The headquarters of UNAids in Geneva, Switzerland, 8 April 2019. (Keystone/AP Photo/Jamey Keaton)

Sunset or new dawn? UNAids fights for survival. Thirty years after its founding, the UN is considering shutting down its leading organisation focused on HIV/Aids just as the very epidemic it was built to end intensifies.

🥤PLASTIC WRAPPER. Amid stalled talks on a global plastics treaty, the new negotiations chair will meet informally this week in Nairobi with delegation heads to try to move things forward.

Last year’s talks in Geneva saw over 100 countries support an ambitious treaty with global targets to reduce plastic pollution, only to have their efforts thwarted by oil- and plastic-producing states such as Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Procedural omission. Observers warn that the upcoming discussions between negotiators and the Chilean ambassador, Julio Cordano, elected in February, may exclude some of the most contentious topics, including plastic production and chemicals, according to released documents.

In a written statement, David Azoulay, environmental health director at the Center for International Environmental Law, wrote that by excluding the items, the closed-door talks are “not a member-state-led process, and instead, the chair is making political calculations in favour of potential short-term wins.”

Why it matters. Since 1950, plastic production has increased 200-fold to more than 400 million tonnes today, with single-use plastic accounting for 35 to 40 per cent of output. Plastic waste contains thousands of chemicals, including carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.

Read more of our reporting on the plastics treaty talks.

🇵🇸UNRWA LEADERSHIP. This week marks a shift at the helm of the UN Palestinian refugees agency as its chief, Philippe Lazzarini, concludes his term after a three-month leave, and an interim head steps in until a decision is made in NY.

Next up. Christian Saunders, a Brit who had already been called to fill in seven years earlier after another Swiss, Pierre Krähenbühl, resigned following accusations of nepotism and abuse of power, will take over for now.
The organisation has been struggling in recent years following sharp donor cuts, the deaths of hundreds of its staff in Gaza, and an Israeli ban on the organisation, prohibiting it from operating in Israel.

Authorship. Lazzarini, spotted at a recent diplomatic reception, told Geneva Solutions that he would spend the summer writing a book on Gaza, which he expects to publish in the fall.

Read more of our coverage on UNRWA.

— Paula Dupraz-Dobias