Month: September 2023
UNESCO World Heritage Sites often ‘last line of defence against extinction’
Although properties protected under the World Heritage Convention make up less than one per cent of the Earth’s surface, they harbour more than 20 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity, new research by UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has revealed. The UN agency has urged the 195 States party to…
Read MoreCoups only make crises worse: Guterres
Wednesday’s military takeover in Gabon came on the heels of Niger last month, Burkina Faso in 2022, and Chad, Guinea, Sudan and Mali in the years prior to that. Overall, all recent coups except Myanmar, in 2021, have taken place on African soil. The announcement of the takeover in Gabon came shortly after election results…
Read MoreRefusal to waive IP rights for COVID-19 vaccines violates human rights: Experts
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) adopted a decision under its “early warning and urgent action” procedures, stating that developed countries’ “persistent refusal” to waive COVID-19 vaccine IP rights – such as patents and trademarks – violated non-discrimination guarantees under international human rights law. CERD is one of the UN’s human rights…
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