WORLD - The African Mirror

Jan

14

2025

The UN says Australia violated human rights law, but it’s unlikely to change the way we treat refugees

WORLD

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled that Australia breached international human rights law by detaining a group of young asylum seekers in immigration detention in Nauru. The committee found the asylum seekers were subject to prison-like conditions, potentially indefinitely, and without knowing what was going to happen to them in the future. This, the committee found, was in breach of their human rights. It also found that although the “cruel and degrading” treatment happened in Nauru, Australia was responsible. This was because Australia was in “effective control” of the detention facilities and authorised the transfer and detention of…

Jan

12

2025

By The African Mirror

LA wildfires: Climate change made the disaster worse says WMO

WORLD

THE Santa Ana winds whispered their ancient warning as they swept down from the mountains, carrying with them the scent of sage and fear. Los Angeles lay spread below like a glittering jewel box, unaware that these deceptively gentle breezes would soon become harbingers of destruction. They called it a perfect storm - the dry vegetation crackling underfoot after months of below-normal rainfall, despite last year's abundance. Nature's cruel joke: giving enough rain to grow the fuel, then withholding the moisture that might have kept it green. The mountains loomed over the city like stern guardians, watching as their winds…

Jan

12

2025

By LISANDRO CLAUDIO; GARRET MARTIN; JORGE HEINE; PATRICK JAMES and TATSIANA KULAKEVICH

5 elections to watch in 2025

WORLD

THE coming 12 months can’t promise the bumper crop of elections we saw during 2024 when countries home to about half the world’s population headed to the polls. Still, voters will cast ballots in several important elections throughout the year – and many of the themes persist: the impact of inflation, the rise of the populist right and the fallout of war in Europe and the Middle East. Only a fool or charlatan will pretend to predict the future, so it’s usually best to avoid election forecasting. So instead, The Conversation asked experts on five countries – Canada, Germany, Chile,…

Jan

12

2025

By The African Mirror

What’s shaping aid policy in 2025

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Irwin Loy and Will Worley Whether it knows it or not, the humanitarian system is in a struggle to stake its relevance. Faith in multilateralism has fractured if it ever existed at all. Last year, we said that humanitarians have a trust problem; this has deepened over the last 12 months amid double standards on Gaza, unmet promises, and imbalanced power and influence. The challenge in 2025 and beyond will be for humanitarians to redefine what they do and why it matters. Here are five humanitarian policy trends that could play…

Jan

11

2025

By WAYNE UNGER

Trump gets an ‘unconditional discharge’ in hush money conviction − a constitutional law expert explains what that means

WORLD

Donald Trump is now a convicted felon and will be the first president of the United States with a felony conviction. On Jan. 10, 2025, Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial in a New York state court, sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge for all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. In his statement to the court, Trump maintained the point he had made throughout the prosecution, that the whole case was a political witch hunt. “The fact is, I’m totally innocent,” said Trump via a video appearance in the court. During the…

Jan

11

2025

By RAHAF ALDOUGHLI

Syria: challenges facing Ahmad al-Shara as he strives for legitimacy both inside and outside war-torn country

WORLD

THE fall of the Assad regime after more than 50 years and the rise of the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has brought Syria to a critical turning point. Decades of Ba'athist rule entrenched deep ideological and emotional divides within Syrian society. Aside from the massive job of rebuilding the war-torn country’s infrastructure, the militarised nationalism and sectarianism of Assad’s regime have left the country with lasting social and political scars. These must be addressed as a matter of urgency if his successors truly wish to build a unified national identity. The 13-year civil war deepened sectarian fragmentation, particularly…

Jan

11

2025

By AMALENDU MISRA

How much of a threat does Venezuela’s exiled opposition pose to the rule of Nicolás Maduro?

WORLD

VENEZUELA’S leader, Nicolás Maduro, will be sworn in as president for a record third term on January 10, four months after being declared the winner of the country’s highly contentious election. Maduro will receive the standard obeisance from his cronies and will hug the limelight, but plenty of Venezuelans will have very little to celebrate. Both Maduro and opposition leader María Corina Machado, who is currently in hiding, have urged their supporters on to the streets on inauguration day. In a video message released on January 5, Machado said that Maduro will not step down on his own and that…

Jan

10

2025

By THOMAS GIFT

Elon Musk and the tech titans v the rest of Maga – here’s where the big splits could happen

WORLD

THE angry debate over US visas and foreign workers that erupted over the holidays has exposed splits within Donald Trump’s Maga supporters on immigration policy. The fiery words exchanged between two Trump factions over H-1B visas, which allow immigrants to work in the US based on speciality talents or skills, may just be the opening salvos of a broader war for influence at Trump’s base in Mar-a-Lago. On the one hand, tech mogul, immigrant, and Trump’s (for now) right-hand man Elon Musk declared his strong support for easing restrictions on these visas, pledging that he’d be willing “go to war…

Jan

10

2025

By The African Mirror

Humanitarian crises that demand your attention now

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. ITS not just Gaza and Ukraine. Wars and other humanitarian emergencies continue to rage around the globe heading into 2025. Many of them – even Sudan, the world’s largest displacement crisis – garner relatively little media coverage and struggle to get their share of donor aid money. And even when the funds are there for a robust response, securing the access actually to deliver one can be all but impossible. At the start of each year, our team of specialist editors produces a list of 10 crises to watch. With so…

Jan

10

2025

By The African Mirror

UN concerned at high rate of executions in Iran

WORLD

THE cold morning air carried whispers of despair through Tehran's narrow streets. Inside the UN Human Rights Office, Elizabeth Throssell's voice trembled with barely contained emotion as she delivered the grim statistics that painted a picture of Iran's darkening horizon. "Thirty-one women," she said, each word weighted with significance. "Thirty-one mothers, daughters, sisters – the highest number in fifteen years." The fluorescent lights cast harsh shadows across her face as she detailed their stories: women trapped in the cruel web of domestic violence, child brides forced into marriages they never chose, wives who saw no escape but through desperate acts.…