Archive for June, 2019

13/06/2019

Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution in the Crosshairs of US Imperialism

Human Wrongs Watch

By Roger D. Harris – TRANSCEND Media Service

With the likes of John Bolton and Elliot Abrams directing US foreign policy, the US government has abandoned all pretense of “plausible denial” for its illegal regime-change initiatives. The “humanitarian” bombs may not be falling but, make no mistake, the US is waging a full-bore war against the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

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Back in 1998, Venezuela had had nearly a half a century of two-party rule. A duopoly, not unlike the Republican and Democratic parties in the US, alternated in power imposing a neoliberal order. Poor and working people experienced deteriorating conditions of austerity regardless of which party was in power.

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13/06/2019

So Much Good News for a Change! – Nobel Women’s Initiative

Human Wrongs Watch

By Nobel Women’s Initiative*

12 June 2019 — With thousands of people from around the world coming together at the Women Deliver conference (us included!) beginning on June 2nd in Vancouver, there was bound to be some major developments! Here’s your quick rundown on the most important stories to come out of the past two weeks.

After much anticipation, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Jacqueline O’Neill has been named Canada’s first-ever Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security! Sending a huge congratulations fo Jacqueline, whose decades of experience makes her the perfect candidate for this vital job.

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13/06/2019

Italy Urged to Reconsider Decree Affecting Rescue at Sea in Central Mediterranean, Including Fine for NGO Vessels Engaged in Saving Refugees and Migrants

Italy. Sea Watch boat rescue off Lampedusa coastGerman NGO Sea Watch rescues refugees and migrants off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy, May 2019.  © NICK JAUSSI/SEA-WATCH

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13/06/2019

How Waterless Toilets Can Make a Splash

11 June 2019 (UN Environment)*Twenty-eight-year-old Jenifer Colpas is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Tierra Grata. It is a social enterprise that sets out to address the need for basic energy, water and sanitation services in Colombia.

Cover Pic Tierra Grata

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Her team trains women in good water and sanitation practices.

They install low-cost bathrooms with ecological toilets that do not require water, saving 270,000 liters of water per year. Her system protects water resources while generating natural fertilizer to use on the farm.

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13/06/2019

‘Redoubling Efforts to Promote the Mediterranean Diet Could Lead to Better Health for All, Help Curb the Rising Levels of Obesity’

Human Wrongs Watch

ROME (FAO)* FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva on 11 June 2019 warned about the important cultural, social, environmental and heritage loss linked to the erosion of sustainable local diets, including the Mediterranean diet.

Photo: ©FAO/...

Redoubling efforts to promote the Mediterranean diet could lead to better health for all and help curb the rising levels of obesity while fostering sustainable food systems

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13/06/2019

‘Pay Greater Attention, Allocate More Funds to Addressing Child Labour in Domestic and Local Food Supply Chains and Subsistence Farming’ – FAO Urges

Human Wrongs Watch

On World Day Against Child Labour []12 June 2019], FAO urges greater attention to addressing child labour in local food supply chains

Photo: ©FAO//Riccardo Gangale / FAO

The number of children in child labour in agriculture has increased by 10 million since 2012. Local children carrying bundles of cassava sold at a street market in Bassongo, Central African Republic.

Rome/Brussels (FAO)*  – FAO on 12 June 2019 urged nations to pay greater attention and allocate more financial resources to addressing child labour in domestic and local food supply chains and in subsistence farming where the vast majority of child labour in agriculture occurs.

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12/06/2019

Awareness Raising Campaign Seeks to Protect Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees from Trafficking and Smuggling Networks

Bogotá, 11 June 2019 (IOM)*  #TuVidaCambia (Your Life Changes) awareness raising campaign has been launched in Colombia to protect Venezuelan migrants and refugees from falling prey to trafficking and smuggling networks.

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The band performing in Cucuta, a Colombian city on the border with Venezuela. Photo: IOM

This is a common danger Venezuelans face as they migrate through Colombia, as they seek places to settle, or while in transit to other South American destinations, including like Chile, Ecuador and Perú.

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12/06/2019

Tightening the Noose on Cuba

Human Wrongs Watch

By Chandra Muzaffar – TRANSCEND Media Service

On the 2nd of May 2019, the Trump Administration decided to enforce Title 111 of the Helms-Burton Act. Title 111 authorises US nationals with claims to confiscated properties in Cuba to file suits in US courts against persons that may be “trafficking “in that property.

Title 111 of the Helms-Burton Act has not been enforced before though the Act was enacted in 1996 through a move by two US legislators, a Republican Senator, Jesse Helms and a House of Representatives member, Dan Burton. It was signed into law by then US president, Bill Clinton.

Since the Act allows the US president to suspend some of its provisions up to 6 months at a time, it was felt that implementing Title 111 was not necessary given that economic sanctions against Cuba aimed at throttling its economy were already all-encompassing.

But president Trump who is determined to increase pressure upon Cuba has decided to tighten the noose.

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12/06/2019

Protecting the Right to a Childhood – World Day Against Child Labour

12 June 2019 (FAO)* Many of us look back on our childhoods with warm feelings. But for more than 150 million girls and boys between the ages of 5 and 17 around the world, childhood means something else: poverty, a lack of education and working long hours in dangerous conditions.

Performing work that is too difficult for a child’s age and ability can result in permanent injury, not only harming the child in the present, but also for the rest of his/her life. Child labour is a global problem that requires a global solution. Awareness and advocacy are the first steps. Left: ©FAO/Zakir Hossain Chowdhury

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12/06/2019

Tragedy of Mediterranean Deaths Continues, as Seven Drown, 57 Rescued – International Organization for Migration

Human Wrongs Watch

A rescue operation on the Mediterranean concluded on Tuesday [11 June 2019] with confirmation that seven people drowned and 57 were rescued, following a shipwreck off the Greek island of Lesvos, the UN migration agency, IOM, said.

IOM/Amanda Nero |Migrants look out to sea in Lesvos, Greece (file).

IOM Greece reported that the deaths bring the total this year to 41, on the so-called Eastern Mediterranean route linking Africa and the Middle East to Europe, which is one of the busiest routes for migrants.

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