'Unseen' News and Views
(UN News)* — Although the world’s indigenous peoples live in areas that contain around 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity, many still struggle to maintain their legal rights to lands, territories and resources, according to a new UN report published on Friday 12 March 2021.
The latest edition of the State of the World’s Indigenous People report examines challenges communities face in asserting their rights to lands, whether in the context of agribusiness, extractive industries, development, conservation and tourism.
11 March 2021 (Wall Street International)* — On 3rd March 2021, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the message “everything will be okay”, 19 year old dancer Ma Kyal Sin participated in a peaceful pro-democracy rally in Mandalay. The teenager was shot dead by a military sniper.
12 March 2021 (UN News)* — The United Nations entity dedicated to protection of women’s rights has voiced deep concerns over “targeted and disproportionate” violence against women being recorded during the crackdown against peaceful protesters in Myanmar.
In addition, women in detention are also reportedly experiencing sexual harassment and violence, UN-Women said in a statement on Friday 12 March 2021.
“Women have long played a celebrated and vital role in the history of Myanmar. They continue to do so and must not be attacked and punished for the peaceful expression of their views”, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of the agency, said.
According to UN-Women, at least six women lost their lives in the protests and close to 600 women, including young women, LGBTIQ+ and civil society activists have been arrested.
Almost 12,000 children killed or injured in the past decade, according to verified data – an average of more than three children a day
AMMAN/NEW YORK (UNICEF)* – The war in Syria has left the lives and futures of a generation of children hanging by a thread, UNICEF on 10 March 2021 warned, as the conflict nears the 10-year mark.
The situation for many children and families remains precarious, with nearly 90 per cent of children in need of humanitarian assistance, a 20 per cent increase in the past year alone.
NEW YORK (UNICEF)* — Ten million additional child marriages may occur before the end of the decade, threatening years of progress in reducing the practice, according to a new analysis released by UNICEF on 8 March 2021.
Commodifying Democracy is a Costly Failure in America
Everyday I receive ten to twenty times more appeals for money to support this or that political campaign than I receive any kind of serious substantive statement of explanation or concern.
Richard Falk
And because this storm has become so deadening, the language of most appeals is nearly always hysterical, wildly exaggerating good or bad marginal developments designed to create a sense of urgency on the part of recipients.
Not only can I not afford to respond to so many appeals, each insisting that the future of the republic is at stake, but the numbing effect is perhaps most disturbing, a kind of Gresham’s Law effect: bad ‘politics’ is driving out ‘good.’
Of course, these is an understandable issue at stake. The proto-fascist Republican, Trumpist side benefits from wealthy transactional donors who give vast sums with expectations of even vaster material gains, poses a challenge.
That is deeply problematic in a world where 690 million people were undernourished in 2019, a number expected to rise sharply with COVID-19. It’s also bad for the planet. 8-10 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from producing food that is ultimately thrown away.
(UN News)* — Conflict drives hunger, and when that turns to famine, that then drives conflict, the UN chief told the Security Council on Thursday 11 March 2021, adding that “if you don’t feed people, you feed conflict”.
“When a country or region is gripped by conflict and hunger, they become mutually reinforcing…[and] cannot be resolved separately”, Secretary-General António Guterres said via videoconference to the meeting which focused on how conflict and food security are interlinked.
And when hunger meets inequality, climate shocks, sectarian and ethnic tensions, together with grievances over resources, they then “spark and drive conflict”.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 