diplomacy&development

The French Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, François Pujolas with Claude Nyamugabo Bazibuhe, DRC Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development  France supports the preservation of biodiversity on a global scale and renews its support for the preservation of the basin Congo forester. The French Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, François Pujolas, spoke on September 29, 2020 with Claude Nyamugabo Bazibuhe, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development have had fruitful discussion during an exchange which is part of the establishment of the Coalition of High Ambition for Nature and Peoples, a grouping of countries for which France is at the initiative with Costa Rica.  The aim of this coalition is to support the inclusion of a target to protect at least 30% of the planet (land and sea) by 2030 in the future strategic framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which will be adopted in 2021 at COP15 in Kunming. The ambassado...

As States introduce economic stimulus packages to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a UN human rights expert has called on authorities to remain mindful of the climate crisis and to exclude support for new coal projects.   “Not one dollar of government support should be directed towards new thermal coal infrastructure, including coal mines and coal-fired power plants,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, David R. Boyd.   “We are in the midst of an unprecedented climate emergency and socio-economic crisis of great magnitude with substantial impacts on human rights happening today and catastrophic impacts inevitable in the future unless rapid, systemic and transformative changes are made to our energy systems. Coal must be phased out as quickly as possible.”   Coal is one of the major causes of two of the world’s worst environmental problems — climate change and air pollution. The coal industry produces roughly one-third of global carbon diox...

The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures is gravely concerned about the impact of the UN funding crisis on the functioning of the system of independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council. The Committee calls upon States to take urgent action to address the situation, including through financial contributions to the regular budget, to ensure the mandate holders can effectively carry out their work. “Special Procedures, which include the 56 mandates that cover international human rights, such as violations of the rights of communities and populations historically subjected to discrimination, have had many positive achievements in the last 50 years since the appointment of the first mandate holder,” said the Committee members, who are themselves among the mandate holders appointed by the Human Rights Council. “Special Procedures are often viewed as the most accessible UN human rights mechanism and are often characterized as the eyes and ears of the Human Rights Council ...

ADRiFi in Niger aims to strengthen resilience and response to climate shocks by improving disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) approved, Wednesday, September 23 in Abidjan, a donation of 4.8 million euros in Niger for the implementation of its Funding Program for Disaster Risk Management in Africa (ADRiFi).  This financing, from the resources of the African Development Fund ADF-15, is a technical and institutional support aimed at strengthening Niger's resilience and response to disasters linked to drought.  The project, which involves a total amount of 6.9 million euros (UA 5.8 million), will be cofinanced by the Bank Group's concessional rate loan window and also the Pan-African mutual management fund risks (contribution in kind of about 891,000 euros or UA 0.75 million) and the Nigerien government about 1.24 million euros (UA 1.05 million).  ADRiFi in Niger aims to strengthen resil...

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has so far recorded 271 victims of the virus, according to the WHO, and the Central African country has suffered the economic consequences of the pandemic. The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) approved, on 23 September in Abidjan, financial support of 100 million Unit of Account (approximately 142 million dollars) to the Democratic Republic of Congo, under the Budget Support Program in Response to the Covid-19 Crisis (PABRC). This envelope, which includes a loan and an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of $ 43.6 million and $ 60.6 million respectively as well as a grant from the Transition Support Facility (TAF) of $ 37.8 million is important support in a difficult context where the economic performance indicators of the DRC have been disrupted by the pandemic. This support will above all help to mitigate the economic impact of the virus in order to promote the country's recovery.  According to Solomane Koné, ...

A UN human rights expert today called on Mali’s coup leaders to release former government officials detained for more than a month. “There is no legal basis for detention of the former prime minister, the former president of the National Assembly, and other former Malian officials taken into custody in the coup d'état of 18 August,” said Alioune Tine, UN independent expert on the situation of human rights in Mali. “I call on the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP) to comply with Mali's international human rights obligations,” he said.  “Everyone arrested during the coup must be released immediately and unconditionally.” Of the 18 people arrested by the coup leaders on 18 August, at least 13 are still being illegally detained at the Kati military camp in Bamako, despite calls for their release from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, UN Secretary General, António Guterres, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Fak...

Vertiv (Vertiv.com), (NYSE: VRT), a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, today introduced Vertiv™ Environet™ Alert (bit.ly/33RpV3I), a new software offering that brings enterprise-level infrastructure monitoring and management (bit.ly/33RpV3I) capabilities to smaller data centres and edge facilities.  Available globally, Vertiv Environet Alert is affordable and easy to use, eliminating the two most common barriers to the deployment of monitoring and management tools in these types of environments. Vertiv Environet Alert delivers real-time, vendor-agnostic monitoring of critical infrastructure systems and alerts the appropriate personnel immediately when those systems are at risk. The software acts as a single pane of glass, with a new, modern and intuitive user interface that delivers visibility and data to users. Users can customise the data points that are monitored and reported to focus on what they need to most effectively protect and opt...

