January | 2017 | HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

11/01/2017

‘One Million Displaced Somali Refugees Grow Hopeless’

Human Wrongs Watch

10 January 2017 – More than one million Somali refugees who have been displaced from their homes for decades are becoming despondent as they continue to be unable to return home and donor support is growing fatigued, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

After spending six years in Dadaab, Somali refugee Amal has decided to return to Somalia with her three-year-old twins Fawzan and Furad. Photo: UNHCR/Assadullah Nasrullah

“There is a growing sense of helplessness in the camps because people are feeling forgotten,” said Mohamed Abdi Affey, the Special Envoy to the Somali refugee situation for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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11/01/2017

‘Invest in Early Childhood Development’ – UNCEF’s #EarlyMomentsMatter Campaign

Human Wrongs Watch

10 January 2017 – Today marks the launch of a new United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) campaign, #EarlyMomentsMatter, aimed at raising awareness about the critical impact that early experiences have on children’s brain development during their first 1,000 days of life.

In Belize, two-year-old Abner laughs while being carried by his father, James Choc. Photo: UNICEF/Roger LeMoyne

Before the age of three, human brain cells make up to 1,000 new connections every second, a speed that slows later in life. These connections ensure that children’s brains continue to grow and lay the foundation for future learning, health and happiness.

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10/01/2017

Beyond Science Fiction: Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights

Human Wrongs Watch

By Jonathan Drake*

4 January 2017 (openDemocracy)* – Artificial Intelligence is growing at rapid pace, and so are significant ethical and human rights dilemmas.

**Shadow Dexterous Robot Hand holding a lightbulb | Richard Greenhill and Hugo Elias (myself) of the Shadow Robot Company

“You are worse than a fool; you have no care for your species. For thousands of years men dreamed of pacts with demons. Only now are such things possible.”

When William Gibson wrote those words in his groundbreaking 1984, novel Neuromancer, artificial intelligence remained almost entirely within the realm of science fiction.

Today, however, the convergence of complex algorithms, big data, and exponential increases in computational power has resulted in a world where AI raises significant ethical and human rights dilemmas, involving rights ranging from the right to privacy to due process.

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10/01/2017

Nominating the CEO of Exxon for US Secretary of State Reveals Just How Desperate the Fossil Fuel Industry Is

Human Wrongs Watch

By Kelly Mitchell*

9 January, 2017 (Greenpeace)* – On the surface, this looks like a power grab. In reality, it’s a last ditch attempt at relevancy.

In December, President-elect of the United States Donald Trump officially nominated Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State. In response, everyone from preschool teachers to oil industry shill (and Senator, I guess) Marco Rubio is voicing their concerns.

read more »

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10/01/2017

Meanwhile Around the World

Human Wrongs Watch

By Johan Galtung*

La Nucia, Spain, 9 January 2017 – TRANSCEND Media Service – The Centro Social invited all lonely men above 65 and women above 60 living in Comunidad Valenciana to a free stay at a hotel through Christmas, 23-27 December 2016. May many copy that one!

Johan Galtung

Waterberg, Namibia: “Germany Grapples with Its African Genocide” (NYT, Norimitsu Onishi, 29 Dec 2016).

A cemetery for German soldiers who under Lothar von Trotha 1904-05 killed 80,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama cattle herders, resisting German colonization.

TRANSCEND was deeply involved around the centenary. Germany had a myth: genocide only under Hitler. France and England wanted no German apology as they had done worse.

Lawyers feared compensation claims.

The result was to appeal to shared Christianity, admitting nothing. Waiting down the line: admission of guilt, wishing it undone, decolonization.

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10/01/2017

Oceans, Tuberculosis and Killer Robots – the UN’s Diverse Agenda in 2017

Human Wrongs Watch

By Lyndal Rowlands*

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10 2017 (IPS) – UN member states hope to reach agreement on a diverse range of global issues in 2017, from managing the world’s oceans to banning killer robots to stopping tuberculosis, one of the world’s deadliest diseases.

200 million people worldwide rely on fishing and related industries for their livelihoods. Credit: Christopher Pala/IPS.

200 million people worldwide rely on fishing and related industries for their livelihoods. Credit: Christopher Pala/IPS.

In recent years the UN has tackled big issues including ebola, the global migration crisis, financing for development and climate change, with varying degrees of success.

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10/01/2017

Mário Soares, a Rebel with a Cause – Freedom

Human Wrongs Watch

By an IPS Correspondent

LISBON, Jan 10 2017 (IPS) – Hardly a leader could reap so much respect, even from most relentless political rivals, both throughout his life and after his death on Jan 7 at the age of 92, like Portuguese Mário Soares.

Photo: Mario Soares attending a rally to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, 25 April 2014 in Lisbon. Photo: FraLiss. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Characterised as “an indefatigable political animal,” by the New York Times, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres hailed the commitment to freedom and democracy that made Soares “one of those rare political leaders of true European and global stature.”

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10/01/2017

535 Million Children Living in Crisis-Hit Countries – UNICEF

Human Wrongs Watch

As the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of its work for the world’s most vulnerable children, the agency on 9 December 2016 issued a stark warning that despite significant progress, too many children are still being left behind, with nearly 535 million of them living in harsh conditions, lacking access to decent health, education and protection services.

In Jérémie, Haiti, children play at the Église Chrétienne Nan Lindy. Hundreds of people have sought temporary shelter at the church after countless homes were destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. Photo: UNICEF/UN035877/LeMoyne

Posted in Africa, Asia, Climate Crisis, Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, Middle East, Mother Earth | Leave a Comment »

10/01/2017

‘Liberated’ Afghanistan: Thousands of Children Dying of Hunger

Human Wrongs Watch

Despite attempts to increase food aid in Afghanistan, children bear the brunt of the country’s nutritional crisis, the United Nations humanitarian arm on 9 January 2017 reported, warning that the ongoing fighting has also led to record number of children at risk of abuse and exploitation.

Bamiyan, Afghanistan: children make a long journey to continue their education. Photo: UNICEF/Abdul Aziz Froutan

According to the recently-issued Humanitarian Needs Overview, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) found that 9.3 million people are in need of aid.

The UN noted that the number is an increase of 13 per cent over the past year, fuelled largely by a continued deepening and geographic spread of the conflict.

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07/01/2017

Trump, the Banks and the Bomb

Human Wrongs Watch

By Baher Kamal*

ROME, Jan 7 2017 (IPS) – When pro-nuclear disarmament organisations last October cheered the United Nations decision to start in 2017 negotiations on a global treaty banning these weapons, they probably did not expect that shortly after the US would elect Republican businessman Donald Trump as their 45th president. Much less that he would rush to advocate for increasing the US nuclear power.

Nuclear weapon test at Bikini Atoll in 1946. Credit: United States Department of Defense via Wikimedia Commons

The United Nations on Oct. 27, 2016 adopted a resolution to launch negotiations in 2017 on a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons, putting an end to two decades of paralysis in world nuclear disarmament efforts.

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

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