New UN websites & publications
TOPIC OF THE MONTH: Wildfires
https://www.preventionweb.net/hubs/wildfire
As severe wildfires affect multiple regions across the globe, access to reliable knowledge and practical solutions is more important than ever. PreventionWeb’s new Wildfire Portal brings together trusted research, data, policy guidance and real-world experiences to help the disaster risk reduction community better understand and manage wildfire risk.
Further information:
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – Managing wildfires: https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/forests/what-we-do/managing-wildfires
- World Health Organization (WHO) – Wildfires: https://www.who.int/health-topics/wildfires
- UNRIC Library Backgrounder on Forests – Special section on forest/wildfires: https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-forests/
UN in General
A/81/1 – Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization
English, French & Spanish: https://docs.un.org/A/81/1
German: https://www.un.org/german/sites/default/files/2026-08/a81-1.pdf
Introduction: “In a world marked by turbulence, division and uncertainty, the United Nations is more necessary than ever. This report offers a clear and grounded account of the work carried out across the Organization, and of the real and often life-saving impact delivered by the women and men who serve under the United Nations flag. Across continents and crises, United Nations teams have continued to work for peace, advance sustainable development and protect and promote human rights. They have delivered humanitarian aid in the most difficult circumstances. They have brought countries together to seek solutions to shared challenges, from the climate crisis to the uncontrolled expansion of digital technologies. They have worked to uphold international law through the Charter of the United Nations and the International Court of Justice to settle disputes peacefully and uphold international legal obligations.”
Thando and Freddy’s Big Adventure with NELSON MANDELA (UNIC Pretoria / UN in South Africa)
https://southafrica.un.org/en/download/212396/318050
This book is about the small but powerful things you can do every day to help create a kinder, fairer, and more caring world.
Welcome to Thando and Freddy’s big adventure with Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Mandela, lovingly known as Tata Madiba, believed that every child matter and that each of us has the power to make a difference through kindness, courage, respect, and helping others.
Madiba believed in the spirit of Ubuntu, meaning “I am because we are.” Ubuntu teaches us that we are all connected, and when we care for others, support one another, and treat people with kindness and respect, we help build a stronger world.
This book connects Madiba’s values to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are 17 goals that countries around the world created to make life better for everyone by protecting our planet, improving health and education, reducing poverty, promoting peace, and making sure no one is left behind.
Economic Growth and Sustainable Development
https://unece.org/info/publications/pub/413895
From 2020 to 2025, the UNECE Group of Experts on Assessment of Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation for Inland Transport studied how evolving climate conditions will affect transport systems across the region. Their findings underscore the urgent need to adapt infrastructure—such as roads, railways, ports, airports, and terminals—to withstand increasingly frequent and severe weather events.
This report serves as a comprehensive resource, offering insights into future climate scenarios, relevant policy and legal frameworks, impact assessment methods, and case studies of real-world adaptation actions. It also outlines priorities for future work, such as standardized incident reporting, evaluation of adaptation strategies, nature-based solutions, and assessing climate impacts on commercial contracts.
Europe’s Fiscal Squeeze: Tackling Rising Spending Pressures (IMF Departmental Paper No 2026/012)
https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229049306.087
European countries face rising spending pressures and higher interest costs that could sharply increase debt and threaten growth if left unaddressed. The paper argues that maintaining fiscal sustainability requires a coordinated strategy combining structural reforms and fiscal consolidation, and in some cases deeper changes to the role of government, as incremental approaches are no longer sufficient.
https://www.undp.org/publications/food-and-power-initiative-power-mapping-tool
Power relations shape every aspect of food systems—from who decides policy and allocates resources to whose voices are heard and who benefits from innovation. Transforming food systems therefore requires more than technical solutions; it demands a clear understanding of the underlying power dynamics that determine access to resources, influence decision-making and perpetuate inequities. The Food & Power Initiative (FPI), led by UNDP, has developed a Power Mapping Methodology to help country teams uncover and address these dynamics in order to accelerate inclusive, resilient and sustainable food-system transformation.