The pandemic has created major global health and economic shocks, with unprecedented impacts on people’s health, nutrition and livelihoods. The African Leaders for Nutrition (https://bit.ly/33zUF9k) (ALN) have unveiled a position paper calling upon African Heads of State and Governments to ensure that financing for nutrition is included in their country’s COVID-19 response and recovery plans.  The position paper, titled “Embedding Nutrition within the COVID-19 Response and Recovery,” was sent to African member states by His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho, an ALN “Nutrition Champion”. Embedding Nutrition within the COVID-19 Response and Recovery recommends that countries maintain and increase the level of funding allocated to nutrition to safeguard previous efforts to address malnutrition, and ensure there are no gaps within their multi-year nutrition programmes in immediate, medium-term and post-pandemic recovery COVID-19 responses. The paper emphasizes the role ...

  Eleni Giokos, CNN Africa Correspondent The webinar will be held on 23 September at 15h30 CET The discussion will be centred on the topic: Investment and Trade for Africa's Economic Development; Co-moderated by the Germany Africa Business Forum and spearheaded by H.E Günter Nooke, Africa Envoy to Chancellor Merkel, the discussion also includes NJ Ayuk, Chairman of the African Energy Chamber (EnergyChamber.org) and René Awambeng of the African Export-Import Bank; The webinar will be held on 23 September at 15h30 CET. To attend, please register here (bit.ly/3mEjg5J). With German visibility and participation on the rise in Africa’s energy industry, the Germany Africa Business Forum (GABF) will host its second instalment of its Germany-Africa cooperation focused webinar series. Germany, through the G20 Compact with Africa initiative, has pledged to increase investment for private sector engagement in Africa in industries such as finance and capital investment, infrastructure, power an...

Jeanine Mabunda, President of the DRC National Assembly The elections of December 30, 2018 in the DRC allowed the renewal of the country's executive and legislative bodies.  At the National Assembly, the arrival of a large number of neo-deputies, of all tendencies, has profoundly renewed the Chamber. As soon as the new legislature was installed in September 2019, France undertook to support the capacity building of new deputies through training (legal science, public speaking, role of parliamentary assistant, relationship with administered, etc.) and the production of a practical guide for Congolese parliamentarians.  This support from France is part of the DRC-France partnership renewed during the meeting between Presidents Tshisekedi and Macron, in Paris, last November. The activities related to this project are carried out by the Institute for Alternatives and Citizen Initiatives for Democratic Governance and in collaboration with the network of young Congolese parliamentar...

Spain violated the inclusive education right of Spain violated the right to inclusive education of a child with Down syndrome who was sent to a special education centre by national authorities, despite his parents’ objections, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has found. In its first decision on the right to inclusive education, the Committee concluded that Spain failed to assess the child’s specific requirements and to take reasonable steps that could have allowed him to remain in mainstream education. Thus the State party failed to fulfil its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The child, Rubén, was in a mainstream school in León. With the support of a special education assistant, he had good relations with his classmates and teachers until 2009 when he entered grade four aged 10. The situation deteriorated and serious allegations of ill-treatment and abuse by his teacher surfaced. The condition did not improve when Rubé...

Hosted by the African Development Bank at its headquarters in the Ivorian commercial capital, Abidjan, GCA Africa will work with partners across the continent. African leaders welcomed the opening of a regional office of the Global Center on Adaptation on Wednesday, voicing hopes it will spur the continent’s efforts to combat climate change. In speeches marking the virtual launch of GCA Africa, the leaders said the Center could also provide an impetus for a more resilient recovery after COVID-19, which they said had compounded climate-induced vulnerabilities. “In the post-COVID period, our objective should not only be to recover and build better but to do so in a climate-conscious way,” said Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde. “There is no (more) stark reminder of the need for us to take urgent action than the devastating impact of climate change that we are witnessing now. We have no other option but to mobilize ourselves more than ever before to safeguard the planet. Time is not on...

GCA Africa will work with partners across the continent to scale and accelerate adaptation action that protects African communities from the impacts of climate change. The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA.org) today announced the launch of its regional office in Côte d’Ivoire. Hosted by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) at its headquarters in the Ivorian capital Abidjan, GCA Africa will work with partners across the continent to scale and accelerate adaptation action that protects African communities from the impacts of climate change. GCA Africa will focus on programs and action, knowledge acceleration and capacity building and agenda-setting that respond to the acute challenges from the changing climate facing African countries. The GCA Africa programs include improving the food security of one billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 through a program on rural well-being and food security, as well as projects to support communities through water for urban growth and re...

