A federal US judge issued a default judgement against Khalifia Haftar, finding him liable for war crimes. 

Judge Leonie Brinkema's judgement paves the way for families in three separate civil suits to seek monetary compensation. 

The families filed their lawsuits under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, a law that allows non-US citizens to seek compensation from individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, allegedly committed torture or extrajudicial killing.

Haftar, a US citizen who had been a Virginia resident for decades, unsuccessfully tried to have the civil lawsuits tossed out under the claim of immunity as head of state.

"This is the culmination of years of work with Libyan victims against what the war criminal Haftar has done for so many years in Libya," Esam Omeish, president of the Libyan American Alliance, an advocacy group that serves as a lead consultant in one of the three lawsuits, told Middle East Eye.

War crimes by Haftar's forces and allied groups have been well documented and now with Haftar having now been found liable in a civil lawsuit, the Libyan American Alliance has said they hoped this will now lead to a path towards criminal prosecution against him.

"We call upon the Attorney General Mr Garland and others to look into the criminality of this US citizen who has committed egregious crimes in Libya," Omeish said speaking to the Middle east eye.

Zaid, the attorney for one of the group of plaintiffs, agreed that this case could soon go from a civil one to a criminal one.

"I have made this clear. I asked both the attorney general under the Trump administration and the Biden administration that under US law - which I actually helped work on 25 or so years ago, the War Crimes Act of 1996 - that Haftar as a US citizen can and should be prosecuted," Zaid said.

"And we still hope the Biden administration will do that."

Read more at Middle East Eye 

The South African government has called for Israel to be declared an 'apartheid state', following its continued occupation of Palestinian territories. 

The South African government expressed concerns that Israel continued occupation of "significant portions of the West Bank" and the developments of new settlements there "are glaring examples of violations of international law".

“The Palestinian narrative evokes experiences of South Africa’s own history of racial segregation and oppression,” Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, said at the second meeting of the Palestinian Heads of Mission in Africa, held in the capital Pretoria.

A recent UN commission of inquiry to investigate violations in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, determined in its report that Israel is responsible for severe human rights violations against Palestinians.

“These reports are significant in raising global awareness of the conditions that Palestinians are subjected to and they provide credence and support to an overwhelming body of factual evidence, all pointing to the fact that the State of Israel is committing crimes of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians”, said Pandor while referencing the reports.

Pandor said Pretoria believes Israel should be classified as an apartheid state and that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) should establish a committee to verify whether it satisfies the requirements.

According to a recent report by the Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights, a civil organisation with headquarters in the Gaza Strip, approximately 5,418 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military operations in the embattled Gaza Strip during the past 15 years, including 1,246 children and 488 women.

Read more at Al Jazeera. 

The Nepali government's bill to amend its current transitional justice laws will not fully provide justice to victims or meet Nepal's obligations under international law, says human rights groups.

Several Human rights organisations have called for the amendment of the proposed bill by the Nepali government. Successive Nepali governments have stalled the transitional justice process since 2015, when Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that the current law fails to meet Nepal’s domestic and international legal obligations on several grounds, including that it empowers the two transitional justice commissions to grant amnesties to perpetrators of serious violations of international law. Although the new bill removes some of the previous amnesty provisions, it would still be difficult or impossible to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international law including war crimes and crimes against humanity, the groups said.

Mandira Sharma, senior international legal adviser at the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said, 

“Victims and their families who have waited anxiously for amendments to the law, hoping that their demands for truth and justice will be met, are disappointed,”

She added, 

“Despite the promise of reform, this bill, if implemented as it stands today, would shield many perpetrators from being brought to justice.”

Both security forces and former rebels have been accused of carrying out torture, killings, rapes and forced disappearances during Nepal’s decade-long civil war, which ended in 2006 with more than 13,000 people dead.

Critics also say Nepal’s truth and reconciliation process has been poorly designed from the outset and stymied by a lack of funding and political will.