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240119406
This report presents the findings of the Global Research Prioritization Exercise (GRPE) on health, migration and displacement in the context of climate change, the first thematic prioritization initiative developed under the WHO Global research agenda on health, migration and displacement. Recognizing climate change as an increasingly important driver of migration and displacement and a determinant of health, the report addresses critical evidence gaps concerning the health of migrant and displaced populations throughout the migration journey. Using a structured and participatory methodology that included a scoping review, technical consultations and stakeholder surveys, the exercise identified priority research areas and knowledge gaps to support evidence-informed policy and practice.
https://www.itu.int/digital-resilience/submarine-cables/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/IAB-Publication-2026.pdf
The International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience on 10 July 2026 approved its final report, including explanations of recommendations to strengthen the resilience of submarine telecommunication cables — the critical infrastructure that carries more than 99 per cent of data traffic worldwide.
Submarine telecommunication cables are the lifeline of the global digital economy, supporting international communication and finance among other key services. Disruptions to the cables from human activity and natural hazards can affect essential government and industry operations as well as individual access to education, healthcare and banking.
Key challenges to submarine cable resilience highlighted in the report include high exposure to physical risks, increased time needed for repair, geographical concentration of infrastructure, and high dependence of many countries on a small number of cable systems—particularly small island developing states (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and other underserved regions.
The report further develops Advisory Body recommendations agreed earlier this year across three key areas: timely deployment and repair; risk identification, monitoring and mitigation; and fostering connectivity and geographical diversity.
https://doi.org/10.4060/ce0560en
International prices of coffee, cocoa and tea have recently experienced large fluctuations, exacerbated by structural vulnerabilities, according to this new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), highlighting the need to strengthen production systems, improve market transparency and support a more balanced distribution of value across the value chain to enhance market stability and protect livelihoods.
Drawing on new evidence, the report finds that short-term real price movements are driven predominantly by changes in supply and demand conditions, which account for more than 90 percent of observed price dynamics. At the same time, expectations about future market conditions can shape market participants’ behaviour, at times reinforcing price movements even before underlying supply or demand shifts fully materialize. The findings further suggest that broader macroeconomic conditions play a comparatively limited role in explaining short-term price fluctuations for these products.
https://unhabitat.org/sdg-11-global-report-2026-housing-at-the-centre-of-sustainable-cities-and-communities
The world is off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) on sustainable cities and communities, ten years after its adoption, according to the SDG 11 Global Report 2026, launched on 9 July 2026 by UN-Habitat during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
Prepared with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UNDRR, WHO, UNODC, UNESCO, UNEP and other partners, the report presents the United Nations system’s joint assessment of progress towards achieving SDG 11.
The report identifies the global housing crisis as one of the greatest barriers to sustainable urban development. Today, more than 3 billion people lack access to adequate housing, including over 1.1 billion living in informal settlements and slums.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000398672
The International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024-2033) is harnessing the full spectrum of sciences to address compounding global crises such as climate disruption, inequality and the governance of emerging technologies like AI and quantum science. Launched on 15 July 2026, its Global Report assesses the first two years into the Decade, drawing on data from 397 endorsed scientific initiatives across 79 countries. It documents an unprecedented response from the global scientific community: USD 50 million in confirmed funding mobilized, and projects supporting all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Yet the same data exposes a sharp imbalance. Africa accounts for less than 10% of the Decade’s initiatives despite representing 17.5% of the world’s population. Meanwhile among participating initiatives, 40% identified coordination rather than funding as their primary barrier, pointing to a governance gap that money alone cannot close.
https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/49692
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is helping turn satellite observations into methane mitigation action in the oil and gas sector. These mitigation efforts have delivered a climate benefit comparable to removing the annual emissions of almost 24 million gasoline-powered passenger cars, according to this new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released on 15 July 2026.
The report highlights how UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) is using AI, through its Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), to identify major methane emissions and rapidly notify governments and companies of opportunities to act. Since becoming fully operational in 2024, MARS has contributed to more than 40 methane mitigation actions worldwide.
