By Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs*
Human suffering caused by war is not a new phenomenon.
Izumi Nakamitsu
And while our highest priority remains the prevention of war, evolving patterns of armed violence are posing new and more difficult challenges that require action.
Conflict is migrating into villages, towns and cities, but governments and non-state actors are continuing to use weapons designed for open battlefields.
Many weapons originally intended for battlefield use, those that disperse multiple munitions over a wide area, fire without a direct line of sight to the target, or produce large blasts and fragmentation, pose serious humanitarian concerns when used in populated areas.
New research finds that expanding access and broadening provision of Universal Basic Services would be of greater value to people in the lowest income groups.
Image: HM Treasury, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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16 May 2019 (openDemocracy)* — Strengthening and extending universal services would be a more effective way of tackling global poverty and improving wellbeing than a universal basic income (UBI), according to a report by the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP).
The UN’s Political and Humanitarian Affairs chiefs on Friday [17 May 2019] called on the Security Council to unite in support of an immediate de-escalation of fighting around Syria’s Idlib province, and work towards an enduring political solution on behalf of the Syrian people.
The UN’s head of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo told members that “we have been here before: in Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta and Raqqa” where civilian casualties mounted along with an all-out offensive by the Syrian Government and its allies.
Cox’s Bazar, 17 May 2019 (IOM)* –Under clear 36-degree Celsius skies, an exhausted Rafiq leans against his house, surrounded by his five children. Glancing upwards, he ponders another sweltering walk down a steep dirt path to haul clean water for his family.
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Rohingya refugees at a shallow well in Cox’s Bazar.
A pump just nearby provides water whose drinkability he views as “unreliable” and requires an arduous hillside trek. Sterilizing water by boiling also is difficult because firewood is hard to come by.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 