A Venezuelan migrant, carrying a girl on his shoulders, walks across the Darién Gap from Colombia to Panama in hopes of reaching the US, 9 May 2023. (Keystone/AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Venezuela-UN aid deal in limbo as humanitarian crisis drags on. Last November, the Venezuelan government signed an agreement with the opposition to use frozen assets to set up a fund for much-needed humanitarian aid for the country. The UN was requested to assist with its implementation. But ten months later, little progress has been made, and food insecurity and poverty continue to drive migration from the country. In New York, starting with a migrant in search of a new place to call home to local aid providers in Venezuela, we reach out to stakeholders who will be impacted by the deal.

🐝Human Rights Council week two. The halls of the Palais des Nations will still be buzzing this week with delegates running between plenary and side events to informal consultations on resolution proposals as they begin to gather pace. Among the key issues we’ll be tracking are the debate on human rights in Russia, Ethiopia and Syria, as well as the human rights implications of a not-so-clean transition to green energies.

🗽Eyes on New York. The global spotlight this week will turn to New York, where a record number of delegates is expected at the annual General Assembly to wade through nearly 200 agenda items. High-level meetings are slated for the week on Sustainable Development Goals, climate change and health, as reports show that countries are pretty much failing to meet their intended goals in all of these areas.

Heads of state usually flock to the annual meeting in great numbers, but several from leading powers have their plate full back home and will be skipping the gathering. That includes, surprisingly, France’s Emmanuel Macron and the UK’s Rishi Sunak, as well as, more expectedly, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi. That's a no-show for the leaders of four out of five of the Security Council's permanent members.