Several other provisions of the new bill, including those introducing limitations on the right to appeal, would also prevent accountability as required by international legal standards. The major sections of the bill that violate international law include:

Section 2(5) categorizes violations to make it possible that perpetrators of gross violations of human rights, crimes against humanity, and war crimes could be granted amnesties; and

Section 29 (5) provides that verdicts of the Special Court which will try transitional justice cases cannot be appealed to the Supreme Court, in violation of international fair trial guarantees.

The bill also contains significant omissions:

The bill does not establish any special investigation unit in the transitional justice commissions or the prosecutor’s office tasked with evidence collection. Investigation units with expertise in human rights violations would ensure that investigations are prompt, thorough, and effective in accordance with international human rights law and standards and that victims can access effective remedies

The bill does not clarify the principle of non-retroactivity of criminal law in a manner consistent with international law. This omission makes it unclear how the Penal Code can be used to prosecute conflict-era crimes, as stipulated by the bill, and allows the operation of statutory limitations for the crime of rape.

Read more at Al Jazeera and HRW

Pope Francis apologised and asked for forgiveness from survivors of Canada's church-run schools, with commentators noting it did not go far enough to address historic abuses.

During his tour of Canada, touted as his "pilgrimage of penance" the widely anticipated apology was received during a visit to the community of Maskwacis, Alberta.

“I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools,”

Francis said, telling nearly 2,000 survivors of the residential school system of his “indignation” and “shame” over the painful memory of the treatment of Indigenous children.

Over more than a century, Canada separated more than 150,000 indigenous children from their families and brought them to largely church-run residential schools where many were starved, beaten and sexually abused.

Some never returned home, a reality brought to the fore by the discoveries of more than 1,000 suspected unmarked graves at or near the sites of former residential schools last year.

However, some have noted that the Pope's apology fell short,

Murray Sinclair who chaired Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission criticised the pope's apology saying it placed the blame on individual members rather than acknowledging the full role of the church. 

Activists also highlighted that the Pope should publically rescind the 1493 Papal Bull, that gave effect to the Doctrine of Discovery, essentially legalising the unjust taking of indigenous land around the world. European settlers in Canada used the doctrine to justify colonising land which was inhabited by indigenous people. 

Read more at Reuters 

 ^{Kyaw Min Yu (L) Phyo Zeya Thaw (R)}

Myanmar's military junta execution of four democracy activists,has drawn widespread condemnation, marking the country's first execution in decades.

The four activists were sentenceto death in secretive trials held in Januaray and April, the men were accused of helping a civilian resistance movement that has fought the military since last years coup and bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. 

Among those executed were democracy campaigner Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Jimmy, and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, an ally of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The two others executed were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.

The shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which is leading efforts to undermine the junta's attempts to rule Myanmar, said it was time for an international response.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup, with the military, which has ruled the former British colony for five of the past six decades, engaged in battles on multiple fronts with newly formed militia groups.

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called the executions a "cruel and regressive step" that would "only deepen its entanglement in the crisis it has itself created."

The United States on Monday said it would work with regional allies to hold the military accountable and called for a cessation of violence and release of political detainees.

"The United States condemns in the strongest terms the Burmese military regime's heinous execution of pro-democracy activists and elected leaders," a White House National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reiterated Washington's commitment "to the people of Burma in their pursit of freedom and democracy". 

Read more at Reuters 

Tasnim News Agency

The international court of justice has rejected Myanmar’s attempts to obstruct a case raised by Gambia, alleging the country of “[...] mass murder, rape, and destruction of  communities in Rakhine state.” 

At a hearing on Friday, the United Nations’ highest court rejected all preliminary objections brought forward by Myanmar, a country currently ruled by a military junta. 

The case references the military assaults that occured in 2016 and 2017. It was during this time period that state-sanctioned violence and persecution prompted over 700,000 Rohingya muslims to seek refuge in the neighboring Bangladesh. Gambia alleges that since October 2016, the Myanmar military oversaw  “clearance operations” against the Rohingya. 

“The genocidal acts committed during these operations were intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group … by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as the systematic destruction by fire of their villages, often with inhabitants locked inside burning houses,” the submission stated. 

