27 Jun 2018— Driving through the rolling hills and farming villages of western Kenya’s Kakamega County, it’s apparent why the region is known as the country’s green jewel. Agriculture is the most visible industry, and the primary source of jobs. But off the main roads, hidden out of sight, is a growing industry: small-scale, informal gold mining.
27 June 2018 (FAO)* — Growing crops, fishing, harvesting fruits and nuts from the forests are just some examples of the activities that millions of people do daily to get food to eat or to earn a living. But when their rights to that land or those natural resources aren’t recognized, livelihoods and food sources can disappear from one day to the next.
A ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia may have officially ended at the weekend, but on 27 June 2018, nine United Nations experts called for the immediate release of a number of women’s rights defenders who were imprisoned following a government crackdown which began in mid-May.
UN Photo/Elma Okic | Human Rights Council special session on “the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem” on 18 May 2018, United Nations Office in Geneva.
The United Nations rights expert on Myanmar is “strongly” recommending that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate and prosecute those allegedly responsible for “decades of crimes” in the form a grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law inside the country.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre | Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Yanghee Lee.
“You could qualify for U.S. and Western aid to salvage Lebanon or you can cede what’s left of your country’s sovereignty to Iran. But you cannot do both.”
— A US Congressional staffer after his boss recently introduced legislation to cut off all aid to Lebanon until it “cleans its house of Iranian militia and restores Lebanese sovereignty.”
Franklin P. Lamb
Increasingly these days on Beirut’s streets of Hamra and across much of Lebanon one hears a Sanskrit like mantra that: “Lebanon was never a real country, it is not now a real country and will not be a real country during the lifetimes of its current citizenry.”It’s become a bit of a truism worth some contemplation.
A couple of days ago there was reportedly bit of a kafuffle at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri Airport, which fortunately did not come to blows. It occurred as travel weary Lebanese and tired international travelers arrived in Beirut for the beginning of tourist season and queued for the normally long wait to have their passports stamped.
Defence and security forces along with the Kamuina Nsapu and Bana Mura militias have committed “crimes against humanity and war crimes” in the of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai region, United Nations experts on 26 June 2018 said following an investigation.
UNICEF/Vincent Tremeau | Children in the village of Benakuna, Kasaï region, Democratic Republic of Congo. 27 January 2018.
“We are shocked by this disastrous situation that has claimed the lives of several thousand people and continues to rage in the region, without provoking national or international attention,” said Bacre Waly Ndiaye, President of the Team of International Experts appointed by the Human Rights Council.
The scourge of opium-based drugs and cocaine are a bigger global threat to public health and law enforcement than ever before, according to the latest World Drug Report, released on 26 June 2018 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
World Bank/Trinn Suwannapha | Methadone Maintenance Therapy is offered in Thailand to reduce harm for people dependent on injected opioids, like heroin. | Photo from UN News Centre.
The findings “show that drug markets are expanding, with cocaine and opium production hitting absolute record highs, presenting multiple challenges on multiple fronts,” said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.
The 2018 Report provides an overview of the supply and demand of drugs as well as their impact on health.
Torture in any form, is absolutely unacceptable and can never be justified, top United Nations officials on 26 June 2018 said, urging great support for victims worldwide.
UN Photo/Tobin Jones | Singers wearing hats advocating “No Torture” line up before performing at a Human Rights Day event outside of Mogadishu Central Prison in Somalia on 10 December 2013.
GENEVA, 26 June 2018 (IOM)*— William Lacy Swing, Director General of IOM, the UN Migration Agency, said today that he was ”greatly concerned” for the fate of migrants who find themselves stranded and left to fend for themselves in the no man’s land desert between Algeria and Niger.
In the open truck, migrants vainly tried to shade their bodies from the sun. Photo by Liberian migrant Ju Dennis. Photo: AP Photo/Ju Dennis | Photo from IOM
“Irregular migrants, including many pregnant women and minors, should not be left without food or water or expected to walk for miles in blistering 30-degree temperatures to seek safety in the desert,” he said.
**Photo: Syrian and Iraqi refugeesarrive from Turkey to Skala Sykamias, Lesbos island, Greece| Ggia | Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The political threat lies at the heart of the European Union. If German Chancellor Angela Merkel – leader of the bloc’s strongest member – cannot find a solution to the immigration problem, then her coalition government is doomed. The collapse in Berlin will in turn reverberate across the EU, unleashing yet more tensions between the EU establishment in Brussels and the newer populist governments.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 