EU Should Urgently Waive Covid Vaccine Patent Rules: Daily Brief
A pending European Parliament resolution could help convince the EU to stop blocking wider vaccine production globally; Covid-19 infections on the rise in Africa; Nigeria bans Twitter; Cameroonian human rights lawyer still behind bars; Islamist attack in Burkina Faso further destabilizes Sahel region; thousands of Rohingya refugees at risk on remote Bangladesh island; Cambodia’s poor hit hard by Covid-19 lockdown measures; verdict due in ‘butcher of Bosnia’ appeal; and Budapest mayor shows solidarity with victims of Beijing’s human rights abuses.
Tomorrow, the European Parliament has the opportunity to step up and support a proposal by India and South Africa to temporarily waive patent rules for Covid-19 vaccines, technologies and treatments – a move that could help pave the way toward additional life-saving vaccine production capacity. Up until now, European countries have been blocking the so-called TRIPS waiver.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 infections are on the rise on the African continent. Vaccine imports, however, have been grinding to a halt, raising fears that a third wave could lead to similar devastation on the continent as that seen in India.
The Nigerian government’s decision to ban Twitter and prosecute those who continue using the platform is a blatant and unjustified restriction on people’s right to information.
Today marks one week since prominent Cameroonian human rights lawyer, Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, was detained on bogus charges of inciting terrorism.
The death toll from last weekend’s deadliest attack by armed Islamists in Burkina Faso in years has risen to at least 160 people. The attack brings the grim toll of civilians killed by armed Islamists in the Sahel since January this year to over 500.
With monsoon season about to start, tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees whom Bangladesh authorities have moved to a remote, low-lying island where cyclones are common, could end up marooned there with limited supplies and inadequate health facilities.
Severe Covid-19 lockdowns in Cambodia are hitting impoverished and unemployed people particularly hard.
Judges in The Hague will deliver their final verdict in the case of the 'butcher of Bosnia' Ratko Mladic today.
And lastly: A Budapest’s major has shown amazing solidarity with those suffering from Beijing’s oppressive politics.