MULTILATERAL: Projects for Women Empowerment & more – 7th Oct 2025

Saluton from BA! This is the Rorshok Multilateral Update from the 7th of October twenty twenty-five. A summary of what's going down in the world's major multilateral institutions.

To begin this week, on Friday the 3rd, Danish intelligence released a report accusing Russia of stepping up gray-zone operations against NATO. The assessment says Russian warships and aircraft have been shadowing Danish naval and air units, including locking onto targeting systems, especially in Danish waters and straits. It argues these moves sit just short of open warfare but are aimed at unsettling NATO members and probing defense responses.

The report fits into a broader pattern of hybrid tactics Moscow has used across Europe, from cyberattacks and disinformation to energy pressure and sabotage campaigns, signaling a growing willingness to test the alliance’s resolve. There have already been consistent gray-zone operations that Russia has carried out against NATO, but they are now stepping up these tactics.

Also on Friday the 3rd, the U.S. sharply criticized the Colombian President during a U.N. Security Council meeting, accusing him of undermining peace progress and neglecting the fight against drug trafficking. The U.S. Ambassador called his global and domestic policies failures, linking them to surging violence.

The exchange marked one of the most public rifts yet between the US and Colombia. It also underscored growing U.S. frustration with the Colombian leader’s approach to peace talks and narcotics control, especially as violence from armed groups continues to rise in rural areas.

Last week, the head of the EU called for a united European effort to speed up the development of self-driving vehicles. She pitched a strategy focused especially on mobility, arguing that Europe is trailing the U.S. and China in autonomous car tech. She suggested setting up a network of cities across Europe to test the systems.

Her comments reflect growing concern in the EU that without faster innovation, Europe could lose ground in one of the most transformative sectors of the decade, with major implications for its carmakers, workers, and data standards.

In some unfortunate news, on Thursday the 2nd, the UN Development Program dropped a report warning that Myanmar’s young people are stuck in limbo due to collapsing schooling and dwindling job prospects. The study says about 75% of young people are out of education or training, and nearly a quarter are unemployed, especially in more remote states. Women and rural youth suffer the most.

The worrying news relates to the country’s overall struggles: since the military coup in twenty twenty-one, widespread violence, airstrikes, and arbitrary arrests have displaced millions of people from their homes. Many villages have been burned, and civilians have faced food shortages, lack of medical care, and restricted access to humanitarian aid. The conflict has also created a generation of children without access to education and has forced many families to flee to neighboring countries in search of safety.

Next up, on Tuesday the 30th of September, the Economic Community of West African States rolled out a new program to empower women traders across West Africa. The six-month initiative will offer business training, mentoring, access to finance, and digital tools, aiming to help women scale operations and better engage in cross-border trade. The pilot is expected to include about 800 women and will later expand across more countries.

On a similar note, on Tuesday the 1st, Bahrain announced a $200,000 US dollar contribution to the World Trade Organization, or WTO, which will help women entrepreneurs break into digital trade. The fund provides small grants, mentoring, and access to global networks for women-led businesses.

Bahrain has maintained an active relationship with the WTO since joining in nineteen ninety-five, and has participated in various trade negotiations and dispute settlements while promoting regional integration through the Gulf Cooperation Council.

In other news, on Saturday the 4th, agriculture and forestry ministers from across the Association of South East Asian Nations, or ASEAN, pledged to step up regional trade and cooperation. They agreed to strengthen supply chains, use climate-smart practices, and support sustainable land and water management. They also committed to pushing agriculture digitization and strengthening regional food security efforts.

Luckily, this kind of cooperation is not new for the Association: ASEAN nations began cooperating on environmental protection in the nineteen seventies, recognizing the shared challenges of pollution and resource management. The nineteen eighty-one ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources was an early milestone, followed by initiatives on haze pollution, biodiversity, and climate change. Over time, ASEAN has developed regional action plans and frameworks to promote sustainable development and strengthen environmental governance across member states.

In health updates, on Thursday the 2nd, the World Health Organization published two reports spotlighting the current state of tests and treatments under development to tackle bacterial infections. One outlines drugs in both clinical and early research stages; the number in the pipeline has dropped slightly since twenty twenty-three. Only a small share is truly novel, and very few target the most dangerous bacteria.

The other report surveys diagnostics either already in use or being developed to spot priority pathogens.

On Wednesday the 1st, the Pan American Health Organization and Haiti’s government inked their Country Cooperation Strategy for twenty twenty-six–twenty twenty-eight agreement. The deal lays out three strategic goals: bolster the health system, promote prevention and control of major diseases, and build readiness to respond to health shocks through a linked humanitarian-development-peace approach.

The blueprint is tailored to Haiti’s fragile context, aiming to guide collaborative work that meets national priorities and improves access to care.

On the same day, the Food and Agriculture Organization announced bold steps to strengthen livestock health and sustainability, following its Global Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation. The agency said it will launch two new hubs: one focused on One Health data and intelligence, the other on livestock innovation. It will also roll out a Global Challenge Program tackling cross-border animal diseases.

Meanwhile, on Friday the 3rd, the International Organization for Migration and the African Development Bank signed a landmark memorandum of understanding to deepen cooperation across three major areas: migration governance, diaspora involvement and internal displacement. The deal sets out to build joint initiatives, including those that support climate-displaced populations, improve cross-border mobility, and integrate migration into development planning.

More on development finance, as on Monday the 30th of September, the Inter-American Development Bank approved a $160 million US dollar loan to the Bahamas to boost its capacity in disaster risk management. This is the second batch of funding: the first loan helped establish the legal framework, including the approval of the Disaster Risk Management Act.

The new funds will be used to develop key policies, build an information system for past and projected disasters, train public officials in risk evaluation, and integrate resilience into public infrastructure planning.

In oil news, on Sunday the 5th, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced a slight bump in November’s oil output, with an increase of 137,000 barrels per day. They said the move reflects a relatively stable global economy and healthy market signals, though they left the door open to reversing the change if conditions shift.

For our final story this week, on Thursday the 2nd, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe held a workshop in Kazakhstan to explore how social media can be used to prevent youth crime. Officials, social workers, and young people gathered to map out messaging strategies, choose suitable platforms, and discuss how to promote integrity, discourage drugs, and resist corruption. Participants said their input will help shape the national awareness campaign.

The event is part of a longer project, backed by Germany and other donors, aiming to boost the prevention of youth crime and drug use across member states.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Got any feedback? Send us an email at info@rorshok.com.

See you next week!