Morocco reached the six-month mark since the devastating earthquake, five months of war in Gaza and Earth’s ‘life support system’ is being destroyed by the global business paradigm. Here is what you missed from last week’s headlines in the international development sector.
Six months later: ‘Morocco remembers, so should we’— IFRC’s call for continued support
As Morroco reaches the six-month mark since the devastating earthquake struck the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) amplifies its call for urgent and ongoing support to meet the persistent needs of affected communities. The earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.8, occurred on 8 September 2023, leaving thousands still battling the absence of stable shelter, clean water, and essential sanitation facilities.
In response to this disaster, the Moroccan Red Crescent Society (MRCS), with the support of the IFRC, has delivered aid to over 60,300 people, navigating challenging circumstances with resilience and determination. With 450 staff and over 8,500 volunteers, the MRCS has been instrumental in rehabilitating 138 water points across 16 localities, distributing over 5,411 hygiene kits, and ensuring access to emergency shelters and psychosocial support throughout the affected regions. Their unwavering commitment highlights the MRCS’s auxiliary role to the Moroccan Government’s response and recovery efforts.
Sami Fakhouri, Head of Delegation, IFRC in Morocco and Tunisia, emphasizes the importance of collective action in these trying times:
“Our response to this earthquake has shown the power of humanity in the face of adversity. However, the road to recovery is long, and the needs of the affected communities remain immense. Six months on, Morocco’s people carry the memory of that day, and it’s incumbent upon us all to continue remembering and to act. Now more than ever, we must continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Morocco to rebuild not just their homes but their lives.”
Five months of war in Gaza: “Two mothers have died every hour”
Five months into this war in Gaza, it is hard to describe the suffering of Palestinians. CARE‘s Hiba Tibi tries the almost impossible task of putting into words the nearly unbearable living conditions and the trauma of people in Gaza.
“Five months, 152 days, 3,648 hours of horrors have passed in Gaza. Since early October, over 100,000 women, men, and children have been killed or wounded. At least one in 23 people in Gaza are either dead or severely injured; over 80% are displaced, fearing for their lives with every passing second. Two mothers have died every hour since the start of the escalation, thousands of children are now orphans, and 2.3 million Palestinians are under imminent threat of starvation. For 152 days, every day, scores of children have been killed and injured”.
Earth’s ‘life support system’ is being destroyed by global business paradigm, UN expert warns
The UN independent expert on human rights and the environment called for an urgent and radical shift in how business and the global economy operates to prevent irreversible damage to Earth’s life support system and safeguard human rights.
In a hard-hitting report to the Human Rights Council, Special Rapporteur David Boyd underscored that current business practices, particularly large coporations, pose a severe threat to the planet’s ecological integrity.
DevelopmentAid Editorials
Top 10 worst natural disasters over the last 100 years
Natural disasters have afflicted humanity from the dawn of time. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis lead to the deaths of around 60,000 people every year. According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the number of people seriously affected by these disasters has grown to 150 million with international aid reaching billions of US dollars to assist the affected countries. Over the last two decades alone, the Emergency Events Database has recorded 7,348 natural disasters around the globe.
Global wheat shipments remain unaffected despite war in Ukraine
Despite fears that Russia’s war against Ukraine might trigger a global food crisis, there have been no major disruptions to worldwide shipments of wheat since the war began, found the World Bank in a new report.
Brazil nears completion of ground-breaking cap-and-trade system to drive green economy
As the urgency to reduce carbon emissions intensifies globally, the world finds itself racing against time to mitigate the impacts of global warming. Natural disasters fueled by climate change have become an increasingly common occurrence. Amidst this backdrop, the carbon sales market represents a strategic mechanism in the fight against climate change, having evolved over the last decade to play a significant role in global efforts to decrease carbon emissions.
Here’s what else has happened
Plastic: According to experts meeting at the sixth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) in Nairobi, a transformation of the global economy is urgently needed to curb existential threats to nature and humankind caused by plastics.
Africa: Ministers of Health from African countries with the highest burden of malaria committed to accelerated action to end deaths from the disease. They pledged to sustainably and equitably address the threat of malaria in the African region, which accounts for 95% of malaria deaths globally.
International Women’s Day: Ahead of International Women’s Day, celebrated on 8 March, UNAIDS is calling for the protection of women’s rights to protect their health. The world is way off track to meet the gender, equality and HIV targets that are part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Haiti: Haiti’s gang crisis is placing girls at risk of hunger, gender-based violence, recruitment by organised crime groups and child marriage, according to a new study.
Mozambique: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, as the recent surge in violence by non-state armed groups continues to force thousands of people to flee towards southern districts in search of safety.
Reports
Over 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to female genital mutilation — UNICEF
Over 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM), according to a newly released UNICEF report. The updated global estimates show a 15 per cent increase in the total number of survivors – or 30 million more girls and women – compared to data released eight years ago.
Released on International Women’s Day, the data shows that the pace of progress to end FGM remains slow, lagging behind population growth, especially in places where FGM is most common, and far off-pace to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate the practice. The global pace of decline would need to be 27 times faster to end the practice by 2030.
“Female genital mutilation harms girls’ bodies, dims their futures, and endangers their lives,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “We’re also seeing a worrying trend that more girls are subjected to the practice at younger ages, many before their fifth birthday. That further reduces the window to intervene. We need to strengthen the efforts of ending this harmful practice.”
Female Genital Mutilation: A Global Concern is the most up-to-date compilation of statistics on FGM, a practice that violates girls’ and women’s human rights and can leave enduring physical, psychological, and social consequences. The report shows that the largest numbers are in African countries, accounting for 144 million cases, followed by 80 million in Asia and 6 million in the Middle East, with more estimated in small practicing communities and countries of migration elsewhere in the world.
Europe is not prepared for rapidly growing climate risks
Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world, and climate risks are threatening its energy and food security, ecosystems, infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and people’s health. According to the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) assessment, published, many of these risks have already reached critical levels and could become catastrophic without urgent and decisive action.
Extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding, as experienced in recent years, will worsen in Europe even under optimistic global warming scenarios and affect living conditions throughout the continent. The EEA has published the first-ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) to help identify policy priorities for climate change adaptation and for climate-sensitive sectors.
Events
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