Archive for August 27th, 2014

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27/08/2014

Majority of Youth in Asia Are Either in Low Quality Jobs or Unemployed.

Human Wrongs Watch

A new International Labour Organization (ILO) report on the transitions of young people from education to the employment market in Asia and the Pacific, finds majority of youth in the region are either in low quality jobs or unemployed.

ILO/Jassim Salam 2014

ILO/Jassim Salam 2014

BANGKOK, 27 August 2014 (ILO)*  – Nearly half of workers aged 15−29 in Asia and the Pacific are self-employed and two in three youth are in paid work without a written contract, says a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
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According to the study, Labour market transitions of young women and men in Asia and the Pacific, informality and vulnerable employment are the reality for the vast majority of young workers in the region.
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While unemployment remains an important concern for young people in the region, the low-quality of work is by far a bigger problem. Of those who do have jobs, very few have a written employment contract or access to core benefits like paid sick leave or social security coverage.

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Posted in Asia, Market Lords, The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

27/08/2014

Gaza: 500,000 Children Unable to Return to School

Human Wrongs Watch

Nearly half a million children in Gaza will not be able to return to primary and secondary schools on Sunday as the new academic year starts, UNESCO, Save the Children and UNICEF said on 25 August 2014*.

 

Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have returned to school after summer break but faces overcrowding in classroom and shortages of supplies. | Girls lining up for class | Author: Al Jazeera English | Wikimedia Commons

**Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip have returned to school after summer break but faces overcrowding in classroom and shortages of supplies. | Girls lining up for class | Author: Al Jazeera English | Wikimedia Commons

More than one million Palestinian students were expected to return to school on 24 August, but classes will remain closed in the conflict-stricken coastal enclave, denying these nearly 500,000 children their right to education.

“Going back to school means bringing back normalcy to children. For this we need a durable ceasefire, and we must meet the most pressing needs for the rapid recovery of the education system,” said Lodovico Folin Calabi, Acting Head of the UNESCO Office in Ramallah.

Since the beginning of the conflict on 8 July, at least 219 schools have been damaged, 22 of which so severely that they can no longer be used.

Among those still standing, 103 have been turned into collective shelters for some 330,000 displaced people, half of whom are children.

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Posted in Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | 5 Comments »

27/08/2014

Stop Violence Against the Girl Child

Human Wrongs Watch

The UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, managed by UN Women, has proclaimed every 25th of the month as “Orange Day” – a day to take action to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls.

Photo from UN Women

Photo from UN Women

Initiated and led by the UNiTE campaign Global Youth Network, Orange Day calls upon activists, governments and UN partners to mobilize people and highlight issues relevant to preventing and ending violence against women and girls, not only once a year, on 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), but every month.

2014 Orange Day themes

25 August – Eliminating violence against the girl child
25 July – Addressing violence against women and girls in the informal economy
25 June – Engaging sport communities and addressing violence against women and girls in sport
25 May – Working with the corporate sector to end violence against women and girls
25 April – End conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls
25 March – End female genital mutilation
25 February – Ending violence against women and girls must be part of new development framework
25 January – Access to justice for survivors

Sign up for news and action alerts here! Follow @SayNO_UNiTE on Twitter. Like https://www.facebook.com/SayNO.UNiTE on Facebook.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | 1 Comment »

27/08/2014

UN Health Agency Calls for Regulation of ‘e-cigarettes,’ Curbs on Advertising, Sales to Minors

Human Wrongs Watch

Electronic cigarettes, known as e-cigarettes, represent an “evolving frontier filled with promise and threat for tobacco control,” a new United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) report said on 26 August 2014, urging regulations to impede their promotion to non-smokers and young people.*

E-cigarette. Photo: WHO

E-cigarette. Photo: WHO

“Evidence shows that while they are likely to be less toxic than conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes use poses threats to adolescents and fetuses of pregnant mothers using these devices,” said Douglas Bettcher, WHO Director of Prevention of Non-communicable Diseases in an interview with UN Radio.

Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), of which electronic cigarettes are the most common prototype, are devices that do not burn or use tobacco leaves but instead vaporise a solution the user then inhales. The report says existing evidence shows that e-cigarette aerosol is not merely “water vapour” as is often claimed in the marketing of these products.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | 1 Comment »

27/08/2014

Year's Deadliest Week: More than 300 Die in Boat Tragedies on Mediterranean

Human Wrongs Watch

26 August 2014 – The past few days have been the deadliest this year for people making irregular crossings on the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe, with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reporting that at least 300 people have died in successive boat tragedies.

Photo: UNHCR/M. Sibiloni

Photo: UNHCR/M. Sibiloni

“In all, we now believe 1,889 people have perished this year while making such journeys, 1,600 of these since the start of June,” said Melissa Fleming, UNHCR spokesperson, telling reporters in Geneva on 26 August 2014 that over the past few days, at least three vessels having overturned or sunk.*

The first and largest of these incidents occurred on Friday when a boat reportedly carrying at least 270 people overturned near Garibouli to the east of Tripoli. Nineteen people, one of them a woman, survived.

“The Libyan coastguard has since recovered the bodies of 100 others, including five children under the age of five and seven women, but the remaining passengers are feared drowned,” said Fleming.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth, The Peoples, War Lords | 2 Comments »

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