The Week in Review - 16 to 22 November 2025 : Tom McDermott

The ‘ceasefire’ mirage continues

• Gaza – the killing and maiming of children goes on. 
• UNICEF reports that roughly two children a day have died in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire was declared on October 11. From Wednesday to Saturday alone, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 44 Palestinians and wounded dozens more, the majority women and children, according to Gaza health authorities. 
  
  
• At the political level, the “foreign stabilization force” created under Security Council Resolution 2803 remains theoretical: no country has committed troops, its mandate is unclear, and it is uncertain whether it will replace Israeli forces north of the “yellow line.” 
  
  
• The only active recruitment appears to be from U.S. security contractors, including the same firms that staffed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites linked to thousands of civilian casualties earlier this year. 
  
  
• Winter rains and a lack of tents continue to deepen the misery of families trying to survive.
  
  
• Meanwhile, Israel continues blocking “dual-use” and “non-critical” items, including syringes needed for vaccination and school supplies.  Auto-destruct syringes, pencils, and chalkboards as weapons of war?  Really?   
  
  
• According to Gaza health authorities, more than 69,700 Palestinians have been killed and over 170,000 injured since the war began. The figures will almost certainly continue to rise as Israel's attacks and ceasefire violations continue and as more bodies are dug out from under the rubble.
  
  
• In Sudan, although the front lines in western Sudan remain largely static, humanitarian aid to El Fasher is still blocked and child malnutrition deaths were reported in Kordofan, where fighting between the SAF and RSF has cut off food and medical supplies. Across the border in Chad, the massive daily influx of Sudanese refugees is overwhelming both the government and aid agencies in a country where half the population already requires assistance.
  
  
• In the DR Congo, the UN reported a series of massacres in church-run health centres in Lubero Territory, including killings of women in labour and patients receiving care. In Lebanon, new evidence suggests Israel used cluster munitions, a weapon banned under international convention by more than 100 states.

Attacks on girls’ education are back

In Nigeria, two separate attacks on girls’ schools—in Kebbi earlier in the week and in Niger state on Friday—resulted in the abduction of 328 girls and 12 teachers. These kidnappings add to the 1,500 students abducted since the 2014 Chibok attacks. The new assaults come amid heightened political tension following the Trump administration’s claim of “genocide against Christians” in Nigeria—rhetoric widely disputed by analysts but now colouring international reactions. The renewed school attacks raise concern that assaults on girls’ education could spread across West Africa, especially in regions where banditry and extremist groups already operate.

 
Child soldiers are also back in the news (but were likely always in the background)

Colombia reported that over 1,200 children were recruited by armed groups from 2019 to 2024—a 300% increase. Colombia’s willingness to publish these figures is notable; similar recruitment trends are likely occurring in other conflict zones this year but are rarely acknowledged.
The shifts and cuts continue

The UN and the humanitarian systems saw another week of contraction

• WHO confirmed it will cut 2,371 posts—22% of its workforce—by June 2026
• The ICRC approved a budget requiring 2,900 job cuts, despite operating in more than 130 active conflict zones.
• The ILO is considering abolishing 295 posts and relocating others.
• UNICEF will shift 290 Geneva posts to Rome by 2026, part of a broader restructuring triggered by a projected 20% income decline.  One wonders whether Rome is really that much cheaper than Geneva.  We hope someone is keeping a map showing where all these posts are going.

The U.S. adopts a new à la carte approach to aid

The U.S. responded to Hurricane Melissa with $37 million in relief, despite cutting or abandoning assistance elsewhere after the shutdown of USAID. Under the new system, aid will be delivered only through the State Department’s International Disaster Response office, and humanitarian responses will occur only when disasters “intersect with the president’s decision matrix.” This marks a shift from a needs-based model to one explicitly shaped by political and security priorities.

 
Good news and bad in vaccination

• Afghanistan reported reaching 16.6 million children in its nationwide measles campaign. In Gaza—despite Israel’s restrictions on syringes and solar refrigerators—the polio campaign managed to vaccinate over 13,000 children, with efforts underway to reach those in the IDF-controlled north. Earlier in the year, two rounds of vaccination reached 603,000 children, and no new polio cases have been detected since an outbreak in August 2024 left one child paralyzed.
  
  
• In the Lake Chad Basin, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria carried out a joint polio campaign after more than 200 detections of poliovirus in the past year. 
  
  
• In the western Pacific, WHO marked 25 years of polio-free status.
  
  
• The bad news came from Argentina, where childhood vaccination coverage has collapsed, with less than half of 5- and 6-year-olds receiving essential vaccines—raising fears of a broader vaccine-confidence crisis in the Americas.

Collapse of the climate consensus (as if there ever was a consensus)

At COP30, negotiations appear deadlocked as efforts to phase out fossil fuels face fierce resistance from Saudi Arabia and other major producers. A massive pro-oil media effort has deepened the divide, and the absence of a U.S. delegation has further weakened momentum. With a watered-down draft agreement offering no meaningful transition language, the EU is threatening to block any final text, and the conference is now almost certain to run past its scheduled end. Late night sessions on Friday however indicated that a 'voluntary agreement to begin talks on a roadmap to phasing out fossil fuels, might break the deadlock. ("A voluntary agreement to begin talks" sound like no agreement to do anything on the issue). The 'voluntary' agreement came in the teeth of implacable opposition from oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and its allies, and Russia.

And finally - oh, no - a UN TV series?

A new United Nations (UN) television series, tentatively titled United, is in early development and is being executive-produced by Kevin Costner and Leonardo DiCaprio. Costner is also in talks to star as former U.S. President Bill Clinton. The political drama will focus on a 1999 UN mission to East Timor and will be produced in collaboration with the UN. Chukwudi Iwuji may also star as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.  Not sure it will make the UN appear either "United" or "effective", but at least on TV perhaps the UN will live on beyond the real thing.  

Tom McD