Human Wrongs Watch
By Francesca Borri*
18/03/2015
The Gun Market of Kirkuk
18/03/2015
‘Terrifying’ Impact of Ebola on Nine Million Children – New UN Report
Human Wrongs Watch
Some nine million children have seen “death and suffering beyond their comprehension,” and protecting them and their communities is critical in the fight against Ebola in West Africa, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a report released on 17 March 2015.
A child who lost members of his family to the Ebola virus plays at the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA) Child Care Centre in Nzérékoré, Guinea. UN Photo/Martine Perret
UNICEF said the report, which was released in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, Geneva, and New York, “looks at the dramatic impact Ebola has had on children as it hit some of the most vulnerable communities in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.”*
Of the more than 24,000 people infected, some 5,000 are children, while more than 16,000 children have lost one or both parents or their primary caregiver, according to UNICEF.
“For many of the nine million children living in affected areas, Ebola has been terrifying,” the agency said. “These children have seen death and suffering beyond their comprehension.”
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18/03/2015
Agriculture Bears Major Brunt of Disaster Impacts — New Report
Human Wrongs Watch
Sendai, Japan – Nearly a quarter of damages wrought by natural disasters on the developing world are borne by the agricultural sector according to initial results from a new FAO study released here on 17 March 2015 at the UN World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Flooding in Sindh Province Pakistan in 2010 destroyed 2 million acres of standing crops. | Photo: FAO
The Organization also announced the launch of a special facility aimed at helping countries better equip their food production sectors to reduce risk exposure, limit impacts, and be better prepared to cope with disasters.*
Twenty-two percent of all damages inflicted by natural hazards such as drought, floods storms or tsunamis are registered within the agriculture sector, FAO’s analysis of 78 post-disaster needs assessments in 48 developing countries spanning the 2003-2013 period shows.
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17/03/2015
‘Unintended consequences’: Obama traces origin of ISIS to Bush-era Iraq invasion
Human Wrongs Watch
17 March 2015 (RT)* — President Barack Obama traced the origins of Islamic State militants back to the presidency of George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq back in 2003, arguing that its growth was an “unintended consequence” of the war.
**Photo: President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama meet in the Oval Office of the White House Monday, November 10, 2008. Author: White House photo by Eric Draper
In an interview with Vice News, President Obama said the rise of Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL) can be directly linked to America’s excursion into Iraq under Bush.
“Two things: One is, ISIL is a direct outgrowth of Al-Qaeda in Iraq that grew out of our invasion,” Obama said in an interview with VICE News. “Which is an example of unintended consequences. Which is why we should generally aim before we shoot.”
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17/03/2015
Climate Change: Governments Say All the Right Things But Do Exactly the Opposite
Human Wrongs Watch
By Roberto Savio*
Rome, 18 March 2015 — It is now clear that we are not going to reach the goal of controlling climate change.
Climate change is a growing cause of displacement in Africa, where some areas have been devastated by drought. Photo: UNHCR/B. Bannon
It is worth recalling that the goal of not exceeding a 2 degree centigrade rise in global warming before 2020 was adopted at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009 as a formula for consensus.
Many in the scientific community had been clamouring for immediate action – and at most for a 1 degree rise – but bowed to political realism, and accepted an easier target.
The agreement was to block the rise in global temperature before 2020, and start a process for gradually reverting the climate to safe levels, to be concluded before 2050.
Well, in the last four years, we have already witnessed an increase in temperature by 1 degree, and there is only another 1 degree left before 2020.
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17/03/2015
Churchill and Hitler–Two Europeans
Human Wrongs Watch
‘Germany has become philo-semitic, fights racism, no residual colonialism, rejection of war as instrument (except defensive), and seeks cooperation with Russia. England, with the USA, challenges Russia. Anglo-America is the most belligerent party in today’s world, residual colonialism survives in the Commonwealth and in the use of English for conquest; racism is rampant inside England.’
