Vaccinate the World: Daily Brief

Did you know that some of the governments of the richest countries on earth are still actively prolonging the Covid-19 pandemic, even as a new strain of the virus infects people across the globe? When will the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and some of their allies finally choose the lives of billions of people over the profits of pharmaceutical companies, and back the TRIPS Waiver proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19-related medical products?

There's very positive news from Norway, as the government in Oslo has seen the light and decided to switch camps on-topic.

The authorities in the Central African Republic should coordinate with United Nations peacekeepers to ensure that war crimes suspect Hassan Bouba, who was released from detention in defiance of court orders and escorted home by national gendarmes on Friday, is immediately returned to custody. Bouba – a minister and former rebel group leader – was arrested on November 19 on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges brought by the country’s war crimes court, the Special Criminal Court.

The government of the United Kingdom is receiving some well-deserved criticism as it is trying to keep asylum seekers and migrants out of the country in a way that is not in line with its international legal obligations. As small boats with desperate people try to reach the British shores, Human Rights Watch's UK director Yasmine Ahmed reminds the authorities of what they should do instead.

The International Olympic Committee is also on the receiving end of well-deserved criticism, in this case for its handling of the situation of Peng Shuai, a three-time Olympian from China, who disappeared earlier this month after she accused a senior government official of sexual assault. “The I.O.C. has vaulted itself from silence about Beijing’s abysmal human rights record to active collaboration with Chinese authorities in undermining freedom of speech and disregarding alleged sexual assault,” says HRW's China researcher Yaqiu Wang in The New York Times. “The I.O.C. appears to prize its relationship with a major human rights violator over the rights and safety of Olympic athletes.”

Did you know that France is still selling weapons to the rights-abusing government of Egypt? And even worse, that an investigation has alleged that classified documents show that a secret French military intelligence operation may have supported the Egyptian Air Force in targeting civilians under the guise of fighting terrorism? The documents appear to expose how the French government knew about the operation along Egypt’s western border with Libya but failed to investigate.

And Sharbat Gula, who became famous after National Geographic magazine published her portrait in 1985, has been evacuated from Afghanistan to Italy.