Category Archives: Global development

How Tunisia’s shrinking economy and fish stocks put shark on the menu

Posted on by

A lack of awareness and ever-increasing competition among fishing boats threaten one of the sea’s most vital species

The temperature is cooling down in the fish market in Monastir, Tunisia. Still, the suffocating smell of the fish guts that have sat through the full force of the day’s heat hangs heavy in the air. The stallholders have left now, but on the floor amid the detritus is the unmistakable shape of a severed shark’s head.

Nearby, in a skip, the bodies of two guitarfish rays lie discarded, stripped of meat to the cartilage.

Continue reading...

Islamic Relief is a charity, not a terrorist group. We’re going to court to prove it | Naser Haghamed

Posted on by

Israel has banned us from helping Palestinians in need. Next month, we will defend our work in the country’s supreme court


• Naser Haghamed is chief executive of Islamic Relief Worldwide

As chief executive of Islamic Relief, it is my privilege to preside over one of the UK’s leading international aid charities, widely respected for operating effectively in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous places. For the Ministry of Defense in Israel, however, Islamic Relief is a supporter of terrorism – a charge that we categorically refute and will be appealing against in Israel’s supreme court next month.

The Israeli authorities designated us as a terrorist organisation as long ago as 2014, claiming that we were a front for Hamas. It has taken six long years for us to pursue a legal challenge to this designation. Our case will finally be heard on 12 October.

Continue reading...

‘Catastrophe for human rights’ as Greece steps up refugee ‘pushbacks’

Posted on by

Human rights groups condemn practice as evidence reviewed by the Guardian reveals systemic denial of entry to asylum seekers

At about 1am on 24 August, Ahmed (not his real name) climbed into a rubber dinghy with 29 others and left Turkey’s north-western Çanakkale province. After 30 minutes, he said, they reached Greek waters near Lesbos and a panther boat from the Hellenic coastguard approached.

Eight officers in blue shorts and shirts, some wearing black masks and armed with rifles, forced the group – more than half women and including several minors and six small children – to come aboard at gunpoint. They punctured the dinghy with knives and it sank. “They said they would take us to a camp,” said Ahmed. “The children were happy and started laughing, but I knew they were lying.”

Continue reading...

Ugandan lawmakers reject plan for Murchison Falls hydropower dam

Posted on by

Activists praise decision to reject energy ministry’s proposal to dam the world-famous waterfall

Conservationists in Uganda have hailed a bipartisan decision to reject the government’s plan to construct a hydro-power dam at the country’s biggest tourist attraction.

Lawmakers unanimously adopted a report by the 28 member parliamentary committee on environment on Thursday, rejecting the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development proposal to build a 360MW at Uhuru Falls on Murchison Falls national park.

Continue reading...

‘Money is worth nothing now’: how Lebanon is finding a future in farming

Posted on by

With food in short supply and prices rocketing, a wave of new farmers are growing produce on roofs, balconies and beyond

  • All photographs by Jenny Gustafsson

On the side of the Baanoub valley in southern Lebanon, half an hour’s drive from the coast, Yasmina Zahar stands surrounded by olive trees with thick, sturdy trunks. Planted in Roman times, once tended by monks, they are now cared for by Zahar and her husband, Jean-Pierre, who also grow vegetables, fruit and flowers.

“It’s beautiful to see the result of what you produce, to hold it in your hands and taste it,” she says.

Continue reading...

El Salvador woman freed after six years in jail following stillbirth

Posted on by

Cindy Erazo was accused of aggravated homicide after an obstetric emergency

A woman sentenced to 30 years in jail after a stillbirth that was judged to be her fault has been released from jail in El Salvador.

Cindy Erazo, 29, from San Salvador, was granted conditional freedom on Wednesday after six years in jail.

Continue reading...

Jerusalema: dance craze brings hope from Africa to the world amid Covid

Posted on by

South African music track and dance steps created in Angola have caught the imagination of politicians, priests and millions more

A song from South Africa that has gone around the world and been endorsed by presidents and priests has become the sound of the pandemic for millions across southern Africa.

