1 August, 2018 – The European Commission’s proposal to bolster Europe’s borders would mean that for the first time the EU will spend more on migration control than on developing Africa, as the determination to ‘fortify’ the Continent prevails among national governments and institutions.
Guinea’s President Alpha Conde (R), President-in-Office of the African Union (AU), speaks with Donald Tusk (L), the President of the European Council, during a joint news conference after the closing session of the 5th African Union – European Union (AU-EU) summit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 30 November 2017. [Legnan Koula/EPA/EFE]
This stance breaks with Europe’s traditional approach, in which the Union was proud to be seen as the world’s largest donor to developing nations.
31 July 2018 (teleSUR)* – Militants of several social movements from different states of Brazil began a hunger strike Tuesday [31 July 2018] as a way to protest against the imprisonment of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the rising poverty rates. This was announced in a press conference led by Joao Pedro Stedile, from the Rural Landless Movement (MST).
RAKHINE, Myanmar, 31 July 2018 (UNFPA)* – Harlee Dar, 14, does not go to school. There are no books, TV or radio in the family’s small shelter, which is sweltering in the summer and rain-beaten during monsoon season. Asked what she does when she is not helping her mother with chores, she replies simply, “I sit. Or I lie down.”
Khin Me Me Htun – known in her community as Me Me – gives Harlee’s hand a squeeze. They are sitting in a UNFPA-supported women’s and girls’ centre in a camp for displaced Rohingyas, where Me Me is a women’s protection and empowerment counsellor.
27 July, 2018 (UN Environment)* – Did you know that a small number of Siberian tigers still roam the wilds of Jilin Province in northeastern China? The province borders North Korea and Russia and the area is the northernmost habitat of this species of tiger, also known as the Amur tiger. Tigers are the largest of the world’s big cats. This magnificent creature features distinctive orange and black stripes and a beautifully marked face.
About 540 Siberian tigers are estimated to exist in the wild in a huge area straddling Russia, China and possibly North Korea, having made a comeback from the brink of extinction in the 1940s, when only about 40 Amurs were left, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Concerned over the continuing arrests and “apparently arbitrary detentions” of human rights defenders – including campaigners who lobbied for an end to the ban on women driving – the United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) on 31 July 2018 called on Saudi Arabia to “unconditionally” release all those being held.
UN Multimedia | Ravina Shamdasani.
Since 15 May, at least 15 Government critics have been detained, Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR Spokesperson told a press briefing in Geneva.
“We understand that eight of them were later temporarily released until the completion of their procedural review,” Shamdasani said, noting that in some cases, “their whereabouts are unknown and there is a serious lack of transparency” in processing their cases.
In mid-May, a crackdown on prominent women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia seems to have kicked off a spate of arrests.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a strongly-worded statement on 31 July 2018, denouncing last week’s brutal killings and raids by members of the terrorist group ISIL, in Sweida, south-west Syria.
UNICEF/Soulaiman (file) | Displaced children and adults shown here fleeing ISIL-controlled areas in Syria. (file)
“We have received reports that more than 200 people were killed and injured in multiple attacks, including suicide bombings in As-Sweida City and in various villages in eastern and northeastern rural As-Sweida Governorate,” said OHCHR Spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 