January 16 – International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announces that Iran has taken adequate steps toward implementing the nuclear deal, allowing for the United Nations to lift sanctions against it. The agreement was reached in July. Lifting sanction will release billions of dollars of Iran’s frozen assets abroad, allow Iran to sell its oil and gas to other countries, open Iran to foreign companies for investment, and will allow Iran to trade with other countries and use the global banking system. (January 16): Iran releases four Iranian-Americans from prison in exchange for seven Iranian citizens imprisoned in the United States for violation of sanction against Iran. Among the freed Americans are Jason Rezaian, a journalist for the Washington Post, who was accused of espionage, and Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor, imprisoned for proselytizing Christianity in Iran. (January 23): Iran and China sign 17 agreements aimed at boosting trade and economic relations between the two countries. (January 25): Accompanied by a 120-strong delegation of the country’s government ministers and businessmen, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives in Europe on a state visit, the first one in 16 years. The purpose of the visit is to discuss trade relations with Italy and France, such as a $24 billion deal to purchase 118 Airbus planes.
January 19 – United Nations
The United Nations releases a report that shows the continued severe impact of the conflict in Iraq on civilians. Between January 2014 and October 2015 more than 18,800 civilians were killed in systematic and widespread violence. Another 36,245 were wounded, 3.2 million displaced, and scores enslaved. The report continues that the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) commits systematic and widespread violence and abuses that amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide.
February 1 – World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares a global public health emergency after a significant spike in cases of microcephaly and Guillain-Barre syndrome throughout Americas, which are linked to the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus. Microcephaly is a condition where a baby is born with an underdeveloped brain, while the Guilkain-Barre syndrome is a rare nervous system disorder. Cases of microcephaly have been centered in north-east Brazil, but the outbreak of the virus has affected more than 20 countries. There is no treatment or vaccine available. The only way to fight Zika at the moment is to destroy the mosquito-breading environments, such as stagnant waters, and protection against mosquito bites. Working with partners, WHO is leading efforts to develop vaccines, therapies, and diagnostic tests.
February 4 – Trans-Pacific Partnership
After more than five years of negotiations, 12 Pacific Rim countries sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement in Auckland, New Zealand. The members that include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam constitute 40 percent of the world’s economy. The TPP’s goal is to promote economic growth, create jobs, boost productivity and competitiveness, reduce poverty and raise living standards. It also calls for lowering trade barriers. In the United States, proponents of the TPP say the deal will increase US exports, benefit small businesses who face tariffs, improve American competitiveness against China and India, and benefit the overall economy. Opponents argue that the TPP endangers US jobs that will flow overseas to growing economies. They are also concerned about intellectual property rights contained in the deal.
February 11 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Defense ministers from the 28 NATO-member countries announce the immediate deployment of NATO ships to the Aegean Sea to help stop smuggling of migrants from the Middle East and South Asia to Europe. The Aegean Sea, the waters between Greece and Turkey, is a target area for smugglers. NATO also extends its cooperation with the European Union’s Frontex border agency.
February 16 – Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Three countries from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela – and Russia agree to freeze oil production at the January 2016 level. Oversupply of oil has led to drop in oil prices by 70 percent since 2014. For oil producing and exporting countries, this means a significant drop in revenue, forcing them to cut spending and introduce unpopular reforms.
February 27 – United Nations
The partial ceasefire for Syria comes into effect. It was brokered by the United States and Russia with the Syrian government and Syria’s main rebel groups. It excludes, however, Islamic State (IS) and the Nusra Front with links to al-Qaeda. (February 29): The United Nations (UN) starts aid deliveries of food, water, medicine, and other necessities to tens of thousands of Syrians who are trapped in besieged areas.
March 2 – United Nations
The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves new tough sanctions on North Korea in response to its recent nuclear test and a launch of a long-range rocket, which has violated existing UN sanctions. Additional sanctions include more export bans, inspections of cargo going in and out of North Korea, and blacklisting new North Korean individuals and organizations. (March 10): North Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles in a show of force. It also claims that it has miniaturized nuclear warheads. (March 17): United States President Barack Obama issues an executive order that extends US sanctions on North Korea. These sanctions freeze North Korean government assets in the U.S. and ban any US exports and investment in North Korea.
