'Unseen' News and Views
More than a quarter of a million children in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – and thousands of others who have fled with their families to nearby provinces – are suffering severe and acute malnutrition, and need lifesaving treatment, said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday [13 March 2019].
.
For over 70 years, the UN system has been perceived as the guardian of peace and development in the world. However, multilateralism today is undeniably under strain. The effectiveness of global institutions and of global policymaking is questioned, and alliances are fraying.
Idriss Jazairy
Roberto Savio
.
Often, in times of transition, drawing lessons from the past is a good way to find solutions and inspiration for the way forward.
In this regard, it is important to remember the inspired leaders of the UN system who have propelled forward the concept of multilateralism over the years.
It is therefore important to evoke the legacy of Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Maurice Strong, but also of UNICEF’s Jim Grant, as they all represent visionary UN figures who contributed greatly to the evolution of multilateralism.
13 March 2019 (UN Environment)* — Fashion today is about obsession with outward image and appearance. Rarely do we as consumers consider what’s on the inside: the hundreds of thousands of fibres that make up our clothing which have led to an estimated 1.4 million trillion plastic fibres in the ocean.
Photo from UN Environment.
The fashion industry itself has a huge impact on the environment. It is responsible for 20 per cent of global wastewater, 10 per cent of carbon emissions and huge amounts of waste. Every second, one garbage truck full of textiles is landfilled or incinerated. If that wasn’t enough, our clothing is also polluting the ocean with plastic.
Nairobi, Kenya, (UN Environment)* – The most comprehensive and rigorous assessment on the state of the environment completed by the UN in the last five years was published today [13 March 2019], warning that damage to the planet is so dire that people’s health will be increasingly threatened unless urgent action is taken.
Image from UN Environment.
The report, which was produced by 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries, says that either we drastically scale up environmental protections, or cities and regions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa could see millions of premature deaths by mid-century.
Madrid, 12 March 2019 (IOM)* — According to an International Organization for Migration (IOM) flow monitoring survey of over 1,300 migrants and refugees in Spain last year, nearly half (48%) of those interviewed indicated having at least one direct experience related to human trafficking, exploitation or abuse while traveling on the Western Mediterranean Route.
IOM staff speaking with a migrant at a humanitarian assistance reception centre in Miraflores de la Sierra, Spain. Photo: IOM
Photo from UN Environment.
We often think of the internet—which drives so many aspects of our lives—as a carbon-free cloud transferring data through the air.
But the internet relies on vast physical resources. Underground cables power massive data centers, and the vast machines that transmit our searches often depend on fossil fuels.
Sexual attacks in South Sudan are so common that mothers now teach their daughters how to survive the ordeal of being raped, in such a way as to minimize the violence. That’s according to Yasmin Sooka, chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, who was speaking on Tuesday [12 March 2019] in front of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, during its latest session.
.
There has been a “serious regression” in the political power of women across the world in recent years, UN General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa told delegates to the annual summit of women activists at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday [12 March 2019].
The former Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs who leads the 193-member world body, pointed out that in 2105 it would have taken 30 years to close the gender gap, but now, she told the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), if current trends continue, gender parity will not be reached for “107 years”.
Economists define ‘the wealth of a society’ as its total stock of useful assets – homes, cars, buildings, roads, factories, cattle, money, gold … et cetera. Let us call this definition D1.
A definition serves merely as a starting point for a logical exploration of related ideas.
However – and necessarily – the direction which the exploration takes depends on the definition. In any discussion of ideas, a conscious effort is needed to understand how it is influenced by the definitions of its basic terms.
Furthermore, by questioning the basic definitions underlying a discussion – and trying out alternative definitions – one is able to explore a broader range of ideas, to think ‘out of the box’.
Photo from UN Environment.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 