If the year 2021 had raised a lot of hope, it ends, once again, in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, everything is not to be thrown away or forgotten at the end of the year.
Some news, sometimes great discoveries (too rare, of course), have illuminated the news or raised hope across the world.
France 24 has selected some of this information that you may have missed.
Europe bans blood minerals
A Congolese miner at the bottom of a shaft in the Mabakulu gold mine, in Ituri, July 11, 2018. John Wessels, AFP (on file)
As of January 1, the European Union has new legislation concerning minerals from conflict zones.
Some African countries, sometimes in the grip of armed conflicts, are rich in tin, tantalum or gold, metals highly prized for the manufacture of objects such as mobile phones, jewelry, etc. Mines are often in the hands of militias that do not hesitate to resort to forced child or adult labor.
From now on, European countries importing these minerals are required to verify that extraction methods respect human rights.
Vaccination against Covid-19
A dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine at a clinic in Worcester, Massachusetts (United States).
© AP
Whether they are messenger RNA like those of BioNTech-Pfizer or Moderna or more classically a "non-replicating viral vector" like those of AstraZeneca and Janssen, anti-Covid-19 vaccines have made it possible to fight the pandemic.
More than 9 billion doses have already been injected across the world, according to figures from
Johns Hopkins University.
Mainland China, India and the United States form the top three.
In Europe, Portugal is ahead of France and Germany in terms of the number of people who have received a full vaccination schedule.
If they have not eliminated Sars-CoV-2, vaccines reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 90% in people over 50, according to the study published in France by Épi-Phare last October.
This study, which covers 22 million people, is the largest to date on the subject.
The end of single-use plastic packaging
The decree on the end of plastic packaging provides for a tolerance until 2026, in particular for red fruits, which are more fragile.
Mychele Daniau, AFP (archives)
No more packaging for fruits and vegetables weighing less than 1.5 kg, straws, disposable cutlery, polystyrene boxes for kebabs… On July 3, the European Union banned plastics that can only be used. just once. In France, the law of February 10, 2020 relating to the fight against waste and the circular economy provides for their disappearance by 2040. This is good news because France is seen as a poor student in Europe. From now on, manufacturers will have to work on designing recyclable and reusable materials such as cellulose nets or paper bags. You can consult the list of affected products here. The decree provides for a period of six months to "allow the flow of packaging stocks". Also note thata tolerance will be set until 2026, in particular for certain more fragile products such as red fruits.
The panda is no longer "endangered"
The female panda Huan Huan with her baby, "Cotton flower", September 30, 2021 at Beauval zoo.
Guillaume Souvant, AFP
This good news came from China.
The giant pandas are no longer "endangered" but remain vulnerable, announced on July 9, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
According to the authorities, 1,800 specimens are now free.
The Chinese mascot was saved thanks to years of work to replant bamboo forests, its natural habitat but also the food on which it feeds almost exclusively.
Since the 7th century, and particularly since the Cold War, China has also used its pet animal as a tool of soft power.
She does not hesitate to lend this urside
very popular with the public in other countries such as France or Germany.
In France, the diplomacy of the panda has thus enabled the Beauval zoo to welcome
Yuan Zi and Huan Huan
in 2012. This has
gave birth to
Yuan Meng in 2017, then
with the Yuandudu and Huanlili twins, on August 2.
The first malaria vaccine deployed in children in Africa
A baby is vaccinated against malaria on September 13, 2019 in Ndhiwa, western Kenya.
Brian Ongoro, AFP (archive)
It was a "historical fact".
On October 6, the World Health Organization announced the massive deployment of
first malaria vaccine in Africa.
Mosquirix, or RTS, S, developed by British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), targets the parasite (Plasmodium falciparum) transmitted by mosquito bites.
In 2020, 241 million cases of malaria, also known as malaria, and 627,000 deaths were recorded worldwide.
Africa concentrates 95% of cases, 96% of deaths and 80% of registered deaths are children under 5 years old.
This vaccine, coupled with preventive treatments and mosquito repellants, raises immense hope.
It should also be noted that in 2021, China and El Salvador have eradicated malaria.
Second patient recovers from HIV without medical treatment
A rapid HIV test on April 6, 2010 in Cayenne, Guyana (France).
Jody Amiet, AFP (archives)
This is not a world first but the second time that such a "miracle" has occurred.
An Argentinian, Esperanza, aged 30 when she was diagnosed with HIV in 2013, is now HIV negative, according to a study published on November 16 in the
Annals of Internal Medicine by researchers at the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, and Harvard University
.
His body has totally got rid of the virus responsible for AIDS. Esperanza was on triple therapy only for a few months, during a pregnancy, in 2017. Only another woman, Loreen Willenberg, nicknamed "the patient from San Francisco", had naturally recovered in 2020. They are therefore the only "elite controllers" , that is, people with HIV whose immune system suppresses the virus without antiretroviral treatment. For scientists, it is the certainty that the human immune system is "powerful" enough to eradicate HIV. This gives hope to find a vaccine capable of helping the immune system of people living with HIV to respond to HIV. According to UNAIDS, 37.7 million people were HIV positive in the world in 2020.Among them, 1.7 million children.
