5 October 2026
Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court unsealed four arrest warrants in the Afghanistan situation on 5 October 2026. The warrants, issued on 8 July 2025 and 9 September 2025, name Haibatullah Akhundzada, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Habibullah Agha and Neda Mohammad Nadim. The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe they ordered, induced or solicited the crime against humanity of persecution under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute. The persecution was on gender grounds against girls, women and others not conforming to Taliban gender policy, and on political grounds against "allies of girls and women". The ICC says these crimes are believed to have been committed in Afghanistan from 15 August 2021 until at least 20 January 2025.
Warrants unsealed:
4
Provision:
article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute
Unsealed on:
5 October 2026
Period covered by the warrants:
15 August 2021 to 20 January 2025
Why it matters for exams: International criminal law: Rome Statute article 7 and the ICC's reading of 'gender'.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Rome Statute Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court — The treaty that set up the ICC and defines its crimes.
Pre-Trial Chamber Pre-Trial Chamber — The ICC bench that decides on arrest warrants before any trial.
5 October 2026
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called an early general election for 29 November. The decision followed the lower house, Congress, voting down two housing decrees put forward by his government on Friday. The first decree was rejected by 172 votes in favour to 178 against. The decrees were meant to answer public anger over housing affordability after the televised eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid. Sánchez spent the weekend consulting ministers and Socialist Party (PSOE) figures before deciding. His coalition has struggled to win votes in Congress amid corruption cases and a migration crisis in Ceuta.
Election date:
29 November
First decree vote:
172 for, 178 against
Decrees rejected:
2
Why it matters for exams: Parliamentary systems: dissolution and early elections in a European democracy.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
PSOE Spanish Socialist Workers' Party — The Socialist Party that Prime Minister Sánchez leads.
3 October 2026
On 3 October 2026 the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported a total of 8 442 confirmed Ebola cases, including 4 080 related deaths (data up to 2 October). That is 66 new cases and 38 deaths since the previous report. Ituri remains the worst-hit province with 6 370 cases and 2 933 deaths; North Kivu has 1 657 cases and 979 deaths. Overall, 64 of 167 health zones across seven provinces are affected. The outbreak is caused by Bundibugyo virus. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says a healthcare worker who tested positive on 29 September was evacuated to the Netherlands.
Confirmed cases:
8 442
Related deaths:
4 080
Ituri province:
6 370 cases, 2 933 deaths
Health zones affected:
64 of 167
Why it matters for exams: Global health: a Bundibugyo-virus Ebola outbreak and how disease agencies track it.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ECDC European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control — The European Union agency that tracks infectious disease threats.
5 October 2026
A laboratory technician at the Irkutsk anti-plague research institute in Siberia died on 2 October. Her death was attributed to pneumonia of unknown aetiology, and about 200 contacts were placed under medical observation. The case is being treated as a suspected pneumonic plague; Russian authorities have not confirmed a plague outbreak, and the consumer protection agency Rospotrebnadzor said expanded sample testing found no microorganisms associated with her work. The European Commission said it is monitoring "very closely" and is using the WHO to get updates. The WHO said, based on unofficial information, that the public health risk to the general population appears to be low. Pneumonic plague is caused by Yersinia pestis and responds to antibiotics if caught early.
Contacts under observation:
200
Date of death:
2 October
Pathogen:
Yersinia pestis
Why it matters for exams: Disease surveillance: pneumonic plague and how WHO and regional bodies respond to a suspected outbreak.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Pneumonic plague Pneumonic plague — A fast-moving lung infection caused by Yersinia pestis that spreads through respiratory droplets.
5 October 2026
Intense fighting in Yemen has forced more than 184,000 people from their homes since the start of August, most of them since early September, the International Organization for Migration said on 5 October 2026. In the week to 3 October alone nearly 21,800 people were displaced, a 26 per cent rise on the previous week. IOM Director General Amy Pope called for humanitarian access. The WHO has recorded more than 5,100 casualties since 6 August, including 959 deaths, and says cholera cases have tripled in as many weeks. The World Food Programme welcomed the release of one detained staff member; 72 UN personnel remain detained.
People displaced since August:
more than 184,000
Displaced in week to 3 October:
nearly 21,800
Deaths since 6 August (WHO):
959
UN personnel still detained:
72
Why it matters for exams: Humanitarian crises: displacement figures and the roles of IOM, WHO and WFP.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
IOM International Organization for Migration — The UN migration agency that tracks and assists displaced people.
5 October 2026
On 5 October 2026, three years after the attack, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said "nothing can justify these atrocities". He recalled that more than 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed and 251 people were abducted into Gaza as hostages. He also noted UN agencies' figures that Israeli attacks have killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza, including 20,000 children. Guterres urged all parties to implement their commitments and move to the next phase of the October 2025 ceasefire under Security Council resolution 2803. He said the ceasefire should become permanent and aid should flow at scale.
Hostages abducted:
251
Killed on 7 October:
more than 1,200
Ceasefire resolution:
Security Council resolution 2803
Why it matters for exams: UN system: the Secretary-General's role and Security Council resolution 2803 on the Gaza ceasefire.
Kerala PSCUPSC
5 October 2026
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned on 5 October 2026 that the world is running out of time to put guardrails on artificial intelligence. Speaking at an AI and Human Rights Summit in Oxford, he called for mandatory human rights safeguards and due diligence in AI development and use. He urged action to prohibit machines from deciding who lives and who dies. He welcomed two UN initiatives, the Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, and a joint call backed by 29 States and the European Union for tighter control of frontier AI models.
