Archive for October, 2020

07/10/2020

Amid COVID-19, These 10 Countries Are Aiming to Kickstart Their Economies by Repairing Nature

Human Wrongs Watch

7 October 2020 (UN Environment)* — In 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order allocating US$ 10 million for emergency conservation efforts under the New Deal, putting unemployed Americans to work. When South Korea was struggling with famine and a refugee crisis in the 1950s, the government restored forests and farmland, creating hundreds of thousands of rural jobs.

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Marc Schulte / Unsplash/ 07 Oct 2020
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07/10/2020

Our World Is Burning – Two Time Scales

Human Wrongs Watch

5 October 2020 (Wall Street International)*  — The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales. In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most catastrophic effects of climate change we need to act immediately. Fossil fuels must be left in the ground. Forests must be saved from destruction by beef or palm oil production.
The dangerous greenhouse gas methane is bubbling up from melting permafrost in the Arctic and from the shallow seas north of Siberia
The dangerous greenhouse gas methane is bubbling up from melting permafrost in the Arctic and from the shallow seas north of Siberia | Image from Wall Street International.
07/10/2020

‘2020 Antarctic Ozone Hole Is Large and Deep’

The 2020 ozone hole grew rapidly from mid-August and peaked at around 24 million square kilometres in early October.  It now covers 23 million km2, above average for the last decade and spreading over most of the Antarctic continent.

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07/10/2020

‘Starvation Is Being Intentionally Used as a War Tactic in South Sudan’s Brutal Conflict,’ UN Human Rights Body Finds

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)*Starvation is being intentionally used as a war tactic in South Sudan’s brutal conflict, a UN-backed human rights panel said on Tuesday [6 October 2020], releasing its latest report on the country.

UN Photo/Isaac Billy | A displaced family leaves a UN protection camp in Juba to return to their home in the Jonglei region of South Sudan
South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 but descended into conflict roughly two-and-a-half years later, following irreconcilable tensions between President Salva Kiir and his deputy, Riek Machar.

The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said the brutal fighting has caused incalculable suffering to civilians, and resulted in staggering levels of acute food insecurity and malnutrition.

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07/10/2020

UN Chief Condemns Continuing Escalation of Violence in Nagorno -Karabakh

Human Wrongs Watch

6 October 2020 (UN News)* — The United Nations Secretary-General has condemned the continuing escalation of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, reminding all sides of their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.

UN Photo/Mark Garten | UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres “is gravely concerned by reports of the extension of hostilities, including the targeting of populated areas,” read a statement issued by his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, on Monday [5 October 2020].
06/10/2020

Armenia’s Struggle for Democracy and Rights

Human Wrongs Watch

By Vahan Bournazian*

The Armenian struggle for survival today is for self-determination and democracy in opposition to authoritarianism.

Location_Nagorno-Karabakh2Location and extent of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (lighter color). | Public Domain | Wikipedia.

3 October 2020 (openDemocracy)* — The current conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not about ethnicity as much as three dictators attacking to destroy a thriving democracy in their midsts.

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06/10/2020

Nagorno-Karabakh: Are Con-federal Structures Possible?

Human Wrongs Watch

By René Wadlow – TRANSCEND Media Service*

On 27 Sep, military forces from Azerbaijan moved into six villages held by Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh area.  The Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pachinian in a television broadcast warned that the two countries were “on the edge of war with unforeseeable consequences”.  The President of Azerbaijan, Elham Aliev, declared martial law and called up reserve military.

René-Wadlow-e1486137838243

René Wadlow

There have been calls for a cease-fire from Russia; however Russia is generally thought to favor Armenia.  The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeated his support for Azerbaijan.

On 30 September 2020, the United Nations Security Council passed a unanimous resolution calling on Armenia and Azerbaijan to halt fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh and urgently to resume talks without preconditions.

There have been previous talks held under the leadership of the “Minsk Group” (Russia, France, USA), founded in 1994, of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

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06/10/2020

70% of COVID Cases Located in Just 10 Countries – World Health Organization

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — While COVID-19 has affected all countries, the pandemic is “uneven”, and it is estimated that 10 per cent of the global population may have been infected with the virus, senior officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday [5 October 2020].

UN Women/Louie Pacardo | Wearing a full protective suit, a women doctor who leads a group of volunteer medical professionals attending to COVID-19 patients and persons under investigation at a community hospital in the Philippines.
Speaking to a special session of the agency’s Executive Board, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 10 countries account for 70 per cent of all reported cases and deaths, and just three countries account for half.  

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05/10/2020

The Politics of Production – Mining in the Crosshairs

Human Wrongs Watch

By Hazel Henderson*

5 October 2020 (Wall Street International)* — We humans, having populated every part of Earth’s surface and visited the Moon, now are perched atop the planet’s food chain. We are learning from this perilous position but hastening the extinction of all other species in our shared, life-supporting biosphere.

Mining the Earth
Mining the Earth | Image from Wall Street International.

The planet is now teaching us directly how our lifestyles are causing climate disasters: fires, floods, droughts, super-storms, rising seas and pandemics.

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05/10/2020

Formerly Colonized People Can’t Breathe. And the IMF and World Bank Are to Blame

Human Wrongs Watch

By Felogene Anumo*

It’s time for a #FeministBailout based not on profit-maximization but care, respect for eco-systems, and solidarity.

IMF_protest_Argentina.max-760x504Women prepare food at a protest outside the IMF offices in Buenos Aires, October 2019 | Carol Smiljan/NurPhoto/PA Images

This article is part of ourEconomy’s ‘Decolonising the economy’ series.

1 October 2020 (openDemocracy)* — “Who the hell cuts a health budget in the middle of a pandemic?” woefully expressed a fellow comrade upon learning of the Nigerian government ‘s decision to slash the national health expenditure budget by almost half.

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