Category Archives: Global development

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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India’s sick left out in the cold as New Delhi’s top hospital struggles to cope

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Patients awaiting treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Science are living in tents and on pavements for months at a time as the centre reels under the weight of demand

The night-time cold in New Delhi is biting. As the temperature plunges, Alam Ansari’s twin daughters, born prematurely, have only their parents’ body heat to keep them warm while they huddle in a crowded tent on the road outside the capital’s top hospital.

They are not alone. Each day, about 8,000 people from across the country queue outside the outpatients department for treatment. Mainly from poorer backgrounds, they sleep in tents or on the ground.

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On trial: El Salvador’s abortion ban

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The shocking case of Imelda Cortez has put El Salvador’s strict abortion laws in the spotlight. Human rights lawyer Paula Avila-Guillen and reporter Nina Lakhani describe how a surprise verdict has given fresh hope to women in El Salvador. Plus, in opinion, Randeep Ramesh on the Guardian’s call for a citizens’ assembly to break the Brexit deadlock

El Salvador is one of 26 countries with a total ban on abortion, and the law is applied brutally. It’s not uncommon for women who have a miscarriage or a stillbirth to be charged with murder or, in the shocking case of Imelda Cortez, attempted murder.

Her case, and the ultimate acquittal of all charges against her, has given hope to women in El Salvador. Reporter Nina Lakhani and human rights lawyer Paula Avila-Guillen describe how Imelda Cortez came to be charged with the attempted murder of her child.

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Despair endangers Dadaab refugees as smugglers seize their moment

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Unsafe in Somalia and unwanted in Kenya, refugees increasingly risk abduction in search of a better life

Two months after he went missing from the Dadaab refugee complex, Abdullahi Mohamed called his mother, Ubah, from a detention centre in Libya where he was being been held by armed gangs. The men asked his mother to pay a ransom of up to $10,000 (£7,850) for the 19-year-old.

Relieved but distraught, Ubah started fundraising for his release, talking to family members in the diaspora and in Somalia.

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Refugees at high risk of kidnapping in Horn of Africa, research reveals

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More than one in 10 people travelling through the region are taken, as smugglers boost dwindling returns by preying on people for ransom, survey finds

More than 15% of refugees travelling north through the Horn of Africa were kidnapped during their journey last year, according to what is believed to be one of the most comprehensive surveys of migration journeys.

Researchers from the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC), who conducted 11,150 interviews across 20 countries and seven migration routes, warned that kidnappings may be increasing and identified people travelling through the Horn of Africa to north Africa and Europe as the most vulnerable.

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Children ‘still being tortured to confess to Isis links’ by Kurdish security forces

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Nearly two years after raising the alarm, Human Rights Watch report reveals continued allegations of electric shocks and beatings on boys aged 14 to 17

Kurdish security forces in Erbil are continuing to torture children to confess their involvement with Islamic State, according to allegations in a report released by Human Rights Watch.

According to the organisation, which first raised the alarm about the mistreatment of child detainees by Kurdish security forces nearly two years ago, it has collected claims of the continued regular use of beatings and electric shocks to extract confessions, often prior to trials lasting a handful of minutes.

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Trafficking convictions fall 25% despite rising number of victims in Europe

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UN report shows drop in conviction rates over five years, as slavery expert condemns failure to recognise victims of abuse

The number of convictions for trafficking in Europe has fallen by a quarter, despite an increase in the number of victims and a global drive to tackle the abuse.

A report by the UN found that 742 people in Europe were convicted for trafficking offences in 2016, the latest year for which there is available data, compared with 988 in 2011. The number of identified victims increased from 4,248 to 4,429 over the same period.

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Homeless children struggle to survive on the streets of Ethiopia’s capital

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Driven from their rural homes by family problems and lack of opportunity, more and more children are making for Addis Ababa. Alone and vulnerable, they receive no state support

Behind Addis Ababa’s most iconic public space, Meskel Square, down a cobblestone alleyway in the shadow of half-finished high-rises, lies a small corner of the Ethiopian capital known by locals as “DC”.

Nestled between cramped brothels and dimly lit bars, it consists of low-slung, tin-roofed dwellings containing rows of bunk beds. Each night, hundreds of homeless children come looking for a place to sleep, sometimes two to a mattress.