With more than 30 satellites generating vast amounts of data on methane emissions, humans struggle to process this information and enable action at scale.AI dramatically speeds this process up, enabling IMEO analysts to process 12 to 15 times more data while maintaining scientific rigour. AI-assisted workflows identified 80–85 per cent of confirmed methane detections before expert review, helping to mitigate sources estimated to have emitted 1.2 million tonnes of methane.
https://doi.org/10.4060/cd8306en
see also: Hunger Map 2026 – https://www.fao.org/interactive/hunger-map/en/
Global hunger declined for a third consecutive year in 2025, demonstrating that progress is possible. However, the improvements remain fragile, unevenly distributed and insufficient to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 (SOFI 2026) report, released on 21 July 2026 by five United Nations specialized agencies.
The report estimates that 7.8 percent of the global population faced hunger in 2025, down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and 8.6 percent in 2022, confirming a sustained, albeit slow, improvement. This means that around 645 million people were affected by hunger in 2025, representing a reduction of nearly 14 million compared to 2024 and 43 million compared to 2022.
Despite global progress, recovery remains uneven across regions. Asia, together with Latin America and the Caribbean, has recorded steady improvements in recent years. In contrast, Africa is now home to approximately 309 million hungry people, compared with 292 million in Asia. Although Africa’s previously rising trend is beginning to stabilize, with the share of its population facing hunger decreasing from 20.3 percent in 2024 to 20.0 percent in 2025, the continent now has the highest number of hungry people in absolute terms amid a rapidly growing population.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 191: Institutionalizing foresight: integrating futures thinking into public sector planning
https://desapublications.un.org/policy-briefs/un-desa-policy-brief-no-191-institutionalizing-foresight-integrating-futures-thinking
Strategic foresight and strategic planning work best together, creating an adaptive governance system that manages current volatility while preparing for future uncertainties, accelerating progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and shaping the post-2030 development framework. When foresight is properly embedded, organizations become more resilient, anticipate disruptions earlier, and make demonstrably better strategic choices under uncertainty.
UN DESA Policy Brief No. 192: Expanding footprints, growing challenges: built-up areas are outpacing population growth worldwide
https://desapublications.un.org/policy-briefs/un-desa-policy-brief-no-192-expanding-footprints-growing-challenges-built-areas-are
This brief draws on these data to document the divergence between built-up area expansion and population growth at the global level and across country income groups, to examine trends in agricultural land that help explain what is driving rural built-up area expansion, and to set out the implications for policy.
https://www.undrr.org/publication/documents-and-publications/waves-change-urban-resilience-pathways-flood-and-water
This publication explores how cities across Europe and Central Asia are responding to the growing risks of floods, droughts and water scarcity. Drawing on case studies from the MCR2030 network, it examines practical approaches to improve risk knowledge, governance and implementation, helping cities build more resilient and sustainable water systems.
The report finds that the most resilient cities combine robust risk data, coordinated governance, sustained investment and community engagement. It highlights solutions such as early warning systems, nature-based approaches, water reuse, digital monitoring and integrated planning, while recommending stronger collaboration, long-term financing and risk-informed urban development to prepare for future water challenges.
https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2026/07/women-farmers-caring-for-people-and-planet-sustaining-land-water-and-biodiversity
The year 2026 has been declared the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF) by the United Nations General Assembly, recognizing women farmers’ essential contributions to food systems, rural economies, and environmental stewardship worldwide. It is a call to confront the structural inequalities that continue to limit women’s rights, opportunities, and leadership across food and agricultural sectors.
This UN Women portrait was created to place the diversity of women farmers’ voices and experiences at the center of global dialogues and action on sustainable development and food systems. While each portrait reflects an individual journey, together these stories demonstrate the broader impact of investing in women’s leadership, resilience, and economic empowerment. They showcase how UN Women’s Global Programming Framework on Climate Action and Green-Blue Economies is advancing climate-resilient agriculture, food security, and sustainable livelihoods, contributing to more inclusive and sustainable development outcomes.
