Tread Softly

7/6/2024: Somalia was elected unopposed by the UN General Assembly after the African Union agreed in principle earlier this year. Being a member of the Council is a turnaround for Somalia’s stature on the international stage, having been under UN sanctions until last December. Somalia had last served on the Council in 1971-72 term, during the reign of the Siad Barre regime.

Source: The East African

5/6/2024: The UN Refugee Agency estimates that more than 2.9 million refugees worldwide will need resettlement next year, the rising number driven by mass displacement situations and the emergence of new conflicts. In 2023 96,311 refugees were resettled by states, an increase of 65 per cent compared with the year before.

Source: The UN Refugee Agency

3/6/2024: Signatories of the Paris Agreement pledged to come up with a new finance goal before 2025. And the pressure to up the target is growing. Negotiators are laying the groundwork for a new climate finance goal ahead of the COP 29 summit later this year. 

Source: DW

2/6/2024: In the aftermath of recent economic shocks, three African countries – Zambia, Ghana, and Ethiopia – have defaulted on their debt, and 10 others, including Kenya and Rwanda, have slid into a high risk of debt distress. At meetings of the African Development Bank, African leaders have laid out their demands for the new financial architecture.

Source: The East African

1/6/2024: Demonstrating poverty reduction is a mainstay of political success in India and also relevant to global progress. A government agency reports that multidimensional poverty fell from 24.85 per cent to 14.96 per cent over the period 2015-2021. But the challenges of data collection, reliability and manipulation, mean that India's statistics on poverty must be treated with scrutiny.

Source: East Asia Forum

31/5/2024: A statement by Principals of the UN's Inter-Agency Standing Committee warns that more than 800,000 civilians are bracing for an imminent large-scale attack in the city of Al Fasher. They fear a nightmare scenario in which famine will take hold in large parts of Sudan and more people will flee to neighbouring countries.

Source: World Health Organization

31/5/2024: Three judges handpicked by the Beijing-controlled Hong Kong chief executive have convicted 14 pro-democracy activists and former elected lawmakers under the draconian National Security Law. According to Human Rights Watch, many aspects of the detention and trial proceedings have violated international due process standards, including prolonged pretrial detention and denial of a jury trial.

Source: Human Rights Watch

31/5/2024: A new report calls for a shift in emphasis away from relying on carbon markets for forest protection, and toward a lesser-known provision of the Paris Climate Agreement that calls for “integrated, holistic and balanced non-market approaches.” These could include financing for indigenous groups, payment for ecosystem services, and debt relief.

Source: Mongabay

30/05/2024: The first two decades of the 21st  century were a golden era for malaria control. However, progress has slowed since 2015 and in 2022 Africa accounted for 94% of malaria cases (233 million) globally. History shows that malaria can quickly resurge when control measures are weakened and African countries will continue to depend on global financial support.

Source: Devex

29/5/2024: Global health leaders have said an international treaty governing how the world should deal with future pandemics may not be agreed for another year or more. After two years of negotiations, countries failed to agree on the text by the deadline.

Source: The Guardian