Archive for May, 2015

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05/05/2015

Every Four Minutes a Child Dies from a Traffic Accident – A World #SaveKidsLives Campaign

Human Wrongs Watch

Each day some 500 children die from road traffic crashes, thousands more are injured and the situation is only getting worse, the United Nations on 4 May 2015 warned as it launched #SaveKidsLives, a global campaign to generate action to make streets safe for children.

Photo: WHO

Photo: WHO

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), every four minutes, a child dies from a traffic accident. For adolescents aged 15 to 17, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death worldwide, with boys accounting for nearly twice as many road traffic deaths as girls.*

And one third of these deaths are children in cars but two thirds outside cars.

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04/05/2015

Don’t Get Excited: Nuclear Disarmament Is Not on the Horizon

Human Wrongs Watch

By Tony Robinson*

4 May 2015 (Pressenza)* – The 5-yearly cycle of reviewing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty got underway last week at the United Nations in New York but not before civil society organizations had organized hundreds of events around the world and in the Big Apple, under the banner of the Peace and Planet Mobilisation, to raise awareness of what was about to happen and to put pressure on politicians and diplomats to make some headway in a process that is frankly speaking in a comatose state.

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Demonstrators at the Peace and Planet Mobilisation in New York on the 26th of April wave goodbye to nuclear weapons (Image by www.globalwave.org) | Source: Pressenza

Demonstrators at the Peace and Planet Mobilisation in New York on the 26th of April wave goodbye to nuclear weapons (Image by http://www.globalwave.org) | Source: Pressenza

The problem is this: 5 countries have nuclear weapons and are in the NPT, 4 countries have nuclear weapons and are outside of it, 185 countries don’t have their own nuclear weapons and are in the NPT (although some Nato countries host US weapons in breach of articles 1 and 2 of the treaty).

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04/05/2015

Tobacco Kills Up to Half of its Users – More Key Facts

Human Wrongs Watch

One in every 10 cigarettes, and many other tobacco products, consumed worldwide are illegal, making the illicit trade of tobacco products a major global concern from many perspectives, including health, legal, economic, governance and corruption, World Health Organization (WHO) says ahead of World No Tobacco Day 2015 to be marked on 31 May.

**Author: Häggström, Mikael.

**Common adverse effects of tobacco smoking | Author: Häggström, Mikael. “Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014”. Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008. ISSN 20018762. | Wikimedia Commons

‘The tobacco industry and criminal groups are among those who profit from the illegal tobacco trade, leaving the public to pay the health and security costs.’

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04/05/2015

Yemen: Saudi-Led Airstrikes Used US-Supplied Cluster Munitions

Human Wrongs Watch

Beirut, 3 May 2015 (Human Rights Watch)* – Credible evidence indicates that the Saudi-led coalition used banned cluster munitions supplied by the United States in airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen, Human Rights Watch said today. Cluster munitions pose long-term dangers to civilians and are prohibited by a 2008 treaty adopted by 116 countries, though not Saudi Arabia, Yemen, or the United States.

An expended BLU-108 canister from a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon found in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, Saada governorate, in northern Yemen on April 17, 2015. © 2015 Private | Source: Human Rights Watch

An expended BLU-108 canister from a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon found in the al-Amar area of al-Safraa, Saada governorate, in northern Yemen on April 17, 2015. © 2015 Private | Source: Human Rights Watch

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03/05/2015

World Water Week Journalist Grant

Human Wrongs Watch

The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) on 1 May 2015 opened the door to applications for the 2015 World Water Week Journalist Grant. The World Water Week will be held in Stockholm on 23-28 August 2015.

Planet Earth in dew, macro on leaf. Conceptual design. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. | Source: SIWI

Planet Earth in dew, macro on leaf. Conceptual design. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. | Source: SIWI

Are you passionate about water and development? Have you covered these topics in your work but want a chance to see more, learn more and interview major actors in the water community?*

Have you looked for an opportunity to report on a global water meeting, where world leaders, policy makers, and academics meet representatives from the private sector and civil society to discuss some of the world’s most urgent development issues? Apply for the World Water Week Journalist Grant!

SIWI offers three journalists from low or low-middle income nations the opportunity to visit Stockholm and World Water Week which takes place between 23-28 August 2015.

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03/05/2015

Ban Nuclear Weapons – Now!

