Category Archives: Global development

Hit $100bn target or poor countries face climate disaster, the Gambia tells Cop26

Posted on by

West African nation’s environment minister says richer countries must finally honour funding commitment made at Cop15 in 2009

Rich countries must hit their $100bn climate finance target in the last week of Cop26 or it will be catastrophic for the poorest nations suffering the most from the climate crisis, the Gambian environment minister has warned.

In an interview with the Guardian as he prepared to leave for Glasgow, Lamin B Dibba urged developed countries to finally honour the annual funding commitment that was made 12 years ago at the Copenhagen climate summit (Cop15) – but which has never been achieved.

Continue reading...

Lagos building collapse: those still missing now believed dead

Posted on by

More than 40 people have been found dead so far in disaster that has caused outrage in Nigeria

Several people still missing after the collapse of a partly constructed luxury apartment building in Lagos a week ago are now thought by officials clearing the debris to be dead – to the anguish of families at the site still searching for answers.

Only 15 people have survived, with 42 people found dead as of Sunday morning, in yet another deadly building collapse that has caused outrage in Nigeria and calls for recriminations against government and regulatory authorities.

Continue reading...

Nigeria unlikely to reach ‘impossible’ 40% Covid vaccine target

Posted on by

Lack of doses and a reluctant public make government programme unfeasible, say health experts, with malaria and conflict posing greater risk to life

It will be “impossible” for Nigeria to meet its target of vaccinating 40% of its population by the end of the year because Covid is not being taken seriously, health experts have warned.

Fewer than 1.5% of the country’s 206 million population has been fully vaccinated. But with more people killed in conflict last year and substantially more recorded deaths from malaria than Covid in Nigeria, experts believe it is further down the list of concerns for many in the country.

Continue reading...

‘A moment in history’: making a perilous sea-crossing with refugees – photo essay

Posted on by

Ahead of a UK exhibition of her photo series Journey in the Death Boat, Güliz Vural describes travelling with Syrians being smuggled to Greece from Turkey

Standing on a Turkish beach ready to join a group of Syrian refugees on an inflatable boat bound for Greece, the photojournalist Güliz Vural’s biggest fear was that the people traffickers organising the illegal crossing would not let her onboard.

If she had known that within a few hours of leaving Turkey she would be under arrest, accused of people trafficking herself, she would have thought twice about the journey.

The migrants carry the inflatable boat they will travel in down to the beach. They had to leave all their possessions as they crammed themselves in. Nearly 50 Syrians made the crossing in a boat designed to carry 12 people, adding to the anxiety felt by the children in particular.

Continue reading...

Kenya’s water crisis leaves villagers at risk of violence and disease – in pictures

Posted on by

As rivers run dry, the desperate search for water has led to a rise in domestic abuse, conflict and illness

All photos by Cyril Zannettacci/Agence Vu for Action Against Hunger

Continue reading...

Greece accused of ‘biggest pushback in years’ of stricken refugee ship

Posted on by

Cargo ship, carrying 382 migrants, was towed across the seas for four days before Athens was forced into a rescue after mayday call

It was hailed as the biggest search-and-rescue operation in the eastern Mediterranean for a decade. But the bid to save hundreds of refugees on a stricken ship in the Aegean Sea has led to allegations that the operation bore all the hallmarks of an illegal pushback before the Greek coastguard was forced to change tactics.

Only days after 382 asylum seekers disembarked on the island of Kos, criticism has mounted over their “unnecessarily prolonged” ordeal at sea.

Continue reading...

‘It is what girls need’: the FGM activist hoping to be the Gambia’s president

Posted on by

Despite inexperience and few allies, Jaha Dukureh is offering people change and a break with the past in December’s election

Jaha Dukureh was a young mother of three with little campaigning experience when she started a movement in the Gambia to end female genital mutilation, backed by the Guardian.

In the seven years that followed she advised Barack Obama in the US, where she was then living, helped have FGM banned in her home country, was nominated for a Nobel peace prize and became a UN ambassador.

Continue reading...

Noma: the hidden childhood disease known as the ‘face of poverty’

Posted on by

This little known and preventable disease disfigures those it does not kill – and a new campaign hopes to raise awareness and eradicate it entirely

Warning: this article includes graphic images some readers may find disturbing

Fidel Strub was three when the inside of his cheek started to itch. After a few days, it felt like it was burning, then it began to smell as if it was rotting. A splitting headache came next before his whole body started to feel uncomfortably hot.

“I remember darkness came,” he says. “I had a hammering headache and a burning body. When I opened my eyes, any light stung them and it burned like hell. It was easier to close my eyes for less pain. I could do nothing but lie on the floor.”

Continue reading...

Vaccine certificates-for-sale scam undermines Lesotho’s Covid effort

Posted on by

The documents, necessary for entry into bars and sporting venues, are being sold by unscrupulous health workers for less than £20

The Lesotho government’s plans to implement a Covid passport system this week are being undermined by widespread fraud involving certificates being sold to unvaccinated people.

Covid-19 vaccination certificates are being sold for less than £20 by unscrupulous health workers to the largely vaccine-averse population in Lesotho, where there has been little positive campaigning around the jabs.

Continue reading...

