What African governments must fight for at COP27
11/10/2022: The Africa Climate Justice Collective is calling for the November COP27 conference to acknowledge the reality of "dirty energy colonialism." Countries in the Global North are indulging in $400 billion worth of new natural gas projects in Africa – while simultaneously giving lip service to phasing down oil and gas.
Source: African Arguments
End of nationwide truce renews tension in Yemen
13/10/2022: The UN Special Envoy for Yemen has warned of renewed risk of conflict now that the truce between warring factions has ended. During the 6-month pause in fighting, there have been no major military operations, and a 60 per cent decrease in casualties.
Source: UN News
Global record hunger challenges World Food Day
13/10/2022: The World Food Programme fears yet another year of record hunger caused by climate shocks, conflict and economic instability. The UN food agency seeks more funding to prevent famine in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
Source: World Food Programme
Adesina quantifies Africa’s needs for climate finance
11/10/2022: The president of the African Development Bank has put figures to the scale of the climate crisis facing countries in Africa. He says the cost of of climate-related losses will soar to $50 billion annually by 2030 and that an annual average of $124 billion is needed for adaptation.
Source: Devex
UN General Assembly demands Russia reverse annexation
12/10/2022: The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution condemning Russia's illegal annexation. The debate defended the principles of the UN Charter, provoked by Russia’s use of the veto in the Security Council.
Source: UN News
Fifty-four countries need urgent debt relief
11/10/2022: The UN Development Programme has warned that fifty-four developing economies accounting for more than half of the world’s poorest people need urgent debt relief. Rich countries attending the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings have the resources to end the debt crisis.
Source: UN Development Programme
Report confirms inequality explosion during pandemic
11/10/2022: A new index finds that the overwhelming majority of governments have cut their shares of health, education and social protection spending since the 2020 outbreak of the pandemic. At the same time, they have refused to raise taxes on excessive profits and soaring wealth.
Source: Oxfam International
Calls for fairer global governance grow louder
4/10/2022: The UN General Assembly has been notable for the urgency of calls to end the unequal power dynamics of global governance. Fundamental reform of the UN, and specifically of the UN Security Council, is seen as crucial to forging a more equitable world order.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Xinjiang vote betrays core mission of UN Human Rights Council
6/10/2022: The UN Human Rights Council has decided not to debate the findings of its High Commissioner concerning crimes against humanity in China's Xinjiang region. The head of Amnesty International calls out this decision as a chronic dysfunction of the Council.
Source: Amnesty International
World Bank: Extreme poverty here to stay
5/10/2022: The World Bank reports that extreme poverty increased by 71 million in 2020, the biggest single-year leap in more than 30 years. COVID-19 has ended years of progress. Without a massive hike in economic growth, some 574 million people — roughly 7% of the global population — will remain in extreme poverty in 2030.
Source: DW