Ten richest men double their fortunes in pandemic
17/1/2022: The first two years of the pandemic have seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million people forced into poverty. Meanwhile the world's ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes.
Source: Oxfam International
Drought-affected Horn of Africa at risk of hunger crisis
17/1/2022: In Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, the countries worst affected by three years of drought, projections indicate that 25 million people will face high acute food insecurity by mid-2022. The UN says that $130 million of aid is urgently needed to provide time-critical assistance.
Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization
China Winter Olympics: time for action on human rights
14/1/2022: Amnesty International has drawn attention to the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics as an opportunity to push for human rights improvements in China. The event will take place against a backdrop of myriad ongoing human rights violations in the country.
Source: Amnesty International
How democracy can defeat autocracy
14/1/2022: Autocratic leaders faced a significant backlash in 2021, says Kenneth Roth, executive director at Human Rights Watch. However, many democratic leaders have been too mired in short-term preoccupations to address serious problems such as climate change.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Egypt’s leading rights group forced to close
13/1/2022: A prominent rights group in Egypt, the Arabic Network for Human Rights, is ending operations following police arrests and threats against the network's team. A controversial new NGO law places severe curbs on the work of civil society groups.
Source: DW
World Bank calls on China to share debt relief for poor nations
12/1/2022: World Bank President David Malpass has urged China, a major creditor of poor countries, to participate fully in debt relief efforts. He proposes accelerating the framework for debt restructuring agreed by the G20 group of nations in November 2020..
Source: DW
What to expect from the world’s sixth mass extinction
11/1/2022: The Anthropocene mass extinction is the only one caused by humans, as climate change, habitat destruction, pollution and industrial agriculture all play a hand. A painful reminder of the potential consequences of biodiversity loss for us and the environment.
Source: DW
UN refugee agency urges EU to preserve right of asylum
10/1/2022: Amid record global displacement the UN Refugee Agency has urged European countries to protect people fleeing war, conflict and persecution. 2021 saw the continuation of violent pushbacks of asylum seekers at EU borders despite commitment to refugee principles.
Source: UN News
Rainforests in 2022: A look at the year ahead
4/1/2022: Mongabay founder Rhett Butler anticipates major storylines for tropical forests in the coming year. These range from the post-COVID recovery to worrying trends in Brazil and Indonesia.
Source: Mongabay
Moscow court orders closure of Memorial Human Rights Center
29/12/2021: A Russian court has ordered the liquidation of the Memorial Human Rights Center, a group focused on helping political prisoners. The ruling has sparked an international outcry.
Source: DW