Category Archives: Global development

Honduras abortion misery a ‘frightening preview’ of America’s future – study

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Reproductive rights pushback could leave American women facing same life-or-death choices as Hondurans, say researchers

One woman handcuffed by police after suffering a miscarriage, another forced to bear her rapist’s child. A doctor who risks imprisonment to end pregnancies that threaten the lives of patients. The reality of healthcare in Honduras provides a “frightening preview” of what could happen in America if the pushback on reproductive rights continues, Human Rights Watch has warned.

Researchers from the organisation spoke of the “enormous suffering” of women and girls in Honduras, where there is a total ban on abortion in all circumstances.

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‘I want to die on my native soil’: exiled Chagos Islanders dream of return

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People evicted from former British colony hope new documentary Another Paradise will reinforce UN calls for withdrawal

The Chagos Islanders have had few victories in their long battle to return from British-enforced exile to their archipelago homeland in the Indian Ocean.

But small steps keep their campaign alive and it is hoped a documentary that will premiere on Saturday will exert pressure on the UK government to change its stance.

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Amnesty International to make almost 100 staff redundant

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‘Overspending by organisation’s senior leadership team’ blamed for £17m budget deficit

Amnesty International is to cut almost 100 jobs as part of urgent restructuring to tackle a “serious budget deficit”, the human rights organisation has confirmed.

Amnesty, labelled a “toxic” workplace in a February review, said in a statement that it expected to make 93 “painful and difficult” redundancies. Last week, it emerged that five members of the charity’s senior leadership team, all of whom offered their resignations following the damning review, will be made redundant by October.

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Two million people at risk of starvation as drought returns to Somalia

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Agencies sound the alarm over ‘climate crisis’ after devastation of crops and livestock

More than 2 million people could face starvation by the end of the summer, unless there are urgent efforts to respond to the drought in Somalia.

Mark Lowcock, the UN’s humanitarian chief, said the country is facing one of the driest rainy seasons in more than three decades, and a “rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation”.

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Nearly half of all child deaths in Africa stem from hunger, study shows

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Almost 60 million children deprived of food despite continent’s economic growth, in what is ‘fundamentally a political problem’

One in three African children are stunted and hunger accounts for almost half of all child deaths across the continent, an Addis Ababa-based thinktank has warned.

In an urgent call for action, a study by the African Child Policy Forum said that nearly 60 million children in Africa do not have enough food despite the continent’s economic growth in recent years.

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Fight the fakes: how to beat the $200bn medicine counterfeiters | Helen Lock

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Armed with blockchain and AI, health workers and campaigners are battling the bogus business that kills thousands

By the time the teenage boy was standing in front of Bernice Bornmai, feverish and delirious, it was already too late.

It wasn’t just the malaria that was killing the 17-year-old, it was the time he’d wasted taking fake medicine. The antimalarials did nothing to stop the disease marching through the young Ghanaian’s body: his organs were already shutting down.

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Uganda bans giving to child beggars in bid to stop exploitation

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Kampala officials say law aims to protect children and keep them off the streets but activists fear exploiters will develop new tactics

Ugandan officials have passed a law making it an offence to offer money, food or clothing to children living on the streets of the capital, in a controversial bid to stop exploitation and sexual abuse.

The Kampala Child Protection Ordinance 2019 also criminalises children loitering in public places, begging or soliciting, vending or hawking, and bans the sale of alcohol and drugs to children.

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US abortion policy is ‘extremist hate’ and ‘torture’, says UN commissioner

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Trump administration’s ban on terminations is a crisis directed at women, warns Kate Gilmore

The US policy on abortion is a form of extremist hate that amounts to the torture of women, the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights told the Guardian.

The attack on women’s rights was a “crisis”, organised and well-resourced by very extremist groups.

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Major tuna brands failing to tackle slavery in Pacific supply chains – report

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Research shows only four of biggest companies in £17bn industry said they conducted due diligence specifically to uncover abuses

The world’s biggest canned tuna brands are failing to tackle modern slavery in their Pacific supply chains, leaving thousands of workers at sea under threat of human rights abuses, a report has found.

According to findings published on Monday by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC), an international corporate watchdog, only four of the world’s 35 largest tuna retail brands said they conducted due diligence with the specific aim of uncovering modern slavery in their supply chains.

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Fraud allegations lead to closure of Amnesty International in Zimbabwe

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Police are investigating suspected misconduct involving millions of dollars of funds from donors

Amnesty International has shut down its Zimbabwe branch over alleged abuse of donor funds and fraud by staff.

