New modeling shows that if program coverage is halved, an additional 1.1 million children could contract HIV and 820,000 more could die from AIDS-related causes by 2040, bringing the total toll among children to three million infections and 1.8 million deaths.

Even maintaining current service levels would still result in 1.9 million new infections and 990,000 AIDS-related child deaths by 2040 due to slow progress.

“The world was making progress in the HIV response, but persistent gaps remained even before sharp cuts in global funding disrupted services,” said Anurita Bains, UNICEF Associate Director of HIV and AIDS.

“While countries have moved quickly to mitigate the impact of funding cuts, eliminating childhood AIDS is at risk without targeted action. The choice is clear: invest today or risk reversing decades of progress and losing millions of young lives.”

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According to the latest 2024 dataBefore budget cuts disrupted services globally, 120,000 children aged 0-14 contracted HIV and 75,000 died from AIDS-related causes, the equivalent of around 200 child deaths every day.

Among adolescents aged 15 to 19, 150,000 have contracted HIV, about two-thirds of them girls, with girls accounting for 85 percent of new infections in this age group in sub-Saharan Africa. Only 55 percent of children living with HIV have received antiretroviral treatment, compared to 78 percent of adults, leaving around 620,000 children without treatment.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to bear the greatest burden, with 88 percent of children living with HIV and more than 80 percent of new AIDS-related infections and child deaths.

Concerns over judicial independence in Pakistan

Pakistan’s latest constitutional amendment, adopted without broad consultation, undermines judicial independence and raises serious concerns about military accountability and the rule of law, warned Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Adopted on November 13, the amendment creates a new Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) to handle constitutional cases, thereby depriving the Supreme Court of this role.

It also reviews judicial appointments and transfers, raising concerns about judicial independence, since the president – ​​on the advice of the prime minister – has already appointed the FCC’s first chief justice and judges.

“These changes, taken together, risk subjecting the judiciary to political interference and executive control,” Türk said. “Neither the executive nor the legislature should be able to control or direct the judiciary, and the judiciary should be protected from any form of political influence in its decision-making process. »

Erosion of checks and balances

The amendment also establishes lifetime immunity from criminal prosecution and arrest for the president, field marshal, air force marshal and fleet admiral, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported.OHCHR).

“Immunity provisions as sweeping as these undermine the accountability that is the cornerstone of the human rights framework and democratic control of armed forces under the rule of law,” said the UN human rights chief.

More anti-discrimination laws needed to support minorities

“Diversity is our first teacher,” Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, said at the opening of the Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva on Thursday.

The forum serves as a global platform for topics that concern ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities.

Thursday’s discussion focused on the root causes of exclusion, discrimination and intergroup tensions.

Legal protections canceled

Mr. Türk lamented that minorities remain disproportionately affected by poverty, unemployment and homelessness.

“We are seeing land grabs and displacement, cultural suppression and even forced evictions of ancestral homes and lands to make way for tourism and trade,” he said.

He added that even in democratic countries, some governments are reducing legal protections, reducing participation and hiring quotas, and allowing searches and surveillance.

The digital sphere is no better. About 70 percent of people targeted by hate speech on social media typically belong to minority groups, he continued.

Fight discrimination and hatred

To break the “vicious” cycle of discrimination and hatred, more anti-discrimination laws need to be adopted, Türk stressed, adding that less than a quarter of countries have such legislation.

In addition, minorities must be invited to participate in politics and the workplace, human rights must be included in educational programs and minority rights defenders must be protected, he added.

Finally, he called for investing in reliable data systems to hold accountable those who violate minority rights.

Officials say global outbreaks are accelerating as millions of children remain underimmunized after years of COVID-19 disruptions linked to the pandemic.

“Measles remains one of the most contagious respiratory viruses,“, said Dr. Kate O’Brien, WHODirector of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals.

“One person can infect up to 18 others. Many people think that measles is not serious – but it is and it can be fatal. One in five infected children end up in hospital.

Last year, around 11 million people worldwide were infected, almost 800,000 more than in the pre-pandemic period. Most deaths occurred in children under five, with around 80 percent in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.

“But no child should suffer the consequences of measles,” stressed Dr O’Brien. “Two doses of vaccine provide 95 percent protection. The tragedy is that children are not protected because the system is not reaching them.”

Epidemics have tripled since 2021

Measles epidemics continue to increase sharply. In 2024, 59 countries experienced significant or disruptive outbreaks – almost three times more than in 2021 – and a quarter of them had already eliminated measles.

