UN News Today 07 August 2026 |

Food prices edged up in July amid heatwaves and energy price hikes 

The cost of key foods edged up last month as searing heatwaves and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty impacted energy prices around the world. 

According to new data published on Friday from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a basket of staple foods cost one per cent more in July than a year ago. 

Commodities registering standout price surges included sugar – up 5.6 per cent in July – owing mainly to “concerns about the potential impacts of persistent hot and dry weather on crop yields in the European Union and of El Niño-related weather conditions…in key producing countries in Asia”, the FAO Food Price Index update said. 

Cereals increased by 3.4 per cent from June, reversing the declines seen earlier in the year, to settle 6.9 per cent above their July 2025 level. 

And although rice prices held steady last month, global wheat prices increased 5.8 per cent, amid “continued disruptions” to Black Sea exports caused by the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, coupled with the expected impact of recent heatwaves on crop yields in several countries.  

World maize prices rose 3.6 per cent, fuelled by concerns over hot and dry weather in parts of the United States, along with “spillover effects from firmer energy markets amid heightened geopolitical tensions”, FAO said. 

The vegetable oil price index reached its highest price since June 2022, increasing by a full two per cent, linked to demand from Indonesia’s biodiesel sector and higher crude oil prices.  

In related news, UN-backed food insecurity experts said that Malawi is seeing a “notable improvement” in hunger levels, compared with the last two years.  

This is in large part because of a good harvest in the 2025/26 farming season following the severe El Niño impacts of 2024/25, the IPC update explained. 

Nonetheless, an estimated 1.9 million people in the southern African nation are in the grip of “crisis” levels of acute food insecurity, classified as IPC Phase 3 (out of five). 

The situation is expected to deteriorate, however, during the October 2026 to March 2027 lean season, pushing 2.6 million people into crisis or level 3 hunger.   

“High food prices, inflation, and below‑average staple production are driving acute food insecurity, while forecasts of strong El Niño during the 2026/27 rainy season underscore the need for close monitoring,” IPC experts said. 

UN rights chief Türk stands up for post-conflict justice  

Transitional justice – a term used to describe how communities recover from conflict – is essential to breaking cycles of violence and building lasting peace, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday. 

He warned that conflict, authoritarianism and inequality are undermining decades of progress. 

Speaking in Sarajevo, Mr. Türk said that violent conflicts have increased for more than 12 consecutive years, and that his Office estimates that in 2025, a civilian died in armed conflict every 14 minutes. 

The High Commisioner for Human Rights stressed that successful transitional justice must combine truth-seeking, accountability, reparations and institutional reform, rather than pursuing isolated measures. 

“Over the past 20 years, the number of countries where power is slipping away from the people has increased almost fourfold. Inequalities are rising in every region, fraying the social fabric and sowing division and unrest. In this volatile context, getting transitional justice right is critical to achieving lasting peace and reconciliation after abuses have occurred. It is also key to preventing violence, restoring the rule of law, and maintaining regional and global stability.” 

Mr. Türk cited Colombia’s comprehensive approach to transitional justice after decades of civil war.  

The country’s post-conflict reconciliation process has sought to combine truth commissions, he said, along with a special peace tribunal and reparations for victims under the 2016 peace agreement. 

The UN rights chief also highlighted The Gambia, where the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission placed victims and survivors at the centre of its work by gathering extensive testimonies and recommending measures to promote accountability and healing.  

Hormuz crisis: UN maritime agency stresses ‘day after’ needs for trapped seafarers  

As the shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz continues, the UN maritime agency stressed that the seafarers trapped on ships there are facing a growing toll on their mental health. 

More than five months since the Iran-US war started, hundreds of ships are still unable to move through the Persian Gulf. They cannot be abandoned and the thousands of staff on them are in many cases unable to leave. 

Head of the International Maritime Organization – IMO – Arsenio Dominguez highlighted the stress and fatigue facing many of those still stranded on board: 

“They feel forgotten because when they turn on the media, all the headlines are about how petrol is going up, how this is affecting the global economy, how things cost three, four times the price that normally they will pay for it, and nobody talks about the seafarer. We need more countries to recognize them as key workers.” 

With up to 90 percent of all goods globally transported by sea, the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) works to help commercial shipping and international trade ride the waves of war, piracy and geopolitics. 

Growing up near the Panama Canal, Arsenio Dominguez was always fascinated by mighty cargo ships sailing through on their way to distant shores. Now Secretary-General of the IMO, his role is to defend seafarers and give shipping the recognition it deserves. 

“Whenever you affect shipping, everybody else gets affected, even if you’re not part of the conflict. This is not good for anyone. This is not good for the global population, for the global economy, for politics. We need to protect shipping more.”