|
Featured Issue Focus:
HIV/AIDS and Health as a Human Right
Unfinished Business: In the last 15 years, AIDS activists and medical professionals,
in Africa and around the world, have won the recognition that
the fight against AIDS, which disproportionately affects the African
continent, is a shared global responsibility.
Millions of lives have been saved. But the fight against AIDS
and the wider commitment to health as a universal human right is now
threatened by "AIDS fatigue" and austerity politics. It's
time to build on success and reject the callous assumption
that millions more should simply be left to die, whether
from AIDS or as a result of other unmet health needs.
Learn more about this issue:
Ten Talking Points | Key Groups & Agencies | Key News & Issue Links
Recent AfricaFocus Bulletins on HIV/AIDS & Health
|
AfricaFocus Bulletin
March 4, 2014 South Sudan: Deadly Conflict Continues despite Ceasefire
Both the United Nations and Human Rights Watch have just documented
extensive killings of civilians as well as other abuses during the
last two months of fighting in South Sudan. And incidents of
violence are continuing despite a formal ceasefire agreed with
regional negotiators. While negotiations as well as development of
plans for more effective ceasefire monitoring continue, the
prospectives for sustainable peace still seem remote. Meanwhile,
international agencies and civil society continue efforts to reduce
violence and address immediate humanitarian needs.
February 26, 2014 Africa: Tracking Toxic Pollution
The damages produced by modern economies, termed "externalities" by
economists, most often do not figure in the market signals shaping
corporate profits and therefore corporate decision-making. The
result, both in advanced economies or around the world, includes
not only the massive threat to our common future through global
warming, but also extraordinary levels of toxic pollution
disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable. Of the top ten
toxic threats around the world identified in a new report, three
are in Africa: the Agbogbloshie Dumpsite for e-waste in Ghana, the
entire Niger Delta region in Nigeria, and the now-closed but still
deadly lead mining site in Kabwe, Zambia.
February 17, 2014 Burundi: Rising Threats to Democracy, Peace
The UN Security Council voted unanimously last week to renew the
mandate for the UN peacebuilding mission in Burundi until the end
of the year, despite the position of the country's ruling party
that the mission is no longer needed. The decision was phrased
in diplomatic language. But it was a clear signal
that the international body shares the concerns of Burundi civil
society and political opposition voices about rising
authoritarianism and political mistrust, as the ruling party
attempts to consolidate its position before elections in 2015.
February 8, 2014 Africa: New Development Goals
"Global income inequality stands at a very high level: eight per
cent of the world's population earns half the world's income, with
the remaining 92 per cent earning the other half. Such a
distribution is rightly viewed by global civil society networks as
unacceptably high, as it is both unjust and undermines development
progress." - Helen Clark, Administrator, United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
More on:
politics&human rights|peace&security|health|economy|ict
AfricaFocus Archive:
by date | by place | by topic
February 5, 2014
Somalia: Threat to Remittances Lifeline
January 27, 2014
USA/Africa: Exporting Homophobia
January 27, 2014
Africa: Challenging Homophobia
January 21, 2014
South Africa: Renewables Rising, Coal Still King
January 13, 2014
South Sudan: Reflections on Crisis
December 19, 2013
Central African Republic: Violence Continues to Spiral
December 12, 2013
Africa/Middle East: Saudi Migrant Expulsions
December 12, 2013
Africa/Middle East: Sinai Trafficking
December 5, 2013
Africa/Global: Pope Francis on Economic Justice
November 27, 2013
Central African Republic: Whose Responsibility to Protect?
November 18, 2013
Africa: Time to Pay for Climate "Loss and Damage"
November 12, 2013
Africa: Digital Divide to Power Divide
November 9, 2013
Africa: Monopolizing Maize
October 27, 2013
Nigeria: Cycle of Violence in Northeast
October 18, 2013
Africa: Whose "Africa Rising"?
October 11, 2013
Africa: AU and the International Criminal Court
|
