced that public media will survive, and that a new Congress will address public media’s role in our country because it is critical to our children's education, our history, culture, and democracy to do so," Calvert added.
The dissolution of CPB won't end NPR, PBS, or other public media outlets—which are overwhelmingly funded via contributions by private donors and by viewers and listeners.
President Donald Trump, congressional Republicans, and conservative advocacy groups—including the Heritage Foundation, which led work on Project 2025, the right-wing roadmap for remaking the federal government whose agenda includes stripping CPB funding—argue that NPR, PBS and other public outlets have become too "woke" and liberally "biased." In May, Trump signed an executive order calling for an end to taxpayer support for CPB-funded media.
Critics counter that Republican attacks on CPB have little to do with ensuring balanced coverage and fiscal responsibility and more to do with punishing media outlets that are critical of Trump and his policies.
"The dissolution of CPB is a direct result of Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican allies' reckless crusade to destroy public broadcasting and control what Americans read, hear, and see," US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement Monday.
“Today’s decision to dissolve the Corporation for Public Broadcasting marks a grave loss for the American public," Markey continued. "For generations, CPB helped ensure access to trusted news, quality children’s programming, local storytelling, and vital emergency information for millions of people in Massachusetts and across the country."
"CPB nurtured and developed our public broadcasting system, which is truly the crown jewel of America’s media mix," he added. “This fight is not over. I will continue to fight for public media and oppose authoritarian efforts to shut down dissent, threaten journalists, and undermine free speech in the United States of America.”
Free press defenders also lamented CPB's imminent dissolution, as well as consolidation in the corporate mainstream media.
"Meanwhile," said human rights attorney Qasim Rashid on Bluesky, "billionaires continue to buy up major legacy media to prevent criticism of Trump."
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'Reckless and Lawless': Trump Admin Overhauls Childhood Vaccine Schedule
"This ill-considered decision will sow further chaos and confusion and erode confidence in immunizations," warned the American Academy of Pediatrics president.
Jan 05, 2026
Leading US medical groups were among the critics who forcefully condemned the Trump administration's Monday overhaul of federal vaccine recommendations for every child in the country.
Doctors and public health advocates have been warning of such changes since the US Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nearly a year ago.
Last month, in a presidential memorandum, Trump directed Kennedy and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O'Neill, who is also acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "to review best practices from peer, developed countries for core childhood vaccination recommendations."
HHS said in a Monday statement that "after consulting with health ministries of peer nations, considering the assessment's findings, and reviewing the decision memo" presented by National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Food and Drug Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, O'Neill "formally accepted the recommendations and directed the CDC to move forward with implementation."
O'Neill claimed that "the data support a more focused schedule" and the HHS secretary said that "after an exhaustive review of the evidence, we are aligning the US childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent," but leading experts pushed back against their framing.
“Changes of this magnitude require careful review, expert and public input, and clear scientific justification. That level of rigor and transparency was not part of this decision."
Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, an American Medical Association trustee, said in a statement that the AMA "is deeply concerned by recent changes to the childhood immunization schedule that affects the health and safety of millions of children. Vaccination policy has long been guided by a rigorous, transparent scientific process grounded in decades of evidence showing that vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving."
“Changes of this magnitude require careful review, expert and public input, and clear scientific justification. That level of rigor and transparency was not part of this decision," she continued. "When long-standing recommendations are altered without a robust, evidence-based process, it undermines public trust and puts children at unnecessary risk of preventable disease."
"The scientific evidence remains unchanged, and the AMA supports continued access to childhood immunizations recommended by national medical specialty societies," the doctor added. "We urge federal health leaders to recommit to a transparent, evidence-based process that puts children's health and safety first and reflects the realities of our nation's disease burden."
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) President Dr. Andrew D. Racine was similarly critical of the "dangerous and unnecessary" move, stressing that "the long-standing, evidence-based approach that has guided the US immunization review and recommendation process remains the best way to keep children healthy and protect against health complications and hospitalizations."
As Racine explained:
Said to be modeled in part after Denmark's approach, the new recommendations issued today by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommend routine immunization for many diseases with known impacts on America's children, such as hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), flu, and meningococcal disease. AAP continues to recommend that children be immunized against these diseases, and for good reason; thanks to widespread childhood immunizations, the United States has fewer pediatric hospitalizations and fewer children facing serious health challenges than we would without this community protection.
The United States is not Denmark, and there is no reason to impose the Danish immunization schedule on America's families. America is a unique country, and Denmark's population, public health infrastructure, and disease-risk differ greatly from our own.
At a time when parents, pediatricians, and the public are looking for clear guidance and accurate information, this ill-considered decision will sow further chaos and confusion and erode confidence in immunizations. This is no way to make our country healthier.
The doctor urged parents who "have questions about vaccines or anything else" to speak with their pediatricians and pledged that the AAP "will continue to stand up for children, just as we have done for the past 95 years."
Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group director at the consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen, also slammed Kennedy and his deputies for starting out "2026 by escalating and accelerating their mindless assault on the childhood and adolescent immunization schedule."
"Extreme and arbitrary changes to the childhood vaccination schedule without full public discussion and scientific and evidence-based vetting put children and families at risk and undermine public health," Steinbrook said. "The uncalled-for changes are likely to further erode trust in vaccines and decrease immunization rates, rather than increase confidence or boost vaccine uptake, as federal health officials assert. Once again, medical professional societies and states must act to prevent suffering and death from preventable diseases."
As the Associated Press noted Monday: "States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration's guidance on vaccines."
Lawrence Gostin, founding chair of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Georgetown University, predicted that "red states will mostly follow HHS guidance. Blue states will certainly keep the current schedule. We'll see a checkerboard of different rules across America. Infectious diseases will surge as pathogens don't respect state borders."
Ripping the CDC's move as "reckless and lawless," Gostin added that "RFK Jr. is plunging the nation into uncertainty and confusion. Will pharmacies and pediatricians offer vaccines without clear recommendations? Will insurers cover vaccines? Will school boards worry about liability? Needless hospitalizations and deaths are all but certain to occur."
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With Global Attention on Venezuela, Israel Intensifies Assault on Gaza, Lebanon
Israeli forces reported blew up a 5-year-old girl and wounded two other children a day after fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy in Gaza.
Jan 05, 2026
With the world captivated by and concerned over the Trump administration's weekend abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, continuing its devastating US-backed response to the Hamas-led October 2023 attack.
In Gaza, where Israel faces widespread accusations of genocide, an Israeli strike on Monday "hit a tent housing displaced people, killing a 5-year-old girl and her uncle and wounding two other children," the Associated Press reported, citing officials at Nasser Hospital. "Family members wept over the bodies as they were brought to the hospital."
The Israel Defense Forces used one of its common claims for when it kills civilians. According to the AP, the IDF said that it struck a Hamas militant who planned an imminent attack on Israeli troops in Gaza, the strike complied with the ceasefire agreement, and it was conducted in a targeted way to limit civilian harm.
The tent strike in the Muwasi area northwest of Khan Younis came a day after Israeli forces shot and killed at least three Palestinians in that city on Sunday. According to Reuters, "Medics reported that the dead included a 15‑year‑old boy, a fisherman killed outside areas still occupied by Israel in the enclave, and a third man who was shot and killed east of the city in areas under Israeli control."
Israel has killed at least 422 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 1,189 since reaching the ceasefire deal with Hamas three months ago. The overall death toll in the strip has climbed to at least 71,388, with another 171,269 people injured, according to local health officials. Global experts warn the true counts are likely far higher.
Meanwhile, according to Al Jazeera, journalists on the ground in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory observed that the IDF "has spent the past 24 hours expanding the so-called 'yellow line' in eastern Gaza," or the boundary behind which Israeli forces officially withdrew as part of the October deal.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reported from Gaza City:
The ongoing Israeli attacks on the ground, the expansion of the "yellow line," are meant to eat up more of the territory across the eastern part, really shrinking the total area where people are sheltering.
Everyone is cramped here. The population here not just doubled but tripled in many of the neighborhoods, given the fact that none of these people is able to go back to their neighborhoods. We're talking about Zeitoun, Shujayea, as well as Tuffah.
It was not until the past few minutes that the sounds of hums, the drones buzzing, faded away, but it had been going on for the past night and all of yesterday. Ongoing explosions that could be heard clearly from here.
Mahmoud also reported that "there's nothing on the ground other than the headlines we've been reading over the past couple of days, the expectation now that within days the Rafah crossing is going to open and allow for movement in and out of Gaza. So far, we know the Israeli military is pushing for Rafah to be just a one-way exit."
Throughout the Israeli assault, far-right officials in Israel have ramped up calls to ethnically cleanse Gaza of its Palestinian population and recolonize the territory. There has also been a surge in violence from Israeli settlers and soldiers against Palestinians in the illegally occupied West Bank over the past two years, as well as renewed settlement-building efforts there.
Laila Al-Arian, an American journalist and executive producer for Al Jazeera's documentary series "Fault Lines," said on social media Sunday, "With eyes on Venezuela, Israel is bombing Gaza and escalating its assault on the West Bank."
In November 2024, nearly a year before the ceasefire agreement in Hamas, Israel struck a deal with the Lebanese political and paramilitary group Hezbollah—and, since then, as with Gaza, has repeatedly violated it.
Israel launched strikes on eastern and southern Lebanon on Monday after an IDF spokesperson said the military would target alleged Hezbollah sites in Kfar Hatta and Ain el-Tineh, and Hamas sites in Annan and al-Manara.
Al Jazeera reported that "Lebanon's Health Ministry said a drone strike on a car in the southern village of Braikeh earlier Monday wounded two people. The Israeli military said the strike targeted two Hezbollah members."
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