The submission asserted that the assaults followed a pervasive campaign of dehumanization and cited demands levied by the local Rakhine Nationalities Development party urging for a “final solution.”

Myanmar sought dismissal of the case on the basis that the court lacked jurisdiction, seeing as to how Gambia had not been directly affected by the events and there were no prior legal disputes between the two countries. Myanmar further argued that “Gambia was acting as a “proxy” for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and lacked standing because the ICJ only rules on disputes between states.” 

Since the violent military coup in February 2021, Myanmar has been represented by the junta at the International Court of Justice. Elected lawmakers, ethnic minority representatives and activists, who comprise the national unity government, have sought to instead represent Myanmar in court and stated willingness to withdraw preliminary objections.

President of the Global Justice Centre, Akila Radhakrishnan, lauded Friday’s decision as “an enormous step forward for justice.” 

“It sends a signal to Myanmar’s military that they cannot commit atrocities with impunity. The case proceeding is all the more important in light of the February 2021 coup, which was enabled and emboldened by the impunity the military has been afforded for far too long,” she said.

The President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, Tun Khin, claims that Myanmar is attempting to prolong proceedings and meanwhile, the Rohingya continue to endure oppression and genocidal measures at the hands of the state. “Laws and policies designed to make life unbearable and drive Rohingya out of Myanmar are part of the genocide and continue,” he said. 

Tun Khin urges the UK to join the likes of Netherlands and Canada in supporting Gambia as the case moves forward.

Countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka have continued to strengthen diplomatic ties with Myanmar, even as countries around the world condemn the regime for its human rights abuses. 

Most recently, Sri Lanka was met with widespread condemnation for presenting credentials to Myanmar’s ruling military junta.

The move was viewed as a means of lending legitimacy to the brutal regime.

Nine tourists were killed following a shelling attack on a water park near the Kurdish City of Zakho with the Iraqi government holding Turkey responsible. 

The Iraqi government has accused Turkish forces of an attack on its citizens in a resort near the Kurdish city of Zakho (Southern Kurdistan). Turkey denied it had launched strikes against civilians and instead claimed that the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), was responsible.

Iraq’s prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, received some of the bodies at Baghdad airport as anger mounted in the Iraqi capital and in Karbala, the Shia shrine city in central Iraq where many of the victims were from. Coffins carrying the dead were draped with Iraqi flags and flown in on a military aircraft, a sign of the political importance Baghdad has attached to the incident.

Protesters rallied outside Turkish government buildings in both cities, angrily demanding accountability from Ankara. Germany has called for an urgent investigation, while the US and Iran have expressed concern.

Iraq has filed a complaint to the U.N. Security Council, requesting an urgent session to discuss a deadly artillery attack. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad al-Sahaf said the ministry also recalled Iraq's chargé d’affaires from Ankara. Iraq’s parliament held a session Saturday on the attack, with lawmakers deciding to form a committee to investigate further.

In recent months there have been frequent clashes in the area, a mountainous pocket of Iraq close to the Turkish border in which Turkish troops maintain bases. The presence of the Turkish army on Iraqi soil has long been a point of friction between Baghdad and Ankara, but the Kurdistan regional government of Iraq has facilitated the Turkish presence to help combat the PKK, which it accuses of subverting its authority. The PKK calls for greater Kurdish self-governance and is involved in an armed struggle with the Turkish state. Kurds make up 15-20% of Turkey's population but have faced persecution there for generations.

Authorities in Erbil were examining whether Turkish gunners had fired at the tourist group after mistaking them for guerrillas, whether PKK members had been in the area, or whether the militia group itself had been responsible. The PKK has a strong presence in the area but is not known to have artillery pieces there.

Survivors said shells started to fall on Wednesday afternoon without warning. Videos showed mass panic among people as explosions echoed.

Read more at BBC 

Soldiers in the Myanmar military have admitted to carrying out atrocities involving rape, torture and massacres of civilians, in interviews given to the BBC.