‘We run from men only to meet crocodiles’: Kenya’s drought is deadly for women

Posted on by

As poverty and lost livelihoods fuel threats in the home, those who have found refuge still risk their lives walking miles in search of water

The setting sun brings a warm glow to the huts in the village of Umoja in Samburu county, Kenya. Christine Sitiyan sits outside her home with her beadwork, carefully running the thin thread through tiny bead holes, hoping she can finish the colourful belt she is making before darkness sets in. The traditional belt can fetch 3,000 Kenyan shillings (£20), enough to cover her needs for a month.

This tranquil scene is very different from her troubled past. Like many girls in her community, Sitiyan never finished school but was married off as a young teenager. Seven years later, with two children, she left her husband, unable to endure the beatings from a man she says could no longer fend for the family in an increasingly harsh environment.

Continue reading...

‘We will be homeless’: Lahore farmers accuse ‘mafia’ of land grab for new city

Posted on by

The futuristic Ravi Riverfront City development, championed by Imran Khan’s government, has been met with determined opposition

It has been called Pakistan’s answer to Dubai, a brand new multitrillion-rupee development of towering skyscrapers, futuristic domes and floating walkways.

But Ravi Riverfront City, described as the “world’s largest riverfront modern city” also faces accusations of rampant land grabs by prime minister Imran Khan’s government, which has championed the project. Hundreds of thousands of farmers who could never afford to live in the modern urban utopia are now at risk of eviction.

Continue reading...

Nearly two-thirds of those who died young in 2019 were male, research finds

Posted on by

Boys and young men neglected in efforts to tackle mortality in 10- to 24-year-olds, Lancet report says, with a failure to address violence, substance use and accidents

Boys and men are more likely than women to die as teenagers or young adults, according to new research that warns the gender gap in mortality rates for that age group is widening in many countries.

In 2019, boys and young men aged 10 to 24 accounted for nearly two-thirds (61%) of all global deaths.

Continue reading...

‘We are protected by prayers’: the sects hampering southern Africa’s vaccine rollout

Posted on by

With millions of followers, the stance of some Apostolic church leaders threatens to undermine fight against Covid

Hymnal melodies reverberate around the hillside in Kuwadzana, a Harare suburb. On a blisteringly hot Saturday, members of the Apostolic church, dressed in white, hum and sing together.

Songs, long prayers and a little Bible reading punctuate the outdoor service. It’s a spectacle for passersby.

Continue reading...

‘The lights went out and the shooting started’: #EndSars protesters find no justice one year on

Posted on by

In the face of government denial, four young people tell their stories. Shot, beaten and terrified, they speak of disillusionment, but also of hope

In October last year, thousands of mainly young Nigerians took to the streets to protest against police abuses, particularly among the now-disbanded brutal special anti-robbery squad (Sars) police unit. –

Yet the several protests across the country were brutally repressed. At least 12 people were killed in the #EndSars protests, according to Amnesty International, and dozens were injured, including at Lekki tollgate in Lagos on 20 October, where witnesses livestreamed soldiers shooting at protesters draped in or waving Nigerian flags.

Continue reading...

Trudeau files last-ditch appeal against billions for Indigenous children

Posted on by

Tribunal ordered Canadian government to pay compensation to children who suffered discrimination in welfare system

Justin Trudeau’s government has launched a last-minute court appeal against a ruling that would require it pay billions of dollars to First Nations children who suffered discrimination in the welfare system.

Minutes before a court deadline on Friday afternoon, the government filed papers indicating it planned once again to fight a human rights tribunal decision ordering the compensation payment.

Continue reading...

Bolivia: fate of 11-year-old girl raped by family member sparks abortion debate

Posted on by

Religious groups seek to force girl to give birth as intervention of the Catholic church questioned

The fate of an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped by a family member has unleashed a fierce debate between human rights activists and the Catholic church in Bolivia, as religious groups seek to force her to complete the pregnancy and give birth.

The girl was impregnated after being repeatedly raped and suffering other sexual abuse by the father of her stepfather in the town of Yapacaní, in Bolivia’s eastern Santa Cruz region.

Continue reading...

Gordon Brown urges rich countries to airlift surplus Covid vaccines to world’s poorest

Posted on by

Ex-UK PM and almost 200 global figures write to G20 summit host calling for 240m vaccines to be shared

Gordon Brown has called on the British government and other G20 countries to urgently arrange a military airlift of surplus Covid vaccines to poorer countries before they expire, saying it is their “moral responsibility” to do so.

The former prime minister has organised a letter from more than 160 former world leaders and global figures calling for richer countries to send 240m vaccines stored in the US, Europe and Canada to countries struggling to vaccinate their populations.

Continue reading...

We know who caused the climate crisis – but they don’t want to pay for it | Vanessa Nakate

Posted on by

My country, Uganda, and much of Africa has been battered by climate-related disasters. Cop26 is a chance for the biggest polluters to set up a compensation fund

While walking with a friend through central Kampala last month, we saw a police truck go by, a body in the back.

It’s a sight that has become more common in Uganda. The life of that person, and many others, was taken by a heavy downpour in my home city. Uganda has been battered by floods in recent years, as well as droughts and plagues of locusts. So much has been damaged and lost here as a result of the climate crisis.

Continue reading...