WASHINGTON DC, Jul 2 2021 (IPS)* – After more than a decade of rising tensions and growing nuclear competition between the two largest nuclear-weapon states, U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at their June 16 summit to engage in a robust “strategic stability” dialogue to “lay the groundwork for future arms control and risk reduction measures.”
A UN meeting on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, 26 September. Credit: UN Photo/Kim Haughton
2 July 2021 (UN News)* — Some 4.4 million people in Nigeria are facing what the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, is describing as “catastrophic food conditions”.
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UNOCHA/Damilola Onafuwa | Farmers in northeastern Nigeria have been unable to cultivate their crops because of insecurity.
A combination of insecurity caused by terrorist groups, the effects of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, have meant that people in the northeast of the country are struggling to get enough to eat; OCHA says 775,000 are at “extreme risk”.
Many are farmers but are unable to grow their crops fearing for their personal safety, and so rely on humanitarian support “as their only lifeline”.
(UN News)* — Senior UN officials on 2 July 2021 appealed for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access to Tigray – and for an end to deadly attacks on aid workers – as the Security Council held its first open meeting on the conflict in the restive northern Ethiopian region.
Painting a grim picture, Ramesh Rajasingham, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said that 400,000 people have “crossed the threshold into famine” – with another 1.8 million on the brink of following them.
NEW DELHI, India, Jul 2 2021 (IPS)* – Two Indian women, one Muslim and the other Dalit (former untouchables), separated by culture and geography, have found common ground in leading change in conflict-torn South Sudan.
Rama Hansraj
Rama Hansraj, a Dalit, grew up in a humble railway colony in Secunderabad. Huma Khan, a Muslim, born and raised in the controversial north Indian city of Faizabad, now Ayodhya, home to the demolished Babri Masjid.
The 100th year anniversary of the Communist Party of China
The Chinese Revolution has emerged as the most momentous event of the last century | Image from Wall Street International.
1 July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — The Communist Party of China led three revolutions of world-historic significance in its short 100-year-history: national liberation, the “Cultural Revolution,” and China’s rapid capitalist transformation.
(Greenpeace International)* — After living on and fighting for their lands for centuries, the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil are endangered by a legal loophole called Marco Temporal that could legalize theft of their lands—unless the Brazilian Supreme Court stops it.
2 July 2021 (UNEP)* — The world’s first-ever international Food Systems Summit is slated for September 2021 and seeks to galvanize a global commitment and action to transform our food systems.
With almost 690 million people going hungry in 2019, and most current farming practices driving biodiversity loss and global heating, there is an urgent need to take stock and change direction.
Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia are now alarming US political and military elites by forming an alliance and threatening to chart an independent path in the Horn of Africa. Many Ethiopians expressed enthusiasm for what they consider the country’s first real, competitive election.
On Monday, June 21st, Ethiopians went to the polls to select a parliament, which will elect a prime minister, even though US officials told them not to, warning of chaos and violence. Maybe they think it’s arrogant of the United States to presume to be the global arbiter of peace, justice, and democracy.
Latest estimates reveal that 3 in 10 people worldwide could not wash their hands with soap and water at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UNICEF/UN0388486/Panjwani
GENEVA/NEW YORK, 1 July 2021 (UNICEF)* – Billions of people around the world will be unable to access safely managed household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services in 2030 unless the rate of progress quadruples, according to a new report from WHO and UNICEF.
AMBOVOMBE, MADAGASCAR, 27 June 2021 – The World Food Programme Executive Director, David Beasley, is urging the world to step-up and take action after bearing witness to the invisible crisis enveloping Southern Madagascar, where whole communities are teetering on the edge of starvation.
WF1240263 | Drought and severe hunger in Southern Madagascar
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 