Since the beginning of 2019, measles has taken more than 5,000 lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a top UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official said on Wednesday [27 November 2019], pointing out that over 90 per cent of the deaths were children under-five. (*).
“While the Ebola outbreak, which has claimed more than 2,000 lives in the Eastern DRC, has commanded sustained international attention, measles, which has claimed more than twice as many lives, continues to be underreported”, said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in the country.
This was one of the lines officials were instructed to deliver to children returning to Xinjiang and learning that their family members had been sent to “political education” camps, according to a trove of Chinese documents leaked to and published by the New York Times.
The number of international migrants in 2019 is now estimated at 270 million and the top destination remains the United States, at nearly 51 million, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday [27 November 2019].(*)
In its latest global report, IOM noted that the overall figure represents just a tiny fraction of the world’s population, although it is a 0.1 per cent increase on the level indicated in its last report, published two years ago.
“This figure remains a very small percentage of the world’s population (at 3.5 per cent), meaning that the vast majority of people globally (96.5 per cent) are estimated to be residing in the country in which they were born,” IOM’s Global Migration Report 2020 said.
The United Nations has underlined its unwavering commitment to the Palestinian people in their ongoing struggle to achieve self-determination, independence and sovereignty. (*).
UN Photo | Palestinian refugee children in the U.N. demilitarized zone at Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee) on the Israeli-Syrian frontier. Tiberias, Israel. c.1950
Senior officials joined ambassadors and other representatives from the international community in New York on Wednesday [27 November 2019] to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, officially observed each year on 29 November.
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 2019 (IPS)* –– A longstanding proposal for a regional nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East – one of the world’s most conflict-ridden regions – has been kicked around the corridors of UN committee rooms since 1974.
Nuclear Test. Credit: United Nations
And as another effort to negotiate a legally-binding treaty concluded last week, there were lingering questions crying out for answers: how realistic is the proposal in the face of implicit opposition from US and Israel? Is the proposal still in the realm of political fantasy?
The overthrow of the elected leader cannot be understood without a glance at the nation’s massive reserves of this crucial mineral.
Supporters of Bolivian ex-President Evo Morales, take part in a march in downtown La Paz on November 12, 2019, after he left in exile to Mexico. – Bolivia’s Evo Morales was en route to exile in Mexico on Tuesday, leaving behind a country in turmoil after his abrupt resignation as president. The senator set to succeed Morales as interim president, Jeanine Anez, pledged to call fresh elections to end the political crisis. (Photo: Aizar Raldes/AFP via Getty Images)
25 November 2019 (Wall Street International)* — This is not a hypothetical nightmare scenario. Extreme forms of corruption, impunity, abuse of power, scandalous social inequalities and offensive ostentation, food insecurity, severe malnutrition, hunger, diminishing agricultural lands and extreme water scarcity. Nations will go to war over fresh water and extreme water scarcity will kill hundreds of millions.
27 November 2019 (UN Environment)* — Depending on where you live, end of the year holidays may be a time to be with family and friends. These traditions often include gift giving.
From bringing flowers and chocolates to buying gifts for children, family, friends and co-workers, why not think about the environment too when you consider gifts this year?
After a series of 7 public hearings on Bt Brinjal, on February 9 2010, the then minister of state for Environment of the Govt of India announced an indefinite moratorium on introducing Bt brinjal—the first genetically modified food crop that would have been introduced for mass production in India.
Prof. Vandana Shiva
In June 2019, Monsanto lobbyists announced that farmers will illegally plant Bt Brinjal as a “Satyagraha”.
This is outright criminal action. As Kishore Tiwari, Chair of the Maharashtra Govt commission on agrarian distress has clearly stated, farmers acting on behest of Monsanto are criminals and will be treated as such.
By UN News* — A presidential pardon for two United States soldiers accused of war crimes, and a sentence reduction for a third, “run against the letter and the spirit of international law which requires accountability for such violations”, the United Nations human rights wing said on Tuesday [19 November 2019].
UN Photo | Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 