Civil Rights

• [New] The Biden administration could go even further and immediately rescind the global gag rule, permitting beneficiaries of USAID funding to promote reproductive rights, offer comprehensive sexuality education, and protect other sexual rights.
• [New] $225 million will be withheld until the secretary of state certifies and reports to Congress that the Egyptian government has taken steps to improve the rule of law, democratic institutions, and human rights.
• [New] The coming year may see a continuation of recent increases in far-right and white supremacist violence in Europe and the US, where it has become a bigger threat than jihadism.
• [New] LFP is making headway in larger projects, and Wood Mackenzie predicted in 2020 that LFP will supplant NMC as the top grid storage chemistry over the coming decade.
• [New] Concrete steps to engage more women and members of marginalized racial groups in Latin American economies would boost growth; a recent McKinsey study estimated that closing the gender gap in Latin America would yield an economic dividend of some $1.1 trillion by 2025.
• [New] Biden will relaunch nuclear arms control talks with Russia, but also put a greater emphasis than Trump on human rights, further diminishing Russia's chances of a new partnership with the West.
• [New] Biden, unlike Trump, will be willing to work with Europe on shared concerns about China, whether on human rights, the theft of intellectual property or the unfair use of state subsidies.
• [New] The potential economic contribution of the older population could increase by USD 3.9 trillion every year in a no-age-bias economy, which would mean a contribution of USD 32.1 trillion to GDP by 2050.
• [New] The UK's foremost investor in battery technologies, Britishvolt, has acquired exclusive rights to a site in Blyth Northumberland and intends to begin construction in Summer 2021, aiming to start production of world-class lithium-ion batteries by the end of 2023.
• After nearly five decades of economic and social integration, from the start of 2021 Britain will embark on a more-distant relationship with the European Union, and freedom of movement seems set to dramatically change for people wanting to cross the English Channel.
• By 2030, TOGG will produce and own the intellectual and industrial property rights of five different electric vehicle models in Turkey - SUV, b-SUV, sedan, c-hatchback, and b-MPV.
• If Putin gains even partial freedom of movement and operations in Belarus, he can significantly increase the risk to NATO and Ukraine.
• Fisheries Act 2020 is now part of UK Law and will enable UK to have more control over fisheries within British waters through a new foreign vessel licensing regime and ends the current automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in UK waters.
• Another political area is data privacy: With the passing of the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act of 2020 and pending legislation on the Improving Digital Identity Act, it's clear protecting consumer data will be a top priority in 2021.
• The UK's success in becoming a leading developer of offshore wind power demonstrates that, with the right balance of government policy support and private sector investment, significant strides can be taken towards meeting Net Zero by 2050.
• To this day, the CANZUK countries have continued to stand with Hong Kong in protecting democracy and human rights that have been threatened by the Chinese government, and continue to develop mutual foreign policies.
• DJI made a solid case that it does not pose a national security risk to the United States through multiple US-government initiated third-party audits that found that DJI drones do not collect data.
• Whether Biden will build on Obama's amenity towards privacy moves - for example his 2012 Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights - could become clearer in 2021.
• Barbados, Ethiopia and Maldives set themselves an aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, with the right support.
• Barbados and Maldives have set an ambitious aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, with the right support.
• Towards the end of 2020, the EU is discussing the ratcheting of its 2030 emissions reduction target in line with the long-term strategy for net-zero emissions by 2050.
• The governance of the United States will be weakened further in the coming years by environmental and racial crises and a stagnating economy.

Last updated: 10 January 2021