'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
Rapid growth of digital economy calls for coherent policy response. The growth of digital labour platforms is presenting opportunities and challenges for workers and businesses and a need for international policy dialogue.
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GENEVA, 24 February 2021 (ILO)* – Digital labour platforms have increased five-fold worldwide in the last decade according to the ILO’s latest World Employment and Social Outlook 2021 report.
24 February 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday of utmost importance for Chinese people around the world. In fact, it represents two celebrations in one.
Chinese New Year (农历新年 nónglì xīn nián) is the official name for Chinese New Year in the Republic of China (Taiwan), while Spring Festival (春节Chūn Jié) or the Lunar New Year, is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a Chinese New Year in P.R. China.
Traditionally Chinese believe that everyone’s birthday is celebrated on New Year’s Day. This period of time for all Chinese is the time of the year for families to get together and reunite again.
– Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador quietly rocked the agribusiness world with his New Year’s Eve decree to phase out use of the herbicide glyphosate and the cultivation of genetically modified corn. His administration sent an even stronger aftershock two weeks later, clarifying that the government would also phase out GM corn imports in three years and the ban would include not just corn for human consumption but yellow corn destined primarily for livestock. Under NAFTA, the United States has seen a 400% increase in corn exports to Mexico, the vast majority genetically modified yellow dent corn.
“Like all girls in Syria, I live a difficult childhood,” she told facilitators at the women’s and girls’ safe space where she receives support and services. She is a dedicated student, but since the outbreak of COVID-19, her school has often been closed.
“When I can attend school, I behave politely and work hard,” she described.
(UN News)* — Independent UN human rights experts castigated Malaysia on Wednesday [24 February 2021] over its decision to deport more than1,000 detained migrants back to crisis-ridden Myanmar – despite a court order to suspend their return, pending a judicial review.
In defiance of the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s order, the Malaysian authorities “breached the principle of non-refoulement, a rule of jus cogens, which absolutely prohibits the collective deportation of migrants without an objective risk assessment being conducted in each individual case”, they said.
