Reflections on humanitarian affairs by outgoing UN "relief chief"
16/6/2021: Mark Lowcock reflects on his four years as UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. His greatest single concern is whether the world can find a set of arrangements for geopolitical collaboration necessary to manage the really big crises.
Source: UN News
Palm oil: What’s the big deal?
16/6/2021: Palm oil has become an ingredient in so many of our daily staples. But more than 90% of palm oil is produced in the regions of Borneo, Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, where the land being cleared is tropical rainforests. Is this as bad as we are led to believe?
Source: DW
Beijing wants more children, but only a certain kind
15/6/2021: The Chinese government has announced that it will allow all couples to have three children, an increase from two. But one-child, two-child or three-child policies are all the same. All are infringements on women’s reproductive rights: treating human beings as instruments of achieving the goals of the state.
Source: The Interpreter
ICC: New chief prosecutor divides opinions in Africa
15/6/2021: Karim Khan, the new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, is taking up his mandate at a critical moment. In the 18 years of the Court's existence, prosecutors have managed to secure just five significant convictions.
Source: DW
Achieving universal access to electricity by 2030 is off track
7/6/2021: During the last decade, the number of people without electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa actually increased, despite falling elsewhere. According to the latest Energy Progress Report, an estimated 660 million people will still lack access to electricity in 2030, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, despite the Global Goal to ensure universal access by that date.
Source: The World Bank
Sanctions: What are they good for?
4/6/2021: How to confront rogue regimes, such as Belarus and Myanmar, has long vexed governments that wish to safeguard rules-based relations and free trade. Sanctions are a popular option but are not a panacea to the world's problems. Like war, sanctions can lead to unintended consequences and collateral damage.
Source: DW
Southeast Asian states reject UN call for Myanmar arms embargo
29/5/2021: Nine Southeast Asian nations have proposed watering down a UN General Assembly draft resolution on Myanmar, removing a call for an arms embargo, in a bid to win the unanimous support of the 193-member body. The vote planned for last week was postponed at the last minute.
Source: CNA
Sanctions achieve nothing
27/5/2021: Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins argues that Belarus has become a model of the impotence of sanctions. European and American politicians reach for economic sanctions as they used to reach for gunboats or bombers. He argues for the exercise of soft power to sustain the conversation of freedom.
Source: The Guardian
Biden quadruples Trump refugee cap from 15,000 to 62,500
4/5/2021: President Joe Biden has formally raised the US cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 this year, fulfilling his promise made in February. The announcement paves the way for Biden to boost the cap to 125,000 for the 2022 fiscal year.
Source: Eyewitness News
ICC hands 25-year jail term to LRA commander
6/5/2021: The International Criminal Court has sentenced Dominic Ongwen, a Ugandan child soldier who became a commander of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), to 25 years' jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Source: The East African