UN calls for urgent action amid soaring deaths at sea
29/4/2022: More than 3,000 people died or went missing in 2021 while attempting to cross the Central and Western Mediterranean and Atlantic to Europe. This is almost double the comparable figure for 2020.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
UN fears UK legislation will undermine refugee protection
27/4/2022: The Nationality and Borders Bill approved by the UK Parliament will relegate the status of refugees, according to the head of the UN Refugee Agency. Filippo Grandi warns that the potential to deny refugees their right to seek asylum in the UK is potentially at variance with the Refugee Convention.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
Relief for Zambia as China joins its debt resolution
29/4/2022: Zambia’s push for a resolution to its debt crisis received a major lift after China committed to join international efforts to restructure Lusaka’s debt. Beijing has emerged as the largest lender for most African countries and Zambia’s situation may be the first of many debt crises to be resolved.
Source: The East African
World press freedom faces a perfect storm
29/4/2022: The Senior Vice President of Inter Press Service reflects on the decline in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, recently released by Reporters Without Borders.
Source: Inter Press Service
Inequality stalks high Covid death rate in Latin America
27/4/2022: With only 8.4% of the world’s population, the Latin America and Caribbean region has endured 28% of total global deaths due to COVID-19. A report by Amnesty International attributes this outcome to high inequality and low public spending on health.
Source: Amnesty International
Freshwater planetary boundary oversteps the line
27/4/2022: Humanity’s modification of the water cycle has pushed the world further beyond a safe operating space for continued life on Earth, say scientists. Water is the sixth boundary to be transgressed, out of the nine identified by the Planetary Boundaries Framework, first published in 2009.
Source: Mongabay
Degraded lands and soils under spotlight of UN Convention
27/4/2022: The Global Land Outlook published by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification calls for ambitious plans for sustainable land use to protect human health. By 2050 an additional area the size of South America will be degraded if the world continues along the current trajectory.
Source: Inter Press Service
UN peacebuilding role now more complex and urgent
27/4/2022: A high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly has highlighted the lack of support for the Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund. The number of violent conflicts is at the highest level since 1945. Global military expenditure exceeded $2 trillion last year, an all-time high.
Source: UN News
Mixed reaction to Indonesia’s ban on palm oil exports
25/4/2022: The world’s biggest producer of palm oil will ban exports of the commodity from April 28 to address a domestic cooking oil shortage. Economists have criticized the action, noting that similar export bans of other commodities have aggravated global scarcity and rising prices.
Source: Mongabay
UN General Assembly will scrutinise any Security Council veto
26/4/2022: The UN General Assembly has resolved that any future veto by one of the five permanent members of the Security Council will trigger a meeting at which all member countries can examine such action. This responds to Russia’s use of the veto on the day after it invaded Ukraine.
Source: UN News