Connecting the Baltic and Black Seas: Opportunities and obstacles The Pripyat River, which flows through the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) in Belarus and Ukraine, forms part of a proposed international waterway. The planned inland shipping route known as the E40 waterway seeks to connect the Baltic Sea to the Black
Civil unrest has ravaged Colombia for over half a century, with the prolonged conflict between the far-left guerrilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government. A peace agreement was negotiated between them in 2016, ending 52 years of war. Land is political in Colombia, and it
HIV, Ebola, SARS, avian influenza, and now COVID-19 are amongst a number of viruses that all share one factor in common: they are all animal-borne. This means they originate from wildlife or livestock before being transmitted to humans. Animal-borne diseases are known as zoonotic diseases (or zoonoses), and they account
Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) has become more prevalent as people encroach on elephants’ habitat. Rates of HEC are expected to rise as the human population increases, along with the expansion of settlements and the need for farmland. In Africa and Asia, elephant habitats have come under threat as it is cleared
The world is experiencing unprecedented biodiversity loss; dubbed the Sixth Mass Extinction, with 60 per cent of animal populations wiped out since 1970. Human activity has significantly affected three-quarters of land; with agriculture, urbanization, industry and climate change decimating ecosystems and biodiversity. In response, a growing conservation movement – ‘rewilding’
For years there has been debate surrounding the late Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s culpability in the 1943 Bengal famine in the then-British India. A new study provides scientific backing that the 1943 famine, which is estimated to have killed three million people, was the only one in modern Indian history
The recent federal government shutdown, the longest in United States history, was a result of the ongoing feud between Donald Trump and Congress over funding for a border wall. On February 15th, Trump declared a national state of emergency as he demanded increased militarization of the border and further expansion
Global temperatures could rise by 1.5°C (2.7°F) as early as 2030 and hit 3°C (5.4°F) more by 2100 if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to increase at the current predicted trajectory. If the temperatures exceed even half a degree more than 1.5°C, hundreds of millions of people could be threatened
Under strict immigration policy introduced in 2013, the Australian government has intercepted and forcibly transferred around 2500 refugees and asylum-seekers to offshore processing facilities on Nauru and Manus. Australia’s “Stop the Boats” policy prohibits the resettlement of asylum-seekers who arrive on their shores by boat. According to the Asylum Seeker
“At any price we will take the mines.” –Islamic State militant commander. The Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban are fighting to gain control of mines and the extraction of talc in the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. A recent report by the Global Witness reveals that illegally mined talc in
More than 200 unaccompanied migrant children are homeless and sleep on the streets every night in Paris, this is according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on July 4. The report, “Like a Lottery: Arbitrary Treatment of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in Paris,” found that children are denied protection, food, shelter and
Hungary has proposed the “Stop Soros” bill, a set of laws which criminalize the act of assisting refugees and undocumented migrants seeking asylum. The Hungarian parliament has approved legislation which will allow for the persecution or imprisonment of any individual or organization that aids undocumented migrants entering the country illegally.
Maasai communities in the Loliondo division of Northern Tanzania are being forcibly displaced from their land in favour of increasing safari tourism and hunting concessions, according to a report published by Oakland Institute on May 10th. Within the past year, more than 20 000 people have been evicted and left
“It seems fashion changes faster than human rights evolve in the garment industry.” –Charles Stratford, Al Jazeera. Five years after the collapse of Rana Plaza, garment workers in Bangladesh continue to work in “life-threatening” conditions in factories. The Rana Plaza collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April
In recent months there has been renewed, escalating warfare in Kachin, Myanmar’s northernmost state. Since April, more than 6800 villagers have been forced to flee the battle between government military forces and the ethnic Kachin rebels, known as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The Myanmar armed forces have been complicit
On May 3, the NGO, Global Witness revealed that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) government is planning to allow oil exploration in two of their national parks. The government plan to reclassify land and remove protected status would enable oil drilling within two UNESCO-protected World Heritage Sites– the Salonga
According to a statement released on 4 May by The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 200,000 children in war-torn eastern Ukraine are forced to learn in classrooms riddled with bullet holes and school-grounds scattered with metal remnants of war. The ongoing conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists has severely
At the end of this month, Intel, HP and other companies are expected to report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose information on whether the minerals used in their electronic products were sourced from mines which support the funding of armed conflict in Central Africa. Obama-era legislation
Britain has threatened to detain and deport Commonwealth nationals, including Windrush-era citizens. Thousands of individuals have been denied their rights to continued occupation and residence in the UK because they cannot provide documentation to prove their citizenship. Between 1948 and 1971, approximately 50 000 people from the Caribbean, known as the Windrush
Recently the United Nations Human Rights Office reported that asylum seekers in Libya were being detained, bought and sold at ‘‘open slave markets.” Migrants are intercepted by the Libyan authorities as they attempt to be smuggled across the Mediterranean into Europe. They are treated as commodities and auctioned off for profit
