Five takeaways from IPCC climate impacts report
28/2/2022: The UN's climate science body has released a major report that reflects large advances in scientific understanding of the effect global heating is having on us all. Although everyone is affected by climate change not everyone is affected equally.
Source: Climate Home News
US State of the Union: democracy and human rights
28/2/2022: By comparison with the dismal performance of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden refreshingly promised a foreign policy guided by human rights. But despite some positive steps Biden's approach has been disappointingly conventional.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Russian censorship reaches new heights
28/2/2022: Russian authorities have threatened to fine or block 10 Russian independent media outlets if they do not delete publications about the war in Ukraine.
Source: Human Rights Watch
International Court to rule on case for justice for Rohingya
28/2/2022: Hearings at the International Court of Justice on Myanmar's objections to the case on alleged genocide against Rohingya Muslims have came to a close. The Court could take a year before it decides on whether the case can proceed.
Source: Human Rights Watch
UN sets up emergency General Assembly on Ukraine crisis
27/2/2022: Only 10 such emergency special sessions of the General Assembly have been convened since 1950. The text gives the Assembly the power to take up matters of international peace and security when the Security Council lacks unanimity among its five veto-wielding permanent members. Last week Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have deplored the aggression against Ukraine.
Source: UN News
US seeks to remove climate loss and damage from IPCC report
24/2/2022: An 18-chapter draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change addresses the scenario when adaptation measures are not enough to resist extreme weather events. Fearful of litigation the US insists that the term "losses and damages" be replaced with "impacts".
Source: Climate Home News
Ukraine conflict threatens Africa’s food security
24/2/2022: There is significant agricultural trade between African countries and both Russia and Ukraine especially in wheat. Disruption to shipments would add to existing concerns about global food price inflation.
Source: The Conversation
Global population growth and sustainable development
23/2/2022: Most of the world's future population growth will take place in developing countries, a feature of demographic transition that is both a sign of success and a challenge to be met. One of the key findings of a new report by the UN's Population Division.
Source: UN Population Division
Democratic resilience under pressure
23/2/2022: For the first time since 2004 the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Transformation Index counts more autocratically governed states than democracies. Civil society engagement offers a ray of hope directed in many places against rising levels of inequality and efforts to dilute democratic standards.
Source: Transformation Index
Ukraine crisis exposes ineffectiveness of UN Security Council
23/2/2022: The UN Security Council whose primary mandate is the maintenance of international peace and security has remained paralyzed in the Ukraine crisis by the double veto option of Russia and China. Civil society voices suggest that the International Court of Justice should examine whether Russia's actions can be reconciled with the UN Charter.
Source: Inter Press Service