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/45296
The World Development Report 2026 assesses what artificial intelligence (AI), as a general-purpose technology, means for 5.6 billion people living in low- and middle-income countries and how it could address development challenges that have resisted solutions for decades. Advancing the AI frontier that relies on semiconductors, data centers, AI-ready training data, and top-level research talent is out of reach for most developing countries in the near term. But adopting AI that is available in the market is not enough because AI’s effectiveness depends on the local context. Adapting AI to solve defined problems in developing countries can do in a decade what might have otherwise taken a century – diagnosing disease, growing small businesses, advising farmers, and delivering public services.
https://www.imf.org/en/publications/weo/issues/2026/07/08/world-economic-outlook-update-july-2026
Global growth is projected at 3.0 percent for 2026 and 3.4 percent for 2027, broadly unchanged cumulatively from the April 2026 World Economic Outlook. The outlook is uneven: The war shock is weighing on energy importers and vulnerable economies, while AI-driven demand is lifting countries integrated into the global technology value chain.
Global disinflation has stalled. Risks are more balanced than in April, but downside risks from renewed conflict and financial market repricing persist. Policymakers should preserve price stability, rebuild fiscal space, and strengthen adaptability.
International Peace and Security
https://doi.org/10.37559/CWP/26/WAM/09
The link between the spread of illicit arms and armed conflict seems clear: without arms, there would be no armed conflict. The United Nations acknowledges in principle that conventional arms control tools can aid in conflict management. Yet structural, political and capacity challenges – plus a sometimes limited awareness among Member States about these tools – often stifle their application in practice. Much more can be done to address some of these challenges, to take greater advantage of emergent opportunities, and to further deepen understanding of how such conventional arms control tools can contribute to peace and security.
To help address this gap, this report assesses the perspectives of members of the United Nations Security Council on the value and use of conventional arms control tools for preventing and mitigating conflict and other forms of armed violence. It describes several principal challenges facing the Council as well as promising avenues for Council members and other interested parties to better understand how practical arms control tools can enhance the UN’s mission of conflict prevention, management and resolution. The report includes a number of concrete recommendations and pathways for incoming and serving Security Council members and United Nations entities to strengthen conventional arms control in the Council’s work.
Food Insecurity and Violent Extremism: UNICRI’s Strategic Response (UNICRI)
https://unicri.org/Publications-Food-insecurity-and-violent-extremism-UNICRI-strategic-response-July-2026
Food insecurity is one of today’s most pressing humanitarian and development challenges. In fragile settings, however, it can also become a factor that violent extremist groups exploit to strengthen their influence, recruit supporters and undermine community resilience. Recognizing these interconnected risks, UNICRI has released this new publication that examines the nexus between food insecurity and violent extremism and presents a strategic framework to support more integrated prevention efforts.
The publication argues that while food insecurity is not a direct cause of violent extremism, it can amplify existing vulnerabilities where conflict, weak governance, economic instability and climate-related pressures converge. Understanding these dynamics is essential for designing effective prevention strategies.
The publication also highlights how violent extremist groups exploit disrupted food systems through coercion, extortion, manipulation of aid, control of markets and strategic attacks on agricultural infrastructure, while identifying concrete opportunities to strengthen resilience through coordinated action across humanitarian, development and security sectors.
https://unidir.org/publication/international-humanitarian-law-and-cyber-operations-consequences-of-divergent-national-interpretations-of-attack-and-data/
The application of international humanitarian law (IHL) to cyber operations during armed conflict is complex. Even after more than a decade of multilateral discussions in such forums as the United Nations Groups of Governmental Experts and Open-Ended Working Groups, a common understanding of how IHL applies in cyberspace – the information and communications technology (ICT) domain – remains elusive.
Notably, there are divergent interpretations of “attack” and of whether “digital data” is an object under IHL. This deficiency of clarity, particularly concerning what constitutes permissible or impermissible cyber behaviour in armed conflict, could inhibit legal protections of civilians and civilian objects.
In an effort to facilitate future multilateral discussions on how international law, and in particular IHL, applies to cyber operations, this report highlights two main interpretive approaches found in scholarship and, most importantly, national positions on international law in cyberspace:
• A restrictive interpretation, which limits the notion of “attack” under IHL to cyber operations that cause physical harm and generally excludes digital data as an object.
