Hivos deeply regrets the Zambian authorities’ decision to suspend the planned RightsCon 2026 conference in Lusaka.

Around the world, hard-won gains for women’s rights are under pressure. And not only from the global backlash against these rights. Civic space itself is shrinking. Many different anti-rights movement...

Forus, a global network of 74 National NGO Platforms and 7 Regional NGO Coalitions, expresses deep concern about the rapidly escalating war in the Middle East. Civilian lives are being lost, humanitarian needs are intensifying, and the risk of a further escalation is growing by the hour.

EN Join us for the next meeting of EU SEE: Webinar: From data to action: how EU SEE data can be used to improve the enabling environment for civil society This meeting will be simultaneously interpre...

The recent sound of explosions over Venezuela, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, and Nigeria are not merely the spasms by a declining U.S. empire. They are something much more terrifying...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Election-related violence and its impact on the enabling environment: what role for civil society?. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email...

As the world prepares for the next COP30 summit, a quieter battle is raging in courtrooms. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are the fossil-fuel industry’s new favourite weapon,...

Trump’s ‘peace plan’ will never be meaningfully realised – and was never intended to be. It is simply a way to justify prolonging Gaza’s living hell 

Women across the Global South are paying the real costs of the climate crisis; not governments, and not the corporations most responsible for emissions.

EPD works to support civil society and improve its ability to detect and respond to changes in the enabling environment for civic space. We do so mainly through the EU SEE project.

We have gathered critical insights into the evolving nature of threats faced by SRHR advocates and the mechanisms needed to effectively respond.

<article data-history-node-id="430808" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/save-children-condemns-excruciating-toll-gazas-children" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/save-children-condemns-excruciating-toll-gazas-children" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Save the Children condemns ‘excruciating’ toll on Gaza’s children</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p data-end="119" data-start="0">Save the Children has condemned the soaring child casualties from Israel’s renewed assaults on Gaza, calling the situation “excruciating” and demanding that the ceasefire be upheld.</p> <p data-end="561" data-start="306">“After some weeks of cautious optimism and hopes of rebuilding Gaza, children and families are once again reliving scenes of fear and loss,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, the organisation’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe.</p> <p data-end="912" data-is-last-node data-is-only-node data-start="563">“This cannot become the new normal under a ceasefire. A lasting ceasefire must mean safety, relief and recovery for children, not continued suffering. It must be fully respected and upheld. We are pleading: stop this now. Protect the ceasefire, protect children, and give Gaza’s families a step towards the genuine peace they have been waiting for,” he added.</p> </div> </div> </article>

Financing for Feminist Futures: we must rethink now how to finance feminist work before the political tide turns even further to the right.

<article data-history-node-id="429193" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/microsoft-blocks-israeli-spy-agencys-access-over-mass-surveillance" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/microsoft-blocks-israeli-spy-agencys-access-over-mass-surveillance" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Microsoft blocks Israeli spy agency's access over mass surveillance: Report</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Microsoft has cut off the Israeli military's Unit 8200 over reports that the elite spy agency had violated the company’s terms of service&nbsp;by storing mass surveillance data of Palestinians in its Azure cloud platform, The Guardian has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/25/microsoft-blocks-israels-use-of-its-technology-in-mass-surveillance-of-palestinians">reported</a>.&nbsp;</p> <p>The report said that Israeli military’s used the technology to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected data of millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza and the West Bank.</p> <p>Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and Vice Chair, said the company opened the review after an investigation by the Guardian newspaper alleged activity by a unit of the Israeli military.</p> <p>“We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians. We have applied this principle in every country around the world, and we have insisted on it repeatedly for more than two decades,” Smith said in an email to staff.</p> <p>Microsoft has informed the Israeli defence ministry of its “decision to cease and disable specified IMOD subscriptions and their services, including their use of specific cloud storage and AI services and technologies.”</p> </div> </div> </article>

Nepal is in the grip of its worst political crisis in years, as youth-led protests over corruption and digital freedoms have been met with lethal state violence, deepening a nationwide crisis of gover...