March 13 – United Nations
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s reference to Western Sahara as “occupied” by Morocco sparks demonstrations of over a million people in Morocco’s capital, Rabat. The Moroccan government threatens to withdraw its soldiers from the United Nations peacekeeping forces. Secretary Ban Ki-moon made this statement while visiting Sahrawis, the main ethnic group from Western Sahara, who live in refugee camps in Algeria. Western Sahara is a territory in northwest Africa claimed by both the Moroccan government and pro-independence rebel forces, the Polisario Front, who created the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government-in-exile in Tindouf, Algeria. Currently both sides maintain ceasefire. Morocco controls two thirds of Western Sahara’s territory with the remainder controlled by the SADR.
March 24 – International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
After eight years of trial, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY) convicts Radovan Karadžić for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and sentences him to 40 years in prison. Karadžić is the former President of Republika Srpska (RS) within Bosnia-Herzegovina and Supreme Commander of its armed forces during the Bosnian war from 1992 until 1995. He is found guilty of genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, where more than 8,000 Muslim Bosniaks were massacred, and of persecution, extermination, deportation, ethnic cleansing, and murder of Bosnian Muslims and Croats in areas claimed by Serb forces. His crimes against humanity relate to the siege and shelling of the city of Sarajevo that lasted several years and left nearly 12,000 people dead.
April 6 – Amnesty International
Amnesty International reports a significant rise in state-sponsored executions across the world in 2015. At least 1,634 people have been put to death, the highest number in the last 25 years. Almost 90 percent of these executions took place in three countries: Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. This statistics, however, does not include China, which does not disclose its numbers, but Amnesty International estimates that it is in thousands each year. Among those executed are people with mental disabilities and charged with non-lethal crimes, such as adultery, blasphemy, and corruption. There were also cases of executing minors in violation of international law. Bangladesh, Chad, India, Indonesia, Oman and South Sudan are countries that resumed death penalty.
April 27 – Committee to Protect Journalists
Four journalists in Iran receive long-term sentences in prison for “spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic” and acting against national security. A US-based media advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, condemns the sentencing and the laws that allow harassment of journalists.
May 12 – United Nations
The United Nations humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland says that the breakdown of the February ceasefire agreement between government and opposition groups in Syria makes it difficult and dangerous to reach about 4.5 million civilians in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The UN believes that there are about 400,000 people trapped in besieged areas, such as Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, the site of relentless fighting and under siege since November 2012.
June 9 – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation/ Heifer International
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is launching a new program, in partnership with a charitable organization Heifer International, aimed at lifting some people from extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Pew Research Center, 41 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1.25 a day, more than twice as high as in any other region. The Foundation plans to donate 100,000 chickens upon calculations that raising just five hens will earn a person one third over the poverty line. This would help 30 percent of rural families. Critics of the program raise questions such as where the chicken farmers would get the feed, and whether the growing number of chickens would lower demand and drive down the price.
June 16 – Human Rights Council
In its report, the United Nations Human Rights Council accuses Islamic State (IS) of genocide and multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Yazidis. The Yazidis are an ethnically Kurdish religious community indigenous to northern Mesopotamia who practice an ancient religion of Yazidism. Most of the world’s Yazidis live in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq and in Syria. The UN report indicates that IS specifically targets the Yazidis and seeks to destroy the Yazidis’ way of life through killings, enslavement, sexual slavery, torture, forcible transfer, and inhuman and degrading treatment. Thousands of Yazidis are held captive and subjected to horrific treatment. The report concludes that the genocide of the Yazidis is on-going.
June 20 – UN High Commissioner on Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) reports that as of December of 2015, the number of refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced persons exceeded 65 million compared to 10.4 million at the end of 2011. Another way to interpret this statistics is that every minute 24 people around the world are forced to leave their homes. Most of these people leave due to persecution, wars, and human rights abuses. The main contributing factor to this upward trend has been the civil war in Syria, but also the outbreak of other armed conflicts or deterioration of ongoing ones in Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine. More than half of the refugees come from three countries: Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia. With 1.84 million refugees in its territory, Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees. Pakistan hosts the second-largest number of refugees worldwide with 1.5 million individuals, virtually all of them from Afghanistan. Lebanon is the third-largest refugee-hosting country, with 1.2 million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate.
