'Unseen' News and Views
Erbil, 4 September 2018 (IOM)* – For the first time in nearly four years, the number of displaced Iraqis has fallen below two million, according to a milestone IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) report released on 4 September 2018.
Ali in West Mosul was trapped in rubble under his house when it collapsed during the conflict. He poses for a photo after his return in June 2018. Photo: IOM
By Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate – TRANSCEND Media Service*
… and His Plea for Forgiveness of Victims for Church Clerical Sexual Abuse
Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Pope Francis’ two-day visit to Ireland on the 25thand 26thof August 2018 comes at a time when people need hope.
The Irish Church has been devastated by the abuse scandals, which have never been properly dealt with.
The victims and survivors of church abuse have told their stories and knocked on doors trying to get a hearing, and meet those who would listen to the terrible injustices perpetrated on them by some Catholic clergy and religious institutions.
Despite improvements in the humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad region, millions continue to remain dependent on lifesaving assistance, the top United Nations relief official said on 3 September 2018, urging greater international support for the region to safeguard the progress achieved.
3 September 2018 – USA issues “sanctions”–legalese for punishment–when they dislike somebody else. Sometimes it works: somebody else adjusts the behavior to suit the USA. And sometimes it does not: “somebody else” hits back with new sanctions or tariffs for tariffs. Or cuts trade with USA.
Johan Galtung
Right now US sanctions have been issued against Iran and those who trade with Iran. A gap opened between USA and EU over sanctions, EU favoring keeping the agreements with Iran. Could be a deep gap.
What could USA have done, what would have been a better US policy?
Instead of sanctions = punishment and something that looks like a trade-war, the opposite: rewards, better terms of trade, trade-peace. However, there is a problem, and a major one: trade vs self-reliance.
3 September 2018 (UN Environment)* – When Trin Gim first started her biogas digester business, she raised many eyebrows. In the little district of Ung Hoa, located south of Viet Nam’s capital, Hanoi, villagers were not accustomed to seeing a woman take the reins of a business.
An affordable one-time vaccination can make all the difference
A farmer tends to her goats in Nepal. ©Chris Steele-Perkins/Magnum Photos for FAO
In truth, these women embody the remarkable spirit and courage of every Palestinian woman living under Israeli Occupation and siege in the West Bank and Gaza.
Relatives of Palestinian Sadi Muamar, who was killed by Israeli troops during a protest at the Israel-Gaza border, mourn during his funeral in the southern Gaza Strip. | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.
28 August 2018 (teleSUR)* — Hanan al-Khoudari resorted to Facebook in a cry for help when Israeli authorities rejected her request to accompany her three-year-old son, Louay, to his chemotherapy treatment in East Jerusalem.
2 September 2018 – Condemning the escalation of violence in and around the Libyan capital, Tripoli, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has called on all parties to immediately cease hostilities and grant humanitarian relief to those in need.
UNHCR/Tarik Argaz | After receiving threats and many houses being demolished by a local militia, Tawergha displaced people desperately pack their belongings to leave the Triq al Matar settlement in Libya. 10 August 2018.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, UN Secretary-General Guterres raised particular alarm over the use of indiscriminate shelling by armed groups leading to the death and injury of civilians, including children.
The United Nations said it regrets the decision of the United States to stop funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and called on other countries to help fill the remaining financial gap.
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“We regret the United States’ decision to provide no further funding to UNRWA, which provides essential services to Palestine refugees and contributes to stability in the region,” Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, on 31 August 2018 said in a statement.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 