Category Archives: Global development

‘I need money for school’: the children forced to pan for gold in Zimbabwe

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Covid has closed schools and caused economic collapse – now children are taking up the dangerous work of prospecting

Children as young as 10 used to cool themselves from the sweltering heat in the Odzi River on their way back from school in mineral-rich Marange, a village 90km south of Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe.

Now, with the public education system collapsing and the pandemic taking a wrecking ball to their parents’ economic opportunities, children are spending whole days at the river, panning for gold or fishing for an evening meal.

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Spike in yellow fever deaths prompts Nigeria to revive vaccination campaigns

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Resurgence of disease linked to factors including climate crisis and focus of health resources on Covid response

More than 70 people are feared to have died of yellow fever in Nigeria since September, as health authorities warn of a resurgence of the disease.

The country recorded 47 deaths from yellow fever throughout the whole of 2019.

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Dozens of Sudanese migrants held in Cairo after protests

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The killing of a 12-year-old boy sparked calls for justice and action to counter human rights violations of black African refugees in Egypt

Dozens of Sudanese refugees and migrants have been arrested after protests over the murder of a young boy in Cairo.

Amnesty International said about 70 people, including children, were arrested by Egyptian security forces after what it said were two peaceful protests on 29 October.

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Banks around world in joint pledge on ‘green recovery’ after Covid

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Climate finance goals declared but campaigners highlight omissions over fossil fuels and poor nations’ support

The world’s publicly financed development banks have pledged to tie together their efforts to rescue the global economy from the Covid-19 crisis and the climate emergency, using their financial muscle to assist a green recovery for poor countries.

But the banks stopped short of pledging an end to fossil fuel finance, and did not set out firm targets for how much funding they would devote to a green recovery in a declaration signed on Thursday by 450 development banks worldwide.

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‘Everything buried in mud’: Hurricane Eta’s devastating blow to Honduras

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Flooding left thousands trapped for days without food or water and death toll may never be known

Across a sea of putrid mud a metre or so deep, Marvin Argueta pointed to the remnants of what a week ago was his home on the banks of the Chamelecón River. He had lost everything – but he still considers himself lucky.

“If we hadn’t got out in time, we all would have died,” said Argueta, 22, who along with his wife and four children abandoned their house when the flood waters reached waist height in the middle of the night. “A friend of mine lost his entire family.”

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UN warns of impact of smart borders on refugees: ‘Data collection isn’t apolitical’

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Special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia believes there is a misconception that biosurveillance technology is without bias

Robotic lie detector tests at European airports, eye scans for refugees and voice-imprinting software for use in asylum applications are among new technologies flagged as “troubling” in a UN report.

The UN’s special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Prof Tendayi Achiume, said digital technologies can be unfair and regularly breach human rights. In her new report, she has called for a moratorium on the use of certain surveillance technologies.

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Lessons via loudspeaker: the students studying across India’s digital divide

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How do you learn from home without a laptop? Teachers are getting creative, but the pandemic remains a vast challenge

Vemula Deena lives in one of the tin huts strung along a narrow lane in the heart of Vijayawada, the business capital of Andhra Pradesh, in the south-east of India. Her parents are construction labourers. Vemula is 13 and wants to be a politician, enamoured of the spotless white kurta-pyjamas they wear and their public speaking.

But her school has closed its doors in the face of the Covid pandemic and gone online, effectively shutting her out. Vemula continues to practise her oration as she does her household chores.

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The life and death of White Helmets’ founder James Le Mesurier

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James Le Mesurier died a year ago today. The Guardian’s Martin Chulov describes the immense pressure the co-founder of the White Helmets was under, as he saw the organisation he built appear to be slipping away from him

In November 2019, James Le Mesurier, the British co-founder of the Syrian rescue group known as the White Helmets, fell to his death in Istanbul.

The Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Martin Chulov, knew James well and had spoken to him the week before his death. He tells Anushka Asthana how he began investigating one of the most difficult stories of his career: what led his friend, an internationally celebrated humanitarian, to take his own life?

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Mexico police open fire on femicide protest in Cancún

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  • Four journalists injured in clashes in Caribbean city
  • Murder of 20-year-old woman was latest gender-based killing

Human rights activists in Mexico have expressed indignation after police opened fire on protesters who tried to force their way into Cancún city hall during a demonstration against the country’s femicide crisis.

Four journalists were injured in the incident late on Monday, including two who suffered bullet wounds. Eight protesters were reportedly detained after the shooting.

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Inquiry launched into EU commission’s protection of migrants at Croatia border

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Investigation follows allegations of brutal pushbacks of refugees into Bosnia and lack of monitoring of border police

An official inquiry has been launched into the European commission’s alleged failure to protect the rights of migrants and refugees said to have been robbed and abused by police at Croatia’s borders.

The EU ombudsman is investigating the potential complicity of the EU’s executive branch in the maladministration of funds that should have been spent on supervising the behaviour of border officers working at the scene of some of the violence.