The testimony of 6 soldiers including a corporal, who have recently defected and are under the protection of the People's Defence Force (PDF), gives an insight into the military crackdown on those fighting to restore democracy.

Last year the military seized power from the democratically elected government led by Aung San Su Kyi in a coup, and is set on crushing the armed civilian uprising. 

The soldiers admitted to burning houses, executing fleeing civilians and using sexual violence against the civilian population in order to reduce their support for the PDF. 

All of the six soldiers who spoke to the BBC admitted to burning houses and villages across central Myanmar. 

Myanmar Witness - a group of open source researchers tracking human rights abuses - has verified more than 200 reports of villages being burnt in this way over the past 10 months.

They say the scale of these arson attacks is rapidly increasing, with at least 40 attacks in January and February, followed by at least 66 in March and April.

It comes as some say the military struggles to maintain its multi-front civil war.

This is not the first time Myanmar's military has used a scorched earth policy. It was widely reported against the Rohingya people in 2017 in Rakhine state, whilst Aung San Su Kyi was state counsellor for Myanmar. 

One soldier speaking to the BBC recalled an incident when he had been ordered to burn down a house,

He saw a teenage girl trapped behind iron bars in a house they were about to burn down.

"I can't forget her shouting, I can still hear it in my ears and remember it in my heart," he says.

When he told his captain, he replied, "I told you to kill everyone we see". So Thiha* shot a flare into the room.

"It was heartbreaking to hear. We heard her voice repeatedly for about 15 minutes while the house was on fire," he recalls.

Earlier this year, the United States declared that the Myanmar military had committed genocide against the Rohingya people. 

Sri Lanka has continued to strengthen its relationship with the military junta in Myanmar with the Sri Lankan ambassador presenting credentials to Myanmar's ruling military last month, even as countries around the world continue to condemn the regime for its human rights abuses. Sri Lanka joins the likes of India and Saudi Arabia, who have strengthened ties with the Myanmar regime, in opposition to many embassies that have downgraded diplomatic ties.

Read more at the BBC 

The former prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe was shot dead whilst giving a speech in the city of Nara earlier this morning.

A 41-year-old man was arrested by Japan’s security services at the scene of the murder, where Abe was delivering a speech.

Video footage at the time shows gunshots being fired and the suspect apprehended with what appears to be a home-made gun.

According to local reports, several possible explosive devices have since been recovered from the suspect’s home, who is said to be a former member of Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force.

See more live coverage from the BBC here and New York Times here.

Sri Lanka’s leaders, including the war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, tweeted their tributes to Abe.

Abe became the first Japanese prime minister to visit Sri Lanka in 24 years, when he arrived on the island in 2014.

I am devastated and deeply saddened to hear of the sudden demise of the fmr PM of #Japan Shinzo Abe. He was a true friend of #SriLanka, particularly during the post war development period. My deepest condolences to his family & the people of Japan at this extremely difficult time pic.twitter.com/bhhjQQ1CZp

— Mahinda Rajapaksa (@PresRajapaksa) July 8, 2022

Deeply saddened by the tragic death of former #Japan PM Shinzo Abe. Japan has lost a highly respected politician. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family, the LDP & to the people of Japan. pic.twitter.com/wbUe5n1RFq

— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) July 8, 2022

The European Union (EU) has resumed funding of two prominent Palestinian organisations after a year-long suspension, following unfounded "terror" allegations made by Israel. 

 The European Commission sent letters several days ago to Al-Haq and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), informing them that their 13-month-long suspensions were lifted unconditionally and with immediate effect.

According to information provided to Al Jazeera, the emails were sent soon after Al-Haq had launched legal proceedings against the Commission.

Al-Haq said in a statement last Thursday that more than 13 months after an arbitrary suspension was imposed on the funding of Al-Haq’s EU-funded project, the Commission had “finally lifted this disgraceful suspension, which was unlawful from the start and based on Israeli propaganda and disinformation”.

“The suspension has been lifted unconditionally and with immediate effect,” Al-Haq said.

