'Unseen' News and Views
– The United States and 18 other UN member states have come under fire for denying a woman’s legitimate right to “bodily autonomy”—the right to self-governance over one’s own body without coercion or external pressure.
Credit: UN Women
Protesters held signs including “Wake up and Smell the Bushfires” and “It is late but it is not too late”.
16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit at U.N. headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. | Photo: Reuters (Poto from teleSUR).
17 January 2020 (teleSUR)* — Swedish activist Greta Thunberg marched with 10,000 protesters in the Swiss city of Lausanne Friday warning the world’s top leaders and global elite that they “have not seen anything yet” before the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos next week.
17 January 2020 (UN Environment)* — The cautionary tale of the boiling frog describes how a frog that jumps into boiling water will save itself by jumping straight out, but the frog that sits in the water while it gradually gets hotter and hotter will boil to death. The global warming crisis surrounds us today and we must act now to protect ourselves.
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President Jair Bolsonaro at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil Dec. 19, 2019. | Photo: Reuters (Photo pposted here from teleSUR).
Drug-resistant infections are on the rise as private investment in new antibiotic development declines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday [17 January 2020]. (*).
Two new WHO reports reveal that while some 50 new antibiotics and 10 biologics are under development, only 32 of the total target WHO-priority pathogens and the majority have very limited benefits when compared to existing antibiotics.
“Children in Libya, including refugee and migrant children, continue to suffer grievously amidst the violence and chaos unleashed by the country’s longstanding civil war”, Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
Children of the Kayapo tribe sit on the banks of Xingu River during a four-day pow wow in Piaracu village, in Xingu Indigenous Park, near Sao Jose do Xingu, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, January 15, 2020. | Photo: Reuters (Photo posted here from teleSUR).
16 January 2020 (teleSUR)* — The Amazon rainforest is facing a serious threat because of deforestation and the situation is not likely to get any better in 2020, as experts believe this year will see the acceleration of the environmental crisis.
16 January 2020 (UN Environment)* — 2020 is a crunch year for decision makers tackling the biodiversity and climate change emergencies and for humanity as a whole to start paying attention to the breakdown of our planetary systems. The year will host two major events, known as “conferences of parties,” on biodiversity and climate. The biodiversity conference will agree a new set of goals for nature for the next decade.
Photo by the UN-REDD Programme
Nearly nine years of conflict in Syria have robbed boys and girls of their childhood and subjected them to “unabated violations of their rights”, including being killed, maimed, displaced, forced to fight or subjected to torture, rape and sexual slavery. The findings come in the latest report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, released on Thursday [16 January 2020]. (*).
“I am appalled by the flagrant disregard for the laws of war and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by all parties involved in the conflict”, said Commission chair Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro.
Aid to vulnerable people in Iraq risks being completely blocked within weeks, warned the UN’s humanitarian chief in Iraq, Marta Ruedas, on Tuesday [16 January 2020], as a result of the suspension of government documents allowing humanitarians to carry out critical missions. (*).
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 