Refugees waiting in a queue to receive humanitarian aid distributed by the World Food Programme at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Turkana, Kenya, 4 June 2025. (Keystone/AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

'You end up feeling caged’: Refugee convention turns 75 as states redraw asylum rules. Adopted in the turbulent years after World War II to address the massive displacement in Europe, the UN Refugee Convention marks its 75-year history as governments twist the principles of protection to serve political purposes. For refugees like Peter Kidi, it has real effects.

Race for UN’s top job enters final, murkiest stretch. This week, the UN Security Council will begin straw-polling for the next secretary general. Sources with inside knowledge of the process say that despite measures adopted to make it more transparent, opacity will prevail.

🎗IMPACT REPORT. Tomorrow, UNAids is set to release a report showing the impact of deep aid cuts on the HIV response. It may provide an argument for those who think the organisation should not be phased out as part of UN80 reform plans.

The study will be presented at the International Aids Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Trump effect. A separate analysis by the US-based Aids research foundation Amfar found that funding cuts to the US’s longstanding Pepfar programme – which provides support for Aids prevention, treatment and care – have caused “severe and devastating” disruptions in services worldwide.

It is estimated that Pepfar has saved 26 million lives in the two decades of its existence.

🎂BLOWING OUT THE CANDLES. On the occasion of the Geneva refugee convention’s 75th anniversary, its implementing organisation, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, will host a celebrity-filled event that will include Yusra Mardini, the Syrian former competitive swimmer, Nadia Murad, an Iraqi human rights advocate and South Sudanese professional basketball player Wenyen Gabriel.

In numbers. While financial straits have forced the UNHCR to make major budget cuts and to soon move from its custom-built headquarters near the Palais des Nations to the smaller Palais Wilson, the number of refugees remains at historic highs, only slightly down from its peak in 2023.

Other records set. Despite the exclusion of certain players, officials and journalists from entering the US during the recent football World Cup, the event featured the highest number of team members with displaced backgrounds, including former refugees. (Al Jazeera)

— Paula Dupraz-Dobias