By Johan Galtung*, 16 Mar 2015 – TRANSCEND Media Service
Johan Galtung
Who wrote this?
“The Aryan stock is bound to triumph”.
“The Dictator of the Red Citadel (Petrograd)–all Jews”
“The same evil prominence was obtained by Jews–in Hungary”
“The same phenomenon has been presented in Germany–preying”
“-the schemes of the international Jews /against/ spiritual hopes”
“-this worldwide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization”
“-it played recognizable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution”
“-the mainspring in every subversive movement in the 19th century”
Churchill did. (from Robert Barsocchini, countercurrents.org 02-02-15). His point was not that Jews were active in many places, the point is that for Churchill they were the cause of all the revolutions, the root of evil, not, for instance, feudalism gone mad.
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17/03/2015
#HappySoundsLike: UN Launches Social Media Campaign to Create World’s Happiest Playlist
Human Wrongs Watch
16 March 2015 – Does happiness have a sound? And, if so, what does it actually sound like?
Photo: UNICEF
That is the question the United Nations is asking as it launches its latest campaign – #HappySoundsLike – an appeal for the global citizenry “to nominate a song that brings a smile to your face” ahead of this year’s International Day of Happiness, observed annually on 20 March.*
Spearheading the effort, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video contribution urges viewers around the world to ‘Be happy!’ in the UN’s six official languages and join the Organization’s call for people to demonstrate their solidarity with those “facing tough challenges.”
“On this day we are using the universal language of music to show solidarity with the millions of people around the world suffering from poverty, human rights abuses, humanitarian crises and the effects of environmental degradation and climate change,” he stated in a news release.
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16/03/2015
What would you ask first man to walk in space? #AskaCosmonaut on RT
Human Wrongs Watch
16 March 2015 (RT)* – Fifty years since Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov made the historic first step into space, RT is bringing you special coverage – and a chance to have your question answered by the pioneer spacewalker himself.
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Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov (RIA Novosti / Ekaterina Chesnokova) | Source: RT
On March 18, 1965, a small two-man Voskhod-2 spacecraft shot into Earth’s orbit with a breakthrough mission for humankind. The world watched breathlessly as the ship’s commander, Pavel Belyaev, radioed to Earth that “man has gone out into outer space.”
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16/03/2015
United States Leads Upward Trend in Arms Exports, Asian and Gulf States Weapons Imports Up – SIPRI
Human Wrongs Watch
Stockholm, 16 March 2015 (SIPRI)* – The United States has taken a firm lead as the major arms exporter globally, according to new data on international arms transfers published today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Overall, the volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons grew by 16 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–14.
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Source: International Campain to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
The volume of US exports of major weapons rose by 23 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–14.
The USA’s share of the volume of international arms exports was 31 per cent in 2010–14, compared with 27 per cent for Russia.
Russian exports of major weapons increased by 37 per cent between 2005–2009 and 2010–14.
During the same period, Chinese exports of major arms increased by 143 per cent, making it the third largest supplier in 2010–14, however still significantly behind the USA and Russia.
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16/03/2015
60,000 Children in Need of Immediate Assistance in Vanuatu – UNICEF
Human Wrongs Watch
Tens of thousands of children are in urgent need of assistance in Vanuatu in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam. UNICEF is supporting families in the island country and its neighbours with critical services disrupted by the category 5 storm.
Photo: UNICEF
SUVA, 15 March 2015 – Tens of thousands of children are in urgent need of assistance in Vanuatu after tropical Cyclone Pam ripped through the island.*
“Around 60,000 children in Vanuatu are affected,” said Isabelle Austin, UNICEF Pacific Deputy Representative. “We are particularly concerned about their health, nutrition, safety, schooling and recovery.”
The category 5 storm hit late on Friday night (13 March) and continued into the early hours of Saturday morning, leaving children at particular risk.
“It felt like the world was coming to an end,” said UNICEF’s Alice Clements, one of UNICEF’s staff members who was in the capital, Port Vila, when the storm hit.
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