Funding will be used to invest in SMEs in developing countries

Most authoritative report by the UN on genocide paves way for ICJ ruling, authors say

<article data-history-node-id="427978" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/no-heartbeat-gazas-pregnant-and-elderly-bear-brunt-israels-starvation" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/no-heartbeat-gazas-pregnant-and-elderly-bear-brunt-israels-starvation" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">‘No heartbeat’: Gaza’s pregnant and elderly bear brunt of Israel’s starvation </span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Habib Qeshta and his wife Nour were overjoyed recently to learn they were expecting a baby boy.</p> <p>Already parents to a daughter born before the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a>&nbsp;genocide in Gaza, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinian</a>&nbsp;couple had hoped a son might bring some light to their dark days under relentless bombardment.</p> <p>“We were overjoyed to learn it was a boy,” said Qeshta, 27, speaking to Middle East Eye.</p> <p>But their joy was shortlived.</p> <p>“A week later, my wife began experiencing unusual pain. She sensed something was wrong, so we went for another check-up,” he recalled.</p> <p>“That’s when the doctor told us the foetus had died due to malnutrition.”</p> <p>Nour had carried the pregnancy for four months under heavy Israeli air strikes near their home.&nbsp;</p> <p>For months, she barely ate any nutritious meals, due to the ongoing Israeli-imposed famine in Gaza.</p> <p>“All we have are canned beans,&nbsp;<em>duqqa</em>&nbsp;(local spices usually eaten with bread), and thyme. Sometimes we don’t even have bread,” Qeshta said.&nbsp;</p> <p>“For a pregnant woman, this can’t be considered nutrition.”</p> <p>Since Israel imposed a total closure of Gaza’s borders on 2 March, nearly two million people in the besieged enclave have entered a new and devastating phase of the war. Wheat flour has become a luxury item, and hundreds have died from hunger and malnutrition.</p> <p>Although the borders were partially reopened for some goods and international aid, most residents remain unable to access food, either due to soaring prices, looting of aid trucks and the dangers of reaching hazardous aid distribution points.</p> <h3>Read more: <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/no-heartbeat-gazas-pregnant-and-elderly-bear-brunt-israels-starvation">Gaza’s pregnant and elderly bear brunt of Israel’s starvation&nbsp;</a></h3> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="Internally displaced elderly Palestinian man Salim Asfour enters his family's tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 4 August 2025 (Imago/APAimages via Reuters Connect/Moaz Abu Taha)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="81a58c4e-f857-494a-965e-91c835c12d0d" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/images-story/2025-08-03T000000Z_80220149_MT1IMGOST000Z82V93_RTRMADP_3_IMAGO-IMAGES%20%281%29.jpg" width="2000" height="1125" alt="Internally displaced elderly Palestinian man Salim Asfour enters his family's tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 4 August 2025 (Imago/APAimages via Reuters Connect/Moaz Abu Taha)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>Internally displaced elderly Palestinian man Salim Asfour enters his family's tent in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 4 August 2025 (Imago/APAimages via Reuters Connect/Moaz Abu Taha)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

Afro-Colombian and Indigenous voices cannot simply be heard: they must be protagonists in building a just, secure, and pluralistic future.

Classified intelligence reveals Israel killed 8,900 militants by May, indicating an almost unparalleled proportion of civilian slaughter.

<article data-history-node-id="427353" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/netanyahu-mission-seize-middle-east-will-anyone-stop-him" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/netanyahu-mission-seize-middle-east-will-anyone-stop-him" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Netanyahu is on a mission to seize the Middle East. Will anyone stop him?</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>The Middle East simply cannot sit back and watch Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza happen, Middle East Eye's editor-in-chief David Hearst argues.&nbsp;</p> <p>Israel's 22 month genocide in the enclave is just one part of a bigger "collective journey" that transcends Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rule, Hearst says. It is part of an effort to expand Israel's existing borders across the biblical Land of Israel.&nbsp;</p> <p><meta charset="UTF-8"></p> <p>Hearst writes that as Israeli forces have vanquished each neighbour in turn - first Gaza, then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/lebanon" target="_blank">Lebanon</a>, then&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/iran" target="_blank">Iran</a>, and now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/syria" target="_blank">Syria</a>&nbsp;too - and as Israeli forces occupy Gaza, outposts in Lebanon and a substantial area of southern Syria, maps have begun to re-emerge laying claim to areas far beyond the lines where their conquering forces have stopped."</p> <p><meta charset="UTF-8"></p> <p>Israel’s neighbours are asleep to the threat they face. This is not a threat that can be negotiated away - nor is it a threat that Washington will do anything to stop, Hearst adds.&nbsp;</p> <p>Only a regional security pact, enforced by modern armies coming to each other’s aid, will stop Israel’s expansion and protect the young nation states of the Middle East. They should wake up, and soon, he argues.&nbsp;</p> <p><i>The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.</i></p> <h3><strong>Read More:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/Netanyahu-mission-seize-the-middle-east-will-anyone-stop-him">Netanyahu is on a mission to seize the Middle East. Will anyone stop him?</a></strong></h3> <div alt="Gaza" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="76d70d8d-877d-40f7-9ef9-36bae9ae6440" data-langcode="en" class="align-center embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/images-story/israel-tanks-gaza-august-2025-jack-guez-afp.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="Gaza" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> </div> </div> </article>

