MDGs
G7 Leaders, take a stand for Africa!
Africa is still heavily reliant on coal. To protect the climate, leading industrialised countries should help Africa to invest in clean growth and leapfrog to renewables, says former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
An inefficient truth
It’s time for the G20 to give energy efficiency the respect it deserves, writes Rachel Kyte.
Africa’s young people need inspirational leaders, not old autocrats
Investing in youth is essential for Africa’s future, but what's even more essential is to let inspirational and transformational leaders to come forth, writes Shada Islam.
The hidden truth about migration: A looming farm crisis back home
Mass migration has become a major political challenge in Europe. While the media documents the perilous journeys that migrants undertake, the hardships and hopes of the rural areas from which many originate receive less attention, meaning the root causes of migration persist, writes Claudia Sadoff.
SDGs can be a test for European public-private partnerships
Sustainable Development Goals pose a considerable test for governments and EU institutions. Yet in a world in which the corporate sector is likely to enjoy greater agency, there is a concomitant opportunity to use the SDG process as a trial for European diplomacy, argue Jan Melissen and Ries Kamphof.
Diverting EU aid to stop migration: The EU Trust Fund for Africa
Migrants have become the focus of the EU's aid strategy. As priority is given to stemming migrant flows in the short-term, long-term development goals are forgone, tarnishing the EU's image as a global development actor, writes Fanny Voitzwinkler.
Commission is wrong to promote private sector in EU aid policy
The European Commission has engaged in a dangerously mistaken defence of the role of public private partnerships (PPPs) in EU development policy, warns Jan Willem Goudriaan.
Europe leads sustainable development agenda
Sustainability should be integrated as a leitmotif and goal of every policy formulated and implemented, writes Stuart Reigeluth.
Lake Chad crisis: ‘If Nigeria fails, Africa fails’
As delegates arrive for the Oslo emergency summit on Northern Nigeria and the Lake Chad region today (23 February), why should people in the EU care about people who live in such a far-off place, writes Jamie Drummond.
Bangladesh crackdown calls preferential EU trade deal into question
The latest crackdown on Bangladesh’s garment workers for demanding relief from poverty wages and hazardous working conditions must call into question the country’s continuing eligibility for trade preferences under the EU’s GSP regime, write trade union organisations.
‘Forgotten’ Lake Chad Basin crisis affects two million children
The EU and its member states, as well as other donors, need to address the current funding shortfall for the “forgotten” crisis of the Lake Chad Basin, writes Kathryn Taetzsch.
No more EU deals to keep migrants out
The EU's new partnership with Third World countries, modelled on the controversial Turkey deal, and trust funds to limit migration and return refugees to their home countries, have little safeguards for human rights, argue Jessica Poh-Janrell and Andrea Stocchiero of CONCORD.
UN Resolution 2250: A game changer for EU on peace and security?
Today's young generation of 1.8 billion people are having their efforts ignored or going unrecognised, write World Vision and several other NGOs.
Europe has the potential to end HIV and AIDS by 2030
On World AIDS Day, many are hopeful that it will be possible to eliminate a killer disease that is set to affect more than one billion people by 2030, writes Cecile Vernant.
Female genital mutilation: Putting human rights at the core of Europe’s asylum system
Female genital mutilation (FGM) survivors, and women and girls at risk, are particularly vulnerable in the asylum system. They must receive support to help them navigate the process, writes Liuska Sanna.
Tragedy in DR Congo: EU can help
As the EU considers imposing sanctions on DR Congo, massacres are spreading in the east. Tom Gillhespy calls for the international community to provide more support to local organisations working to prevent armed conflict.
‘Share the knowledge’ at UN’s Quito summit on cities – or wait until 2036
Some 90% of urban growth over the next 30 years will happen in developing countries. If we squander the chance to set them on the path to sustainability now, it may be lost for ever, write Eva Dic and Maria-Theres Haase.
Women: One of the Mediterranean’s brightest hopes
For too long, women have been absent from decision-making, too little involved in the formal labour market and too often victims of violence. They are now one of our brightest hopes for the Mediterranean, writes Delphine Borione.
EU must secure adequate resources for girls
We know that empowering women and girls makes our societies safer, healthier, greener and more prosperous. So what are we waiting for, ask the organisers of this year’s European Week of Action for Girls (EWAG).
Ethiopia-EU strategic cooperation remains strong
Since spring 2015, the European Union has been facing an unprecedented peak of illegal migration from the Middle East and Africa, in particular from countries of the Horn of Africa, writes Teshome Toga.
Health SDGs need to learn lessons of MDGs
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on Health, the EU should increase the priority afforded to health in development assistance, writes Frazer Goodwin.
EU Budget: yesterday’s solutions no longer work today
Those familiar with Brussels’ routines know that, at this time of the year, EU institutions’ representatives gather to agree on the budget for 2017. Negotiations are known to be passionate, to say the least, writes Tamira Gunzburg.
The European External Investment Plan: more than old wine in a new bottle
Europe is at last fully converted to the merits of boosting investment in order to achieve sustainable growth. The EU is doing so with an internal investment plan (commonly referred to as the Juncker Plan or as the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), writes San Bilal.