Archive for October, 2015

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09/10/2015

Children Are Children First

Human Wrongs Watch

By *

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6 October 2015 – In the short time I spent with Jasamin, she reminded me that the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe is a crisis for children. And also that when it comes to children on the move, even they themselves need to be reminded that they are children first.
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© UNICEF/NYHQ2015-2165/Georgiev On 10 September, children, women and men who have fled their homes amid the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis walk near the town of Gevgelija.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2015-2165/Georgiev On 10 September, children, women and men who have fled their homes amid the ongoing refugee and migrant crisis walk near the town of Gevgelija.

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Jasamin (3) from Afghanistan is one of the tens of thousands of refugee and migrant children on the move to Europe. I first caught sight of her moments after she crossed the border from Greece into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with her parents and Mohamed, her 19-month-old brother.
Like the hundreds of children crossing the same path every day; she was exhausted and confused about where she was and where she was going from here.

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

09/10/2015

The ‘Haze Generation’ Living under Indonesia’s Deadly Forest Fires

Human Wrongs Watch

By Zamzami*

7 October 2015 (Greenpeace) – The impacts of Indonesia’s forest fires are being felt most amongst Indonesia’s young, turning them into the “haze generation”.

Greenpeace

Credit: Ulet Infansast/Greenpeace

I flew from Jakarta and landed in the city of Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, in Indonesia, in the middle of a hot and humid September. I was lucky.

My flight was only slightly delayed but there were other flights that were held back for hours. Others were just outright cancelled.

For about two weeks, Pontianak had been blanketed by heavy smog and thick haze emanating from the illegal forest and peatlands fires from parts of Sumatra and areas in West Kalimantan.

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Posted in Asia, Market Lords, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

09/10/2015

‘Women Make Tremendous Contributions to the World, But Violence, Discrimination Hold Them Back’

Human Wrongs Watch

October 2015 – Of all the facts contained in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) latest Global Study on Homicide there is one chilling statistic that leaps out at the reader: Of the 93,000 female homicides globally in 2012, 42,600 were killed by their intimate partners and other family members.

88 countries have stepped it up At a high-level event co-organized by UN Women and the Chinese Government, governments have made concrete national commitments to ensure women and girls can reach their full potential by 2030 | Source: UN Women

*88 countries have stepped it up | At a high-level event co-organized by UN Women and the Chinese Government, governments have made concrete national commitments to ensure women and girls can reach their full potential by 2030 | Source: UN Women

Many women and young girls experience threats, violence, including acts of sexual violence, and discrimination in their daily lives. As women attempt to overcome these problems, justice is often hindered by the bias ingrained within some criminal justice systems.

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09/10/2015

High Commissioner for Refugees Calls for ‘Renewed International Focus’ on (Liberated) Afghanistan

Human Wrongs Watch

UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres appealed to the international community to refocus its attention on Afghanistan, warning that it would be dangerous to ignore the country, and praised Iran and Pakistan for hosting so many Afghan refugees.

© UNHCR/S.Rich | Haqmal (centre), a six year-old returnee from Pakistan loves his new school, the Ansarul-Momineen School in Pajhman, Kabul District Afghanistan.

Stressing Afghanistan was no longer “getting the attention it deserves”, he on 6 October 2015 told UNHCR’s high-level Executive Committee meeting on the Afghan refugee situation: “We believe that to ignore Afghanistan would be a dangerous mistake, regardless of the urgency and scale of other, newer crises.”

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09/10/2015

UN Warns against Growing Politicization of Refugee and Asylum Matters

Human Wrongs Watch

The top protection expert in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 8 October 2015warned of a growing risk to people fleeing conflict and persecution and called for “an all-out effort to ensure that protection, and in particular the institution of asylum, remains life-saving, non-political, and fundamentally humanitarian.”

A refugee lies face down on the stony ground with his hands over his face after reaching shore, near the village of Skala Eressos, on the island of Lesbos, in the North Aegean region of Greece. Photo: UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson VII

Speaking in Geneva at the UNHCR annual Executive Commitment meeting, Volker Türk, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, drew attention to the 60 million forcibly displaced people living in a troubled global landscape of increased conflict, coupled with an ever-more dire humanitarian funding situation.

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09/10/2015

Global Youth Unemployment Rate Still above Financial Crisis Levels

Human Wrongs Watch

Global youth unemployment rates have stabilized somewhat but remain well above pre-financial crisis levels, according to a new report released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on 8 October 2015.

