'Unseen' News and Views
The United Nations specialized agency which coordinates the global postal system, has expressed “regret” over the withdrawal by the United States from the world body’s membership.
In a statement on 18 October 2018, Pascal Clivaz, the Deputy Director General of the UN Universal Postal Union (UPU), established in the 19th Century, recalled the “tremendous and positive contribution” made by the US.
Violence is on the rise in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israeli authorities are continuing to demolish and confiscate Palestinian-owned homes and property, in contravention of international law, the United Nations envoy for the Middle East Peace Process said on 18 October 2018.
Briefing the Security Council, Nikolay Mladenov called on Israel to stop the demolitions, adding that a negotiated resolution of the so-called final status issues – as defined by Israelis and Palestinians themselves – was essential for any lasting peace settlement.
A new programme is bringing water and hope to family farmers.
Producing extra food to sell at the market is easier now that farmers have the means to irrigate crops all year round. ©FAO/Benedicte Kurzen/NOOR for FAO
18 October 2018 (FAO)* – Like many farmers in Senegal, Guilé Mané used to struggle through the dry season. Rainfall here can be very low and irregular, even in the rainy season.
“We were working in the fields during the rainy season, but we did not do anything during the dry season,” says Guilé, 39, who heads a farmers’ association called Diapo Ande Liggeye (United to Work) in her home area of Keur Bara Tambédou.
The world’s population is set to grow by 2.2 billion between now and 2050, the UN said on 17 October 2018, and more than half of that growth – 1.3 billion – is likely to be in sub-Saharan Africa, where women’s rights are hampered by limited access to healthcare and education, along with “entrenched gender discrimination”.
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A state of anxiety prevails among the Palestinians, a situation that stems from two sources: the first: the escalation and acceleration of the annexation and its procedures, the growing fear of official annexation to Israel and expulsion to abroad; and the second: concern over the vague Palestinian responses to what is happening. The follow-up of the articles of Hani al-Masri, Rami Mahdawi, Khalil al-Asali and other journalists are just expressions of this concern.
Walid Salem
Yet, there are other concern expressed by Benjamin Netanyahu during a dinner at an annual religious ceremony held at his home in October 2017 that he fears Israel’s fate will be the same as the fate of the 77-year-old Hasmonean kingdom before it was removed by the Romans.
What is common between these two concerns? Where do they differ?
The anxiety of Netanyahu is external, and it is related today to the threats coming from Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas.
United Nations human rights chief Michele Bachelet said on 17 October 2018 that she was open to an independent, UN-led investigation into the fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi, if joint efforts by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, fail to uncover the facts.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre | Michelle Bachelet
The High Commissioner who heads OHCHR, reiterated her call earlier in the week, for diplomatic immunity to be waived to ensure the joint investigation is effective, impartial and transparent.
Mr. Khashoggi, an influential Saudi journalist and critic, who has been living in exile in the United States in recent months and writing a column for the Washington Post newspaper, had gone to the Saudi Consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul, on 2 October, to obtain marriage papers.
Adopting a Universal Declaration on Democracy to enter into a new era in the proper way.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza
17 October 2018 (Other News)* – In San Francisco in 1945, at the end of the Second World War, United Nations was founded under the American leadership of President Roosevelt, with a Chart beginning with the following words:
“We the peoples are determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.
Today more than ever it is important to bear in mind that it is humanity as a whole that should be taken into account… Governments should come in second place, after the people…
Universal principles and values are often not complied with in the daily life of our “Global Village”.
The Prosecutor mandated to oversee the Occupied Palestinian Territory for the International Criminal Court (ICC) stated on 17 October 2018 that her office is keeping “a close eye” on the planned demolition of a Palestinian village in the West Bank by Israeli authorities, warning that, according to international law, it could constitute a “war crime”.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has dropped 40 per cent year-on-year so far, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on 15 October 2018, but the $470 million decline is happening mainly in wealthy, industrialized nations, especially in North America and Western Europe.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 