'Unseen' News and Views
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the international community to ‘stand united against anti-Muslim hatred’ following a mass shooting in New Zealand on Friday [15 March 2019] targeting two mosques, which has left at least 49 dead and many others wounded, some critically.
– The Middle East, one of the world’s most politically-volatile and war-ravaged regions, has doubled its arms imports during the past five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
UN Security Council in session.
14 March 2019 (UNRWA)* — When last visiting the Yarmouk refugee camp, in Damascus, I was confronted with a scale of devastation unlike anything I had witnessed before in almost three decades of work in war zones around the world.
Palestine refugee children stand in front of a destroyed building in Ein El Tal camp in Syria. © 2018 UNRWA Photo by Ahmad Abou Zeid
Standing in these fields of ruin, I saw signs everywhere of the appalling human cost of an unforgiving conflict, which has torn apart the lives of millions of Syrians. I was also reminded of what makes the tragedy of Palestine refugees in Syria so particularly unique.
7 March 2019 (Wall Street International)* — The February 14 suicide attack on a convoy of paramilitary police in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) which killed at least 40 paramilitary police was allegedly claimed by a Pakistan-based Islamist terror group. There was great anger in India and people called for revenge. Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, quickly promised a harsh response. As expected, tense relations between India and Pakistan now appear to be moving towards an alarming conflict.
In fighting the global drug problem, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent underscored that States must acknowledge and amend the devastating impact of judicial policies on people of African descent, who are more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, convicted, and harshly sentenced for drug crimes, in many countries.
– The bell rings and the halls erupt with the sounds of chatter and excitement as hundreds of children run to the dusty courtyard for recess. I joined them to play football but the game instead turned into a round of questions.
“What is your name? Do you speak Arabic? Where are you from? Do you support Barcelona or Madrid? Or Manchester? Do you play PokemonGo?”
Where am I from? I’m from Belgium. But I know that if I asked this question to some of these children, their response wouldn’t be so simple.
ROME, March 2019 (Other News)* – There is a huge debate on anti-Semitism. I think we need to make a systematic analysis that makes the problem simple and clear. Obviously, the subject is very complex and produces so many urges that any attempt of schematization is inevitably incomplete. However, outlining some broad traits can be useful. Let us try it.
Roberto Savio
First, we must remember that there is an historical anti-Semitism, which is at the root of the wave of anti-Semitism that is waking up throughout Europe.
This has precisely historical reasons, caused by the resentment towards the Jews, starting from the Middle Ages at least until the beginning of the Renaissance, when the Roman Catholic Church lost its power of absolute control.
The Jews have been the only non-Christian minority in Europe for 1,400 years, more literate and brilliant than the uneducated, barbaric and violent Christians. A feudal prince who could read and write was suspicious.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 