• An expansive interpretation, which includes operations that result in a “loss of functionality” within the notion of attack and considers essential civilian data as a legally protected object.
Ultimately, the report argues that the incremental convergence of common understanding, while unlikely to ever achieve absolute uniformity, is crucial for establishing clearer international limits on the use of ICTs in armed conflict.
Human Rights
Business and Human Rights in Conflict: Gum Arabic from Sudan (OHCHR Briefing Paper)
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/sudan/2026-07-15-sudan-trend-analysis-report.pdf
Sudan’s war economy is helping to sustain the three-year-long conflict, exposing global supply chains to serious human rights risks, this UN Human Rights Office report published on 15 July 2026 warns. It calls on all parties to the conflict, and States and corporations involved in Sudan’s gum arabic value chain, to ensure compliance with international law.
As the costs of sustaining military operations have grown, warring parties have relied on the control and exploitation of territory, trade routes and commodities to generate revenue — contributing to what the report describes as an “increasingly self-perpetuating” conflict.
A compendium on Medicide: A sub-text to Reproductive Genocide: A Public Health Crisis / issued by the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/tools-and-resources/compendium-medicide-sub-text-reproductive-genocide-public-health
This compendium presents the analysis and recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, on the concept of reproductive genocide, a subtext of “medicide” as a public health crisis. Medicide, defined as the deliberate and systematic targeting of hospitals, medical workers and patients — and reproductive harm, violence, genocide, understood as the policies, practices and conditions that destroy the reproductive health and life-giving capacities of communities subjected to military violence and occupation. Drawing on her annual thematic reports, consultations with rights holders, legal analysis, academic research, and the latest resolution adopted at the sixty-second HRC session (62/18), which for the first time expressly recognises reproductive violence, the Special Rapporteur examines the gendered dimensions of conflict and genocide with particular reference to Gaza and Sudan through a right-to-health framework. She calls for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire; the protection of health facilities and workers; accountability and reparations for reproductive harm, violence and genocide; and the establishment of an independent international medical body empowered to prevent genocide.
Impact of anti-personnel mines on human rights: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (A/HRC/62/34, 12 May 2026)
English, French & Spanish: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc6234-impact-anti-personnel-mines-human-rights-report-united-nations
In the present report, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights details the impact of anti-personnel mines on the enjoyment of all human rights, with particular emphasis on economic, social and cultural rights. In the report, the High Commissioner highlights the different types of negative human rights impacts resulting from anti-personnel mines, and considers measures to address those impacts, including refraining from the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention and transfer of anti-personnel mines; providing protection against the adverse impacts of anti-personnel mines; and ensuring the rights of survivors and other affected individuals and communities.
https://unece.org/info/publications/pub/415550
On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, 30 July 2026, UNECE and the International Union of Railways (UIC) have released new recommendations to help governments and railway operators prevent, detect and respond to human trafficking across railway networks.
Despite the railway sector’s strategic role in combating human trafficking, there has been limited international guidance specifically tailored to railway operations. The new UNECE-UIC recommendations address this gap by providing practical, evidence-based measures that can be incorporated into railway security, operational and procurement policies.
Humanitarian Affairs
https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2026/07/beyond-the-breaking-point-the-continuing-impact-of-funding-cuts-on-womens-organizations-in-humanitarian-settings
The publication presents new evidence on how sustained reductions in humanitarian funding are affecting women-led and women’s rights organizations—and the women and girls who depend on them. Building on UN Women’s 2025 assessment of the initial impacts of funding reductions, the report draws on a global survey of 855 predominantly local and national women-led and women’s rights organizations operating across 52 countries and contexts, complemented by interviews with women civil society leaders and crisis-affected women.
