By Baher Kamal & The Like
A view of rusted, abandoned ships in Muynak, Uzebkistan, a former port city whose population has declined precipitously with the rapid recession of the Aral Sea. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
In fact, extremely high May and June temperatures have broken records in parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the United States, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported, adding that the heat-waves have arrived unusually early.
John Scales Avery, author of this book: We Need Their Voices Today! has generously granted Human Wrongs Watch permission to publish it in a series of chapters. This is Chapter 4: Mary Wollstonecraft. The others will follow successively.
Figure 5.1: Mary Wollstonecraft in a painting by John Opie (public domain).
The first of a new genus
Mary Wollstonecraft was born in London 1n 1759. Although her family had a comfortable income during her childhood, Mary’s father later lost his fortune through speculation, and the family entered a period of severe financial difficulties.
He also subjected his wife to physical violence, and Mary often slept in front of her mother’s door in order to protect her.
Because of the family’s financial problems, Mary was forced to take a number of jobs which she found very distasteful, for example as companion to an unpleasant old lady.
23 June, 2017 (GREENPEACE) – Behind closed doors and countless documents, details of a proposed deal between two of the world’s largest economies are being kept from us. Until now.
Transparent public reading room for leaked TTIP documents, Berlin, 2 May, 2016
Chances are that the planned trade deal between the European Union and Japan has not been on top of your mind recently.
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24/06/17
When a Briton or American speaks about a “four-letter word”, he means a vulgar sexual term, a word not to be mentioned in polite society.
Uri Avnery
In Israel we also have such a word, a word of four letters. A word not to mention.
This word is “Shalom”, peace.
(In Hebrew, “sh” is one letter, and the “a” is not written.)
For years now this word has disappeared from intercourse (except as a greeting). Every politician knows that it is deadly. Every citizen knows that it is unmentionable.
There are many words to replace it. “Political agreement”. “Separation”. “We are here and they are there”. “Regional arrangement”. To name a few.
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Credit: FAO
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Excess nitrogen and trace metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury can impair plant metabolism and cut crop productivity, ultimately putting pressure on arable land, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 23 June informed.
“When they enter the food chain, such pollutants also pose risks to food security, water resources, rural livelihoods and human health.“
23 June 2017 – Whether they are single, married, separated or widowed, women must be able to enjoy the inviolable right that they are not dependent on anyone, the United Nations said, marking International Widow’s Day.
Aisatou Reourey, 52, runs a restaurant in the Ngam refugee camp. Her husband and 9 of her 14 children were killed during the conflict in Central African Republic. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call on all of us to include those who are at risk of being left behind,” said the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, better known as UN Women, in a statement commemorating the Day, urging everyone to work to ensure that “all widows have the opportunity to build a new life after personal loss.”
Calling for immediate humanitarian action amid rising malnutrition, thirst and disease, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 23 June 2017 warned today that millions of lives are at risk in four countries stretching from Africa to the Middle East.
A UNICEF nutrition volunteer measures the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) of a child during a health screening as part of a UNICEF Rapid Response Mission to the village of Aburoc, South Sudan. Photo: UNICEF/Hatcher-Moore
The welcome announcement of an end to famine conditions in South Sudan earlier this week should not distract from the severe food insecurity that continues to put the lives of millions of children at risk in north-east Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, said UNICEF.
More than 5.6 million children are at increased risk of contracting waterborne diseases, such as cholera and diarrhoeal infections, as the rainy season begins in conflict-affected areas of countries around Lake Chad, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 23 June 2017 warned.
Children wash a mat in water in Toumour, Niger. Thousands of displaced civilians are sheltering in and surrounding the village, many having arrived after attacks by Boko Haram in Bosso, Niger. Photo: UNICEF/Phelps
“The rains will further complicate what is already a dire humanitarian situation, as millions of children made vulnerable by conflict are now facing the potential spread of diseases,” said Marie Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
22 June 2017 – While a new United Nations study shows that the global poverty rate could be more than halved if all adults completed secondary school, data show high out-of-school rates in many countries, making it likely that education completion levels will remain well below that target for generations.
Youth in the classroom. Photo: Deshan Tennekoon/World Bank. | Reproduced from UN News Centre.
“The new analysis on education’s far-reaching benefits released today should be good news for all those working on the Sustainable Development Goal to eradicate poverty by 2030,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Of the quarter of a billion people who used drugs in 2015, about 29.5 million – or 0.6 per cent of the global adult population – were engaged in “problematic use” and suffered from drug use disorders, including dependence, according to report out on 22 June 2017 from the United Nations drugs and crime agency.
Drug seizures, South Africa. Photo: UNODC
Opioids were the most harmful drug type and accounted for 70 per cent of the negative health impact associated with drug use disorders worldwide, said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
