'Unseen' News and Views
7 February 2020 (UN News)* — Fresh fears of accelerating damage to the planet’s ice sheets and sea level rise have been fuelled by confirmation from the UN’s weather agency that the Antarctic likely saw a new temperature record of more than 18°C on Thursday [6 February 2020].
Throughout Israel’s existence its various governments have regarded members of Israel’s Bedouin population as undesirable citizens: after initially expelling most of them from the country, the state concentrated those that remained in the Sayag area and after that in townships.
Amos Gvirtz
In 1948, most of the Bedouin who lived in the Negev were deported in the “heat of the battle” during the War of Independence. Deportations continued until 1959.
After the establishment of the state, military rule was imposed on the Bedouin, as on all other Palestinian Israeli citizens.
I would like to announce the publication of a book, which deals with the world’s failure to adequately address the existential danger of catastrophic climate change.
John Scales Avery
The book consists mainly of book chapters and articles that I have previously published, although a considerable amount of new material has been added. It can be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link:
Credit: Amnesty International
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The rising new socialist movements—which included “Black Lives Matter,” “Occupy Wall Street” “Un-Occupy Palestine” and “the #Me Too Movement” triggering women’s marches— were aimed at battling racism, institutionalized inequalities, political repression and sexual harassment.
(UN News)* — Air and ground strikes in the region of Idlib, northwest Syria, are causing “massive waves of civilian displacement and major loss of civilian life”, causing unacceptable human suffering which must stop now, Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told the Security Council on Thursday [6 February 2020].
One billion small arms in circulation worldwide
5 February 2020 (UN News)* — Nearly 50 per cent of all violent deaths between 2010 and 2015, more than 200,000 each year, involved small arms and light weapons, the Security Council was told on Tuesday [5 February 2020], during a briefing by UN disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu.
– Counter-terrorism efforts adopted by governments around the world in response to threats of terrorism are affecting children negatively in numerous ways, a report by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict (Watchlist) claimed last week.
4 February 2020 (UN News)* — Rising instability and unpredictable geopolitical tensions have led to a “wind of madness” across the world, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday [4 February 2020] during his main annual press conference for journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.
Following recent flare-ups in some hotspots, the UN chief observed that although de-escalation efforts indicated progress, the situation has now changed.
“I have spoken about winds of hope. But today a wind of madness is sweeping the globe. From Libya to Yemen to Syria and beyond — escalation is back. Arms are flowing. Offensives are increasing”, he said.
4 February 2020 (UN News)* — “My flesh has been taken away, but I can never give away my heart”; those are the powerful words of resolve from Abida Dawud, one of three women survivors of female genital mutilation, or FGM, from Ethiopia, who have been speaking to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) about their experiences.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 