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/45267
This paper examines Spain’s 2022 immigration reform, which relaxed the eligibility requirements of the country’s continuous regularization system, thereby accelerating pathways to legal status without introducing a one-off amnesty. Combining administrative and survey data, we exploit the reform using complementary generalized difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, and instrumental variables strategies to estimate its effects on migration flows, immigrant labor market outcomes, and local economic conditions. We find no evidence that the reform generated “magnet effects”: neither immigration inflows nor the stock of irregular migrants increased following its implementation. Instead, the reform substantially shortened the period spent in irregular status, reducing undocumented immigrants’ waiting time for legal residence by approximately one year. While earlier access to legal status led to some suggestive improvements in job quality and labor market trajectories, we find limited evidence of short-run employment gains. We argue that this pattern is consistent with negative selection among immigrants regularized under the post-reform regime.
https://www.undrr.org/publication/documents-and-publications/leveraging-ai-enhance-multi-hazard-early-warning-systems
This report assesses current applications of AI across all four MHEWS pillars, identifies operational gaps where AI can add value, and outlines the conditions required for responsible and effective implementation of AI. It builds on the work of the AI for EW4All Group, by drawing on global case studies, partner experience, and emerging research. Across the report, AI is best understood as an enabling technology – one that enhances speed, scale, and analytical capacity, while remaining dependent on strong institutions, governance frameworks, and human expertise.
https://data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/123284
More than four years after the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, millions of people remain forcibly displaced. Over 3.8 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine and nearly 5.8 million refugees from Ukraine are recorded globally, over 5.2 million of them in European states. Against this backdrop of protracted displacement and continued uncertainty, understanding displaced people’s intentions and the factors that shape their decisions is critical for guiding durable solutions and for informing policy responses in host countries and in Ukraine.
This seventh Lives on Hold report presents findings from 4,375 interviews with refugee households across Europe, conducted between December 2025 and January 2026. The surveys, implemented by Ipsos SA, used a mixed methodology (phone and web based interviews), combining longitudinal follow up of earlier respondents with new respondents recruited through online panels and a large scale SMS based approach.
Justice and International Law
https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/49763
Countries around the world are increasingly turning Just Transition pledges into laws, policies, institutions, and court decisions. This is the key finding of this report published on 28 July 2026 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released ahead of the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of climate change.
This report concludes that just transition should be approached through an environmental rule-of-law lens. It frames Just Transition as the fair, inclusive and rights-based transformation towards sustainable and resilient economies and societies that respects environmental rule of law. It spans diverse stakeholders (e.g., workers, Indigenous Peoples), sectors (e.g., energy, mining, construction, and agriculture), and timeframes, in order to rectify past harms and address intergenerational justice.
Drug Control, Crime Prevention and Counter-terrorism
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/prison/Prison_Matters_2026.pdf
18th July marks Nelson Mandela International Day, an occasion on which the world honors the legacy of the late South African president. Throughout his life, Nelson Mandela advocated for the fair and human treatment of all, including prisoners.
To mark the occasion of Nelson Mandela International Day, UNODC has released its third Prison Matters brief, bringing together the latest estimates on the global prison population and trends, with new data on the contribution of community actors to rehabilitation efforts in prisons and to supporting ex-offenders’ social reintegration.
https://hdl.handle.net/10986/45197
Corruption remains a critical barrier to development – undermining public trust, diverting resources from essential services, and impeding economic growth. While traditional anticorruption strategies have focused on legal, regulatory, and institutional reforms, persistent challenges and uneven results from these investments highlight the need for complementary approaches. This policy note introduces a behavioral insights approach to anticorruption, emphasizing the importance of understanding and responding to human factors that drive corrupt behavior. Drawing on recent evidence and practical examples, the note presents an analytical framework for diagnosing the behavioral drivers of corruption and designing targeted interventions. It highlights how integrating behavioral insights alongside institutional reforms can enhance the effectiveness, sustainability, and equity of efforts to address administrative and financial corruption. It explores the incentives, cognitive biases, social norms, and contextual pressures that shape the interactions between public officials, citizens, and private sector actors. The note aims to equip policy makers, practitioners, and project teams with actionable tools to identify context-specific challenges, dynamically adapt promising practices, and implement interventions that make integrity the easier choice.
Newsletter Archive: https://unric.org/en/unric-info-point-library-newsletter-archive