Category Archives: Global development

Measles vaccination begins in Ebola-hit Congo amid fears of ‘massive loss of life’

Posted on by

Deadly measles outbreak claims almost 2,000 lives, compounding strain on health system already reeling from Ebola

Health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have launched an urgent measles vaccination campaign in Ebola-hit regions, after almost 2,000 deaths from the preventable disease, two-thirds of them among children under five.

At least 1,981 people died from measles in DRC this year, surpassing the 1,641 deaths from Ebola, according to the UN children’s agency, Unicef. The “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis is putting the health system under strain, UN staff said.

Continue reading...

Syrian teenager left suffering in Athens by UK Home Office ‘failure’

Posted on by

Unaccompanied Syrian fell into despair after waiting more than six months for response to application

A Syrian teenager left suicidal after the Home Office failed to respond to his application to join his family in Britain is finally set to be reunited with his loved ones.

On Thursday, after the Guardian contacted the Home Office, Moustafa’s lawyers were told that his case had been approved and he would be brought to the UK from Athens, where he has been living for a year, as soon as possible.

Continue reading...

Seafarers trapped on ship for 33 months say jail threats forced them to reboard

Posted on by

Men stranded off UAE for almost three years claim they were told they could face two-year sentence for leaving vessel unmanned

Seafarers who abandoned their ship after being stranded at sea for almost three years say they were forced back to their boat after they were warned they faced jail.

The four men, stranded 25 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, said they were told by coastguards that they faced two years in prison for leaving the vessel, the MV Tamim Aldar, and were advised to return. For abandoned seafarers, leaving a ship is alast resort, as the vessel represents their bargaining power for unpaid wages.

Continue reading...

Syrians are watching crops burn. These starvation crimes must end | Mohammad Kanfash and Ali al-Jasem

Posted on by

Amid a war that may have cost 500,000 lives, we must hold the Syrian government and others to account for the use of hunger as a weapon

In 2017, we started an agricultural project to help hundreds of families survive the blockade by the Assad government, as part of the Damaan Humanitarian Organization’s programme to support civilians in besieged eastern ghouta in Syria.

The project not only provided sustenance to the besieged population, it offered employment opportunities for many people.

Continue reading...

Kenya’s first coal plant construction paused in climate victory

Posted on by

Owners failed to assess environmental and community concerns, court rules, while US ambassador wades into debate in support of coal power

Kenya has been urged to halt construction of the country’s first ever coal-powered plant near the coastal town of Lamu, until an assessment is made of its environmental and cultural impact, in the latest setback to the $2bn project (£1.6bn).

Plans for the 981MW station, backed by a Chinese-led consortium, are in limbo after Kenyan judges revoked the environmental licence at the end of June. They ruled the authorities had failed to carry out a rigorous environmental assessment and to inform local people of potential impacts.

Continue reading...

‘I saw hell’: under fire inside Libya’s refugee detention centres | Sally Hayden

Posted on by

As deadly airstrikes prompt plans to release detainees, fears rise for those trapped in the country amid claims of serious abuses

Kosofo was hiding in the bathroom when a deadly airstrike ripped through the ceiling of the hall he was locked inside, in Tripoli’s Tajoura migrant detention centre last week.

“I saw the hell with my eyes. I saw things that I had seen during the Darfur war,” says the Sudanese man in his 20s, who has asked to go by a nickname for his own safety.

Continue reading...

World leaders have ‘a lot to answer for’ over damning figures on education

Posted on by

Former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark condemns complacency as Unesco data shows one in six children won’t be in school by 2030

World leaders have “a lot to answer for” as new figures reveal that governments are failing to give all children an education, and that by 2030 one in six children won’t be in school.

The former prime minister of New Zealand and advocate for education Helen Clark said the figures showed “worrisome complacency on the part of countries which, just a few years ago, were so keen to hammer out an ambitious global agenda and make it a success”.

Continue reading...

‘War on drugs’ makes Philippines fourth most dangerous country – report

Posted on by

Duterte’s violent anti-drugs operations are responsible for 75% of civilian deaths this year

President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a “war on drugs” has made the Philippines the fourth most dangerous place in the world for civilian-targeted violence, according to a report that places the country behind conflict-ridden Yemen.

The report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) identifies India as the most dangerous country, with 1,385 violent events that targeted civilians. Second place is Syria with 1,160, followed by Yemen with 500, and the Philippines with 345. It supports comments made recently by Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, who voiced concerns over ongoing human rights abuses in the Philippines and the “extraordinarily high number of deaths – and persistent reports of extrajudicial killings – in the context of campaigns against drug use”.

Continue reading...

Conflict and insecurity driving spread of diseases like Ebola, WHO chief warns

Posted on by

Deadly outbreak is ‘global wake-up call’, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells Guardian

The head of the World Health Organization has called the world’s second worst Ebola outbreak a “global wake-up call” to the escalating risk of disease outbreaks spreading from conflict areas neglected by the international community.

Only when there was “fear and panic” in the headlines did the international community put money into responding, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The real issue was a lack of day-to-day funding for preparedness to combat serious epidemics before they become regional or international threats, he said.

Continue reading...

Nepal jails Canadian former UN official for sexually abusing boys

Posted on by

Aid worker Peter Dalglish, 62, sentenced for abusing two boys, aged 12 and 14

A former United Nations official has been jailed for sexually abusing children in Nepal after a trial that underscored the country’s growing appeal for foreign paedophiles.

Peter John Dalglish, 62, a high-profile humanitarian worker from Canada, was sentenced on Monday to two separate terms of nine years and seven years after being convicted last month.

Continue reading...

