Remember the fanfare two years ago when rich countries promised new money to respond to the destructive impacts of the climate emergency? Well, the paltry climate finance deal at COP29 contained precisely zero concrete commitments on loss and damage. Chiara Liguori on how the hopes of poorer countries and communities were raised – only to be brutally dashed.
The private jets leaving COP29 are the ultimate symbol of climate injustice. Now the UK must go further in taxing them
With COP29 failing to deliver anything close to the climate finance lower-income countries need, the world needs to look again at taxing rich people like us, says Julia Davies of Patriotic Millionaires UK. Expanding on Britain’s recent small increase in duty for private jets would both raise revenue and make a powerful statement on climate fairness.
Who can’t afford to get ill? The missing target in the World Bank’s drive for Universal Health Coverage
With the bank poised to replenish funds to back expansion of healthcare among the world’s poorest people, it needs to measure what matters – and what matters is that billions are being forced into poverty and hardship by the costs of care. Anna Marriott, Rosemary Mburu, Harjyot Khosa and Waiswa Nkwanga on a critical omission from the Bank’s ‘IDA21’ policy package.
Vetoing humanity: How a few powerful nations hijacked global peace
Marc J. Cohen, Amy Croome and Elise Nalbandian introduce a new Oxfam report that sets out how the veto power of a few countries at the UN Security Council has been catastrophic for humanity. Ahead of next week’s landmark Summit of the Future, they demand four changes to reform a UN system that is simply no longer up to the challenge of maintaining international peace and security.
Violent pushbacks, a no-go zone and hostility: the triple threat for refugees at the EU’s ‘green border’
In the forests that divide Poland from Belarus, those fleeing war-torn countries face a harsh crackdown. Dominika Ożyńska of Polish organisation Egala describes how many are being forced back into Belarus and cut off from humanitarian assistance, as NGOs are banned from certain border areas. All of this is taking place amid growing public and political hostility and anti-migrant rhetoric.
Across Asia, local LGBTQIA+ activists are finding their Voice
Over the past eight years, the Voice programme has been supporting the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights. In a blog for Pride month, Kayla Lapiz and Ishita Dutta look back on some inspiring examples of local action as the programme comes to an end.
How can African women and girls make their voices heard in climate action?
Women across the continent, especially in rural and coastal areas, are paying a heavy price for the climate emergency, so why are they so often missing from key areas of influence such as climate research and national environment ministries? Ilse Kithembe sets out five ways to tackle Africa’s environmental gender gap, as Oxfam in Senegal launches a new paper on boosting the role of communities in climate action.
Spare us the token gestures: International Women’s Day must be a call to action for economic justice
Globally, men own $105 trillion more wealth than women. So today of all days we need to talk about how our global economic system just isn’t working for women, says Dana Abed, as Oxfam launches its #HerMoneyMatters campaign.
Lisa Nandy on the UK’s future development policy under Labour
‘People know better than we do’, the opposition party’s shadow minister for international development tells the Overseas Development Institute. Duncan Green on what he thinks her first major speech in post potentially means for UK policy and for the “development cluster” of academics, think-tanks and NGOs.
Face à l’écart de richesse scandaleux de 100 000 milliards de dollars entre les femmes et les hommes, verra-t-on enfin à Davos la promotion d’une économie qui fonctionne réellement pour les femmes ?
Avec des milliards de femmes encore sous-payées, exploitées et portant le poids de l’injustice qui prévaut dans les politiques fiscales, de soin et climatiques, nous voulons savoir comment l’élite de Davos contribuera à la construction d’une économie féministe pour demain, déclarent Lurit Yugusuk et Imali Ngusale du réseau du développement et de communication des femmes africaines, FEMNET (read blog in English at the link below)