Hundreds missing after Rohingya refugee camp fires
During the last fortnight, several small fires have devastated dozens of make-shift shelters in India and Bangladesh, displacing a further 45,000 escapees of Myanmar’s military crackdown. At present, an estimated one million Rohingya refugees are living in overcrowded sprawling camps in southern Bangladesh, after fleeing a brutal crackdown by the...
Current in People
Greta Thunberg says vaccine nationalism to worsen climate crisis
In a Twitter thread, Greta explained that ‘inequality and climate injustice is already the heart of the climate crisis.’ In a pointed Twitter thread, Greta Thunberg said that “vaccine nationalism” threatens to make the pandemic worse and that public health in general is inseparable from the climate crisis. She said that she...
Celebrities back Tree Aid’s appeal to save the Metema forest
Several high-profile names are supporting a call from Tree Aid to bring a forest in Ethiopia back from the brink of extinction. Tree Aid, a charity that works with people in the drylands of Africa to tackle poverty and the effects of the global climate crisis by growing trees,...
UK black youth ‘three times as likely’ to be jobless after COVID-19
With new data showing the UK’s most severe black youth employment slump in 40 years, has COVID further exposed deep-rooted inequality within the job market? Young black workers in the UK have been hit disproportionally hard during the pandemic, and the knock on effects could put a dent in our...
Women protesting femicide in Latin America refuse to back down
In a region where machismo reigns and gender-based violence is widespread, demonstrations against these issues continue to unfold. Now, the fight is crossing borders. Deemed the most lethal location on the planet for women prior to the outbreak, Latin America is as deadly as ever, with activists of the...
Oxford’s AstraZeneca vaccine ignites debate on female contraception
If blood clots have halted entire vaccine rollouts, should we be taking more time to consider the side effects of female contraception? Over a dozen countries around the globe have restricted use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine due to fears surrounding potential side effects. Germany, Spain, and Italy are amongst the...
How education poverty has risen during the pandemic
Students have been adversely affected in their routines, social life, and mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic. But how has this pandemic affected those who cannot afford their education? From textbooks to private tutoring, education can be a costly undertaking for families. As home schooling became our new normal last year, some families just could not keep up with the new demands and pressures that Covid-19 brought with it. Many experienced the...
Changemakers to meet with Dalai Lama in online event
Big names including Killer Mike, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and twelve others will be chatting to the Dalai Lama via video call, asking for advice on social change. Have you been using Zoom for your everyday lessons or company meetings? Twelve change-makers and big name influencers are about to step-up their video conference bragging rights, as they’ll be given the opportunity to chat directly to the Dalai Lama about all things social...
Brazil’s catastrophic COVID response may have global implications
Surrounding Latin American countries are scrambling to protect themselves from what experts warn has become the perfect environment for the virus to adapt. In the months following the first reported case of Coronavirus in Latin America, much of the conversation surrounding its impact on the region centred heavily on Brazil, a country with the most virus-related deaths second to the United States. Guaranteed to overwhelm global attention, the staggering mortality rates...
Egyptian women’s rights groups rise up against oppressive bill
A grassroots feminist movement in Egypt has risen up to protest a “shocking draft law” that would require women to gain the consent of a male guardian to get married or travel abroad. Lawyer Entissar El-Saeid has argued that the new law ‘calls off the rights women have acquired over decades of fighting’. The draft personal status bill would require male consent for a woman to get married, register a child’s...