Only 84 percent of children worldwide received their first dose of measles vaccine last year, but only 76 percent received the crucial second dose – leaving up to 30 million children underprotected. Three-quarters of them were in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, most in conflict-affected or highly mobile communities.

“Measles does not respect borders,“said Diana Chang-Blanc, head of WHO’s essential immunization programme.A country is only protected when all children everywhere are fully vaccinated.»

Why cases are increasing

According to the WHO, three factors are behind this increase:

Pandemic era declineas health workers redirected to COVID-19 response

A large number of children without a dosenow concentrated in fragile and conflict contexts

Weak routine immunization systemseven in otherwise strong health systems

Vaccine misinformation and limited access

Dr. O’Brien also addressed vaccine misinformation, saying misrepresentations — especially online — undermine trust, but noted that gaps in access, not hesitancy, remain the biggest barrier to stopping measles.

“The biggest barrier is access, not hesitation,” she said. “Parents everywhere want the best for their children. What they need is reliable information and a health system that can reach them.»

She nonetheless called on political, community and religious leaders to “share accurate, evidence-based information,” emphasizing that trust is “the beginning, middle and end of successful vaccination programs.”

A chance to correct the situation

More than 11 million children have already been vaccinated thanks to the global “Big Catch-Up” campaign, which will continue until 2025.

But the WHO said countries need stronger surveillance, a faster response to outbreaks and renewed political commitment to achieve the goals of the 2030 Immunization Agenda.

Jeremy Laurence, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said journalists in Geneva that voting was expected to begin on December 28, in what he described as a poll controlled by the military and conducted in an environment “riddled with threats and violence” and actively repressed political participation.

Many major political parties have been excluded and more than 30,000 political opponents – including members of the democratically elected government and political representatives – have since been arrested. the 2021 coup.

“Far from being a process likely to launch a political transition from crisis to stability and the restoration of democratic and civil rule, this process seems almost certain to further entrench insecurity, fear and polarization throughout the country,» said Mr. Laurence.

“The top priority must be to end the violence and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid. »

Civilians caught in the middle

Speaking from Bangkok, James Rodehaver, head of the OHCHR team in Myanmar, said THE The elections take place in an environment where civilians are caught between military pressure to vote and aggressive efforts by armed opposition groups to prevent their participation..

The junta claimed to have granted some 4,000 pardons to people accused or convicted of sedition or incitement. But Mr. Rodehaver said such announcements rarely match reality.

Of the approximately 4,000 people sentenced, only around 550 were seen leaving detention centers, while others were released before being rearrested. At the same time, the military boasted of arresting more than 100 people under recently imposed “election protection rules.”

OHCHR has credible information that three young people were sentenced to 49 years in prison for hanging posters showing a ballot box with a bullet.

AI and biometric tracking

Mr. Rodehaver also raised concerns over electronic-only voting system, introduced alongside expanded surveillance using artificial intelligence and biometric trackingwarning that this risks further undermining confidence in the process.

Humanitarian access is also deteriorating, with civilians forced to return to villages to vote despite insecurity, while the military continues to block aid to conflict-affected areas, a long-standing practice. Nearly 23,000 people remain in detention and “should not have been arrested in the first place,” he said.

U.N. human rights officials noted that the military is presenting the vote as a sign of the end of the crisis, despite the secretary-general’s statements. warning in October, that under current conditions, any election “risks greater exclusion and instability”.

“A masquerade”

Beyond the concerns raised by U.N. officials, Myanmar’s independent rights expert issued an even starker warning about the junta’s election plans.

In its October 2025 report at the General Assembly, Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said the international community should “unequivocally reject and denounce the charade” of the junta’s planned elections.

Mr. Andrews – who is appointed and mandated by the Human Rights Council and is not a UN staff member – said recent institutional changes by the military were only “cosmetic,” intended to reposition the junta for its electoral ploy while power remains concentrated in the hands of military leaders.

Key opposition figures – including Aung San Suu Kyi – remain imprisoned. at least 40 political parties, including the National League for Democracy (NLD), have been dissolved.

New election laws criminalize dissent, restrict digital expression and impose harsh penalties for “disrupting” elections, while large areas of the country remain outside military control, making nationwide voting impossible, the report said.

“Elections organized on the junta’s terms will only deepen divisions and fuel more violence,Mr Andrews warned, adding that while the people of Myanmar are expected to “reject the results as illegitimate”, the junta’s real target audience is the foreign governments whose recognition it seeks.