UN Security Council passes Gaza cease-fire resolution
25/3/2024: The UN Security Council has passed a resolution calling for an "immediate" cease-fire during Ramadan in Gaza. It also calls for the immediate release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The US abstained. Four similar resolutions had failed, three of them vetoed by the US and another last week by Russia and China.
Source: DW
Water for peace? First, stop it becoming a weapon of war
22/3/2024: As conflicts continue to rage in Ukraine and parts of the Middle East and Africa, water infrastructure has become fair game. The highest number of attacks on water supplies ever reported was in 2022. Paralysis of the international multilateral system has contributed to this trend.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Global water shortages are looming; what can be done?
22/3/2024: World Water Day will shine a spotlight on the global water crisis, which is being driven by a combination of factors, from climate change to leaky pipes. Here are seven things countries and individuals can do to stem water shortfalls.
Source: UN Environment Programme
States submit arguments to world’s highest court on climate obligations
22/3/2024: The deadline has closed for State written submissions to the International Court of Justice which will deliver an advisory opinion on the international legal obligations countries bear in safeguarding people from the impacts of climate change. All Pacific Island nations have made strong submissions to the Court in a strong show of unity.
Source: Greenpeace
Workload of UN climate body not matched by funding
21/3/2024: The chief of the UN climate agency has made an urgent plea to plug the body’s funding gap with government donations. The UNFCCC has estimated that it needs around $165 million in the 2024-2025 period, of which only half has been promised.
Source: Climate Home News
Vaccine shortage paves way for return of cholera
21/3/2024: With 23 countries reporting active outbreaks in 2024 and with vaccine stocks exhausted, cholera has returned with a vengeance. While more than 1 billion lives are at risk from cholera, pharmaceutical companies are not serving the cholera vaccine market due to its low profitability.
Source: The Guardian
African Development Bank food initiative will transform agriculture but for whom?
20/3/2024: The African Development Bank’s ambitious $61 billion Dakar II initiative aims to industrialise the continent’s food systems. The General Coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa is worried about consolidating land for industrial agriculture, potentially displacing millions of smallholder farmers.
Source: African Arguments
GAZA STRIP: Famine is imminent as 1.1 million people experience catastrophic food insecurity
18/3/2024: Between mid-March and mid-July, in the most likely scenario, half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.11 million people) is expected to face catastrophic Phase 5 conditions, the most severe level in the The Integrated Food Security Phase Classication. The latest evidence confirms that famine is imminent in the northern governorates.
Source: The Integrated Food Security Phase Classication
EU migration deal with Egypt rewards authoritarianism
15/3/2024: EU negotiations seem likely to award a package of between four and eight billion euros to support Egypt’s border control in preventing migrants embarking for Europe. Human Rights Watch opposes the agreement, having previously documented arbitrary arrests and mistreatment of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees by Egyptian authorities, as well as deportations constituting refoulement.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Africa needs a win from the pandemic agreement negotiations
15/3/2024: The World Health Organization is leading negotiations for a new legally binding pandemic agreement, hoping to reach a conclusion in May 2024. The director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warns that the agreement should not perpetuate fragility and disparities across global health systems, particularly in Africa.
Source: Devex