Global child deaths reach historic low in 2022
13/3/2024: The number of children who died before their fifth birthday has reached a historic low, dropping to 4.9 million in 2022, according to latest UN estimates. The global under-5 mortality rate has declined by 51 per cent since 2000, with reductions of over 75% achieved in Cambodia, Malawi, Mongolia, and Rwanda. Nonetheless, at current rates, 59 countries will miss the Sustatiainable Development Goal for child mortality.
Source: World Health Organization
Not another pandemic fund, says Pandemic Fund
12/3/2024: The Pandemic Fund, which is housed at the World Bank, was created as a dedicated financing mechanism to help strengthen countries’ pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. The fund has received its fair share of criticisms and its role is unclear in current pandemic treaty negotiations. Some countries advocate a more inclusive alternative.
Source: Devex
Haiti chaos: what’s causing it, and can it be stopped?
12/3/2024: Ongoing violence in the impoverished Caribbean nation continues to escalate. What is the background to the conflict and what hurdles does the UN response team face?
Source: DW
Human Development Report finds gridlock on global challenges
12/3/2024: The UN's 2023/24 Human Development Index reveals how uneven development progress is leaving the poorest behind, stoking political polarization on a global scale. The accompanying report warns that protectionist approaches cannot address the complex, interconnected challenges we face.
Source: UN Development Programme
Ukraine war is changing the global arms trade
10/3/2024: Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has driven new arms purchasing in Europe in dramatic fashion, with US manufacturers being the main beneficiaries, according to a new study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. From 2019 to 2023, the amount of arms imported by European countries doubled compared with the previous five years.
Source: DW
Hong Kong: Article 23 legislation takes repression to ‘next level’
8/3/2024: Amnesty International argues that Hong Kong’s proposed national security law would import Chinese legal concepts in a way that is deeply disturbing. Such laws have been used in mainland China to violate the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
Source: Amnesty International
Disturbing global increase in female genital mutilation
8/3/2024: Over 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, an increase of 15% since 2016. This data casts serious doubt on meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate the practice by 2030.
Source: UNICEF
UN chief launches Gender Equality Acceleration plan
8/3/2024: Marking International Women's Day, the UN Secretary-General announced new support for governments around the world to implement policies that respond to the needs of women and girls. The new plan responds to a global backlash against women’s rights that is threatening and sometimes reversing progress.
Source: UN News
Why legal equality is key to women’s economic rights
7/3/2024: Women’s economic opportunities, rights, and well-being are being denied worldwide by sex-discriminatory laws and policies that curtail access to employment, equal pay, property ownership, and inheritance. A policy brief by Equality Now offers examples from a range of countries.
Source: Inter Press Service
Sudan’s war risks creating the world’s largest hunger crisis
6/3/2024: Following her visit to South Sudan, the World Food Programme's Executive Director, Cindy McCain, has compared the crisis in the region with the Darfur emergency 20 years ago. Right now, 90 per cent of people facing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan are stuck in areas that are largely inaccessible to food aid because of the relentless violence and interference by the warring parties.
Source: World Food Programme