Chief prosecutor Karim Khan at an ICC hearing in The Hague, Netherlands, 14 March 2025. (Keystone/AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

How the ICC got lost in its own maze. Between allegations of harassment, a contested inquiry and judges' findings brushed aside by diplomats, the proceedings against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan have drawn fierce criticism as US sanctions and arrest warrants against Israeli leaders provide a politically charged backdrop.

🇺🇳QUIZ TIME. Candidates running to become the next UN chief will meet with civil society organisations at a townhall meeting on Thursday in New York.

All six candidates will be there: Unctad chief Rebeca Grynspan,; UN nuclear boss Rafael Grossi former Senegalese president Macky Sall,; Michelle Bachelet, former Chilean president, and late-comers Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Guyana’s former minister of foreign affairs and María Fernanda Espinosa, Ecuador’s ex-foreign minister.

Why it matters. After complaints from civil society over closed-door selection processes during previous secretary general races, the panel has been welcomed by advocates as a step toward greater transparency.

The exercise may offer the candidates a pulse on concerns and needs in the real world, but ultimately their selection will be determined by the five permanent members of the Security Council, which have already met with several candidates and will hold the first straw poll on 30 July..

📖Read more of our coverage of the UN SG race.

🚚MOVING HOUSE. Donor cuts are seeing doors revolving at the Palais Wilson, with one UN organisation moving out as another comes in.

After the staff from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights packed up last month from the former headquarters of the League of Nations, the UN refugee agency, (the UNHCR), will be moving into the lakeside building, according to German broadcaster ARD.

Chopping block. The agencies – whose acronyms are regularly muddled – have been hard hit by donor cuts. The human rights office is decentralising staff as a result to regional hubs. Meanwhile the UNHCR, which last year cut 5,000 jobs, after donors slashed contributions and support to refugee protection, said further staff may have to be terminated in 2026 if funding isn’t secured.

The UNHCR’s current headquarters, built in 1978 to bring all Geneva staff under the same roof, is now considered too big.

— Paula Dupraz-Dobias

Not yet peace. Discreet discussions hosted by the US mission in Geneva took place last Wednesday and Thursday between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, according to a US press release.

The meeting, which also included representatives from Qatar, Togo and the African Union, comes seven months after a fragile peace agreement was brokered by the US between the two neighbouring countries, which did not include the Rwandan-supported M23 armed group, responsible for multiple offensives into the mineral-rich region.

Fighting has since continued unabated between the M23 and Congolese forces. The conflict, which has been ongoing since 2021, has displaced millions from their homes and killed tens of thousands of civilians.

Earlier in the week, UN human rights chief Volker Türk called for an end to the fighting in the mineral-rich region, which has been plagued by conflict for over three decades. Gold, coltan – used in electronics – and the three Ts – tin, tungsten and tantalum – are produced in the region.