June 21 – International Criminal Court (ICC)
Jean-Pierre Bemba is sentenced to 18 years in prison following a landmark conviction at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual violence. Bemba was vice president in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) between 2003 and 2006 and a leader of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), a rebel group that later turned into a political party. The crimes were committed in Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003 by a contingent of the MLC troops during so called CAR Operation. Bemba was a military commander and the leader of the forces that committed the crimes.
July 12 – Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration backs the claim brought by the Philippines against China and rules that the “nine-dash line,” used by China to demarcate its territorial claims on the South China Sea, is unlawful under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The tribunal says that there is no evidence that China historically exercised exclusive control over these waters and its resources. The area includes the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal. The tribunal also criticized China for causing severe damage to the coral reef environment by building artificial islands in the area. China rejects the ruling. Although it is binding, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no power of enforcement.
July 18 – African Union
The Moroccan King Mohammed VI says that Morocco will rejoin the African Union (AU), 32 years after it left the organization due to disagreements about Western Sahara. In 1984, the AU recognized the independence of Western Sahara, the region that Morocco considers part of its territory.
August 12 – United Nations
The United Nations Security Council authorizes a 4,000-strong regional protection force under the auspices of the UN mission to provide security for South Sudan’s capital, Juba. The South Sudanese government opposes the decision. Since July 7, violence between rival forces of President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Reik Machar has escalated in and around Juba, causing humanitarian crisis. According to the UN, since December 2013, over two million people have fled their homes. About 1.6 million people are displaced within South Sudan and more than 900,000 have fled to neighboring countries.[1] The protection force will join 12,000 UN peacekeeping soldiers already in South Sudan, but unlike the peacekeepers, these African troops will be allowed to protect the civilians actively.
August 22 – United Nations
The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatens to pull out of the United Nations after UN human rights experts expressed their concerns about extrajudicial executions and killings as part of the country’s controversial war on drugs. Since President Duterte came to power in May 2016 and launched his new drug policies, the number of drug-related killings jumped to over 1,800.[2]
More about the controversial war on drugs in the Philippines.
September 5 – World Health Organization (WHO)
The World Health Organization (WHO) declares Sri Lanka free of malaria. It has been three years since the last case of malaria in one of the world’s most-malaria affected countries. After years of setbacks, Sri Lanka adopted a new strategy in the 1990s, which simultaneously targeted the mosquito and the parasite. It also launched a campaign of surveillance, community engagement and health education. The Sri Lankan health ministry set up mobile malaria clinics in high transmission areas, as well as at airports and ferry landings where migrants arrived, offering free diagnosis and treatment to everyone.
“In focus: elimination” map shows progress in eliminating malaria in the world. Click view full map (right side – middle of the page)
September 23 – The International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that Africa’s overall elephant population is experiencing the worst decline in 25 years, mainly due to poaching for ivory, but also to the loss of habitat. The decline is estimated at around 111,000 elephants since 2006. The IUCN estimates that there are only about 415,000 elephants left in Africa, with about 70 percent of them in South Africa.[3]
September 25 – United Nations
During a specially-convened meeting of the UN Security Council over Syria, Russia is accused of committing war crimes and “barbarism” in Syria by aiding the Syrian government forces in bombing the civilian targets in the rebel-held eastern part of the city of Aleppo and a humanitarian aid convoy near Aleppo. It has been reported that they used “bunker-busting bombs” on civilians in Aleppo that killed more than 200 people, including many women and children. Russia denies attacking the aid convoy last week, blaming rebels or a US drone.[4]
September 28 – Joint Investigation Team
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) consisting of prosecutors from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine concludes that the Malaysian plane MH17 that fell in eastern Ukraine in 2014 killing all 298 people on board was downed by the Russian-made Buk missile. The surface-to-air missile was fired from Russian-backed, separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. The rebels used the BUK launcher that was brought from Russia and then returned to Russia after the plane was shot down.[5] Ukraine hails the findings as proof of direct Russian involvement in the incident. Russia denies that any of its weapons were taken to Ukraine.
