Category Archives: Global development

Lift ‘unfair’ ban on ivory trade, southern African leaders urge summit

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Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angola and Namibia call for embargo suspension to allow sale of hugely valuable stockpiles

Southern African leaders have renewed calls for a lifting of the ban on the ivory trade as debate over the “unfair” embargo escalates.

At a wildlife economic summit in Zimbabwe, leaders of the five countries that make up the Kavango-Zambezi conservation area – Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia, Angola and Namibia – raised the issue ahead of the August conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) in Geneva, Switzerland.

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‘Most complex health crisis in history’: Congo struggles to contain Ebola

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Political, security and cultural complications – not least a refusal to believe that Ebola exists – have thwarted efforts to overcome DRC’s deadly outbreak

Moise Kitsakihu-Mbira has lost his brother, his grandson and 11 other family members to Ebola. When he himself fell sick he sought treatment in secret. His family don’t believe the virus exists and think a man in their village poisoned them.

Refusal to believe in the existence of Ebola is one difficulty for doctors who say the current outbreak of the deadly virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the “most complex public health emergency in history” and warn it could drag on for months.

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‘I’ve seen terrible, terrible violence’: cocaine and meth fuel crime and chaos in Fiji

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The Pacific island nation best known as a holiday destination is grappling with a growing drug problem

In the early hours of a Saturday morning in the city of Nadi, on the west coast of Fiji’s main island, Isaiah* is sitting in a Burger King drinking Fanta through a straw and explaining how he became a drug dealer.

He started five years ago, aged 13, selling cigarettes and marijuana. Now he sells cocaine and methamphetamines.

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Home Office finally allows stranded mother and baby home from Pakistan

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Visa decision overturned for British resident Nina Saleh, 48 hours after Guardian and others published her story

A woman who was refused a visa to return to London after travelling to Pakistan to adopt a baby has been told she can come home.

Nina Saleh has a Norwegian passport but full UK residency rights after living in London for 20 years. She was refused a visa to return home with baby Sofia three times, despite going through a stringent and lengthy adoption process in the UK with British authorities’ involvement.

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‘Impunity reigns’: six survivors of sexual violence speak out

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From Colombia to Zimbabwe, members of a global network of rape survivors are demanding an end to the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war

All photographs by Raegan Hodge of the Dr Denis Mukwege Foundation

Carmen was raped by armed guerrilla forces in Colombia. Ekhlas was kidnapped by Isis in Iraq and forced into sexual slavery. Grace was taken by rebels from her classroom in Uganda, “given” to a soldier and impregnated twice before finally fleeing to safety.

Today, these women are all members of the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Rape, known as Sema, which translates to “speak out” in Swahili. The network represents roughly 2,000 rape survivors and 90 years’ worth of conflict across 21 countries in Africa, South America, the Middle East and Europe.

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Arab world turns its back on religion – and its ire on the US

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Survey of 25,000 people in Middle East and North Africa also shows 52% of 18- to 29-year-olds are thinking about migrating

The Arab world is turning its back on religion and on US relations, according to the largest public opinion survey ever carried out in the region.

A survey of more than 25,000 people across 10 countries and the Palestinian territories found that trust in religious leaders has plummeted in recent years.

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The new drug highway: Pacific islands at centre of cocaine trafficking boom

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Explosion in number of boats carrying cocaine and meth from Latin America to Australia is causing havoc for islands on the way

• Cocaine used as washing powder: police struggle with Pacific drug influx

It is the drug route you’ve never heard of: a multibillion-dollar operation involving cocaine and methamphetamines being packed into the hulls of sailing boats in the US and Latin America and transported to Australia via South Pacific islands more often thought of as holiday destinations than narcotics hubs.

In the past five years there has been an explosion in the number of boats, sometimes carrying more than a tonne of cocaine, making the journey across the Pacific Ocean to feed Australia’s growing and very lucrative drug habit.

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Cocaine used as washing powder: police struggle with Pacific drug influx

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Under-resourced but undeterred, Fiji’s officers battle surge in trafficking – with just one boat

• The new drug highway: Pacific islands at centre of cocaine trafficking boom

Sitiveni Qiliho, Fiji’s police commissioner, says he doesn’t watch films any more because, since taking on Fiji police’s top job two years ago, his life has enough drama.

Over the past few months he has found himself scuba diving in search of multimillion-dollar stashes of cocaine stored in huge underwater nets, arresting drug traffickers on the high seas and informing remote islands communities that the mysterious packages washing up on their beaches are full of cocaine and shouldn’t be baked into cakes or put in tea.

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‘It’s stifling at home’: why free metro travel offers a lifeline for Delhi’s women

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City authorities say positive discrimination will make journeys safer and help low-income families

As a politics student, Sonakshi Dogra has given the bold new plan by the Delhi government to let all women ride free on the metro and buses a thorough going-over. “It’s ridiculous. Why favour women this way? What about male students and working men? Women can’t ask for gender equality and then support inequality on public transport,” she said firmly.

Dogra was about to enter Ashram metro station with three male friends, also students at the same university. They spend about 4,000 rupees (£45) each a month on transport.

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Trouble in Paradise: the rise and fall of Germany’s ‘brothel king’ | Hilke Lorenz

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Jürgen Rudloff’s chain of ‘wellness spas’ sold sex as a health service for men. But his business model was fatally flawed – as his trial for aiding and abetting trafficking revealed

Until his dramatic fall from grace, Jürgen Rudloff was the self-proclaimed “brothel king” of Germany. Owner of a chain of clubs he boasted was the “the largest marketplace for sex in Europe”, he was every inch the well-dressed entrepreneur, a regular face on reality TV and chat shows.

