Category Archives: Global development

Ebola cases in Congo expected to double amid fears outbreak could cross borders

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With health system at breaking point, uncertainty over how virus is being transmitted prompt fears it could range beyond DRC

The number of Ebola cases recorded each day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is expected to more than double, with concern mounting that uncertainty over how the virus is being transmitted could result in it spreading to neighbouring countries.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated its warning that there is a very high risk of the outbreak spreading not only across DRC but also to Uganda, Rwanda and even South Sudan. The heightened danger of transmission is due to extensive travel between the affected areas.

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Zambian villagers await outcome of UK mining firm’s pollution case appeal

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Vedanta Resources in fresh appeal to have water contamination claim brought by 1,800 people heard in Zambia

A British mining company has appealed to the supreme court to prevent 1,800 Zambian villagers bringing a pollution case involving its subsidiary from being tried in the UK.

Lawyers for Vedanta Resources told Britain’s highest court that the case – brought by villagers who allege that their land and livelihoods were destroyed by water contamination from Vedanta-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) – should be heard in Zambia instead.

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Thousands flee north-east Nigeria after devastating Boko Haram attack

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More than 8,000 refugees cross border into Cameroon after Nigerian town of Rann is burned to the ground

Thousands of people have fled into Cameroon from north-east Nigeria following violent attacks by a faction of the militant group Boko Haram, which looted and destroyed large parts of a major town.

More than 8,000 refugees have crossed the border into Bodo after the attacks on the Nigerian town of Rann on Monday, in which at least 10 people are thought to have been killed. Homes and humanitarian organisations’ buildings were burned down.

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‘Change in people’s hearts’: anti-Bashir protests put Sudan at a crossroads

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With the country in crisis and public discontent mounting, is the endgame nearing for Omar al-Bashir?

Surrounded by brown hills close to the Ethiopian border, the town of El-Gadarif is an unremarkable place. A centre for the trade in sorghum and sesame, it is dominated by its huge Russian-built grain silos.

Four weeks ago, however, the eastern Sudanese town was thrust into the spotlight when it became a centre for protests against the regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

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Populist leaders face mounting resistance, say global rights experts

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Opposition to authoritarian rule reflects increased concern of voters and institutions, Human Rights Watch claims

From Europe to Yemen and Myanmar to the US, authoritarian and populist leaders face an increasingly powerful human rights pushback, according to an influential annual survey of global rights.

Despite mounting pessimism around rights abuses and attacks on democracy by populists on both the far left and far right, the “big news” of the past year was the growing trend to confront abuses by “headline-grabbing autocrats”, said Human Rights Watch.

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Oxfam failed to address sexual misconduct and bullying, finds review

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Independent commission says charity lacked robust safeguarding policies and was inconsistent in dealing with complaints

A damning interim review has highlighted Oxfam’s failure to tackle an environment at the charity that allowed sexual misconduct and bullying to go unchecked.

The report, produced by an independent commission, warned that no uniform system exists for dealing with complaints and said there are “drastic inconsistencies” in the way safeguarding issues are handled across the 90-plus countries in which Oxfam International operates.

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Egyptian universities reinstate students expelled for hugging

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Mansoura and Al-Azhar universities backtrack after video of celebratory embrace goes viral

Two students expelled from university in Egypt for the “immoral act” of hugging in celebration of their engagement have been reinstated after a viral video of their embrace drew widespread public sympathy.

The universities of Al-Azhar and Mansoura initially told both students they would be thrown out after footage emerged showing the male student kneeling and proposing to the teenage woman before presenting her with a bouquet of flowers. The video, shot on the campus of Mansoura University, then showed the pair embracing, a moment greeted by cheers from their friends.

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Sexual abuse of boys often overlooked by state laws, global study warns

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Stronger support urged for young men affected by abuse as researchers find existing measures tailored towards girls

Sexual abuse of boys is “barely addressed” by the laws in many countries, according to a global study that warns of a lack of support for young male survivors.

The study, which examined child rape laws in 40 countries, found that just under half of jurisdictions lacked legal protections for boys. In many cases, laws were specific to girls and did not recognise boys as victims.

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Tanzanians with albinism embrace a life beyond stigma and superstition | Lucy Lamble

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In a country where myths about albinism can have deadly consequences, an organisation set up to battle discrimination is having a profound impact

Paschal Merumba has suffered prejudice from the day he was born.

His mother refused to breastfeed her “cursed” baby, the second child in the family born with albinism; the first had already died of neglect. Merumba was thought to have contaminated the community. He was made to eat apart and sleep on the floor.

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‘Climate of panic’: bombings in Brazil reveal growing power of gangs | Jo Griffin

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Wave of attacks in Ceará state exposes how poverty, lack of policies for young people and creaking prison system add up to perfect storm

Antonio Carlos da Silva was returning home to the Lagoa Redonda district of Fortaleza when two armed men drove past in a black car, ordering businesses to shut and residents to go inside and turn off the lights. Da Silva spent the next day indoors with no drinking water as a wave of unrest engulfed the north-eastern Brazilian city.

“There’s a climate of panic and people are terrified to go out. It’s like you’re a prisoner in your home and even then not safe,” says Da Silva. “These attacks are worse than in the past; they’re attacking shopping centres, bridges. No one knows how it will end.”