Source: ILO

Source: ILO

The rate has stabilized at 13 per cent following a period of rapid increase between 2007 and 2010, but it is still well above the pre-crisis level of 11.7 per cent, according to the ILO report Global Unemployment Trends for Youth 2015: Scaling up investments in decent jobs for youth.

It also highlights a drop in the number of unemployed youth to 73.3 million in 2014, some 3.3 million less than the crisis peak of 76.6 million in 2009.

“It is encouraging to see an improvement in the youth employment trends compared to the GET [Global Employment Trends] for Youth 2013,” says Sara Elder, the report’s lead author.

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01/10/2015

Electoral Revolution in Brazil Aimed at Neutralising Corporate Influence

Human Wrongs Watch

By Mario Osava*

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RIO DE JANEIRO, 29 September 2015 (IPS) – From now on, elections in Brazil will be more democratic, without corporate interference, which had become decisive and corruptive. A September 17 Supreme Court ruling declared unconstitutional articles of the elections act that allow corporate donations to election campaigns.
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

**Topographic map of Brazil | Original uploader was Captain Blood at en.wikipedia | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

The 8-3 verdict came in response to a legal challenge brought by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) against the laws authorising and regulating donations by big corporations to political parties and candidates.

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Posted in Latin America & Caribbean, The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

01/10/2015

The Young Girl and the Sea

By Hereward Holland*

25 September 2015 (UNHCR) – They left in darkness. By morning, half of them were lost at sea, one confirmed dead.

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Discarded life jackets and inflatable boats litter a beach on Lesvos.| UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

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Like thousands of others before them, this group of some 25 refugees believed the wars ravaging the Middle East posed a greater risk than boarding a small wooden boat at midnight on the Turkish coast. Destination: the Greek island of Lesvos, the frontier of Europe.

“The fear of staying in Syria and Iraq wins over any fears of hazards on the sea,” said Patric Mansour, a protection officer for the United Nations refugee agency.

Over 357,000 refugees have undertaken the perilous voyage to Greece this year, according to figures collected by UNHCR, with the largest surge – over 230,000 – arriving since August.

Even as some European countries pull up the drawbridge, desperate people keep coming in search of refuge. They are undaunted by the challenge, literally arriving by the overstuffed rubber boatload.

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01/10/2015

The Sad Decline of Democracy

Human Wrongs Watch

By 
Roberto Savio*

Rome, 1 October 2015

The last world survey on the strength of democracy went totally ignored, except for the New York Times, which did publish a special report. And yet the World Values Survey, a respected research association with the United Nations, conducted the survey and the data of the 2015 survey are extremely worrying.



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**World map showing the countries considered “electoral democracies” (in blue), according to American organization Freedom House. Reference from the “Freedom in The World” report. | Author: Joowwww, updated by 23prootie for 2011 and MaGioZal for 2009-10, 2012-15 | public domain | Wikimedia Commons

**World map showing the countries considered “electoral democracies” (in blue), according to American organization Freedom House. Reference from the “Freedom in The World” report. | Author: Joowwww, updated by 23prootie for 2011 and MaGioZal for 2009-10, 2012-15 | public domain | Wikimedia Commons

In the United States, the number of Americans who approve the idea of “having the arm rule”, has gone from one in 15, in 1995, to one in six.

And while, among those born before World War II, a strong 72% assigned living in a democracy the highest value on a scale of one to ten, for those born after 1980, less than 30% did. 

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

01/10/2015

Saudi War on Yemen & US Doctrine of Military Preemption

Human Wrongs Watch

30 September 2015 (RT)* – As America still pretends to shine freedom’s torch, its military doctrine has helped rationalize neo-imperialism the world over. Washington’s war rhetoric has now turned its allies into little hegemons – Meet Washington’s war child: Riyadh!
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**Photo: An airstrike on weapons deposit in Sana'a on 11 May 2015 | Author: Ibrahem Qasim | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license | Wikimedia Commons

**Photo: An airstrike on weapons deposit in Sana’a on 11 May 2015 | Author: Ibrahem Qasim | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license | Wikimedia Commons

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Looking at Saudi Arabia’s ongoing acts of genocide against Yemen it has become rather evident that the United Nations and the principles its institutions sit on have become not only obsolete but completely irrelevant.

When the deaths of thousands of civilians can no longer prompt world leaders to express disgust; for money whitewashes all crimes, what hope is there for justice?

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