Civil Rights

• [New] The post-COVID - 19 economic environment might make it easier to hire people with some of the critical skills companies will need in the coming years, such as in data science and IoT engineering.
• [New] We cannot rule out the possibility that the US-China commercial relationship will deteriorate further in 2021, as more sensitive, complicated, and structural issues began to get involved, such as national security, forced labor, and human rights.
• [New] The UN Human Rights Council will consider possible measures regarding Sri Lanka at its February-March 2021 session, including calls for an international accountability mechanism to pursue justice for past abuses.
• [New] President-Elect Biden is expected to maintain his predecessor's tough stance on China's trade, subsidy, intellectual property rights protection and other business practices, while more vocally condemning Beijing's human rights and undemocratic practices.
• [New] US and European donors might not be willing to stomach funding a Taliban-dominated government if it significantly reduces political freedoms and protections of human rights and women's rights.
• [New] The Asia Society said that it will be a tightrope walk, but the Biden administration should not hesitate to voice support for human rights, democratic institutions, and the rule of law as it deals with any of its partners, including India.
• [New] In 2021, there is going to be more auditing of CCPA and GDPR compliance as the European Union and the U.S. continue pursuing the rights of individuals to control their own data.
• [New] The value of the space-based services and applications is very quickly increasing to a point that a Morgan Stanley study speaks of a trillion USD value of space-based services by 2040 (against USD 350 billion in 2019).
• [New] In 2015, the McKinsey Global Institute found advancing women's equality could add $12 trillion to global GDP in 10 years.
• [New] US President-Elect Biden is expected to maintain his predecessor's tough stance on China's trade, subsidy and business practices, while more vocally condemning Beijing's human rights practices.
• [New] China's KOLs are celebrities in their own right, at least among the younger millennials and Gen Zs who are going to define the next decade of marketing, starting with 2021 KOL marketing in China.
• 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.
• $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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Last updated: 17 January 2021