Australia’s offer of climate migration to Tuvalu is groundbreaking
11/11/2023: ~The Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union Treaty will provide migration pathways for people from Tuvalu facing the existential threat of climate change. It will allow up to 280 Tuvaluans to migrate to Australia each year and is the world’s first bilateral agreement on climate mobility.
Source: The Conversation
UN Refugee Agency sets out obligations for asylum seeker transfers
7/11/2023: In light of Italy's announcement that asylum-seekers will be transferred to Albania, the UN Refugee Agency has reiterated the legal standards that should be applied to such arrangements. In particular that transfers to safe third party countries should share the responsibility for refugees equitably among participating nations, rather than shifting it.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
Amnesty petitions for ceasefire in Gaza and Israel
10/11/2023: More than a million signatures from people around the world have been gathered for an Amnesty International petition demanding an immediate ceasefire to end hostilities in Gaza and Israel. A ceasefire would allow aid to reach those in desperate need and provide opportunities to secure the release of hostages.
Source: Amnesty International
Call to suspend arms to Israel and Palestinian groups
6/11/2023: Human Rights Watch has called on allies of Israel and backers of Palestinian armed groups to suspend the transfer of arms to the warring parties. The campaign group says that both Israel and Palestinian armed groups have committed serious abuses amounting to war crimes during the current hostilities.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Countries clinch loss and damage fund agreement
6/11/2023: Recommendations on how to operate a new fund to help vulnerable nations recover from climate disasters are now ready for approval at COP 28 next month, despite US opposition. The committee has recommended that the fund be hosted by the World Bank — a previous red line for developing countries.
Source: Devex
The first step toward world peace: fix the UN
27/10/2023: The inability of the Security Council to uphold the UN Charter has been exposed as never before in its impotence to respond to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. These crises should have been recognised as a catalytic opportunity for a majority of the 193 member countries to pursue reform.
Source: Policy Magazine
Wars are closing down the window for climate action
1/11/2023: There are increasingly explicit examples of how military aid to Ukraine and Israel is sourced from funds earmarked for climate finance to low income countries. Research suggests that NATO commitments to military spending are enough to pay for the rich world’s promised $100 billion a year of climate finance several times over.
Source: Climate Home News
Does overseas aid reduce migration? It’s complicated
3/11/2023: A new study published by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany argues that foreign aid aimed at reducing unauthorized migration from lower-income countries can be highly effective development policy. But the study warns leaders of donor countries that positive results will be constrained especially from the most "fragile” countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Source: Devex
Saleemul Huq: ensuring climate-vulnerable nations are heard
2/11/2023: There has been a flood of tributes celebrating the life’s work of climate scientist Saleemul Huq who has died. The Bangladeshi-British scientist attended every one of the 27 annual UN COP climate summits, establishing his role as a leading advocate for the rights of climate-vulnerable countries.
Source: Devex
Democracy ‘in trouble’ across the world
2/11/2023: Nearly half the countries across the world are seeing a decline in the robustness of their democracy, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Several established democracies including Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the UK are deteriorating.
Source: DW