Pope Francis invited Roman Catholics and members of all other religions on Sunday (4 February) to observe a day of prayer, fasting and initiatives for peace on 23 February, urging everyone to ‘say no’ to violence and conflict.
Around the world, multinational companies dealing with natural resources are fighting a global battle to access, control and extract precious stones, oil, gas, minerals and even plants, writes Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga.
The Global Fund has financed anti-malaria programmes in 100 countries since its foundation in 2002. However, there are flaws in the system and the spectre of corruption is ever present. EURACTIV’s partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.
It is a sobering fact that your smart phone might contain conflict minerals. Even more so that EU member states are in the process of scaling back proposals that can help stop this, writes Léonard Santedi.
By European standards, last week’s elections in Congo-Brazzaville were not clean. This came as no surprise. Congo-Brazzaville has only had one genuine election, in 1992.
A new round of negotiations has begun in Brussels to try to reach a compromise on conflict minerals. But the process has stalled over disagreements on supply chain monitoring. EURACTIV France reports.
Humanitarian aid is not keeping pace with needs on the ground, partly due to the affects of El Nino and climate change in eastern and southern Africa, according to a new report from World Vision - and as a result already malnutrioned children are going hungry.
An NGO report published today (19 January) has revealed the grim link between the batteries in our mobile devices and electric cars, and illegal child labour. EURACTIV's partner El País -Planeta Futuro reports.
Germany wants to launch more investment projects in developing countries in order to support the fight against climate change. But where the money will come from is still not clear. EURACTIV's partner Tagesspiegel reports.
Developing countries will commit to protecting their forests in return for financial compensation from the big polluters. But deforestation will not appear in a binding Paris agreement. EURACTIV France reports.
Six African nations have agreed with donors on a plan to protect the tropical forests of the Congo basin, the second biggest in the world, after the Amazon's, to help ease poverty and combat climate change.
The European Parliament unexpectedly voted on Wednesday (20 April) in favour of a mandatory monitoring system for minerals originating from conflict zones. But negotiations with the Council and Commission will be tough. EURACTIV France reports.
The European Parliament must strengthen the EU’s position on conflict minerals to protect the world’s most vulnerable citizens, write Lucy Graham and Michael Gibb.
Many US companies are failing to comply with a law against financing armed movements active in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo through the purchase of "conflict minerals," according to a new study.
MEPs from the Committee on International Trade have rejected a set of binding regulations for certain minerals extracted in conflict zones, in favour of a less ambitious system of self-certification, which would exclude some minerals entirely. EURACTIV France reports.
The UK is spending billions of pounds on aid to fragile states but the programme has been ramped up too quickly, without proper scrutiny, and is not yet making a real difference, a government watchdog has warned.
The EU has gone to great lengths to support stability in the African Great Lakes region, yet there is little return on this investment, writes Bram Dijkstra.
We ask European Parliamentarians and European governments to meet the expectations of EU consumers who want assurances that the resources in their mobile phones, computers or cars are not linked to human right violations and conflicts, writes Mgr François-Xavier Maroy Rusengo.
Dr. Denis Mukwege is the laureate of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2014, following the decision yesterday (21 October) by European Parliament President Martin Schulz and the political group leaders. Mukwege is a gynaecologist specialised in the treatment of rape victims and founder of the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic Congo.