Human Wrongs Watch

Statement of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) to the Treaty of Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, UN Headquarters, New York

How’s your government doing at the NPT RevCon? Follow along with this interactive map from ICAN Austria showing you the best (and worst!) of the NPT Review Conference

How’s your government doing at the NPT RevCon?
Follow along with this interactive map from ICAN Austria showing you the best (and worst!) of the NPT Review Conference

The humanitarian initiative began here five years ago, when the NPT Review Conference expressed its deep concern at the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

Since then, a fundamental shift has been under way. Concerns about the impact of nuclear weapons on people and the environment have become central to disarmament discussions.

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02/05/2015

A Boy Called Bibi

Human Wrongs Watch

By Uri Avnery*

2 May 2015

THERE ARE two different opinions about Binyamin Netanyahu. It is difficult to believe that they concern the same person.

Uri Avnery

Uri Avnery

One is that Netanyahu is a shallow politician, devoid of ideas and convictions, who is led solely by his obsession to remain in power.

This Netanyahu has a good voice and a talent for making shallow speeches on television, speeches devoid of any intellectual content – and that’s all.

This Netanyahu is highly “pressurable” (a Hebrew word invented almost solely for him), a man who will change his views according to political expediency, disclaiming in the evening what he has said in the morning. None of his words should be trusted. He will lie and cheat anytime to assure his survival.

The other Netanyahu is almost the exact opposite. A principled patriot, a serious thinker, a statesman who sees danger beyond the horizon. This Netanyahu is a gifted orator, able to move the US Congress and the UN plenum, admired by the great mass of Israelis.

So which of these descriptions is true?

Neither.

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02/05/2015

Migrant Smuggling in Asia Generates Annual Value of $2 Billion for Criminal Groups

Human Wrongs Watch

In a new report, UNODC warns that the smuggling of migrants poses a significant threat to Asia, generating an annual value of $2 billion for criminal groups and leading to deaths and human rights abuses.

UNODC

UNODC

The report, entitled Migrant Smuggling in Asia: Current Trends and Related Challenges, analyzes the smuggling of migrants in 28 states from the Middle East to the Pacific and finds that criminal networks are creatively exploiting gaps between demand and regular migration, with smuggling fees to get to some destinations now reported as high as $50,000.*

The report also stresses that a significant number of migrants use smugglers to cross borders in order to seek a better life, but end up in human trafficking situations. Far away from home and working illegally, smuggled migrants have little ability to assert basic rights and become vulnerable to abuse, trafficking and exploitation.

Southeast Asia continues to serve as an important source, transit and destination for migrant smuggling, with the majority of smuggling taking place within the region but with routes also reaching countries as far as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.

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02/05/2015

Death Trap Nurseries: The Tragic Underbelly of Israel’s Migrant City

Human Wrongs Watch

‘Children’s garages’ where five infants died are the result of discrimination against poor migrant workers in South Tel Aviv’

Felicia’s Gan in south Tel Aviv. Felicia received support to improve her nursing skills, yet she says she still lacks enough money to offer a proper space for the kids to play (MEE/Julie Couzinet)

By Julie Couzinet*
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30 April 2015 (Middle East Eye)  – One baby died as a result of being tangled in a plastic bag and suffocating. Another due to lack of food. A third died from meningitis. Typically a bottle is left in the crib or is even tied to the mouth by overworked babysitters, often looking after 15 or 20 infants each. It was here in these “children’s garages” – the so-called Gans cannot be described as kindergartens – that five young children died in a six-week period.

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02/05/2015

US Locks Up Asylum-seeker Families

Human Wrongs Watch

By Philippa Garson*
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New York, 2 May 2015 (IRIN)* – An aggressive strategy by the United States to deter thousands of people fleeing violence in Mexico and Central America includes keeping women and children in detention for months while they await asylum hearings.

**Photo: Centre for Immigration Studies | Women and children detained at a border patrol station in Texas

Following a peak in arrivals last year of children and families, mostly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, President Barack Obama’s administration was under pressure to introduce tough measures to stem the flow.

As well as beefing up border controls and expediting deportations, the response has included expanding the use of family detention.

Figures from the last six months showing that the number of people caught at the border has fallen 28 percent compared to the same period last year suggest these strategies are working, even if there is no indication that the domestic and gang-related violence spurring people to flee has abated.

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