Last week the Jerusalema dance challenge was endorsed by President Cyril Ramaphosa ahead of the country’s plan to open up to tourism on 1 October.

Continue reading...

Female voices ‘drowned out’ in reporting on Covid-19, report finds

Posted on by

Analysis of stories across six countries including UK found fewer than a fifth of experts quoted on the pandemic were women

Women’s voices have been “worryingly marginalised” in reporting of the coronavirus, partly due to the war-like framing of the pandemic, according to a report analysing stories across six countries.

Each woman’s voice in news coverage of the crisis is “drowned out” by at least three men, it said.

Continue reading...

Aid agencies warn of Covid-19 crisis in refugee camps as winter approaches

Posted on by

Displaced populations across the Middle East, already in cramped, unhygienic conditions, face a health catastrophe as infections rise

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic an abiding fear had stalked the world’s most vulnerable populations. Millions of people displaced by conflict in the Middle East watched with alarm as Europe and the west withered under a caseload that stretched first-world healthcare systems to their limits. They saw field hospitals being set up in capitals. Governments buckling under the strain. The developing world offering aid to the developed.

It seemed inevitable that the contagion would reach those less able to absorb its impact. And now, as second and third waves of Covid-19 surge around the globe, worst fears are being realised. Several months into the crisis, the virus has crept into the populations of refugees and internally displaced people, where stopping its advance will be close to impossible. Up to 15 million people across the region, many of whom were already at risk of disease, now face a rampant spread through their communities.

Continue reading...

Internal displacements reach 15m in 2020 with worst ‘still to come’ – report

Posted on by

Extreme weather, locust invasions and violence have forced people to flee their homes

Millions of people were uprooted from their homes by conflict, violence and natural disasters in the first six months of this year, research has found.

Nearly 15m new internal displacements were recorded in more than 120 countries between January and June by the Swiss-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

Continue reading...

We must increase lending to the world’s poorest countries now – or pay the price later

Posted on by

Larger economies have been flexible and creative coping with Covid’s impact – the same mindset needs to be applied to helping poorer countries

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Africa will suffer its worst recession since the 1970s. For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty will increase. The annual death toll from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria is set to double. We also fear a near doubling in the number of people facing starvation. Many girls out of school will never go back. Life expectancy will fall.

All this will fuel grievances, and in their wake conflict, instability and refugee flows, all giving succour to extremist groups and terrorists. The consequences will reach far and last long. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and G20 nations will feel the blowback just as some start to see light at the end of the Covid tunnel.

Continue reading...

‘Landmark moment’: 156 countries agree to Covid vaccine allocation deal

Posted on by

Covax plan will counter rising threat of ‘vaccine nationalism’, prioritising vulnerable healthcare systems and frontline workers

A coalition of 156 countries has agreed a “landmark” deal to enable the rapid and equitable global distribution of any new coronavirus vaccines to 3% of participating countries’ populations, to protect vulnerable healthcare systems, frontline health workers and those in social care settings.

The Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan – co-led by the World Health Organization and known as Covax – has been set up to ensure that the research, purchase and distribution of any new vaccine is shared equally between the world’s richest countries and those in the developing world.

Continue reading...

‘She won’t be the last’: why not enough has changed since the murder of Banaz Mahmod

Posted on by

In 2006, the 20-year-old was killed on the orders of family members. Ahead of an ITV drama on the case, her sister reflects on the police response

As a television drama of the real-life investigation into the murder of a young woman by her family airs this month, her sister told the Guardian little had changed since Banaz Mahmod was killed in 2006.

“Lessons have not been learned. Banaz is not the first ‘honour’ killing and she won’t be the last,” says Payzee Mahmod, a British Kurd, who was a teenager when her sister disappeared from her south London home. Banaz had gone to the police five times for help.

Continue reading...

Phages: the tiny viruses that could help beat superbugs

Posted on by

Bacteriophages were superseded by modern antibiotics, but scientists believe they could be key to conquering antimicrobial resistance

It is, say enthusiasts, the cure that the world forgot. An old therapy that could take on the new superbugs.