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Fears for a million livelihoods in Kenya and Tanzania as Mara River fish die out

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Water biodiversity is on the brink, with dire consequences for the region known for the zebra and wildebeest migration, says WWF

Fish are being driven to extinction in the Mara River basin, putting the livelihoods of more than a million people in Kenya and Tanzania in jeopardy, according to WWF.

A report by the wildlife NGO details how farming, deforestation, mining, illegal fishing and invasive species could sound a death knell for the transboundary river.

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From schoolboy to tea seller: Covid poverty forces India’s children into work

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The pandemic has pushed millions of urban poor into crisis – and left children struggling to help their families survive

Subhan Shaikh used to start the day with a cup of cinnamon-flavoured tea, brought to him by his mother, Sitara, before he got ready for school. But the lockdown in March brought her salary as a school bus attendant to an end, and providing food – never mind tea – for Subhan, 14, and his two younger sisters, became a challenge.

Today, life for Subhan revolves around tea, which has become a lifeline for his family. After seeing his mother struggle, Subhan decided to do something and became a tea seller on the streets of Mumbai.

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People plan to drive more post-Covid, climate poll shows

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Exclusive: Gap between actions and beliefs threatens green recovery from pandemic

People are planning to drive more in future than they did before the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests, even though the overwhelming majority accept human responsibility for the climate crisis.

The apparent disconnect between beliefs and actions raises fears that without strong political intervention, these actions could undermine efforts to meet the targets set in the Paris agreement and hopes of a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

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Armed groups target Colombia’s children as reform process slows

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For families in province of Cauca, time is running out as drug gangs and guerrilla groups exploit Covid chaos


Luis Troches was walking home from the shop in late July when armed men stopped him along a dirt road in south-west Colombia. They gave the 14-year-old an ultimatum: he could join their group – dissidents from the demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) – or they could take him and his 11-year-old sister by force.

“He came home scared and distant,” said his mother, Luzmery. Both knew that the men, who control their hamlet in the north of Cauca province, would be back for an answer. “He told me, ‘I don’t want to go. What should I do?’”

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The battle to bring Kenya’s warrior children back to school – a photo essay

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Covid closures coincided with an initiation ceremony that has put many on a path out of education and set back years of progress

Photographs by Joost Bastmeijer

Shortly after sunrise, three boys step off their motorcycle, pat the dust off their checkered shuka cloths, and enter their family’s boma – an enclosure built from thorny acacia branches in eastern Samburu.

Now that they are morans, the teenagers are considered adults and are no longer permitted to sleep in their parents’ house. Instead, they go each evening to sleep in a nearby school building and return home in the morning. The school has been shut since the Covid-19 outbreak, and benches have been moved aside to make room for mattresses, and a makeshift kitchen.

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EU bank supports projects linked to human rights violations, NGOs claim

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European Investment Bank accused of failure to properly assess impacts of supported projects in Africa and Asia

The EU-funded European Investment Bank has been using taxpayer cash to support infrastructure projects linked to alleged human rights violations, an investigation by NGOs shows.

The report – led by campaign groups Counter Balance and the CEE Bankwatch Network – has accused the EIB of a lack of transparency and a failure to properly assess the impact of its funding as it extends its role beyond Europe to former Soviet republics, Africa and Asia.

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What’s in a name? How the legacy of slavery endures in Tunisia

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Black people in the north African country suffer hardship and disadvantage, and many still carry the label of ‘liberated’ slaves

Many within Tunisia greeted the news that 81-year-old Hamden Dali had won his two decade-long campaign to have “atig” removed from his name with little more than bemusement.

But for Dali atig – meaning “liberated by” – in his name was a painful reminder of his family’s heritage as former slaves.

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More than 40 fleeing Mozambique violence feared dead after boat sinks

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Children among those reported drowned as Islamist insurgency drives thousands of families from homes in Cabo Delgado

More than 40 people fleeing violence in Mozambique’s conflict-torn north are believed to have drowned after the boat carrying them to safety sank, according to reports.

At least 70 people were on board the vessel when it sank on 29 October in the Indian Ocean just north of the provincial capital of Pemba, where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge from a three-year Islamist insurgency, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Reuters reported.

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Ethiopia’s PM says airstrikes launched against targets in restive Tigray region

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Fears of civil conflict escalate as Abiy Ahmed says operation will continue until ‘junta made accountable by law’

Ethiopia’s air force has carried out strikes in the restive Tigray region, the country’s prime minister has said, in another escalation of a crisis that observers fear could plunge the country into a bitter and bloody civil conflict.

The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, said the strikes in multiple locations “completely destroyed rockets and other heavy weapons” belonging to the well-armed regional government and made it impossible for a retaliatory attack.

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Ethiopia’s PM threatens restive province as crisis escalates

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Fears of civil conflict as air raids and artillery battles reported in standoff between TPLF and federal government

The prime minister of Ethiopia has issued a new threat to leaders of the restive province of Tigray, warning that there was “no place for criminal elements” in the east African country.

“The proud Ethiopian people of Tigray [and] other citizens cannot be taken hostage by fugitives from justice forever. We shall extract these criminal elements [from Tigray and] relaunch our country on a path to sustainable prosperity for all,” Abiy Ahmed said in a statement on social media.

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