September 29 – Amnesty International
Amnesty International reports that there is evidence that the Sudanese government has used banned chemical weapons in at least 30 attacks since January 2016 on its own population in the western region of Darfur. The most recent attack took place on September 9. Amnesty International estimates that about 250 people many of whom are children have died horrifying deaths as a result of exposure to the chemical weapons agents.[6] Amnesty is calling for an investigation into the attacks and for countries to put pressure on the Sudanese government.
October 2 – Nobel Prize
The Colombian people reject the final peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC in a national referendum. It fails by the narrowest of margins with 50.2 percent voting against it and 49.8 percent voting in favor.[7] It is a surprising outcome of the peace negotiations that took four years to end the 52-year war. Those who voted against the deal argue that the agreement is too lenient on the rebels and do not trust them to lay down arms for good. (October 7): The Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the conflict with the FARC in Colombia. He dedicates the award to all victims of the conflict and vows to continue the search for a peace solution.
A List of all Nobel Peace Prizes since 1901.
October 11 – Save the Children
The Save the Children organization issues a report “Every Last Girl” that looks at some key barriers preventing girls from around the world from achieving their full potential. They include child marriage, gender-based violence and harmful practices, poor access to good-quality services – including health and education, economic exclusion, and girls’ lack of a voice in private and public spheres due to gender discrimination. Each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18 and in developing countries one in nine girls are married before the age of 15. The report points out that child marriage “triggers and exacerbates a cycle of disadvantage.”[8] The report includes Girls’ Opportunity Index that ranks where girls’ rights are most at risk. The index is based on five factors: child marriage, adolescent fertility, maternal mortality (as an indicator of girls’ access to good-quality healthcare), women MPs (relative to male MPs), and lower-secondary school completion. According to the Index, Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali, and Somalia are ranked at the bottom. The top five countries that provide best opportunities for girls are Sweden, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, and Belgium. The United States ranks at number 32 because it has a low women representation in parliament, relatively high adolescent fertility and maternal mortality rates compared to other countries in its income group.
The Report “Every Last Girl” and Girls’ Opportunity Index.
October 21 – United Nations
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein speaks at a special session of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council and describes the bombardment of Syria’s war-ravaged eastern Aleppo as “crimes of historic proportions.” He compares what it used to be beautiful ancient city of Aleppo to a slaughterhouse – where children and women are deliberately bombed. He blames the international community for the failure to protect the civilians and urges the Council to act to end the bloodshed. He also says that the Syrian conflict has killed over 300,000, wounded and traumatized countless others, resulted in the abduction, summary execution or arbitrary detention of tens of thousands and displaced a half of the Syrian population.[9] (October 26): An airstrike on a school in the town of Haas in the Idlib province kills close to 40 people and injures more than 100, most of them children.[10] The United States blames either Syria or Russia of being behind the attacks; however, Russia denies these claims. Idlib province is in the hands of opposition forces.
October 27 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The United Kingdom deploys hundreds of troops and military personnel to the NATO member-countries in eastern Europe as part of the NATO’s plan to strengthen its presence in the region. These troops will join other already stationed in the Baltics, but also Poland and Romania.[11] From 2017, NATO will have four multinational battalions in the eastern Europe led by the U.S., UK, Canada, and Germany with 1,000 troops each. It also plans to strengthen its presence in the Black Sea region. The largest buildup of NATO troops since the Cold War is in response to Russia’s significant military buildup near its western border, tripling its defense spending since the year 2000, and its aggression against Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.[12]
See map of Russia’s anti-NATO troops reinforcement.
See map of NATO troops deployment in eastern Europe.