Discovered in 1917 by French Canadian biologist Félix d’Hérelle, phages – or bacteriophages – are tiny viruses that are natural predators of bacteria. In many countries they were supplanted during the second world war by antibiotics but continued to be used for decades in eastern Europe.

Continue reading...

World’s richest 1% cause double CO2 emissions of poorest 50%, says Oxfam

Posted on by

Charity says world’s fast-shrinking carbon budget should be used to improve lot of poorest

The wealthiest 1% of the world’s population were responsible for the emission of more than twice as much carbon dioxide as the poorer half of the world from 1990 to 2015, according to new research.

Carbon dioxide emissions rose by 60% over the 25-year period, but the increase in emissions from the richest 1% was three times greater than the increase in emissions from the poorest half.

Continue reading...

Looking for a Saturday night film? Instead of Notting Hill try Nations United | Richard Curtis

Posted on by

In 2015, 193 countries agreed a blueprint for a better planet. 2020 was supposed to be a Super Year of progress – we can’t let the pandemic knock us off course

I’m aware this is a strange article to be writing. As most people struggle with the day-to-day complexity of life under the pandemic, how we do find the headspace to think about something as global as the sustainable development goals? But I’m inspired by a recent article by the activist and author Arundhati Roy. “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next,” she wrote.

And for me, the roadmap on this journey comes from the global goals – the superdetailed blueprint, agreed by 193 countries in 2015, for transformation for people and planet by 2030.

Continue reading...

US warns Afghan women of increased risk of extremist attack

Posted on by

Message from the US embassy comes during long-postponed direct talks between the government and the Taliban

The United States has warned women in Afghanistan that they are at increased risk of attack by extremist groups.

The US embassy in Kabul warned on Thursday that “extremist organisations continue to plan attacks against a variety of targets […], including a heightened risk of attacks targeting female government and civilian workers, including teachers, human rights activists, office workers, and government employees.”

Continue reading...

Burglars beware: tech pioneers aim to make South Africa’s townships safer

Posted on by

Innovative community alarm system provides solution in places where violent crime and theft have become endemic

Ntsako Mgiba was sleeping at his aunt’s place in eMalahleni (previously known as Witbank) in Mpumalanga province when thieves broke in and stole hundreds of pounds worth of laptops, smartphones and other tech. The next morning Mgiba followed the burglars’ footprints – theirs was not the only home to be targeted. The police filed a report that afternoon, but any hope of tracking them down had gone.

Crime is a fact of life across South Africa. But while richer residents have access to one of the world’s largest private security industries – there are 2.57 security personnel for every police officer – poorer communities like that in eMalahleni, a town that leads the country in house break-ins, are left to fend for themselves. “In the townships you have burglar bars, dogs and lapsed alarm contracts,” says Mgiba, explaining that a couple of big security firms have tried and failed to enter the market.

Continue reading...

How did a ‘cocktail of violence’ engulf Mozambique’s gemstone El Dorado?

Posted on by

Clashes between Isis-linked militants, government troops and mercenaries have displaced 200,000 in mineral-rich Cabo Delgado

For decades a forgotten corner of Mozambique, Cabo Delgado has now become the country’s El Dorado, promising billions in natural gas and gemstones but delivering its population only violence and displacement.

An insurgency in the province now threatens to become further entrenched – 50,000 people have fled their homes since March and Mozambique’s neighbours are currently debating sending in regional forces to help defeat militants who seized a strategic port in the town of Mocímboa da Praia last month.

Continue reading...

Syrian teenage refugee homeless on Lesbos – despite having right to live in UK

Posted on by

Labour urges Home Office to ‘right this wrong’ as Syrian teenager remains stranded in Greece despite legal right to join family

“When I saw the smoke coming I didn’t have the chance to get my backpack, I just ran. The fire was very close, I couldn’t save anything, I lost all my documents. I just escaped through the forest.”

Ahmed looks nervously around as he talks about the catastrophe he has just lived through: the fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos. Around him people are going about their daily lives in the island capital Mytilene, drinking coffee and chatting in the sunshine. But today the Syrian teenager is focused on the basics of survival. “Do you know where I can buy clothes?” he asks. It has been a week since the fire and he only has what he is wearing.

Continue reading...