COP 29, hosted in Azerbaijan, marks another year the climate conference is held in an authoritarian regime, sparking human rights concerns. While there has already been detention of activists, the success of the event hinges on the genuine inclusion of civil society and addressing human rights issues.
Also in today’s edition: We examine how to get a job with UN Women, see what the new U.K. Labour government plans to do about immigration, and map out where food aid goes to fill in the global gaps.
This is a preview of Newswire
Sign up to this newsletter for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development, in your inbox daily.
+ Devex Pro Week starts Monday! Be a part of five days of exclusively curated events, analyses, and reports that dive into key and emerging issues in global development. Expect special reports on ODA flows and INGO income, a deep dive into remittances, a practical guide to using AI for writing reports and applying for grants, and much more
Get your $100 discount on an annual Pro membership now to get our full offering next week and access to all our premium content for a year!
COP rights and justice
We know from the World Cup that all manner of shenanigans go on behind the scenes to award a nation the rights to hold the games. So when large-scale events are handed to countries with questionable human rights — all rights in fact — eyebrows are raised.
That brings us to the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 29, just four months away. This is the third straight year this pivotal event is being held in an authoritarian regime — Azerbaijan. Are there no other countries that fit the bill, ones that don’t squash people’s rights?
In February, Azerbaijani organizations launched the Climate of Justice Initiative, highlighting concerns over rising greenhouse gas emissions and unfair domestic water distribution. They also condemned government corruption and repression, including the arrest of politicians, journalists, and activists on fabricated charges. The initiative views COP 29 as an “opportunity to promote civil liberties, public participation, and environmental justice in Azerbaijan.”
But in April, Anar Mammadli, one of the group’s co-founders, was arrested on what Amnesty International described as trumped-up charges of smuggling. He’s now one of the estimated 300 detained Azerbaijani political prisoners and journalists. Economist, anti-corruption activist and critic of the fossil fuel industry Gubad Ibadoghlu has been held for a year and denied urgent medical care.
Like the last two hosts — UAE and Egypt — Azerbaijan's economy heavily relies on fossil fuel extraction, raising concerns about its suitability to host COP. Last year at UAE’s COP 28, a record 2,456 fossil fuel lobbyists attended, writes Devex Senior Reporter Sara Jerving.
So as Azerbaijan prepares for COP 29, the international community watches closely. The success of these climate talks hinges on the genuine inclusion of civil society voices and addressing the broader issues of human rights and environmental justice.
Read: Under Azerbaijan's repression, what's civil society's role at COP 29?
Related reading: Azerbaijan’s gamble to rebrand a green Nagorno-Karabakh at COP 29
Safety in numbers
A black hole. That’s how Zacharey Carmichael, a senior economist at the World Bank, describes the aid sector without data.
“When it came to programming data — who is doing what, where — that information was scattered all over the place,” says Carmichael. But when a country is facing famine, he explains, it’s exactly that information that you need most.
Carmichael is part of a number of teams trying to fill the gap. Through the Global Alliance for Food Security, a multilayered, regularly updated map is now visualizing funding streams, preparedness levels, and crisis conditions across the world. In the center of the map, Yemen — a country where 17 million people are food-insecure — is colored with the darkest of blues.
Across the Red Sea, Eritrea is a pale green. Further north, Jordan is a solid turquoise. And to the west, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Chad are a swath of navy, writes Devex Global Reporter Elissa Miolene.
“With this information, we can start to see the gaps within the system,” Carmichael says. “How do we fill those gaps, and how do we do it in a more systematic way?”
Read: Who is funding food aid, and why should we be keeping track? (Pro)
+ As part of our Pro Week coverage, we’ll be publishing a deep-dive report into development funding flows, exclusively for Devex Pro members. Not yet gone Pro? Try it out using the annual membership discount link now and get a 15-day free trial period.