The approval follows a meeting of the extended Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on 22 April 2020. The African Development Bank’s Board of Directors (www.AfDB.org) on Wednesday approved $27.33 million in grants to boost the African Union’s (AU) efforts to mobilize a continental response to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. The approval follows a meeting of the extended Bureau of the Conference of Heads of State and Government with Africa’s private sector on 22 April 2020, chaired by H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and chairperson of the AU, at which the Bank’s President, Akinwumi Adesina, pledged strong support for the AU’s COVID-19 initiative.  The AU Bureau meeting called for contributions to the African Union’s COVID-19 Response Fund established by the AU Commission chairperson, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, in March 2020. Speaking after the Board approval of this operation, President Adesina said: “with this fin...

China and EU Flags The European Union and China held a Leaders’ Meeting via videoconference on 14 September 2020.  An EU-China Leaders' meeting with the participation of leaders of all EU member states was initially scheduled to take place on this date.  President of the European Council, Charles Michel, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, for the Council Presidency, conducted the videoconference with Chinese President Xi Jinping.  The meeting provided an opportunity to follow up on discussions at the 22nd EU-China Summit (22 June). The meeting was important to  maintain the momentum of EU-China high-level exchanges in order to achieve concrete results in line with EU interests and values. The comprehensive agenda of the Leaders’ meeting covered trade and investment, climate change and biodiversity, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as international affairs and ot...

Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the President of Democratic the Congo with a delegation of diplomats; Emily Maltman/United Kingdom,  Mike Hammer/United States of America and Nicolas Simard/Canada Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the President of Democratic Republuc of the Congo, has spoken on Monday, September 14 with a delegation of diplomats including Emily Maltman, from the United Kingdom, Mike Hammer from the United States of America and Nicolas Simard from Canada. It has to be noted that Professor Jean Jacques Muyembe, coordinator of the response to Ebola in Equateur province, also attended the meeting. They discussed strategies and means to fight against this epidemic, declared since the beginning of last June in this part of the country. This delegation was on a visit to Ecuador where this epidemic is raging in order to inquire into the situation and were able to visit the affected areas. It should be remembered that the total is 121 cases, including 115...

Chancellor Merkel’s Africa Envoy, H.E. Günter Nooke, leads discussion on German investments in Africa The discussion will be centred on the topic: Investment and Trade for Africa's Economic Development The webinar will be moderated by Sebastian Wagner, Executive Chair of the Germany Africa Business Forum and Gugu Mfuphi, Presenter of Kaya FM’s prime time business show, Kaya Bizz; the discussion will be centred on the topic: Investment and Trade for Africa's Economic Development; panelists include NJ Ayuk, Chairman of the African Energy Chamber ( EnergyChamber.org ) and Rene Awambeng of the African Export-Import Bank; the webinar will be held on 23 September at 3PM CET. To attend, please register here. With German visibility and participation on the rise in Africa’s energy industry, the Germany-Africa Business Forum (GABF) will host its second instalment of its Germany-Africa cooperation focused webinar series. The webinar will facilitate the discussion on how FDI ca...

China and EU Flags The EU and China signed a bilateral  agreement  this 14 September 2020  to protect 100 European Geographical Indications (GIs) in China and 100 Chinese GIs in the European Union against usurpation and imitation.  This agreement, first concluded in November 2019, should bring reciprocal trade benefits as well as introducing consumers to guaranteed, quality products on both sides. It reflects the commitment of the EU and China to deliver on their commitment taken at previous EU-China Summits and to adhere to international rules as a basis for trade relations. Agriculture and rural development Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said: “I am proud to see this agreement getting one step closer to its entry into force, reflecting our commitment to work closely with our global trading partners such as China. European Geographical Indications products are renowned for their quality and diversity, it is important to protect them at an EU and g...

Switzerland’s draft anti-terrorism legislation violates international human rights standards by expanding the definition of terrorism, and would set a dangerous precedent for the suppression of political dissent worldwide, UN human rights experts warned the 11 September. They expressed regret at the refusal of the Swiss authorities to change contentious sections of the draft law, now before parliament, but pleaded for a last-minute reversal. “None of our recommendations have been implemented”, they said, referring to a 16-page formal letter sent to the government at the end of May. “No satisfactory response has been given to our primary concerns about the incompatibility of the bill with human rights and international best practices in counter-terrorism.” The experts were particularly alarmed that the bill’s new definition of “terrorist activity” no longer requires the prospect of any crime at all. On the contrary, it may encompass even lawful acts aimed at influencing or modify...