Disturbing global increase in female genital mutilation
8/3/2024: Over 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, an increase of 15% since 2016. This data casts serious doubt on meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate the practice by 2030.
Source: UNICEF
UN chief launches Gender Equality Acceleration plan
8/3/2024: Marking International Women's Day, the UN Secretary-General announced new support for governments around the world to implement policies that respond to the needs of women and girls. The new plan responds to a global backlash against women’s rights that is threatening and sometimes reversing progress.
Source: UN News
Why legal equality is key to women’s economic rights
7/3/2024: Women’s economic opportunities, rights, and well-being are being denied worldwide by sex-discriminatory laws and policies that curtail access to employment, equal pay, property ownership, and inheritance. A policy brief by Equality Now offers examples from a range of countries.
Source: Inter Press Service
Sudan’s war risks creating the world’s largest hunger crisis
6/3/2024: Following her visit to South Sudan, the World Food Programme's Executive Director, Cindy McCain, has compared the crisis in the region with the Darfur emergency 20 years ago. Right now, 90 per cent of people facing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan are stuck in areas that are largely inaccessible to food aid because of the relentless violence and interference by the warring parties.
Source: World Food Programme
African health ministers commit to end malaria deaths
6/3/2024: Ministers of Health from African countries with the highest burden of malaria have committed to provide stronger leadership and increased domestic funding for malaria control programmes. Progress against malaria has stalled in these high-burden African countries since 2017 and global funding has fallen to just over half of the needed budget.
Source: World Health Organization
Go to the Gulf: is Ethiopia party to safe migration routes?
6/3/2024: The Ethiopian government hopes to recruit 500,000 young women for domestic work positions in Saudi Arabia, following an agreement between the two countries. Whilst this is an example of regulated migration, observers fear that in practice it is not so different from the operations of human smugglers.
Source: African Arguments
Time is running out amid escalating crises in Haiti
6/3/2024: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the urgent deployment of the Council-mandated multinational security support mission in Haiti. This follows a mass prison breakout of more than 4,500 inmates, including prominent gang members.
Source: UN News
ICC issues arrest warrants for Russian commanders for alleged war crimes
5/3/2024: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against two commanders of the Russian Armed Forces, each allegedly responsible for the war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects in Ukraine. Amnesty International calls on the international community to ensure that Mr Kobylash or Mr Sokolov are immediately arrested if they leave Russia.
Source: Amnesty International
As conference ends in stalemate, does the WTO have a future?
4/3/2024: The 13th World Trade Organization ministerial conference has failed to resolve any issues of significance, raising the inescapable question of whether the global trade body has a future. The US appeared largely disinterested in the proceedings, with its representative leaving early.
Source: The Conversation
UN Environment Assembly reaffirms collaborative action for the planet
1/3/2024: The recently concluded sixth UN Environment Assembly aimed to boost multilateral efforts to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution. Debates highlighted the historic role of multilateral environmental agreements in addressing the world’s most pressing environmental issues.
Source: UN Environment Programme