Archive for November 15th, 2014

  |  
15/11/2014

More than 100,000 Libyans Flee Fighting over Past Month — 400,000 Since Last May

Human Wrongs Watch

Geneva (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency on 14 November 2014 reported that intense fighting among rival armed groups in western, eastern and south-eastern Libya has forced more than 100,000 people to flee their homes in the past month.*

© UNHCR/ L. Dobbs | A group of Tawerghan men displaced after the fighting in Libya in 2011. UNHCR is concerned about the situation of some 2,500 Tawerghans who fled their camp in Benghazi in mid-October to escape fighting that has forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes in the past month.

© UNHCR/ L. Dobbs | A group of Tawerghan men displaced after the fighting in Libya in 2011. UNHCR is concerned about the situation of some 2,500 Tawerghans who fled their camp in Benghazi in mid-October to escape fighting that has forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes in the past month.

The stepped up conflict is centred on the towns of Benghazi and Derna in the east, in the country’s south-east at Ubari and in the west at Kikla. The insecurity is hampering humanitarian operations.

Aid agencies are still trying to calculate the scale of internal displacement. “We have confirmed reports from our NGO partners of 56,500 people having fled Benghazi in the past few weeks,” UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said in Geneva, adding that they included some 2,500 already internally displaced people originating from the deserted northern town of Tawergha.

read more »

Posted in Africa, Middle East, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples, War Lords | Leave a Comment »

15/11/2014

Is the World a Better Place for Children?

Human Wrongs Watch

This November marks 25 years since the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Does a child born today have better prospects in life than one who was born at the time the Convention came into being?

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1227/Holt | Children stand on a hilltop overlooking a UNICEF-assisted child-friendly space in a Kibati camp for the displaced near Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1227/Holt | Children stand on a hilltop overlooking a UNICEF-assisted child-friendly space in a Kibati camp for the displaced near Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The world made an extraordinary commitment to all children through its adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

But today, many of those commitments have not been acted upon, and the rights of too many children are violated daily.

read more »

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

15/11/2014

Illegal Killing of Elephants for Their Ivory Is Now at “Critically High Levels” in Africa

Human Wrongs Watch

The illegal killing of elephants for their ivory is now at “critically high levels” in Africa with increased involvement by organized crime groups, leading to their possible extinction in parts of the continent, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on 13 November 2014 said.

Photo: UNESCO/Pierre Gaillard

“Wildlife crime is a serious and growing problem worldwide,” said the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) ‘ in releasing Guidelines on methods and procedures for ivory sampling and laboratory analysis in support of the deployment of forensic technology to combat elephant poaching.*

Led by UNODC, as a member of the consortium, the Guidelines were developed together with experts from around the world.

Flagging the “critically high levels” of elephant poaching in Africa, the document said: “There is strong evidence of increased involvement of organized crime groups, and in some areas rebel militia, operating through well-developed criminal networks.”

read more »

Posted in Africa, Market Lords, Mother Earth | Leave a Comment »

  |