Humans

• [New] An Afghan government even partly controlled by the Taliban will not be good for human rights or women's rights - no matter how much the Taliban crave international acceptance.
• [New] U.S.-China climate diplomacy threatens to be overshadowed by what the United States sees as Beijing's menacing policies toward Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea, conflict over human rights and trade, and U.S. claims of Chinese espionage.
• [New] Threats to the future of humanity include natural risks like asteroids and anthropogenic risks such as nuclear war, an engineered global pandemic and runaway artificial intelligence.
• [New] A Russian scientist will allegedly create a biological weapon and produce a virus that can turn humankind into zombies, making humans extinct in the near future.
• [New] Technology transfer will only get worse if significant components of the U.S. technology sector move their research and development to China or other countries that are more vulnerable than the United States to technology transfer efforts.
• [New] In foreign policy terms, Beijing hopes President Joe Biden will pursue more cordial ties than his predecessor, but being tough on China has bipartisan support in Washington, and the Chinese leadership will be prepared for human rights issues to remain contentious.
• [New] Many countries will devote attention to human rights issues in China in inverse proportion to the quality of their overall bilateral relationship.
• [New] The US will end its support for the Saudi offensive - a major foreign policy reset after allegations that Donald Trump turned a blind eye to gross human rights violations committed by the Gulf monarchies in Yemen.
• [New] If the Biden administration is successful in gaining membership at the UNHRC in 2022, China is not the only authoritarian human rights abuser the U.S. delegation will find around the UNHRC table.
• [New] The COVID-19 pandemic is worsening the dire humanitarian crisis in fragile states and raising the risk of famine, including in Yemen.
• [New] Ending all arms exports to Saudi Arabia would send a clear message that human rights violations will no longer be ignored in the interest of multibillion-dollar arms contracts.
• [New] China's ban may have been prudent at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, but that environmentally controlled transport and personal protective equipment make the risks of disease transmission to humans very small.
• [New] First universal coronavirus vaccine will start human trials in 2021: The race to create a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 was won in record time, but the next race is just starting.
• [New] The COVID-19 pandemic may make impossible SoCalGas' ability to perform certain inspection and maintenance activities on its gas pipelines, or create risks to human health and safety due to COVID-19 that outweigh the safety risk due to the compliance delay.
• [New] The United States will continue to shine a light on any government that targets individuals, either domestically or extraterritorially, merely for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
• [New] Investors will be asking tougher questions about human rights issues in supply chains, especially as a growing number of investors are keen to make a difference in the world and align their investments with their values.
• [New] In order to remain a global leader in fintech, the UK needs to strengthen its position on immigration or risk a significant shortage in human capital.
• [New] Intensive animal agriculture production in the United States, using facilities called Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, poses tremendous threats to human, animal, environmental, and ecosystem health.
• [New] Any sale or transfer of military-related equipment to Myanmar could provide the means to further repress the people of Myanmar in violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.
• In 2015 about one in every two humans was fed by food that was cultivated using nitrogen-based fertilizer, a proportion that is expected to increase over the coming years.

Last updated: 07 March 2021