Palestinians walk next to the closed humanitarian aid distribution center of UNRWA in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, 29 April 2025. (Keystone/AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

In survival mode, UNRWA awaits outcome of leadership change. As Philippe Lazzarini steps down as UNRWA chief, he warns the embattled organisation may be on its last straw. What happens next with the agency is anyone’s guess, but some say better management skills at the top would be needed.

🇺🇳TIME’S UP. Countries have until Wednesday 1 April to submit their nominations for UN secretary general. So far, five candidates are signed up for the challenge to replace António Guterres whose second term ends at the end of the year.

Among those are three women from Latin America, which according to an informal tradition of regional rotation, is due for the role. Mark your calendars for early June, when a general debate among all candidates will take place at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Read more from our interview with Susana Malcorra, co-founder of GWL Voices, an organisation set to advance women’s leadership in multilateralism, on why she believes it’s time for a woman candidate to be assessed fairly for her merits in the race for the top job.

⚖️DECISION TIME. As the UN Human Rights Council wraps up over the next couple of days, diplomats will be considering a pile-up of resolutions. The session had been delayed as countries requested discussions over rights concerns the conflict between the US and Israel, and Iran.

Belarus. A resolution presented by Cyprus on behalf of the EU, condemning “systematic and widespread” rights abuses in Belarus, will seek to extend the mandates of the special rapporteur and group of independent experts investigating violations in the country.

👷🏼‍♂️HARD LABOUR. The International Labour Organization’s governing body will also wrap up, on Thursday, after two weeks of discussions.

Minsk also made it onto the ILO’s agenda. Today, the assembly will consider Belarus’s compliance with ILO article 33, involving sanctions against a member state. The measure was imposed when Aliaksander Yarashuk, a member of the ILO governing body, as well as other union leaders, were detained by the government. Yarashuk, who was imprisoned for four years, was expelled from Belarus in September.

Worker abuse. Civil society organisations are pressing countries at the meeting to ensure that a complaint by African unions of rights violations by Saudi Arabia is not buried. Workers had complained of wage theft, physical abuse and racism against migrant workers.

Riyadh had asked that the ILO complaint be dismissed. Saudi Arabia, future host of the FIFA World Cup in 2034, is set to undertake a slate of mega projects that will fall upon migrant workers to build. Sounds familiar?

— Paula Dupraz-Dobias