25 March 2019 – It takes around 7,500 litres of water to make a single pair of jeans, equivalent to the amount of water the average person drinks over a period of seven years. That’s just one of the many startling facts to emerge from recent environmental research, which show that the cost of staying fashionable is a lot more than just the price tag.*
UNEP/Cyril Villemain | African Sustainable Fashion in Nairobi, Kenya.
When we think of industries that are having a harmful effect on the environment, manufacturing, energy, transport and even food production might come to mind. But the fashion industry is considered by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), to be the second most polluting industry in the world.
Cyclone Idai and the mounting death toll is “yet another alarm bell about the dangers of climate change” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday [26 March 2019], warning that vulnerable countries like Mozambique, would be hit the hardest unless urgent action is taken by nations across the world.*
UNICEF/Prinsloo | A mother feeds her 2-year-old son at the Samora Machel school where they were brought after their homes were destroyed and flooded in Buzi, Mozambique.
London, 26 March 2019 (IOM)* – Vulnerability to human trafficking and modern slavery is influenced by overlapping and interconnected risk factors which cut across individual, household, family, community and structural dynamics, according to a new study.
Two-year IOM, University of Bedfordshire study examined the vulnerabilities to human trafficking for Albanians, Vietnamese and Nigerians. Photo: IOM/Francesco Malavolta
Raise awareness of the dangers of racism and “stand up against old and new forms of slavery” was the resounding message of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday [25 March 2019] during a special event marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe | Exhibition for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade at UN Headquarters in New York, March, 2019.
“Slavery and the transatlantic slave trade were among history’s most appalling manifestations of human brutality”, he reminded delegates from across the world gathered in the General Assembly Hall with a call for “justice and equal opportunities for all people of African descent”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged artificial intelligence (AI) experts meeting in Geneva on Monday [25 March 2019] to push ahead with their work to restrict the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS, as they are also known.
UN Photo/Marco Dormino | UNMAS, MINUSMA Mark International Day for Mine Awareness. Robots have been deployed for mine clearance by military authorities in many countries, but concerns are rising over regulation of autonomous weapons which use Artificial Intelligence.
In a message to the Group of Governmental Experts, the UN chief said that “machines with the power and discretion to take lives without human involvement are politically unacceptable, morally repugnant and should be prohibited by international law”.
More than two-thirds of children surveyed experiencing psychosocial distress.
A study conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that 68 percent of schoolchildren in areas close to the Israeli perimeter fence have clear indications of psychosocial distress. Photo: Ahmed Mashharawi/NRC
25 March 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)*— Children living in the Gaza Strip have experienced unusually high rates of psychosocial distress because of the violent response to the Gaza protests and daily attacks they witness.
A study conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that 68 percent of schoolchildren in areas close to the Israeli perimeter fence have clear indications of psychosocial distress. The majority said they were most severely affected by the sounds of nearby explosions and media images of conflict in Gaza.
24 March 2019 (Wall Street International)* — Everything one wants or does not want is likely to be desired or rejected by the other. This is one of the contexts in which exchanges and relationships occur. The commercialization of goods and merchandise is always an exchange, usually made possible by money. The currency and the acquisition patterns allow the circulation of products and ideas in societies.
UN Environment*— In 1998 Beijing began an intensified air pollution control program, and over the last 20 years the city has implemented a series of measures including energy infrastructure optimization, coal-fired pollution control, and vehicle emission controls.
These efforts successfully reduced air pollution. In the five years from 2013 to 2017, fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) in Beijing fell by 35% and by 25% in surrounding regions.
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This report outlines how Beijing’s air quality management programme has evolved over the past quarter century and makes recommendations for near, medium, and long-term steps that Beijing can take to maintain its momentum toward clean air.
Geneva (IOM)*– A focus on improved data will enable IOM to combat fake news and hate speech with solid facts and evidence, a UN meeting in Geneva heard today (22/3/2019).
New European migration section on IOM’s Global Migration Portal Data under the microscope at the UN Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. Image: IOM’s Global Migration Portal Data
A dedicated Europe section on the IOM Global Migration Data Analysis Centre website has just been launched, and it was presented on 22 March 2019 at a side event at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters swamped London on Saturday (23 March) demanding another referendum on EU membership amid political paralysis over Brexit, in one of the country’s biggest protests in decades.
Protester carry a banner ‘Put it to the People’ as people attend the ‘Put it to the People’ march in London, Britain, 23 March 2019. [Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA/EFE] | Image from EurActiv.
Organisers said about a million people opposed to Britain leaving the European Union joined what they called the “Put it to the People” march, descending on the capital by road and rail from across the country.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 