'Unseen' News and Views
11 January 2019 (UN Environment)* — On a cool and cloudy January day in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen, tens of thousands of men and women pounded the streets in the first IAAF Gold Label road race of 2019. But this was a competition with a difference — heavy on sustainability, light on single-use plastics and the first international marathon to join UN Environment’s Clean Seas campaign.
Photo from UN Environment.
— World first expedition in a boat made from plastic waste and flipflops.
— 6 stops along the African coastline to inspire communities on how to repurpose their own plastic waste, and promote UN Environment Clean Seas Campaign.
— Only 9% of the 9 billion tonnes of plastic the world has ever produced has been recycled.
Photo from UN Environment.
11 January 2019 (UN Environment)* — A traditional dhow sailing boat made entirely from plastic trash collected from Kenya’s beaches and towns will make its maiden voyage later this month from Lamu in Kenya to Zanzibar in Tanzania – a 500-kilometre expedition stopping at communities along the way to change mindsets about plastic waste.
10 January 2019 — After escaping from two years of captivity at the hands of Mai Mai rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Bertine Bahige was relieved to end up in a UN refugee agency (UNHCR) camp, in faraway Mozambique.*
A rising number of attacks by extremist groups, using more sophisticated tactics, risk undermining progress in West Africa and the Sahel, the region’s UN envoy told the Security Council on Thursday [10 January 2019].
“Military solutions, while necessary, are not sufficient,” Mohamed Ibn Chambas, the Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), pushing for holistic responses, “grounded in the respect of human rights, and the socioeconomic needs of the population in the affected areas.”
Storm-force winds and snow across Lebanon have worsened the plight for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees who’ve been forced from their homes by nearly eight years of conflict, a top UN humanitarian official said on Thursday [10 January 2019].
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, Philippe Lazzarini, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, said that refugees had been moved from shelters – including in the exposed Bekaa valley where wintery conditions are especially acute – to safer facilities, after Storm Norma hit at the weekend.
“Some of the settlements have been completely flooded, very cold, it’s extremely inclement conditions, and to describe daily life, it’s just miserable,” he said.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler addresses staff at EPA headquarters in Washington, U.S., July 11, 2018. | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.
8 January 2019 (UN Women)* — Aung Ja* was 18 when a woman from Myitkina, northern Myanmar, convinced her to take a ‘factory’ job in China. She was rescued in 2017 and is taking part in a UN Women-supported trafficking prevention programme.
“[The broker] convinced my aunty that I could get a job in China. I had stopped school and was not doing anything, so I needed a job. She showed me a picture of a phone factory, and a shoe-making factory.
But when I arrived in China in May 2017, they forced me to get pregnant. They gave me pills for 10 days to prepare the womb.
Clashes between Nigerian government forces and non-State armed groups on 26 December in Baga town, about 200 kilometers north of state capital Maiduguri, triggered massive displacement, pushing civilians to converge on already-congested camps or sites for internally displaced people (IDPs).
Major fighting in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state has so far been avoided following clashes between armed separatists and national security forces who are increasing troop numbers there, a top UN humanitarian official there said on Wednesday [9 January 2019].
In an interview with UN News, Knut Ostby, Acting Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar, reiterated calls for all sides “to find a peaceful solution to the situation”, amid concern “that there could be a quite immediate escalation of fighting”.
9 January 2019 (FAO)* — Mongolians and their livestock have lived on the steppe for centuries. And although the steppe may seem like vast and open land, more than 60 million animals graze on its pasture. Raising livestock is the most important livelihood in Mongolia – and is the sole source of income for 35 percent of households.
Early distribution of feed helped livestock remain in good condition, allowing herders to harvest and sell more cashmere in the spring when prices were at their highest. ©FAO/K.Purevraqchaa
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 