WORLD - The African Mirror

Mar

19

2025

As displaced Syrians return home, others wait and hope for more aid

WORLD

FOR the past six years, a single tent has been the only home that Sana Khaled and her large family have known. She has made it as comfortable as their circumstances will allow, with piles of cushions bordering the carpeted floor and bright bunches of plastic flowers hanging from the interior fabric walls. But she still craves the security of a solid roof over their heads, especially during the cold winter months. “A tent is not like a home – the situation in a tent is difficult,” Sana explained. “You’re always in fear of something. There’s never any stability or…

Mar

19

2025

By The African Mirror

Slovenia sets positive example in defending rights by acceding to Statelessness Convention

WORLD

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, commended Slovenia's commitment to eradicating the devastating plight of statelessness by acceding to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The Convention is the leading international treaty that sets out safeguards to protect people against statelessness, which deprives individuals of the benefits of a nationality. It helps States prevent new cases from arising and, in so doing, reduces statelessness. Slovenia is the 82nd state to have become a party to the Convention. The accession, which also fulfils Slovenia's pledge at the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, reflects the country's efforts to uphold and protect…

Mar

18

2025

By SIMON MCCARTHY-JONES

Donald Trump’s foreign policy might be driven by simple spite – here’s what to do about it

WORLD

RECENT shifts in US foreign policy – particularly regarding tariffs and the war in Ukraine – have sparked debate over what is driving the Trump administration’s decisions. Some of those decisions have appeared so odd that media commentators and even some European officials have wondered out loud if the US government may now even be serving Russian interests. It’s more likely that US actions simply reflect an aggressive pursuit of what the Trump administration perceives to be America’s interests. Such policies may help rebuild US manufacturing and reorient its military for future tensions with China. Yet former Trump official Anthony…

Mar

18

2025

By The African Mirror

Iran protests: Human Rights Council probe condemns surveillance repression

WORLD

THE Iranian Government has continued to ramp up efforts to restrict the rights of civilians including young children as part of a concerted effort to crush dissent, investigators mandated by the Human Rights Council insisted. In their latest and final report, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran alleged ongoing serious rights violations by the Iranian authorities stemming from massive protests after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. Ms Amini, from the Iranian Kurdish community, had been arrested by the country’s “morality police” for allegedly not complying with rules around wearing the hijab. “In repressing…

Mar

18

2025

By The African Mirror

If we neglect immediate humanitarian needs in Syria, social and political divisions will not heal

WORLD

IBTIHAL and her family returned home to the war-torn town of Dara'a in southern Syria in January, after more than a decade as refugees in Jordan. The house had taken extensive damage to the walls, windows and water tanks – her husband pointed to a hole in the roof where a mortar had punched through. There was no electricity and so no lighting. Piece by piece, Ibtihal's husband and his neighbours were putting the building back together. Despite the destruction, they were overjoyed to be back. "When I first arrived, I was shocked by the state of the entire country,"…

Mar

15

2025

By TANIA KING; FIONA STANLEY; GUY GILLOR and TILMAN RUFF

Health-care workers should not be a target. In Gaza, their detention and death affect the entire population

WORLD

A freeze on aid entering the Gaza Strip, imposed by Israel last week, means once again tons of urgent medical supplies and medicines are stuck at the border, with delivery uncertain. However, supplies are only one part of the picture, and their usefulness is limited without trained healthcare workers who know how to treat and care for patients. Healthcare workers are the most critical component of any health system. Despite being protected under international law, they have been killed and injured at alarming rates in Gaza since October 7 2023. There is also growing evidence of inhumane treatment and abuse…

Mar

15

2025

By ERICA FRANKENBERG and MAITHREYI GOPALAN

Big cuts at the Education Department’s civil rights office will affect vulnerable students for years to come

WORLD

THE U.S. Department of Education cut its workforce by nearly 50% on March 11, 2025, when it laid off about 1,315 employees. The move follows several recent directives targeting the Cabinet-level agency. Within the department, the Office for Civil Rights – which already experienced layoffs in February – was especially hard hit by cuts. The details remain unclear, but reports suggest that staff at six of the 12 regional OCR offices were laid off. Because of the office’s role in enforcing civil rights laws in schools and universities, the cuts will affect students across the country. As education policy scholars…

Mar

14

2025

By The African Mirror

Rights probe alleges Israeli forces’ sexual violence against Palestinians used as a method of war

WORLD

SENIOR human rights investigators reporting to the Human Rights Council alleged that sexual and gender-based violence by Israeli security forces against Palestinian men, women and children have been increasingly used “as a method of war” following the 7 October 2023 attacks that sparked the Gaza war. “Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination,” maintained Chris Sidoti from the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Speaking in Geneva, the human rights lawyer said that “the frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual…

Mar

14

2025

By ERRIN HAINES

Breonna Taylor’s mother remembers

WORLD

This story was originally reported by Errin Haines of The 19th. Meet Errin and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy.This column first appeared in The Amendment, a biweekly newsletter by Errin Haines, The 19th’s editor-at-large. Subscribe today to get early access to her analysis. BREONNA Taylor didn’t play about getting her hair done. An emergency medical technician with dreams of becoming a nurse, Taylor was a vivacious 26-year-old who liked to look good while she worked hard. “She loved just taking care of herself and how she looked,” her mother, Tamika Palmer, said in an interview last week.…

Mar

14

2025

By The African Mirror

Humanitarians describe ‘extreme desperation’ as aid cuts deepen Rohingya children’s suffering

WORLD

IN Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts in aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday. “Children in the world's largest refugee camp are experiencing the worst levels of malnutrition since the massive displacement that occurred in 2017,” Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh, told journalists in Geneva, almost eight years since hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya fled widespread military attacks in Myanmar. Speaking from Dhaka, Ms Flowers said that last month in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, admissions for severe acute malnutrition surged by over 27…