'Unseen' News and Views
– Poverty and income inequality are being deepened as COVID-19 relief funds are handed out to large corporations instead of social protection programmes in developing countries, groups involved in a new study of COVID-19 bailouts have said.
(UN News)* — Despite a deteriorating security situation and the reverberating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, regional troops deployed to combat terrorists in Africa’s Sahel region have scaled up the tempo of their operations in recent months, efforts that must be matched by a spirit of solidarity among their global partners, the senior UN peacekeeping official on 18 May 2021 told the Security Council.
20 May 2021 (UNESCO)* — The International Decade for the Rapprochement of Cultures (IDRC) builds on the strong momentum created by and the achievements of both the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010) and the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures (2010).
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20 May 2021 (United Nations)* — Cultural events cancelled, cultural institutions closed, community cultural practices suspended, empty UNESCO World Heritage sites, heightened risk of looting of cultural sites and poaching at natural sites, artists unable to make ends meet and the cultural tourism sector greatly affected…
20 May 2021 (FAO)* — The origins of tea stretch back more than 5 000 years, but its contributions to health, culture and socioeconomic development are still as relevant today.
Tea is currently grown in very localized areas, and supports over 13 million people, including smallholder farmers and their households, who depend on the tea sector for their livelihoods.
International Tea Day [21 May] is an opportunity to celebrate the cultural heritage, health benefits and economic importance of tea, while working to make its production sustainable “from field to cup” ensuring its benefits for people, cultures and the environment continue for generations.
– Millions of people are expected to die due to delayed and unaffordable access to COVID-19 tests, treatment, personal protective equipment and vaccines. Urgent cooperation is desperately needed to save lives and livelihoods for all.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Vaccine apartheid
Thus far, rich countries have bought up most available vaccine supplies.
By mid-April, rich countries had received more than 87 percent of the more than 700 million vaccine doses dispensed worldwide, while poor countries had received only 0.2 percent.
A quarter of the former’s population had been vaccinated compared to one in 500 of the latter’s!
By mid-May, less than a twelfth of the world’s population had been vaccinated, with ten rich countries getting four-fifths of all vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccine is mainly reaching the world’s rich.
18 May 2021 (United Nations)* — Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities.
Pollination is, however, a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems.
Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land.
Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity.
The film school Rohingya refugee Faruque Mohammed co-founded is now delivering COVID information to refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar.
Faruque Mohammed in Kutupalong camp, Cox’s Bazar. Faruque founded Omar’s Film School with his brother in early 2020.© Mohammed Kasim
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 