Archive for November 14th, 2012

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14/11/2012

‘Business Must Prevent, Monitor Use of Trafficked Labour’ — UN

Human Wrongs Watch

Businesses must help prevent and monitor the use of trafficked labour in their supply chains, a United Nations independent expert stressed, urging enterprises to do their part to protect human rights.

Photo: UN

“Trafficking in persons is a global phenomenon which crosses borders, markets and industries,” the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, said on 14 November at an international expert meeting in Ankara, Turkey.

“In today’s globalized world,” she added, “the risks of human trafficking in supply chains are significant throughout economic sectors and affect all States, whether as source, transit or destination countries.”

Over 20 specialists on human trafficking, business and human rights from international organizations, trade unions and non-governmental organizations gathered at the international meeting – which was convened by Ezeilo – to share information on trends and good practices to address trafficking and reach concrete proposals to protect the human rights of trafficked persons, the UN reported.

According to a news release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Ezeilo noted that supply chains in the global economy are often complex and involve multiple layers of sub-contractors, which hampers the monitoring and reporting process.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

14/11/2012

Remember Haiti? Now 1,5 Million People at Risk of Food Insecurity in 2013

Human Wrongs Watch

The United Nations food relief agency warned that more than 1.5 million Haitians could remain at risk of food insecurity well into 2013 if they do not receive adequate assistance to recover from a series of natural disasters that have hit the country over the past six months, including a drought, Tropical Storm Isaac and Hurricane Sandy.

Small children like Stechina Alexis in Marigot, Haiti, are the most vulnerable in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Photo: WFP/Elio Rujano

“At the moment, one of our biggest worries is in areas that are still isolated after Hurricane Sandy, where women and children face worsening nutrition,” said on 13 November the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Director in Haiti, Myrta Kaulard.“

“At the same time, it is crucial to help Haitian farmers so that they can plant crops for the small December season and for the main agricultural season in the spring.”

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14/11/2012

Is It Time to Improve Nuclear Disaster Preparedness?

By , IPPNW* — The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) proposes to do just that, following a consultation among 16 national member societies more than a year after the Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster.

**Image: The Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami | Credit:Digital Globe | Wikimedia Commons

The world’s largest humanitarian organization announced in May that it would establish “a resource centre offering specialist advice on nuclear disaster preparedness, along with chemical and biological hazards.”

The center, the IFRC said, will consider “how national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies can be active in helping to protect communities, by raising awareness, helping to manage evacuation if needed and providing psychosocial support and health monitoring in the event of a nuclear disaster.”

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