Social stock exchange idea highlights India’s move away from foreign aid

Posted on by

Proposal could provide cheaper funding for charities, says finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, but critics warn against greater government control of welfare projects

India’s finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has called for the creation of a “social stock exchange”, allowing ethically minded investors to buy stakes in social enterprises, volunteer groups and welfare organisations.

The proposal would be a radical experiment in a country characterised by stark inequality and rapid economic growth.

Continue reading...

Ban government investment in fossil fuels, urges cross-party group of MPs

Posted on by

UK aid projects ‘actively undermine’ efforts to tackle climate crisis, MPs and campaign groups warn

A cross-party group of MPs, backed by campaign groups, has called for an immediate ban on all investment in fossil fuels and for all UK aid to be “nature positive”.

The 28 MPs, led by Tory Zac Goldsmith and Labour’s Kerry McCarthy, with support from Amnesty International, WWF and other organisations, criticised the UK for “actively undermining” its own investment in tackling the climate emergency by continuing to fund fossil fuels through aid and export finance.

Continue reading...

No ticket to ride: Zimbabweans trapped for months without passports | Nyasha Chingono

Posted on by

With the registry office facing a backlog of 280,000 applications, some people have waited close to a year to work or study abroad

Every morning for the past two months Eldah Makuvise, 35, has braved the cold winter mornings to queue for her passport at the local registry office in Harare, Zimbabwe. Each time she’s been sent away in despair.

Makuvise’s application, like others submitted a year ago, is stuck in a huge passport backlog.

Continue reading...

‘The odour of burning wakes us’: inside the Philippines’ Plastic City

Posted on by

In Valenzuela City, residents blame recycling plants for pungent smells and respiratory illnesses

As noon approaches in Valenzuela City and residents prepare to have their lunch, a pungent smell of melted plastic swirls through the air, killing everyone’s appetite.

“It gets suffocating in the evening. We have to close our windows despite the heat and bury our noses under our blankets when we sleep,” says Rosalie Esplana, 40.

Continue reading...

Declare Ebola outbreak in DRC an emergency, says UK’s Rory Stewart

Posted on by

On two-day visit, DfID minister says outbreak is heartbreaking and very dangerous

The year-long Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is on the edge of spiralling out of control and the World Health Organization should declare it an international emergency, Rory Stewart, the UK’s international development secretary, has said.

Stewart is on a two-day visit to the DRC visiting emergency health centres and victims of the disease to assess the issues hampering efforts to bring the epidemic under permanent control. So far in the outbreak 2,400 people have contracted the disease and 1,606 have died, according to the WHO.

Continue reading...

How Ifrah Ahmed, the girl from Mogadishu, took her FGM story to the world

Posted on by
As a Somali girl she underwent the horrific practice. Now a new film tells how she risked her life to end it

Ifrah Ahmed refuses to let the horrific female genital mutilation she suffered at the age of eight define her. “I don’t want to be a victim. I want to be a voice,” says the 32-year-old campaigner.

She is one of the first women to publicly speak out about female genital mutilation (FGM) in Somalia – a country where it is estimated that 98% of women have undergone the ritual – and now her journey from powerless victim to powerful role model has been dramatised in a film. A Girl from Mogadishu has just had its UK premiere at the Edinburgh film festival and will be released across the UK in cinemas later this year.

Continue reading...

The living hell of children trapped in Dhaka’s brothels

Posted on by
Sold by traffickers, enslaved for years and raped many times a day … this is the life of tens of thousands of underage girls in Bangladesh’s capital. We hear their stories.

After five years in the brothel, Labonni stopped dreaming of being rescued. Ever since she had been sold to a madam at 13 years old, customers had promised to help her escape. None had followed through. Over time, their faces began to blur together, so she couldn’t remember exactly who had visited before, or how many men had come by that day. There’s usually one every hour, starting from 9am.

“Sometimes I wake up and I don’t understand why I’m not dead yet,” she says.

Continue reading...

A free press is the lifeblood of democracy – journalists must not be silenced

Posted on by

Journalists risk everything to hold power to account, crucial work for which a $1bn global fund should be established

Daphne Caruana Galizia was driving away from her home in October 2017 when a bomb planted under the seat of her car was remotely triggered, killing her instantly.

Caruana Galizia was a renowned anti-corruption journalist who had published damaging revelations about Malta’s prime minister and his political allies. The stories she was working on at the time of her death might have remained unpublished were it not for Forbidden Stories, an initiative run by a global network of investigative journalists whose mission is to finish the work of who have been imprisoned or harmed. The Daphne project, published last year, was a collaborative effort between 45 journalists in 15 countries.

Continue reading...

‘It’s ripped families apart’: the border wall no one is talking about

Posted on by

Construction of a fence along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, one of the world’s most dangerous crossings, is splintering families while failing to halt the flow of smugglers and terrorists

Keramat used to visit her sons all the time, crossing the border between her home in Afghanistan’s Kunar province into Pakistan, where they live and work.

But a fence built to mark a border between the two countries, which has not been recognised by the Afghan government, has made the 55-year-old’s journey much longer, and more bureaucratic.

Continue reading...

Real sole: recycling project providing shoes for India’s children

Posted on by

Two Mumbai athletes are converting old footwear into flip-flops for unshod schoolchildren

In the vast Indian interior, it is not unusual to see shoeless infants – whether walking barefoot to school or hopping around on makeshift sports pitches. Injuries are common and lead to infections such as hookworm and elephantiasis.

More than 250 million Indians live below the poverty line and footwear is usually a luxury. Tens of millions of children have no shoes. (By contrast, roughly 300m pairs of shoes are discarded in the US every year).

Continue reading...