UN: CSOs, activists demand UN Women rescind its BlackRock partnership (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
Nearly 600 civil society organizations (CSOs) led by women's rights groups and feminist activists from around the world have called on UN Women to immediately rescind its partnership with BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, arguing that it gives BlackRock "a veneer of feminist approval that it clearly does not merit."

WHO: PHEIC declaration on monkeypox falls short on equity (PRIV)
(Nithin Ramakrishnan and K M Gopakumar, Geneva)
The World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has issued a declaration characterizing multi-country outbreak of monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the International Heath Regulation (IHR) 2005.

Brazil: Infrastructure growth threatens Amazon with further deforestation (PRIV)
(IPS, Rio de Janeiro)
The mandatory initial permit granted by Brazil's environmental authority for the re-paving of the BR-319 highway, in the heart of the Amazon jungle, intensified the alarm over the possible irreversible destruction of the rainforest.

Note to Readers: Holiday Notice (PRIV)
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With the WTO in recess and little activity in UN agencies, the SUNS staff will take a short break. The next issue #9636 will appear on 30 August.