Trade : Draft Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies undermines UN SDG 14.6 (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
With little time left for the WTO's 12th ministerial conference (MC12), a draft "Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies" issued by the chair of the Doha Rules negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, on 24 November appears to have reinforced the asymmetries in the three pillars of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, said people familiar with the text.

COP26 : Glasgow Pact - a setback for equity, the poor and planet (PRIV)
(Meena Raman, Penang)
Contrary to the mainstream spin that the Glasgow outcomes (called Glasgow Pact), were "historic", for the first-time mention of the "phase-down of unabated coal" and "phase-out of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies", and in managing to "keep the 1.5 degrees C temperature limit alive", an honest assessment of the decisions reached will show that there has been a grave setback for equity, the poor and the planet.

Africa : Ongoing pandemic pushes children out of school (PRIV)
(IPS, Nairobi)
Kenya's secondary schools' administration has been in the eye of a storm since schools reopened in October 2021. Since then, students have set on fire 35 schools and counting, forcing the government to announce an unscheduled break from school - ahead of the planned 23 December closing.