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Sunday, June 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Trade and poverty: Facts beyond theory
MALAWI: Government Money-Saving Measure Costs Traders Dearly
The Malawian government’s new cost-cutting prohibition on the hosting of conferences, training sessions and workshops on the shores of Lake Malawi has hit small-scale merchants who ply their trade on the roadsides and beaches of the fresh-water lake.HEALTH: Kenyans’ Right to Affordable Drugs in Hands of Court
Kenya’s Constitutional Court is due to set a date on Jul 22 for a hearing on the application against the Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008, of which clauses pertaining to medicines have been suspended pending the court’s decision on whether the law violates the right to health and life.Window of Opportunity For Sahel Rapidly Closing
Over the past six months, the levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in the Sahel belt of West Africa have increased at alarming rates, putting over 10 million people at risk across the region - particularly in Niger and Chad.HEALTH: U.S. Intensifies Anti-Counterfeit Drive in East Africa
The U.S.’s recent promotion of intellectual property (IP) rights in Uganda is an indirect way of introducing the Anti-Counterfeits Trade Agreement (ACTA) debate in East Africa.Obama-Cameron Meet Overshadowed By BP and Libya
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Washington, DC on Tuesday was supposed to be an opportunity for the Conservative Party leader to build a rapport with U.S. President Barack Obama.
HEALTH: Intellectual Property Rights Remain A Barrier to Drugs
Intellectual property (IP) rights are a key reason for high medicine prices, rendering such medicines unaffordable and therefore out of reach for poor people. While mechanisms exist to circumvent IP, poor countries have been browbeaten into adopting stringent IP laws.
HEALTH: East African Laws Confuse Fake and Generic Drugs – WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) agrees that the anti-counterfeit legislation that has been adopted or that is under consideration in East Africa threatens the accessibility of affordable generic medicines.
CHINA-NIGERIA: New Refinery Planned for Lagos Free Trade Zone
Nigeria is a place where many more deals are announced than are ever completed. But July saw progress towards the construction of one of three new Nigerian refineries expected to reduce imports of refined petroleum products, a costly and ironic feature of the oil-rich nation's economy.
AFRICA: “Everything but Arms Deal Doesn’t Benefit Enough People”
The Everything but Arms trade initiative, which provides preferential treatment to poor countries, benefits only a limited range of people in the target populations. It should also be expanded to more countries, civil society organisations say.
DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: “Competing With the Dogs for Bones”
"People used to mock me, saying that I am competing with dogs for bones, but these taunts do not deter me," says Sibongile Mararike with no sign of rancour.
AFRICA: Widening Tax Bases “Key to Development and Democracy”
African countries should deepen their tax bases to collect more revenues to finance their development, build state institutions and to improve national dialogue and, more generally, their social contracts with citizens.ZAMBIA: “Privatisation Like Grabbing Goods Fallen from a Truck”
Zambia has sold more than 262 state-owned enterprises in the past 18 years, with the latest being the beleaguered telecommunications company Zamtel.MOZAMBIQUE: Women at Forefront of Resisting Climate Change
The Mozambican government has adopted various policies to address the effects of climate change, with special attention to women as studies show that they are more adversely affected by this phenomenon.WEST AFRICA: New Cocoa Agreement Is a Sweet One, Producers Say
The new international cocoa agreement will provide a positive shake-up in the cocoa market and ensure better prices for stakeholders, including small farmers.
RIGHTS: Poor Foreigners Working Like “Modern Slaves” in Mauritius
Workers from Bangladesh have helped Mauritius to achieve the economic success and world market share that the Indian Ocean island state boasts about. But many live and work in conditions described as akin to "modern slavery", apart from facing discrimination, the denial of labour rights and even violence.
UGANDA: Getting the Common Market to Benefit the Common Woman
July 1 marked the moment when the East African Community common market protocol kicked into operation. But Ugandan women face several obstacles before they will benefit from the boost that the protocol gives to the free movement of goods, labour and capital.HEALTH-KENYA: Agency Unaware of Anti-Counterfeit Law Suspension
The agency tasked with implementing the Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008 in Kenya is unaware of the Constitutional Court’s suspension of the law’s application to medicines. Moreover, a large multinational pharmaceutical company has offered to assist the agency in implementing the law with regards to medicines despite the court decision.TRADE: UNCTAD “Forgets” Real Risks Faced by African Farmers
The latest UNCTAD report on science and technology repeats previous calls for a "green revolution" in African agriculture but contains no mention of the real and present dangers that the international trade and financial framework presents to African farmers.
TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: The End of EPA Acrimony May Be in Sight
Southern African trade ministers have pledged to sign a significantly scaled down economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) before the end of 2010. Could this be the conclusion to years of divisive negotiations?
WORLD: “Anti-Counterfeit Deal Threatens Accessibility of Drugs”
A proposed anti-counterfeit trade deal between 10 countries and the European Union (EU) could create "a new set of barriers to the export of generic medicines to low income countries".
DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Selling Scrap Metal to Scrape By
Gugulethu Mkhwananzi is another one of the many unemployed women who have become features of everyday life in Bulawayo’s poor working class suburbs as she moves from house to house, looking for "rusted gold", or scrap metal.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Trade has historically been a geopolitical tool, creating significant economic imbalances in developing countries. However, many countries in East Asia and Latin America have been able to alleviate poverty due to increasing trade. Tackling poverty has proven to be much harder in low income countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, and their dismal trade performance is one important reason for that. They remain at the margins of world trade and indeed of the world economy. These articles are aimed at informing readers about the complexities of trade and its varying effects on development, with a special focus on the consequences of the global economic crisis, the potential of fair trade and the gender implications of trade policies.
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