Archive for June, 2020

17/06/2020

Above Normal Temperatures Are Expected to Continue across the Majority of the Arctic for June-August 2020: The Arctic Climate Forum

17/06/2020

Trade in Many Developing Countries Projected to Take a ‘Nosedive’ in the Second Quarter of 2020 – UNCTAD

UN News/Daniel Dickinson | Many container ports, like this one in New York City, have seen a decline in activity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
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In a new report from UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, it highlighted data showing that the value of international trade in goods has declined by about five per cent between January and March.
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Worrying as that is, commerce is expected to plummet further – by a staggering 27 per cent – from April to the end of June.
17/06/2020

‘Number of People in Latin America and the Caribbean Living in ‘Extreme Poverty’ Could Surpass 83 Million Due to Impacts of COVID-19, Leading to a ‘Significant Rise’ in Hunger

WFP/Karolyn Ureña | A woman in the Dominican Republic receives food from a Government soup kitchen set up to help fight hunger triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study by the UN’s office for the region, known by the acronym ECLAC, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), proposes 10 measures to ward against increased hunger, including through an “anti-hunger grant” to support vulnerable people as well as food producers.

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16/06/2020

World Bank Predicts Sharpest Decline of Migrant Workers Remittances in Recent History

WASHINGTON (WORLD BANK)*  — Global remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 percent in 2020 due to the economic crisis induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown.

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The projected fall, which would be the sharpest decline in recent history, is largely due to a fall in the wages and employment of migrant workers, who tend to be more vulnerable to loss of employment and wages during an economic crisis in a host country.

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16/06/2020

Over 200 Million Migrant Workers Sent $554 Billion to Their Families in Remittance-Reliant Countries in 2019; Now Projected to by 20% or $110 Billion

16/06/2020

Children Caught in Conflict Used and Abused, Facing ‘Pain, Brutality and Fear While the World Watches’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Boys and girls used and abused in armed conflict have had their childhoods replaced by “pain, brutality and fear while the world watches”, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, said on Monday [15 June 2020].

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© UNICEF/Helene Sandbu Ryeng | On 26 May 2020 in Juba, South Sudan, children released from armed forces are seated on the ground while negotiations for their reintegration take place.
Launching the Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba maintained that parties to conflict often “neglect to protect children in the conduct of hostilities and deny them the vital aid they desperately need”. The tragedy children face continued unabated throughout 2019, the report highlighted, disclosing that the UN had verified over 25,000 grave violations against children.
16/06/2020

Lives Matter! Can Black, Indigenous, Worker, Farmer, Ecological, Women, Queer Uprisings Come Together?

Human Wrongs Watch

By Ashish Kothari*

17 June 2020 (Wall Street International)*The amazing turn of events in the USA in the two weeks following the horrific killing of George Floyd, cradled within an even more astounding turn of events across the world in the last few months, offers us an occasion for stunned reflection. Humanity’s deep faultlines – racist, masculinist, classist, casteist, and more – have been sharply exposed in both. As have the faultlines between humanity and the rest of nature, and those of what we have mistakenly come to call ‘democracy’. 
The turn of events in the USA following the horrific killing of George Floyd
The turn of events in the USA following the horrific killing of George Floyd | Image from Wall Street International.
15/06/2020

Corona: The New Poverty Accelerator

Human Wrongs Watch

By Hilde F. Johnson, Norway’s Former Minister of International Development*

15 June 2020 (Wall Street International)* — The Corona crisis could lead half a billion people into poverty. That is 8 percent of the world’s population. This according to a new UN report. COVID-19 risks becoming a major accelerator of poverty.

The Corona crisis could lead half a billion people into poverty
The Corona crisis could lead half a billion people into poverty | Image from Wall Street International.

The report is based on data from the World Bank and presents three different scenarios and their impact on poor households. In all of them, global poverty will increase and the fate of poor people around the world will worsen.

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15/06/2020

‘Grasping for Breath. Begging for Mercy. The Entire World Heard the Tragic Cry’ – Senior UN Officials of African Descent Express Outrage at Pervasive and Systemic Racism

14 June 2020 (UN News)* — A group of more than twenty senior leaders in the UN, who report directly to Secretary-General António Guterres, and who are African or of African descent, have put their names to a personal and hard-hitting statement published on Friday [12 June 2020], expressing their outrage at pervasive and systemic racism, highlighting the need to ‘go beyond and do more’ than just offering condemnation.
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Hazel Plunkett | An impromptu memorial for George Floyd, who was killed after being restrained by police, has been set up in Harlem, New York City.
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15/06/2020

Elder Abuse — See It. Expose It.

Human Wrongs Watch

Around one in six older people face abuse worldwide. Despite this fact, elder abuse remains invisible.

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15 June 2020 (UN)* — Emerging evidence is showing violence, abuse and neglect of older people has increased since the outbreak of COVID-19. We’ve also seen many cases reported in the media.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is an opportunity to raise awareness of the problem and influence key people to stop it. Join us on 15 June to expose elder abuse.

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