Rudloff is now serving a five-year sentence for aiding and abetting trafficking. His trial laid bare the misery and abuse of women working as prostitutes at his club who, according to court documents, were treated like animals and beaten if they didn’t make enough money. His imprisonment has dismantled the idea of Germany’s “clean prostitution” industry and raised troubling questions about what lies behind the legalised, booming sex trade.

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British arms sales to Saudi Arabia deemed unlawful, but now the hard work begins

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The onus is on MPs to ensure the government respects a legal ruling criticising the export of weapons used in Yemen

This week’s legal decision by the appeal court that UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are unlawful finally opens the door to accountability for Britain’s role in the war in Yemen and the humanitarian disaster it has caused.

But while Thursday was a day of celebration for campaigners, now the hard work begins of trying to get the government to respect the decision.

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Vanuatu to ban disposable nappies in plastics crackdown: ‘We had no choice’

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Nation suffering disproportionately from climate emergency to phase in ban, believed to be world first, by December

It is but a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean, but the island state of Vanuatu is leading the global fight against plastic waste. The nation, which has already introduced one of the toughest single-use plastic bans in the world, is believed to be the first to propose a ban on disposable nappies, to be phased in at the end of this year.

At a meeting in London this week, chaired by Patricia Scotland, the secretary general of the Commonwealth, Vanuatu was hailed as a “champion” nation, one of 12 who are forging ahead in tackling ocean and climate emergency challenges.

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Move to end sexual harassment at work hailed as ‘milestone for women’s rights’

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International Labour Organization adopts treaty designed to establish global standards on workplace violence and harassment

Millions of women around the world, from domestic workers to CEOs, could soon be legally protected against sexual harassment and violence in their places of work.

After the adoption of a “milestone” treaty by the International Labour Organization, sparked by the #MeToo movement, a global set of standards has been established to prevent, identify and provide redress in cases of gender-based violence and harassment.

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Senior Islamic cleric issues fatwa against child marriage

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Deputy grand imam of al-Azhar calls for marriage based on mutual consent with minimum age set at 18

One of the world’s most prestigious centres of Islamic learning has issued a fatwa against child marriage, saying marriage should be based on the consent of both parties and “particularly the young woman”.

The deputy grand imam of al-Azhar, considered by some Muslims to be the highest authority of Islamic jurisprudence, hammered out the document with his team and young activists at the first African summit on child marriage and female genital mutilation, which took place in Senegal this week.

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From Somali refugee to England’s first female Muslim football referee

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Jawahir Roble’s love of football was forged on the streets of wartorn Mogadishu. Now she is training and inspiring young female footballers in the UK

On a sunny afternoon, a group of mothers in hijabs sit on the bench of a football pitch, watching their daughters play football at the Stonebridge recreation ground in north-west London.

As World Cup fever grips the UK, the girls’ enthusiasm for the training session is matched by their obvious adoration of their coach and referee, Jawahir Roble, known as JJ to her friends.

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Human cost of Yemen war laid bare as the death toll nears 100,000

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Report outlines the war’s impact on civilians as well as fighters as the researchers call for resolution to conflict

As the court of appeal prepares to rule on the legitimacy of the British government’s continued supply of weapons to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, new figures show the conflict’s total death toll is fast approaching the 100,000 mark.

With no clear resolution in sight, the extent of civilian casualties caused by direct targeting has also been outlined in a report by the the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled) as the war with Houthi rebels enters its fifth year.

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The mother challenging police and power to solve her daughter’s murder | Dan Collyns

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When Carolina’s body was found on wasteland in Ecuador’s capital, her mother, Amanda, did not believe she died of natural causes. Her investigation has now led to a conviction

Amanda* makes pastries to sell around the streets of Quito, she is not a detective. But the day after she buried her youngest daughter she “started to move” to track down those responsible.

Carolina Andrango had promised her mother she would not run away again. The 15-year-old had been through a difficult two years. She had fallen in with a bad crowd, her school grades had dropped and she had spent time in a drug rehabilitation clinic. She’d gone missing from home for days at a time. But on a shopping trip in August, it felt like happier times. Her mother bought her a new backpack and Carolina fooled about with her older sister, making a video on her phone.

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Migrants stranded at sea for three weeks now risk deportation, aid groups warn

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Group of 75 people survive prolonged ordeal but could now be made to leave Tunisia

A group of migrants who spent nearly three weeks trapped onboard a merchant ship in torrid conditions face possible deportation to their home countries after they were finally allowed to disembark in Tunisia, aid groups have warned.

The 75 migrants, about half of whom are minors or unaccompanied children, were rescued on 31 May by the Maridive 601 only to spend the next 20 days at sea as European authorities refused to let them land.

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Mother and baby stranded in Pakistan: claims of Home Office ‘negligence’

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British resident Nina Saleh unable to return home with adopted baby after being refused visa three times

A Norwegian woman who has lived in Britain for 20 years says she has been left stranded in Pakistan after travelling there to adopt a baby.

The UK Home Office has refused Nina Saleh a visa to return home with baby Sofia three times, despite Saleh going through a stringent and lengthy adoption process in the UK with British authorities’ involvement.

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