The human rights group says it has launched further investigations with the help of police into suspected graft and misconduct involving millions of dollars and Amnesty Zimbabwe has indefinitely been placed under administration.

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Not one single country set to achieve gender equality by 2030

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The first global index measuring efforts to end gender inequality finds countries are not doing enough to improve women’s lives

No country in the world is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030, according to the first index to measure progress against a set of internationally agreed targets.

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said the index, launched on Monday, “should serve as a wake-up call to the world”.

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Mosquito-killing spider juice offers malaria hope

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Scientists have genetically modified a fungus to make it produce the same lethal toxin as is found in the funnel web spider

A genetically modified fungus that kills malaria-carrying mosquitoes could provide a breakthrough in the fight against the disease, according to researchers.

Trials in Burkina Faso found that a fungus, modified so that it produces spider toxin, quickly killed large numbers of mosquitos that carry malaria.

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‘I had pain all over my body’: Italy’s tainted tobacco industry

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Migrants working in areas supplying Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands allege abuses including low pay and illegal contracts

Three of the world’s largest tobacco manufacturers, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, are buying leaves that could have been picked by exploited African migrants working in Italy’s multi-million euro industry.

Workers including children, said they were forced to work up to 12 hours a day without contracts or sufficient health and safety equipment in Campania, a region that produces more than a third of Italy’s tobacco. Some workers said they were paid about three euros an hour.

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Andrew Mitchell and Justine Greening back calls for foreign loan transparency

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Former international development secretaries among 50 British MPs urging introduction of tighter regulations on disclosure

Three former international development secretaries are among 50 British MPs urging the British chancellor to take “strong action” to increase transparency on loans to governments, in advance of next month’s G20 meeting.

Citing the alleged involvement of UK-based companies in secret loans to Mozambique, Andrew Mitchell, Justine Greening and Hilary Benn joined parliamentarians from every party in calling for regulations to ensure loans to governments are publicly disclosed.

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Boycott North Korea’s ‘inhumane’ mass gymnastic displays, says ex-diplomat

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Defector calls on European tourists and online viewers to shun cultural displays that take children out of school

The highest-ranking official to defect from North Korea has called for Europeans to stop being an audience for the “child exploitation” in the country’s famous mass games.

Thae Yong-ho, the former deputy ambassador to the UK, who defected in 2016, said travel companies and tourists should boycott the cultural displays, which attract large numbers of visitors and social media viewings. He said North Korean children already faced appalling rates of malnutrition, brainwashing and forced labour and the displays were yet another act of cruelty.

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Idlib casualties mount as assault leaves aid efforts in the balance

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Increased airstrikes and shelling by Syrian regime claim lives of an estimated 40 civilians in 48 hours

The recent escalation in the Syrian regime bombardment of Idlib has killed at least 10 more civilians.

The deaths were reported on Wednesday, 24 hours after a senior UN official had warned the security council that aid efforts in the enclave were in danger of being “overwhelmed”.

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Latin American rape survivors who were denied abortions turn to UN

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Women from Nicaragua, Ecuador and Guatemala who suffered child rape take cases to UN human rights committee

Four women from Latin America whose lives were put at risk when they were not allowed abortions after being raped as girls are taking their cases to the UN human rights committee.

The women, from Nicaragua, Ecuador and Guatemala, filed cases against their governments on Wednesday for failing to provide appropriate healthcare and denying them abortions, even when it was their legal right to have one.

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Congo Ebola response must be elevated to maximum level, UN told

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Charities call for outbreak to be put on a par with crises in Yemen, Syria and Mozambique as death toll reaches 1,287

The UN has been urged by charities to ramp up Ebola prevention work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the highest level of emergency response.

Only three crises – Yemen, Syria and Mozambique – are treated as the equivalent of a level-three response, activated when agencies are unable to meet needs on the ground.

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This is America choreographer Sherrie Silver aims to ‘make farming cool’ – video

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Meet 24-year-old Sherrie Silver, the mastermind behind Childish Gambino's provocative video, which has attracted more than 540m views on YouTube to date. Now the award-winning choreographer is driving a social media campaign to promote investment in rural Africa's young people. Silver, who moved to London from Rwanda at the age of five, talks about why she believes farming is so empowering

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Childish Gambino choreographer urges fans to step up for young rural Africans

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Sherrie Silver, who was behind acclaimed video This is America, launches virtual dance ‘petition’ to promote investment in farming

She made a name for herself as the choreographer behind one of the most controversial yet critically acclaimed music videos of last year.

Now Sherrie Silver, the creative force behind the dance moves in Childish Gambino’s This Is America, is using her success to drive a social media campaign promoting investment in young people in rural Africa.

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