Archive for July, 2020

12/07/2020

In Nepal, a Woman-Managed Quarantine Centre Tends to Women’s Unique Needs and Recovery

Human Wrongs Watch

11 July 2020 (UN Women)* — Across the globe, many migrants have been waiting to reunite with their families in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions to prevent its spread.

Mithu Tamang waits in a queue to get her temperature checked by staff at WHR's women-managed quarantine facility. Photo: UN Women/Ashma ShresthaMithu Tamang waits in a queue to get her temperature checked by staff at WHR’s women-managed quarantine facility. Photo: UN Women/Ashma Shrestha

Mithu Tamang, 30, was among more than 300 fellow Nepali migrants stuck in Kuwait for over two months before a chartered flight was arranged to bring them home on 11 June. It was the first flight to land since the national lockdown on 24 March 2020.

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12/07/2020

World Youth Skills Day

Respondents to a survey of TVET institutions, jointly collected by UNESCO, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, reported that distance training has become the most common way of imparting skills, with considerable difficulties regarding, among others, curricula adaptation, trainee and trainer preparedness, connectivity, or assessment and certification processes.

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12/07/2020

How One Woman Pulled Off the First Consumer Boycott – and Helped Inspire the British to Abolish Slavery

An illustration of a sugar plantation in Antigua. The British Library, CC BY-ND

For example, some people are advocating a consumer boycott of Starbucks over an internal memo that prohibits employees from wearing gear that refers to the movement. And advocates are urging supporters to target other companies under the Twitter tag #boycott4blacklives.

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12/07/2020

Record Temperature Trajectory Threatens to Breach 1.5°C Global Heating Threshold

Human Wrongs Watch

11 July 2020 (UN Environment)* — New climate data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts that the annual mean global temperature is likely to be at least 1.0°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) in each of the coming five years (2020-2024) and there is a 20 per cent chance that it will exceed 1.5°C in at least one year.

nasa_imageImage by Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center

 1.5oC is the point where global warming linked consequences become increasingly severe and more difficult and expensive to adapt to, protect ourselves from, and control further temperature increases.

Scientifically documented consequences of breaching 1.5oC include 70% loss of corals and loss of half the habitat of insects, including food pollinators, by the end of the century, bringing global food security issues, on top of accelerating frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

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12/07/2020

Unusually Heavy Monsoon Rainfall and Flooding Is Affecting India, Neighbouring South Asian Countries, China, and Japan

10 July 2020 (WMO)* — Unusually heavy monsoon rainfall and flooding is affecting India and neighbouring South Asian countries, as well as China and Japan. This has caused major disruption, displacement and loss of life, and once again highlighted the importance of national meteorological and hydrological services in protecting public safety.

India_Flash_Flood_Uttarakhand_0

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The situation is expected to be aggravated by further rain. More than 200mm of rainfall could fall in 24 hours in some mountainous regions of Bhutan/Bangladesh, Northeast India, Myanmar and Nepal according to the South East Asia Flash Flood Forecast System.

Additional similar amounts could be possible for the next 4-5 days. Authorities in China are also warning of more rains.

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11/07/2020

Beware the ‘Hunger’ to Access Indigenous Peoples’ Land and Resources for Post-COVID-19 Recovery

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 9 2020 (IPS)* – When governments and states begin their recovery journey from the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, there might be a heightened threat to indigenous peoples, their land and resources.

8029710681_c2779a7a51_cA dated photo of indigenous women in Chiquimula in Guatemala making rope out of maguey (Agave americana) fibre. Experts say there is concern about whether there will be the protection and respect of indigenous peoples’ right to land and national resources as there will be huge interest in those resources during the post-COVID-19 recovery. Credit: Danilo Valladares/IPS

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11/07/2020

Putting the Brakes on COVID-19: Safeguarding the Health and Rights of Women and Girls

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, New York, 11 July 2020 (UNFPA)* Officially, the COVID-19 pandemic has sickened 12 million people and left more than half a million dead. But the full toll of this catastrophe has been incalculably greater. Health systems have been overwhelmed. Economies have been shuttered. And women and girls have been disproportionately affected, with sexual and reproductive health services being curtailed and gender-based violence on the rise.

11/07/2020

World Population Day: ‘No Time to Waste’ in Empowering Women

The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, everywhere, “but it does not affect everyone equally”, the UN chief said in his message for World Population Day, on 11 July 2020.

“It is deepening existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, particularly for women and girls”, said Secretary-General António Guterres. (*).

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UN News/ Assumpta Massoi | Self-help group in Tanzania, Zanzibar, to empower women.
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“With many countries on lockdown and health systems struggling to cope, sexual and reproductive health services are being sidelined and gender-based violence is on the rise”.
11/07/2020

Lebanon ‘Fast Spiralling Out of Control’ Leaving Many Destitute and Facing Starvation, Warns UN Human Rights Chief

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Sounding the alarm over the crippling impact of “growing economic shocks, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic” in Lebanon, the UN human rights chief called on Friday [10 July 2020] for a unified response by politicians and the people to overcome the worsening socio-economic crisis there.

UNICEFF | Children enjoy a play area in Hermel, Lebanon.
“Many have lost jobs, seen their life-savings evaporate before their eyes and lost their homes”, underscored High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urging the Government, political parties and the financial sector, to work together to protect the poorest and most defenceless.

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11/07/2020

Wildlife Trafficking Crime Threatening Environment and Human Health

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* – The COVID-19 pandemic shows how wildlife crime is a threat not only to the environment but to human health, according to a new UN report issued on 10 July 2020.

UNEP/Natalia Mroz | Rescued orphan elephants at David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya.
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The World Wildlife Crime Report 2020 outlines how trafficking in some wild species, which are then butchered and sold illegally, can increase the transmission of diseases that spread from animals to humans.

Zoonotic diseases represent up to 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases and include the new coronavirus that caused the global pandemic.

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