UN News Today 15 August 2025 |

Treaty to tackle plastic pollution adjourns without consensus in Geneva

A legally binding deal to end plastic pollution proved to be beyond the grasp of weary UN Member States wrapping up marathon negotiations in Geneva on Friday.

They agreed to resume talks at a future date after 10 days of “hard-fought” discussions, said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP):

“Obviously it’s very clear that we did not arrive where we wanted to arrive. But I also believe that everybody came here with the intention to get the deal done…Now, there’s a lot of hard work ahead. We did not get where we want, but people want a deal. Everyone has to understand that this work will not stop because plastic pollution will not stop.”

Ms. Andersen was speaking at the end of Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee talks held at the UN in Geneva.

Delegates came from 183 nations, demonstrating the importance of the proposed agreement, with civil society also present, representing indigenous people, waste pickers, artists, youth and scientists.

From Sudan to Yemen, conflict is fuelling cholera, warns WHO

The preventable but often deadly waterborne disease – cholera – continues to spread around the world, driven by conflict and poverty, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

So far this year, cholera has killed more than 4,300 people across 31 countries. These figures are underestimates and there is particular concern for those impacted by war in Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Yemen.

In Sudan, cholera has already claimed over 1,000 lives since 1 January.

The disease has reached every state in the country, one year after the outbreak started, according to WHO.

With the rainy season now underway, the UN agency is worried about a spike in the waterborne disease, linked to the huge numbers of people fleeing ongoing violence.

Here’s WHO’s Kathryn Alberti:

“While cases have plateaued or decreased in some areas, including Khartoum, they are rising in the Darfur region and also neighboring Chad. In Tawila, North Darfur, refugees have quadrupled the population from close to 200,000 to over 800,000,  and this is straining water and sanitation systems. People have as little as three litres of water daily and this is for cooking, washing, cleaning and drinking.”

To respond to the problem, WHO and partners have set up task forces, deployed rapid response teams for surveillance and stockpiled essential cholera supplies in Darfur – although “large parts” of Darfur and Kordofan remain unreachable.

Gaza: More than 8 in 10 people with disabilities have lost their assistive devices

To Gaza, where more than eight in 10 people with disabilities have lost their assistive devices, leaving them facing huge obstacles every day, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Friday.

Citing data gathered by UN agencies and partners from the Global Protection Cluster, UNRWA also warned that at least 35,000 people likely have “significant hearing damage”, caused by repeated explosions in the devastated enclave.

Today across Gaza, some 134,000 people have sustained new war-related injuries, including over 40,500 children. One in four people has a new disability requiring acute and ongoing rehabilitation, UNWRA said.

The UN agency noted that despite the rapidly expanding needs, medical services and first responders continue to be attacked and obstructed. “Hospitals, ambulances and medical and humanitarian personnel have been systematically targeted, with over 1,580 health workers and 467 humanitarian staff killed,” UNRWA noted.

Daniel Johnson, UN News