EU migration deal with Egypt rewards authoritarianism
15/3/2024: EU negotiations seem likely to award a package of between four and eight billion euros to support Egypt’s border control in preventing migrants embarking for Europe. Human Rights Watch opposes the agreement, having previously documented arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by Egyptian authorities, as well as deportations constituting refoulement.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Africa needs a win from the pandemic agreement negotiations
15/3/2024: The World Health Organization is leading negotiations for a new legally binding pandemic agreement, hoping to reach a conclusion in May 2024. The director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the agreement should not perpetuate fragility and disparities across global health systems, particularly in Africa.
Source: Devex
Senegal’s top opposition leaders released from prison
15/3/2024: Senegal’s top opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, has been freed along with key ally Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Their release comes after a crisis triggered by President Macky Sall’s decision to postpone the February 25 presidential vote.
Source: Al Jazeera
Citizenship Amendment Act is a blow to Indian constitutional values
14/3/2024: The widely criticized Citizenship Amendment Act, enacted in 2019, has finally been operationalized by India's Ministry of Home Affairs. The Act fast-tracks Indian citizenship pathways for undocumented migrants of some religions but not for others. Amnesty International says this is a blow to Indian values of equality and religious non-discrimination.
Source: Amnesty International
Paris Club creditors cancel $2 billion of Somali debt
14/3/2024: Somalia has secured an agreement with the Paris Club of creditor nations to cancel more than $2 billion in debt. The deal follows a decision by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that Somalia has reached the "completion point" for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.
Source: VoA
Rising concern over UK aid spending on asylum-seeker hotel bills
14/3/2024: The UK is diverting £3.2 billion from its foreign aid budget to pay the hotel bills of asylum seekers, defying international pressure to stop this accounting ruse. The OECD has warned that these costs may not be eligible for its assessment of UK foreign aid.
Source: Devex
Why Kenya has not abolished the death penalty
14/3/2024: 22 member countries of the African Union have abolished the death penalty for all crimes, and a further 17 have not carried out an execution in 10 years. Kenya is amongst the latter, retaining the death penalty out of simple inertia rather than any evidence-based consideration of its effectiveness or popularity.
Source: The East African
Global child deaths reach historic low in 2022
13/3/2024: The number of children who died before their fifth birthday has reached a historic low, dropping to 4.9 million in 2022, according to latest UN estimates. The global under-5 mortality rate has declined by 51 per cent since 2000, with reductions of over 75% achieved in Cambodia, Malawi, Mongolia, and Rwanda. Nonetheless, at current rates, 59 countries will miss the Sustatiainable Development Goal for child mortality.
Source: World Health Organization
Not another pandemic fund, says Pandemic Fund
12/3/2024: The Pandemic Fund, which is housed at the World Bank, was created as a dedicated financing mechanism to help strengthen countries’ pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. The fund has received its fair share of criticisms and its role is unclear in current pandemic treaty negotiations. Some countries advocate a more inclusive alternative.
Source: Devex
Haiti chaos: what’s causing it, and can it be stopped?
12/3/2024: Ongoing violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation continues to escalate. What is the background to the conflict and what hurdles does the UN response team face?
Source: DW