Salus populi suprema lex esto (the health of the people should be the supreme law), the often-quoted Cicero saying, embodies the classic tension between public health imperatives and individual freedom. This tension has been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has posed complicated legal, ethical, and enforcement dilemmas. Pandemic mandates have implications on human rights at ...

Originally published at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/05/ethiopia-tplf-tigray-abiy-eritrea-amhara-peace/ Ethiopia can end its civil war by upholding its constitution. How to End the Ethiopia Tigray War By Mehari Taddele Maru Mehari Taddele Maru is a professor and academic coordinator at the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He is a scholar of peace and ...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the glaring double standard in the European response to refugees fleeing wars. Refugees and migrants from non-European countries, particularly those from the Global South (Africa, Asia, Middle East), face racial discrimination and xenophobic attacks while fleeing wars to bordering European countries. The stark differential response can partially be attributed to the country ...

In the eyes of the people of Tigray, there is a clear route to peace, but it will require tough decisions, starting with a willingness to accede to the people’s most essential demands. The suffering of the people of Tigray and neighboring regions is well documented. This war is now strangling the region with what ...

Original article posted at: https://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/au-eu-sixth-summit-building-the-new-post-pandemic-partnership-on-migration-and-mobility/ The Sixth Summit of the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) held with much fanfare from 17 to 18 February 2022 has concluded with the declaration of A Joint Vision for 2030. The two bodies renewed their partnership to build a common future, as close partners and neighbours with ...

In early 2020, as COVID-19 was beginning to spread globally, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for a global ceasefire, calling on all warring parties to “silence guns” and focus on fighting a pandemic that had left no country untouched. The Secretary-General’s words recognized that despite an ongoing global health crisis, insecurity, violence and conflict ...

The joint United Nations (UN) and Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation is like a ham omelette: the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. In this investigation, the UN only reluctantly became involved in demonstrating its efforts in investigating atrocity crimes, while the EHRC was committed to defending the government of Ethiopia – ...

A pig and a chicken open a breakfast restaurant together, and their speciality is bacon and eggs. What’s the difference between the chicken and the pig? The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed. For the chicken, it’s just an easy day’s work to lay a few eggs. But for the pig, it’s a ...

Original article at: https://www.henleyglobal.com/publications/global-mobility-report/2021-q4/global-mobility-trends/has-pandemic-become-excuse-curbing-visitors-global-south Restrictive policies introduced to contain the spread of Covid-19 may now be conveniently applied to contain mobility from the global south to the global north. These Covid-19-related restrictions should have been reviewed pari passu with vaccination and infection rates, and with other mechanisms employed to slow down the spread of the virus. However, in ...

In 2018, the Council of the European Union adopted conclusions on the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, finding that there was ‘renewed geopolitical competition on both shores of the Red Sea’. The EU further stressed that ‘at stake are the preservation of the security of the Bab el Mandeb maritime route through which ...