By Bibbi Abruzzini and Clarisse Sih, Forus, EU SEE consortium partners  The European Union System for an Enabling Environment for civil society (EU SEE) project announces the launch of its first batch...

EPD works to support civil society and improve its ability to detect and respond to changes in the enabling environment for civic space. We do so mainly through the EU SEE project.

Experts, including UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese, are unanimous: the most serious of international crimes is happening in Gaza

Across Africa, LGBTQ communities face blame for U.S. cuts to HIV services

By killing five Al Jazeera journalists, Israel hopes to obscure its genocide from the world. Instead, this brings it into sharper focus

The case for calling Gaza a genocide is simpler than critics claim.

This artivist coalition is creating recognition for Amazonian climate activists through art and awards that engage and inform Brazil's public.

<article data-history-node-id="426114" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/i-saw-death-palestinians-recall-israeli-massacre-nearly-100-aid-seekers" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/i-saw-death-palestinians-recall-israeli-massacre-nearly-100-aid-seekers" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">'I saw death': Palestinians recall Israeli massacre of nearly 100 aid seekers</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Piles of dead bodies and wounded people. That is all 18 year-old Mohammad al-Ewadi could see around him.</p> <p>He was among thousands of starving Palestinians heading towards the al-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza City on Sunday morning.&nbsp;</p> <p>There, trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP) were expected to arrive, offering a rare chance to access long-denied essential supplies.</p> <p>But as people gathered near the truck, Israeli troops surrounded relief-seekers, directly and indiscriminately shooting towards them, according to eyewitnesses, among them Ewadi.</p> <p>"They [the Israeli army] fired heavily at us from the tanks," he told Middle East Eye, describing how military vehicles moved through the crowd, at times passing within inches of civilians.</p> <p>"There are now piles of martyrs. It was chaos... the scenes were grotesque, truly grotesque." "People were being shot from all directions. If someone next to you was hit, you couldn’t help them. You just wanted to hide, in that moment, saving yourself becomes the only thing that matters."</p> <h3>Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/running-towards-death-palestinians-voice-frustration-israel-firing-aid-seekers">Palestinians recall Israeli massacre of nearly 100 aid seekers</a></h3> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="Piles of dead bodies and wounded people surrounded him, recalls 18 year-old Mohammad al-Ewadi during Israel's attack on relief-seeking Palestinians on Sunday (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="6da8f352-715d-49d3-aa0f-c8759da4b032" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/north-gaza-aid-seeker-displaced-Mohammad-Ewadi-hajjar-mee-min.JPG" width="6589" height="3706" alt="Piles of dead bodies and wounded people surrounded him, recalls 18 year-old Mohammad al-Ewadi during Israel's attack on relief-seeking Palestinians on Sunday (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>Piles of dead bodies and wounded people surrounded him, recalls 18 year-old Mohammad al-Ewadi during Israel's attack on relief-seeking Palestinians on Sunday (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> <p><span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"><img alt height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> <p><span style="background:rgba(220,220,220,0.5);background-image:url(https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png);display:none;"><img alt height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img alt height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img alt height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

CIVICUS discusses the military use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Gaza with Dima Samaro, a Palestinian lawyer and researcher, and director of Skyline International for Human Rights, a civil societ...