War in Ukraine will undermine aid to the world’s poor
15/4/2022: The unprecedented flow of arms to Ukraine, and the spending by European nations on refugees and defence, are threatening to undermine development aid to the world’s poorer nations. The UN is concerned that urgent support is needed to get back on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Source: Inter Press Service
UN Refugee Agency opposes UK-Rwanda plan to export asylum
14/4/2022: The UN Refugee Agency opposes the UK-Rwanda plan as shifting asylum responsibilities and evading international obligations of the Refugee Convention. The Agency maintains that developed countries host only a fraction of the world’s refugees and have the capacity to manage asylum claims themselves.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
COVID-19 assistance to developing countries lifts foreign aid in 2021
12/4/2022: Foreign aid from official donors rose to an all-time high of $179 billion in 2021, up 4.4% in real terms from 2020, according to preliminary data. The 2021 total is equivalent to 0.33% of the donors’ combined gross national income, unchanged from 2020 and still below the UN target of 0.7%.
Source: OECD
Evidence may not support criticism of China debt traps
12/4/2022: China is often accused of extracting economic or political concessions through conditions attached to generous loans to poor countries. Such allegations may be unhelpful at a time when global warming, the pandemic and Ukraine war escalate the needs for finance for sustainable development.
Source: Inter Press Service
Drought is driving up acute hunger in Somalia
12/4/2022: The latest food security assessment in Somalia indicates that the number of people experiencing the most serious levels of hunger is poised to surpass 38 percent of the country’s population. Aid to keep agriculture-dependent families on their feet is needed at massive scale to stave off catastrophe.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
Russia shuts down Human Rights Watch office
8/4/2022: Russia has cancelled the registration of Human Rights Watch, along with Amnesty International and 13 other offices of foreign NGOs. Russia has also adopted laws that criminalize independent war reporting, the latest in 10 years of repressive measures aimed to decimate civil society.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Poland has worked a refugee miracle
6/4/2022: About one in 10 people in Poland is now Ukrainian. In six weeks, 2.5 million Ukrainians (along with thousands of pets) have arrived in the country. As war grinds on, some fear the ‘full’ sign must go up soon.
Source: The Guardian
UN and its leadership challenged by Russia’s status
8/4/2022: The UN General Assembly has effectively excluded a state on three occasions: Cambodia in 1997, Yugoslavia in 1992 and South Africa in 1974. Expulsion of Russia is much more difficult because it has veto rights in the Security Council.
Source: Inter Press Service
Worrying insights from assessment of water security in Africa
6/4/2022: Only 29 African countries have made progress in water security over the past three to five years. Twenty-five have made none. The UN’s concept of water security encompasses various criteria and more effort is needed to establish global standards for data and assessment.
Source: The Conversation
UN General Assembly suspends Russia from Human Rights Council
7/4/2022: The resolution received a two-thirds majority of those voting in the 193-member Assembly. Under the 2006 resolution that established the Council, the General Assembly can suspend a country from membership if it commits gross and systematic violations of human rights.
Source: UN News