Malawi, Sierra Leone and Kazakhstan abolished the death penalty
Anti-death penalty activists in Thailand, June 19, 2019. Romeo Gacad, AFP
In 2021, these three countries stopped using the death penalty, regardless of the crime committed.
In its report published in 2021, the NGO Amnesty International estimated that 108 states had completely abolished the death penalty.
The Galapagos marine reserve is growing
A tourist swims next to a turtle in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, Ecuador, October 10, 2016. Nacho Doce, Reuters
It is the "largest debt-conservation swap ever in the world." Ecuador announced on November 1, on the sidelines of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, that the Galapagos marine reserve would be enriched with a new area of 60,000 km2 called "Enchanted Islands". With debt estimated at $ 6 billion, or the equivalent of 45% of its GDP, Ecuador is experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis. Concretely, the government will be able to swap part of its debt with a non-profit organization against the expansion of this unique protected area in the world. This concept, which appeared in the 1980s, makes it possible to relieve poor countries - but which are rich in terms of biodiversity - and to better maintain or protect them. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lassocould thus exchange $ 1,100 million for this expansion.
The Galapagos Marine Reserve, located between the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica, is currently the second largest in the world with 133,000 km2.
Turtles, sharks, coral: it is home to exceptional and fragile flora and fauna.
LGBTQ + rights have grown around the world
The rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBTQ + pride.
Sergei Supinsky, AFP (archives)
In France, medically assisted procreation (PMA) is now open to female couples and single women.
Before the bioethics law was passed on June 29, it was limited to heterosexual couples with fertility issues.
Many women, lesbians or single, were forced to go to Belgium or Spain, where assisted reproduction is legally practiced.
Switzerland said 64.1% "yes" to marriage for all.
On September 26, voters approved the text also providing for the adoption of an unrelated child.
Lesbian couples will also be able to resort to assisted reproduction, which until now has been reserved for heterosexual couples.
In Spain, assisted reproduction became free again for all Spanish women on November 10.
The government of Pedro Sanchez reinstated this measure suppressed by the right in 2014 and even extended it to transgender people.
In Botswana, justice confirmed on appeal, on November 29, the decision taken in 2019 to decriminalize homosexuality.
It thus rejected an appeal filed by the very conservative government of this southern African country.
In France, "conversion therapy" was banned in October.
They are now liable to two years' imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
The purpose of these "therapies" is to change a person's sexual orientation to become heterosexual or to change their gender identity to make them cisgender or to match the sex assigned at birth.
Also in France, equality with heterosexuals in blood donation is effective.
Homosexual and bisexual men had the right to donate blood since 2019 on condition of showing four months of abstinence.
The bioethics law passed in June removed this discriminatory condition.
Chile has widely adopted universal marriage on December 7.
This right had long been demanded by the homosexual community of this country with a strong conservative tradition.
In Canada, parliamentarians unanimously adopted a law on December 8 banning "conversion therapy".
A first injection treatment for HIV reimbursed in France
In France, 173,000 people are living with HIV, a virus that affects the immune system and prevents the body from defending itself against disease.
© Daniel Sancho, Flickr
As of December 17, eligible HIV patients can swap their daily tablets for an injection every two months.
This injection is a combination of two antiretrovirals (cabotegravir and rilpivirine, marketed respectively under the names Vocabria and Rekambys) but not mixed.
Each product is inoculated into a different buttock.
The first three injections should take place in the hospital, then they can be given at home with the help of a nurse.
This therapeutic advance, fully supported by Social Security, should therefore improve the lives of people living with HIV.
In France, they are 173,000.
US no longer wants forced labor products from Uyghurs
A boy wearing a mask during a Uyghur protest march in Brussels, April 27, 2018. Emmanuel Dunand, AFP
This is a first in the world.
President Joe Biden signed a law on December 23 banning the purchase of products made in Xinjiang, a Chinese region where companies use forced labor by Uyghurs.
Xinjiang supplies most of the components used in the manufacture of solar panels throughout the world but also produces cotton and tomatoes.
Companies are now required to provide proof that products were not produced using forced labor.
According to an Amnesty International report published in June, this Muslim minority is the victim of torture, mass imprisonment, persecution, internment in labor camps, forced sterilizations ... A treatment that the NGO describes of "crime against humanity".
For its part, Beijing accused the United States of "violating international law" and "slandering" China, while threatening Washington with reprisals in an international context already disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
United Arab Emirates liberalize
The Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on September 30, 2021. Mohammed Salem, Reuters
These are societal advances dictated by the economy but significant enough to be welcomed. The United Arab Emirates have just authorized the civil union of a non-Muslim Canadian couple, a first. The country, where nearly 90% of the 10 million inhabitants are expatriates, is once again trying to seduce foreigners who have fled since the start of the epidemic. Civil marriage comes in addition to other recent liberalization measures in this country which wishes to show an image of openness and modernity. Among them, let us quote the authorization of cohabitation, the easing of restrictions on alcohol ... Weekends, meanwhile, will go from Friday-Saturday to Saturday-Sunday from January 2022.
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