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‘You can feel the love’: Syrian who lived in airport on new life in Canada | Kate Hodal

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Stranded in arrivals in Kuala Lumpur for eight months, Hassan al-Kontar was granted asylum to make Whistler his home

Hassan al-Kontar has been living in Canada for just under a month. But the Syrian refugee – who made global headlines after becoming stranded in a Malaysian airport for more than eight months in 2018 – is so busy with media requests that he jokes he has only managed to get out into the snow a handful of times.

“It’s very much like living in the airport, all the interviews. But obviously you cannot compare the two of them,” says Kontar, 37. “Whistler is an amazing place. There is nothing but nature, fresh air, wonderful people and beautiful snow.”

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Suspected Ebola sufferer does not have disease, say Swedes

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Tests negative for patient who had returned from Burundi and was treated in isolation

A young man being treated in isolation at Uppsala University hospital in Sweden after suspicion of Ebola contamination does not have the disease, the regional authority has said.

Region Uppsala, which oversees several hospitals and medical clinics north of Stockholm, said a test had been carried out on the patient, who was not identified.

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Ex-Credit Suisse bankers arrested in $2bn fraud investigation

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Trio arrested in London on US charges as calls grow for debt claim against Mozambique to be dropped

Three former Credit Suisse bankers have been arrested in London on US charges of alleged involvement in a fraud involving $2bn (£1.6bn) in loans to state-owned companies in Mozambique.

Mozambique’s former finance minister, Manuel Chang, and a senior executive from the shipbuilder Privinvest Group, Jean Boustani, have also been arrested in South Africa and New York, respectively, in recent days.

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Schoolgirls in Kenya to face compulsory tests for pregnancy and FGM

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Girls in Narok County will be made to reveal identities of babies’ fathers and tell police about female genital mutilation

Plans to subject schoolgirls in Kenya to mandatory tests for female genital mutilation and pregnancy are a violation of victims’ privacy, campaigners have warned.

All girls returning to school this week in Narok, Kenya, will be examined at local health facilities as part of a countywide crackdown.

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‘My parents sold me’: poverty drives trade in child brides in Zimbabwe | Nyasha Chingono

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Married off at 13, Maureen lost her education and her health. Her plight is common in a country racked by economic turmoil

The end of Maureen’s days at a primary school in north-eastern Zimbabwe marked the beginning of her life as a wife.

At 13, the brightest student in her class in Mudzi, Mashonaland, she was married to a man three times her age.

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‘It’s like 1984’: Venezuela targets human rights defenders

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Amid Venezuela’s collapse, Nicolás Maduro has locked up those accused of criticizing his regime – often without due process

Geraldine Chacón, a 24-year-old lawyer from Caracas, went four months without seeing the sun while a prisoner in the Helicoide, the feared hillside prison complex administered by Venezuela’s secret police, where she was denied access to sunlight, water and food.

“The guards told me I was a political prisoner, and for that I don’t get anything,” said Chacón, speaking by phone from Caracas, where she is on conditional release. “Without seeing the sun, you lose a sense of time, you don’t know if it’s day or night – it’s horrible.”

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Somalia expels top UN official over ‘interference with internal affairs’

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Nicholas Haysom told to leave after urging inquiry into civilian casualties during protests over former al-Shabaab leader’s arrest

Somalia has asked the UN secretary general’s special envoy to leave the country “as soon as possible” after accusing him of “interfering with the country’s internal affairs”.

A statement from the ministry of foreign affairs on Tuesday declared top UN official Nicholas Haysom persona non grata. The ministry said that Haysom “is not required and cannot work in this country”.

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Experts urge Egypt to rethink two-child population strategy

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Medics say limiting families s not the answer for a country where a baby is born every 15 seconds

In the cramped office of New Cairo hospital’s family planning clinic, Safah Hosny sets a box overflowing with contraceptives next to the visitors’ ledger on a small desk.

There are eight condoms for one Egyptian pound, about 4p, or ampoules of injectable birth control, for just under 9p. A contraceptive implant lasting three years costs 22p, while copper IEDs – the most popular form of birth control on offer according to Dr Hosny – cost 17p.

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