Category Archives: Global development

Why the ‘ignored war’ in Libya will come to haunt a blinkered west

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Europe seems unconcerned by the chaos smouldering on its doorstep, as the five-year-old conflict becomes world’s main theatre of drone combat

The most recent ally of Khalifa Haftar, the general who has been attacking the Libyan capital Tripoli since April last year, is Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

This union was formalised last week with the opening of a “Libyan embassy” in Damascus. The alarming partnership has been forged almost completely without comment. What happens with Libya no longer seems to concern anyone. It’s as though the whole conflict has ceased to exist.

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Libya’s refugees face being cut off from aid due to coronavirus

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Fear of being left without money or food following suspension of some NGO activities adds to already desperate situation

Hundreds of refugees forced to leave a UN-run centre in Libya earlier this year, including survivors of the Tajoura detention centre bombing, are among those worried about being cut off from aid in the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced it would suspend some activities in Libya, including work at a Tripoli community day centre and a registration centre where new arrivals can sign up for help. UNHCR will also stop making visits to detention centres until staff are given personal protective equipment, though a spokesperson said the agency will increase phone counselling and outreach to refugee community leaders. Both UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration have halted resettlement flights for refugees and migrants globally.

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‘Everyone will be contaminated’: prisons face strict coronavirus controls

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New WHO guidelines are aimed at protecting one of the most vulnerable sectors of society from the spread of Covid-19

Prisons around the world can expect “huge mortality rates” from Covid-19 unless they take immediate action including screening for the disease, the World Health Organization has warned.

All visitors to prisons along with staff and new admissions should be subject to airport-style temperature testing and health assessments at point of entry, the agency has recommended under new guidelines published today.

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The isolated tribes at risk of illness from Amazon missionaries

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As evangelical Christians use their influence with Brazil’s government to cast their net ever wider, indigenous people vulnerable to common diseases face a growing threat

A radical group of evangelical Christian missionaries set on converting every last tribe on Earth has raised fears that deadly diseases – and even the coronavirus – will spread in the Brazilian Amazon. The group has based its newly bought helicopter right beside a reserve with the world’s highest concentration of isolated indigenous groups, who have little resistance to common illnesses.

There are more than 100 isolated indigenous groups in Brazil, all highly vulnerable to common diseases such as measles and flu, and 16 of them live in the same reserve in the Javari Valley, a vast, remote area the size of Austria. Covid-19 could wipe out any of them.

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EU states ‘dragging their feet’ over financial transparency, report finds

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Global Witness says only six states including UK meet demands on measures to fight money-laundering

Most EU member states have failed to meet a legal deadline to introduce public registers of the real owners of companies, a transparency measure seen as key to fighting money laundering, according to a review by anti-corruption campaigners.

In May 2018, the European Union passed a directive obliging member states to publish the beneficial owners of firms registered in their jurisdictions by January this year.

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How shopping and Sinatra are helping in coronavirus isolation

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People from all walks of life are mobilising to support those coping with isolation

Amy Tan is preparing to burst into song with two fellow musicians on a deserted street in Acton, west London.

“We’ll do anything by Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald – the Rat Pack,” she says. “Or maybe they would like a song by Elton John or the Beatles?”

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Fears of catastrophe as Greece puts migrant camps into lockdown

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Doctors say coronavirus outbreak could be disastrous amid ‘horrific’ conditions

As the Schengen area closed its external borders last week, in a move designed to replace the closing of member states’ national borders against imported Covid-19 infection, some internal barriers still went up in Europe. The day after the European commission’s announcement, the Greek government introduced a set of measures that would apply to the migrant camps in the Greek islands.

As of Wednesday, the camps have been locked down from 7pm to 7am. In the daytime, only one person is allowed out per family, and the police control their movements. Some camps, on the islands of Leros and Kos, have been closed entirely.

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World’s most vulnerable in ‘third wave’ for Covid-19 support, experts warn

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Fears that lack of coronavirus testing and supplies could mean refugees and those caught in crises are left behind

The world’s most vulnerable people could be last in line for support to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, experts have warned.

Countries already dealing with humanitarian and refugee crises face a struggle to find the resources to deal with the pandemic by the time it reaches them, specialists said in a webinar hosted by the New Humanitarian news agency on Thursday.

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‘People still hurt’: the forgotten survivors of Cyclone Idai

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A year after eastern Zimbabwe was devastated by one of the worst storms on record, many people remain amid the wreckage living in makeshift shelters

The sound of the rising wind and the heavy rain trigger fear at Garikai camp in Ngangu, Chimanimani, eastern Zimbabwe.

Villagers here are haunted by traumatic memories of the aftermath of the cyclone that swept over this region last March, when they were forced to bury the dead in makeshift coffins. Some people have never found their loved ones.

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Locust crisis poses a danger to millions, forecasters warn

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Experts fear swarms like those seen in Africa will become more common as tropical storms create favourable breeding conditions

The locust crisis that has now reached 10 countries could carry on to endanger millions more people, forecasters have said.