The EU suspended its funding to Al-Haq and PCHR in May 2021. That month European diplomats received a dossier from Israeli intelligence alleging that six prominent Palestine-based NGOs, including Al-Haw were using EU money to fund the Ppoulato Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).  No evidence was provided by the Israeli government to substantiate its claims about the six organisations. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, described the decision as an “attack on human rights defenders, on freedoms of association, opinion and expression and on the right to public participation” and said it “should be immediately revoked”.

NGOs based in Palestine or working for Palestinian rights have long been the targets of smear, defamation, and defunding campaigns by Israeli and international lobby groups such as NGO Monitor and UK Lawyers for Israel, in cooperation with the Israeli government, with which they have close ties.

Read more at Al Jazeera

There are growing calls for an investigation into the deaths of at least 37 people who died at the fortified border of Melilla, Spain’s enclave in North Africa.

About 2,000 people stormed the heavily fortified border between the Moroccan region of Nador and the Spanish enclave last week. The Moroccan authorities say 23 people died and 140 police were injured during the attempt, while several NGOs say the number of dead is at least 37.

There are growing concerns that Moroccan authorities have already dug graves for the dead and apparently plan to bury them without investigating the cause of death or trying to identify the victims. The Moroccan human rights association described the authorities' plans as "scandalous". 

Jude Sunderland, of Human Rights Watch, speaking to the Guardian said: “It is shocking that Moroccan authorities are reportedly preparing to hastily bury the men who died. They should spare no effort to identify the bodies and to preserve them in a dignified and appropriate way to allow for autopsies and verification of cause of death. This is crucial to ensure a full investigation into what happened. It is also incumbent on Morocco to organise transfer of the deceased to their families for burials in accordance with their wishes.”

Sunderland added: “These were horrifying deaths, the scenes from Melilla are downright dystopian, exemplifying everything that is unconscionable about Spain and the EU’s approach to migrants and refugees, particularly if they are Black or brown.”

A significant number of those who attempted to cross last week were asylum seekers fleeing conflict in Sudan, said the Spanish Commission for Refugees, suggesting that the violence had stopped people who were eligible for international protection from reaching Spanish soil.

Images of what was the deadliest day on the border in recent memory sparked consternation. “Video and photographs show bodies strewn on the ground in pools of blood, Moroccan security forces kicking and beating people, and Spanish Guardia Civil launching teargas at men clinging to fences,” said Judith Sunderland of Human Rights Watch.

Spain welcomed 124,000+ refugees from Ukraine this year, but routinely blocks people fleeing violence or poverty in Africa entering through its African enclaves.

Speaking to the Middle east eye, Omar Naji, a human rights defender working for the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH). said "Moroccan police resorted to disproportionate violence against migrants and did not hesitate to strike with truncheons and fire tear gas,".

“No one bothered to come to the aid of the migrants on the ground during and after the clash. Some of them were crying in pain for long hours in the sun,” he said.

Read more at the Guardian and Middle East Eye

Finland, Sweden and Turkey have signed a joint memorandum at the NATO summit in Madrid, which addresses Turkey's concern about the nordic nation's support for Kurdish organisations and thus paves the way for the country's formal invitation to the military alliance. 

Turkey had previously stated that they would veto any invitation to both countries to join NATO, if they did not address "security concerns" and proscribe and clamp down on Kurdish organisations within their respective country. 

Finland and Sweden agreed to the demands put forward by Turkey, which include that,

Sweden and Finland would lift their arms embargo against Turkey; Confirm that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) is a proscribed organisation and "would not provide support" to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's Protection Units (YPG), the latter of which has been instrumental in the fight against ISIS in Syria. The Nordic countries have also agreed to share intel with Turkey and agreed to an extradition policy to extradite "terror suspects" to Turkey, of which there is a list of at least 70 linked with Kurdish organisations. 

Political adversaries of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan based in Sweden were quick to label the deal as a sellout, which could strengthen Turkey’s efforts to secure extraditions of Kurdish rights activists and other opponents.

