'Unseen' News and Views
For the 28th consecutive year, the UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for an end to the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. *
A rapid spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) is wiping out pig herds in China, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday [7 November 2019], and the killer disease has led to a drop in world meat production for the first time in more than 20 years, with other global staples also facing new threats. *.
Over 8,200 migrants making the dangerous journey to Europe have been returned instead to Libya where they languish in detention centres..
Photo from IOM.
5 November 2919 (IOM)* — “My parents were both killed years ago. My brother can barely provide for his children. I am a man now, and I have to fight for my survival,” said 18-year old Abdessamad.
Police officers guard outside the venue where Brazil’s government’s auction for offshore oil fields is held, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 6, 2019. | Photo: Reuters (Photo posted here from teleSUR)..
Libya remains entangled in a “cycle of violence, atrocities and impunity”, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the UN Security Council on Wednesday [6 November 2019], nearly a decade since the Court began its work in the country *
Greater action is needed to protect the environment during wartime if the world is to realize the goal of a more sustainable future for all people and the planet, the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warned on Wednesday [6 November 2019]. *
— The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO), all dominated by rich countries, have long promoted trade liberalization as a ‘win-win’ solution for “all people—rich and poor—and all countries—developed and developing countries”, arguing that “the gains are large enough to enable compensation to be provided to the losers”.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Yet, the IMF’s 2016 World Economic Outlook has warned that free trade is increasingly seen as only or mainly benefiting the well-off.
The help and compensation needed by those disadvantaged by trade liberalization has rarely if ever been forthcoming, even in most developed economies.
(Greenpeace International)* — “Ada asap berarti ada api” is an Indonesian saying which means, “there is no effect without a cause”. Essentially; there is no smoke without fire. And right now in my home in Indonesia, we are experiencing a lot of smoke, caused by many fires.
6 November 2019 (UN Environment)* — Eighteen years ago, on 5 November 2001, the United Nations General Assembly declared 6 November the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Image from UN Environment.
Public concern regarding the targeting and use of the environment during wartime first peaked during the Viet Nam War.
Ongoing violence in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest has created a fast-growing humanitarian emergency now affecting some 1.9 million people, a “15-fold increase since 2017”, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday [5 November 2019]. *
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 