UK shifts aid to curb African migration
In a significant policy shift, the United Kingdom’s new Labour government will redirect some of its aid budget to help the European Union reduce the influx of asylum-seekers from Africa. The move marks the first major development policy change under the new leadership and underscores a renewed commitment to tackling unauthorized Mediterranean crossings by addressing the root causes in Africa.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy revealed that the U.K. and EU are poised to combine aid budgets to implement measures that deter people from leaving their home countries. While he did not specify whether the funds would come from existing allocations or new resources, he emphasized the need for a united European effort to manage asylum applications.
The entire “European family” must confront the challenge of the continent’s over 1 million asylum applications in 2023, he said in an interview with the BBC.
The U.K. will initially contribute £84 million (around $109 million) to boost economic opportunities in high-emigration countries, aiming to reduce the migration pull, writes Devex U.K. Correspondent Rob Merrick. It’s part of a broader strategy to address the migration crisis at its source.
The Labour Party, which assumed office two weeks ago, opted not to reinstate a separate aid department, maintaining the structure inherited from the Conservative Party. Despite the aid budget increasing to 0.58% of gross national income, Labour has not committed to restoring it to the U.N.-recommended 0.7%, citing fiscal constraints.
Read: UK to spend aid budget on helping EU cut asylum-seeker arrivals
Von der Leyen 2.0
The European Parliament elected Ursula von der Leyen for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission Thursday, as the German signaled she would keep pushing an investment-focused approach to development policy that endeavors to serve EU interests as well as those of recipient countries.
The EU institutions are the third-biggest donor among OECD members, with $26.93 billion in official development assistance in 2023. Von der Leyen’s first term saw the commission try to use its development budget (rhetorically at least) as part of a geopolitical offer to global south countries, focused (the commission claimed) on green and digital infrastructure projects.
That shift, dubbed the Global Gateway, will now be souped up, with von der Leyen flagging that the commission will be “proposing an integrated offer to our partners — with infrastructure investment, trade, macro-economic support part of the package.”
NGOs decry what they see as a shift to “competition over cooperation,” and an excessive focus on the EU’s own interests.
While the new direction is in line with the recently leaked ideas of von der Leyen’s own development department about the need to “[engage] our strategic partners with a policy mix driven by economic interest, and less so by more traditional and narrow development and foreign policy approaches.”
ICYMI: How to read Europe's future development vision (Pro)
+ Listen: For the latest episode of our weekly podcast series, Devex’s Raj Kumar and David Ainsworth sit down with Nasra Ismail, U.S enterprise executive director at Alight, to discuss the future of Dutch aid and other top global development stories from this week.
Navigating a career with UN Women
Working with UN Women, the entity dedicated to gender equality, is a dream for many professionals. Yet, the path can be challenging, involving nuanced diplomacy and strategic advocacy to address deep-rooted cultural barriers. To succeed, candidates must understand these dynamics and demonstrate commitment to the organization's mission, recruitment specialist Lyudmila Anderson tells Devex contributor Katrina Lane.
The agency is consistently looking to fill a wide range of roles in locations across the globe. Over the past 12 months, Devex’s job board has seen 1,744 UN Women roles posted.
Practical experience, such as internships with relevant NGOs or fieldwork in developing regions, is highly valued, Anderson highlights. Additionally, showcasing skills in project management, policy analysis, and cross-cultural communication can set candidates apart in the competitive hiring process, she says.
“Regardless of the role that potential candidates may be interested in applying for, our hiring managers always pay attention to the candidates’ passion and commitment to our organization’s mandate,” she says, adding “We anticipate a rising demand for experts in climate change and gender, digitalization, green and blue economies, as well as climate-resilient agriculture and other related fields.”
For more guidance, read: Insider tips on applying for roles at UN Women (Career)
+ A Devex Career Account membership includes all the valuable tools you need to be successful in your globaldev job hunt. Sign up today and start your 15-day free trial.
In other news
The U.S. envoy to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, on Thursday pledged $203 million in additional aid for Sudan. [AP]
The Swedish government said Wednesday that it will begin phasing out aid to Iraq in the coming year. [Reuters]
Ford Foundation has denied allegations by Kenyan President William Ruto that the U.S.-based charity is funding protests against the government’s controversial tax scheme. [The New Humanitarian]
Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.
About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