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UN refugee chief: I would risk death to escape a squalid migrant camp

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Filippo Grandi calls on rich countries to give proper funding for developing nations that host people fleeing conflict

The head of the UN refugee agency has said he too would do “anything” to escape if he was stuck in a squalid refugee camp, as he called on the world’s wealthy nations to properly fund services in developing countries.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Filippo Grandi, the high commissioner for refugees, said countries are not getting enough recognition for hosting refugees, and that he would campaign for Cairo to receive more bilateral development aid to support its efforts.

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Destroy ‘period huts’ or forget state support: Nepal moves to end practice

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After the custom of consigning menstruating women to outdoor sheds claimed three more lives, a new system of penalties offers hope of change

Chhaupadi, the practice of banishing girls and women to a hut or shed when they have their periods, is common in Dilu Bhandari’s village in Nepal.

But two months ago Bhandari, a 26-year-old mother of four, watched as her husband destroyed the tiny hut in which she had previously been sent to live once a month. The family had been told by local authorities that if she continued to observe the custom, they would no longer receive state food support. Forced to choose between a food allowance for her twin boys and abandoning the traditional practice, the choice was effectively made for them.

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The Indian village where child sexual exploitation is the norm

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Poverty and caste discrimination mean that children in Sagar Gram are being groomed by their own families for abuse

Many families in India still mourn the birth of a girl. But when Leena was born, people celebrated.

Sagar Gram, her village in central India, is unique that way. Girls outnumber boys. When a woman marries, it is the groom’s family that pays the dowry. Women are Sagar Gram’s breadwinners. When they are deemed old enough, perhaps at the age of 11, most are expected to start doing sex work.

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Ministers smoking in parliament? Jordan must clean up its act | Yousef Shawarbeh

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As mayor of Amman, I am committed to driving down tobacco use, in a country where more than half of all men are smokers

The growth of Amman, the capital of Jordan, is visible everywhere. It is now an international business and financial hub, an arts and culture destination, and a tourism hotspot with thriving nightlife. But what we want it to be known as most of all is a model for how to clear the air of tobacco smoke.

Tobacco in Jordan starts with cigarettes. Smoking rates among men with low incomes are soaring. About 57% of men earning 100-250 Jordanian dinars a month (£110-£275) smoke regularly, and these men spend up to half of their income on cigarettes. Overall, more than half of all men in Jordan smoke cigarettes habitually, the worst rate in the Middle East.

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‘Real risk’ of refugees freezing to death in Syria after rains destroy shelters

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As temperatures fall, aid workers warn of danger to at least 11,000 people across Idlib, with storms also battering camps in Lebanon

At least 11,000 child refugees and their families are facing a weekend of freezing temperatures with no shelter, after torrential rains across Syria’s Idlib province swept away tents and belongings.

Aid workers warn there is a real risk people will simply freeze to death as temperatures have already dropped to -1C, amid a shortage of blankets and heating fuel.

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Safe birth of baby born to Ebola survivor hailed as a medical miracle

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Daughter of Congolese woman treated for Ebola in December becomes only second healthy child born in such circumstances

The daughter of a pregnant woman who was cured of Ebola has survived and tested negative for the virus, in a case that has been described as a medical miracle.

Sylvana, born on 6 January and weighing 3.7kg, is the second baby in the world known to have survived after being born to a woman who had Ebola. It is the first case in which both mother and baby have survived.

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Guantánamo Bay branded a ‘stain on US human rights record’

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Amnesty International calls US naval prison a symbol of Islamophobia and xenophobia

Guantánamo Bay remains a “stain on the human rights record” of the US and the scene of ongoing human rights violations, said Amnesty International in advance of a rally in Washington to mark the 17th anniversary of its opening.

The US naval prison at Guantánamo in Cuba – opened on 11 January 2002 – still holds 40 Muslim men, many of whom have been tortured. Many of the detainees have been cleared for transfer for years.

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Afghanistan bucks global trend with sharp rise in civilian casualties

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Number of innocent people killed or maimed in Afghan war rises 36% despite overall fall in casualties worldwide

Civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan from explosive weapons rose by more than a third last year, against a downward trend globally, according to a survey seen by the Guardian.

Most of the 4,260 civilians killed or injured in explosions in the country in 2018 – up from 3,119 in 2017 – were victims of suicide attacks, found a report by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

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Maggots could be sent to Syria by UK to help clean wounds

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The plan is part of an initiative, co-sponsored by the DfID, to help those affected by conflict or humanitarian crises

The UK government is taking part in a pioneering international aid project which could see consignments of maggots sent to crisis zones such as Syria as a simple and effective way to clean wounds, it has been announced.

So-called maggot therapy was been used in the first world war, when their efficacy in helping wounds heal was discovered by accident, and it is sometimes used in the NHS, for example to clean ulcers.

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Mother and two boys suffocate in Nepal’s latest ‘period hut’ tragedy

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Practice of banishing women to small outbuildings during periods claims further victims despite country declaring practice illegal

A woman and her two sons have suffocated to death in a windowless shed to which they were banished in the latest tragedy linked to the illegal practice of chhaupadi, whereby women in Nepal are forced to sleep in “period huts”.

Police said Amba Bohara, 35, had spent four days in the cowshed with her sons Ramit, nine, and Suresh, 12, when her father-in-law discovered their bodies on Wednesday morning.

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