“This is a black day in Swedish political history,” said Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent Swedish lawmaker and longtime advocate for Kurdish rights. “We are negotiating with a regime which does not respect freedom of expression or the rights of minority groups,” Kakabaveh, a former fighter with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iran, told the SVT Nyheter television channel, the Politico reports.

Kurdo Baksi, a prominent Sweden-based Kurdish writer, told Swedish TV he was worried that Sweden and Finland might have promised to extradite Kurds and other democratically minded Turks who have sought refuge in the two countries back to Turkey. the Politico reports.

“I hope that Sweden will enter NATO with the same view of democracy and human rights as it had before (Foreign Minister) Ann Linde and (Prime Minister) Magdalena Andersson traveled to the NATO meeting in Madrid,” he said.

In an interview with Sweden’s national broadcaster on Wednesday, Prime Minister Andersson sought to play down the implications of Swedish and Finnish commitments to Turkey. 

“I know there are people who are worried that we are going to start hunting them and deporting them and I think it is important to say that we always work in accordance with Swedish law and existing international conventions,” she said. “If you are not involved in terrorism, you don’t need to worry,” she added."

Read more at the New York Times and Politco 

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon has announced a proposed date for an independence referendum on 19 October 2023.

Sturgeon says she wants to hold a second independence referendum on 19 October 2023. 

If the UK government does not grant a section 30 order, which would allow the Scottish parliament to pass laws normally reserved for Westminister, Sturgeon will set out plans for what the Scottish government will do in response if the order is not granted,

Sturgeon noted that the referendum must be lawful and is publishing today its Scottish independence referendum bill which includes three key provisions. 

First, its purpose is “to ascertain the views of the people of Scotland on whether or not Scotland should be an independent country”.

Second, the question should be the same as in 2014, “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

And, third, she says the referendum should be in the second half of this parliament

Sturgeon to ensure the legality of the referendum is making an emergency referral to the supreme court. 

Sturgeon says she wants to have legal certainty. “We must establish legal fact” she says.

She says there are likely to be legal challenges to the bill and if the supreme court rules that the referendum is not legal. The next general election would become a "de-factor referendum" with the SNP standing on the single issue of independence. 

Read more at BBC News

A report by Oxfam has detailed that funding needed for climate disasters has risen more than 800% in 20 years, with half of all requested funding being unmet today.

Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB’s chief executive, described the finance gap as “unacceptable”.

Speaking to the Guardian, he said : “Rich countries are not only failing to provide sufficient humanitarian aid when weather-related disasters hit. They are also failing to keep their promise to provide $100bn a year to help developing countries adapt to the changing climate, and blocking calls for finance to help them recover from impacts such as land that’s become unfarmable and infrastructure that’s been damaged.

“Wealthy countries like the UK need to take full responsibility for the harm their emissions are causing and provide new funding for loss and damage caused by climate change in the poorest countries.”

Campaigners have highlighted that the UK actually cut aid to climate-disaster struct countries before last autumn's Cop26 conference in Glasgow. Following on from this rich nations blocked attempts at the conference to set up a financial mechanism to cover claims for loss and damage. The report details how rich counties have contributed an estimated 92% of excess historical emissions, and are responsible for 37% of current emissions, despite being home to only 15% of the global population. The report adds that between 1990-2015 the carbon emissions of the richest 1% of people globally were more than double the emissions of the poorest half of humanity. Despite this rich countries, corporations and individuals most responsible for climate change are failing to pay for the harm they are causing.

Low-income countries are hardest hit by climate change but have contributed very little. 

Asad Rehman, the director of War on Want speaking to the Guardian, added that the report showed “the brutal reality of a climate apartheid that is unfolding before our eyes”.

“Rich countries are committing arson on a planetary scale and refusing to stop pouring more oil and gas on the fire they started. But when faced with the bill for the damage they have caused they claim to have empty pockets,” he said. “It’s a deadly response shaped by a colonial mentality that for 500 years inflicted injustice and inequity, with the lives of those with black or brown skins in poorer countries deemed less valuable to those of western citizens.”

Read more at the Guardian and read the full report at Oxfam