Venue:
AI and Human Rights Summit, Oxford
States backing joint call:
29 States and the European Union
Why it matters for exams: AI governance: UN initiatives and the human rights case for regulation.
Kerala PSCUPSC
5 October 2026
The World Food Programme strongly condemned an airstrike on two clearly marked aid trucks in South Kordofan, Sudan, early on Saturday. A driver was killed. The contracted trucks were carrying WFP food between Dilling and Kadugli. The attack came a day after a WFP truck hit an explosive device in Dilling. WFP called for a prompt and impartial investigation. The Sudanese Armed Forces and former allies the Rapid Support Forces have been fighting since April 2023. The UN aid office OCHA said more than 30 million people needed humanitarian assistance last year.
Trucks hit:
2
Route:
Dilling to Kadugli
War began:
April 2023
People needing aid last year:
more than 30 million
Why it matters for exams: Conflicts and humanitarian law: the Sudan war and protection of aid workers.
Kerala PSCUPSC
1 October 2026
The International Labour Organization said in a preliminary assessment that Nepal's flash floods have severely disrupted employment and livelihoods. The catastrophic flooding in late August was triggered by a glacier collapse on the border with China. More than 1,450 people were killed and 5,786 are still missing, according to the authorities. The ILO estimates some 21,400 employed people live within four kilometres of the flood footprint. Two overland routes with China, Rasuwa and Tatopani, accounted for some 22 per cent of Nepal's imports from China over the past year.
Killed:
more than 1,450
Missing:
5,786
Employed people near flood footprint:
some 21,400
Imports from China via Rasuwa and Tatopani:
some 22 per cent
Why it matters for exams: Disasters and the economy: glacier-collapse floods and their effect on jobs and trade.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
ILO International Labour Organization — The UN agency that sets labour standards and tracks work and livelihoods.
Background
The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties was adopted at Vienna on 23 May 1969 by the United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties, and it has been in force since 27 January 1980. The General Assembly convened that conference by resolution 2166 (XXI), working from a final draft of the International Law Commission whose last Special Rapporteur was Sir Humphrey Waldock. The Convention applies to written treaties between States, excluding treaties concluded by international organizations; a separate convention of 1986 covers those. It prohibits reservations that are incompatible with the object and purpose of the treaty to which they relate, in article 19 (c). Its rule of interpretation makes the object and purpose of a treaty, and its context, guidelines for reading the text. Articles 53 and 64 introduced the concept of jus cogens, a peremptory norm of international law, into positive international law. The conference accepted the final text by 79 votes to 1, with 19 abstentions.
Adopted at:
Vienna, 23 May 1969
In force since:
27 January 1980
Jus cogens articles:
Articles 53 and 64
Final vote:
79 votes to 1, with 19 abstentions
Why it matters for exams: The Convention is the standard reference for how treaties are made, read, suspended and ended, and jus cogens, reservations and interpretation are repeatedly asked in international law questions.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
jus cogens peremptory norm of general international law — A rule so fundamental that a treaty conflicting with it is void.
ILC International Law Commission — The United Nations body of legal experts that drafts and codifies international law.
Background
The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted at Geneva on 28 July 1951 and entered into force in 1954; the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees was done at New York on 31 January 1967. Article 1A, paragraph 2 of the Convention defines a refugee as a person outside their country of origin who is unable or unwilling to return or to seek its protection on account of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion. As first drafted, that definition covered only those who became refugees by reason of events occurring before 1 January 1951, and the conference added an option allowing States to limit their obligations to refugees from events in Europe. The General Assembly took note of the Protocol in resolution 2198 (XXI); the Protocol required just six ratifications and lets a State apply the Convention's provisions without becoming party to the Convention itself. The core protection is non-refoulement, from the French refouler, to drive back or repel: no refugee should be returned to a country where he or she would be at risk of persecution, subject to a narrow security and serious-crime exception added by the 1951 conference. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was set up by resolution 428 (V) with effect from 1 January 1951, with a mandate unconstrained by geographical or temporal limits.
Convention adopted:
Geneva, 28 July 1951
Protocol done at:
New York, 31 January 1967
Original cut-off:
events occurring before 1 January 1951
Ratifications the Protocol needed:
six
Why it matters for exams: Examiners test the refugee definition, the non-refoulement rule and the exact relationship between the Convention and its Protocol.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
non-refoulement prohibition on returning a refugee to danger — The rule that no refugee may be sent back to a country where he or she risks persecution.
Background
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly at Paris on 9 December 1948. It entered into force on 12 January 1951, once the twenty ratifications required by article XIII had been obtained. The term genocide was first used by Raphael Lemkin in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, published in late 1944. General Assembly resolution 96 (I) affirmed that genocide is a crime under international law and mandated the preparation of a draft convention. Drafting ran in three stages: a Secretariat text, a reworking by an ad hoc committee, and negotiation in the Sixth Committee of the General Assembly, which agreed the final text. The Secretariat's experts had divided genocide into physical, biological and cultural genocide, but the Sixth Committee voted to exclude cultural genocide from the Convention. One exception was kept: the forcible transfer of children from one group to another remains a punishable act.
Adopted at:
Paris, 9 December 1948
Entered into force:
12 January 1951
Ratifications required:
twenty, under article XIII
Term coined by:
Raphael Lemkin
Why it matters for exams: The Convention is the first human rights treaty of the United Nations era and its definition, its entry-into-force requirement and the exclusion of cultural genocide are standard question material.
Kerala PSCUPSC
In plain words
Sixth Committee Sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly — The General Assembly's committee that handles legal questions, including treaty texts.