October 28 – United Nations Human Rights Council / Human Rights Watch/Amnesty International
For the first time since the beginning of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) in 2006, Russia is not elected as the Council’s member and is replaced by Croatia. The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations, which consists of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, despite criticism, is elected and will serve another 3-year term until 2019. In June 2016, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued a joint statement condemning Saudi Arabia for human rights violations in its military campaign in Yemen and in its own country, with reports of jailing of the opposition, torture, discrimination, and conducting 157 executions just in 2015. As a member of the UNHCR, Saudi Arabia uses its power to block any investigations into these allegations. The two organizations called for Saudi Arabia to be suspended from UNHRC.[13]
More about the membership in UNHRC
November 10 – Interpol
Vice Minister of Public Security in China, Meng Hongwei, becomes the first Chinese to head the international criminal police organization, Interpol. He will serve as president until 2020. INTERPOL has 190 member-countries. Its high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps police around the world to cooperate. Amnesty International official says that the appointment of Meng Hongwei is worrying because of China’s attempts of trying to use Interpol to arrest dissidents and refugees abroad.[14]
History of Interpol
Interpol: 100 Years of Innovation – video (5:40 min)
November 21 – United Nations
In his statement to the Security Council on Syria, Under-Secretary-General For Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien reports that almost one million people in Syria are living under siege in places across the country. He also says that civilians are being isolated, starved, bombed and denied medical attention and humanitarian assistance in order to force them to submit or flee. In the past week, hundreds of civilians had been killed in eastern Aleppo, with air strikes purposely targeting civilians by the Syrian government. He describes conditions in eastern Aleppo as “barely survivable”.[15]
November 29 – Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
In its recent report on the Great Barrier Reef surveys, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies based at James Cook University concludes that higher water temperatures in 2016 have led to the worst destruction of corals ever recorded in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The northern section of the Reef is in the worst shape with 67 percent of corals dead. The situation is better in the central section, where 6 percent perished, while the southern reef is in the best shape with just 1 percent of the coral that has died.[16] Higher sea temperatures cause corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae, called ‘zooxanthellae’. The loss of these algae causes bleaching of the corals, which means they turn white and skeletal. Bleached corals can recover if the temperature drops and zooxanthellae algae recolonize them again, otherwise the coral may die.[17] The report warns, however, that such recovery can be difficult if global warming continues.
Picture of bleached coral in February 2016 that died by April 2016.
Photos and videos of green zones and red zones in the Great Barrier Reef
November 30 – HIV/AIDS
South Africa begins testing a new vaccine against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. HIV virus was identified in 1983 and previous attempts to develop a vaccine against it proved unsuccessful. Testing will last four years. There are 37 million people living with HIV worldwide, and in 2015 there were still about 2.1 million new cases. Sub-Saharan Africa bears the heaviest burden, with 6.8 million people with HIV living in South Africa. In comparison, for the United States this number is 1.2 million.[18]
November 30 – Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
The members of the oil producers’ cartel, the Organizations for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), reach an agreement to cut their oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day, if non-OPEC countries such as Russia also agree to cut their production by 600,000 barrels a day. The cuts would amount to 2 percent of the global production of oil.[19] The group anticipates that the deal will help to reduce a supply surplus that has depressed prices for more than two years. The deal will start on January 1st and last for six months. The biggest question, however, is whether the individual OPEC members will comply with the agreement, as the organization has no enforcement capability.
December 19 – United Nations
During a briefing to the UN Security Council, United States Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power warns about growing ethnic violence in South Sudan that is leading the country to the brink of genocide. She gives graphic examples of ethnic killings and accuses the Council of not doing enough to prevent it.[20] According to the UN Refugee Agency, 1.6 million people have been displaced inside South Sudan, while over 640,000 South Sudanese have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Based on these trends, the number of South Sudanese refugees is expected to exceed 938,000 by the end of 2016.[21] South Sudan collapsed into civil war just two years after becoming a nation.
December 23 – United Nations
The United Nations Security Council passes a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967. It reaffirms that these settlements are illegal and constitute flagrant violation of international law. The resolution also demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligation as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The resolution passes with the support of 14 of the 15 members of the Council. The United States breaks a longstanding tradition of vetoing measures critical of Israel and abstains. The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, says, “settlements undermined Israel’s security and eroded prospects for peace and stability.”[22] The resolution demonstrates an international consensus that Israel’s settlement activities undermine the chances for a two-State solution and a future peace agreement. In response, the government of Israel rejects the resolution and retaliates against members of the Security Council, including recalling its ambassadors, summoning member countries’ ambassadors, and cancelling visits and aid assistance. The resolution does not include any sanctions and is unenforceable. There are about 586,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.[23]
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016).
The full text of the Resolution and statements from the 15 Council members, as well as Israel and the Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine.