'Unseen' News and Views
ROME, 9 November 2018 (FAO)* — An estimated 700 000 people die each year from antimicrobial resistant (AMR) infections and an untold number of sick animals may not be responding to treatment. AMR is a significant global threat to public health, food safety and security, as well as to livelihoods, animal production and economic and agricultural development.
Obesity grows by 3.6 million people every year in the region, while hunger has increased in three countries since 2014, according to a new report from FAO, PAHO, UNICEF and WFP*
7 November 2018, Santiago de Chile / Panama City – Hunger, malnutrition, lack of micronutrients, overweight and obesity have greater impact on people with lower income, women, indigenous people, Afro-descendants and rural families in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new UN report.
Even though meat production is known to be a major contributor to climate change and environmental destruction, worldwide demand for meat continues to rise, said UN environment agency, UNEP, in a statement released on 8 November 2018.
According to the World Economic Forum, the beef and dairy industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the world’s biggest oil companies, with the combined emissions of the top meat and dairy companies exceeding those of highly industrialized nations such as Germany or the UK.
Innocent civilians must not be exposed to “collective punishment” in disputes between two States, a United Nations human rights expert has said, calling for greater protection for ordinary people affected by punitive sanctions imposed by one country on another.
UN Photo/ Eskinder Debebe | Idriss Jazairy.
Idriss Jazairy, the UN Special Rapporteur on effects of sanctions on human rights, said that measures that seek to block a country’s trade altogether, amount to economic warfare against civilians, with devastating consequences.
“Under economic sanctions, people also die but from lack of food and medicine, rather than from explosive devices,” said the UN rights expert in a news release on 8 November 2018.
This form of warfare that relies on starvation and disease “deserves the same concern” on the part of the international community as any other conflict, he added, noting protections guaranteed under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies during times of war.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 