Climate change created unprecedented conditions for the locusts to breed in the usually barren desert of the Arabian gulf, according to experts, and the insects were then able to spread through Yemen, where civil war has devastated the ability to control locust populations.

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Covid-19 lockdown turns Qatar’s largest migrant camp into ‘virtual prison’

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Thousands of labourers trapped in squalid, over-crowded conditions as huge area of Doha Industrial Area sealed off by police

Qatar’s largest labour camp for migrant workers has become a virtual prison and is in total lockdown after hundreds of construction workers became infected with Covid-19.

Police are guarding the perimeter of a huge zone within the “Industrial Area”, leaving thousands of workers trapped in squalid, over-crowded camps, where the virus can spread rapidly. No one can enter or leave, say workers who live in the area, many of whom had been working on Fifa World Cup 2022 infrastructure projects.

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‘Community infections could happen any time’: Kenya prepares for Covid-19

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One of the last places to be hit by coronavirus, experts in Kenya are worried it doesn’t have the resources to cope

Callers to BK radio, a station broadcasting to the remote region around Mount Elgon in western Kenya, were worried on Wednesday evening.

“Will the government help us if we stay indoors and we need food?” one asked. “What if we have small houses, where we can’t stay too far apart?” asked another.

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Garment workers face destitution as Covid-19 closes factories

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Campaigners call for fashion brands to protect workers in their supply chains globally as coronavirus causes orders to dry up

The fashion industry is facing calls to step in and protect the wages of the 40 million garment workers in their supply chains around the world who face destitution as factories close and orders dry up in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Many factories in garment-producing countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam are already closing due to a shortage of raw materials from China and declining orders from western clothing brands.

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Nepal tourism hit hard as global coronavirus fears close Everest

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The mountain’s closure is devastating for many in a Himalayan nation that relies heavily on trekkers and climbers

The tiny airport at Lukla, perched on the edge of a mountain high in Nepal’s Himalayas, usually echoes with the roar of propeller planes flying a constant stream of adventure-seekers into the small town, known as the gateway to Mount Everest.

During the peak spring tourist season, tens of thousands of trekkers and mountaineers arrive to test themselves on the popular trek to Everest base camp, and perhaps go on to climb the world’s highest peak.

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Saving a city millions of gallons of water – one tap at a time

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A duo in India have been spurred into action to fix pipes to conserve the water supply in Kolkata

There is light drizzle as Vijay Aggarwal and Ajay Mittal manoeuvre their two-wheelers through the labyrinthine alleyways of Kolkata’s Tiljala road slum. Early Sunday morning, the neighbourhood is teeming with activity – women sit on their haunches washing clothes and utensils; half-soaped children scurry in and out of their baths; towel-clad men wait to brush their teeth. Every 50 metres a community pipe gushes out water – plastic bottles, jerry cans and metal buckets are lined up to fill.

The duo along with their plumber, Ravi Shaw, who rides pillion, make their way to the first huddle of people and get to work. All it takes is a blow and twist of a wrench – the nozzle pops loose. Shaw fishes out an orange and white tap from his bag and fits it. While Aggarwal hurriedly plasters a Save Water Save Life sticker on to a lamppost, Mittal tells the people to close the tap once they are done and points out the helpline number on the sticker.

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The Greek refugees battling to prevent Covid-19 with handmade face masks

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Camp residents set up mask factory and awareness teams amid fears overcrowding and poor sanitation will spread virus

In some of the most dangerously overcrowded Greek refugee camps, it has become a race against time to raise awareness about Covid-19 and ensure an outbreak does not spread among an already vulnerable population.

In the infamous Moria camp on the island of Lesbos close to 20,000 people live in a space designed for just under 3,000.

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NGOs raise alarm as coronavirus strips support from EU refugees

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NGOs warn lone children in particular have been effectively abandoned as Covid-19 forces support services to shut

Governments across Europe are facing calls to urgently put into place measures to protect refugees and migrants – in particular lone children – as the coronavirus epidemic sees volunteer numbers plunge and many vital support services close.

On Tuesday, groups working with refugees and unaccompanied children in France and Greece implored the authorities in both countries to provide urgent help to refugees and unaccompanied minors, whom they say have been effectively abandoned by the authorities.

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Kenya split over campaign to give women the right to safe abortions

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MP Esther Passaris says lives are being put at risk in a country where 40% of pregnancies are unplanned

The pills arrived with no instructions. Delivered on a Sunday to Joy’s home in Kayole, an informal settlement in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, by someone she didn’t know.

She had ordered them because she was pregnant, and didn’t want to be. At 19, she said, she couldn’t support a baby, and the father had stopped answering his phone after she told him. Desperate, she had asked an older friend, who said she knew someone who could help.

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True numbers of FGM victims could be far higher as countries fail to record cases

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New report calls for national surveys by governments to underline scale of worldwide abuse

The number of women and girls who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) could be much higher than previously estimated, as a new report shows the practice is carried out in more than 90 countries around the world.

The UN estimates that 200 million women and girls have undergone FGM. But this figure is drawn from only 31 countries – 27 in Africa – where national data has been collected.

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