Archive for February, 2022

07/02/2022

Daughters of Somalia, a Continuous Pledge to End Female Genital Mutilation

4 February 2022 (UN News)*In Somalia, over 90 per cent or more of girls and women, have been subjected to female genital mutilation, or FGM. Despite the practice having devastating health ramifications for women and girls – including pain, bleeding, permanent disability and even death – discussion over how to end the harmful tradition, remains taboo.
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UNFPA Somalia/Tobin Jones | Girls participate in an event at their school in Garowe, Puntland, during which Y-PEER explains the harmful effects of FGM.

The United Nations has called for collaboration at all levels, and across all sectors of society across the world, to protect millions at risk from FGM every year.
07/02/2022

7 Things You Might Not Know about Child Marriage

UNITED NATIONS, New York, 7 February 2022 (UNFPA)* Around the world, Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, romance and commitment – an occasion, perhaps, to get engaged or married. But for millions, what should be a joyous moment is not the stuff of fairy tales.

7 things you might not know about child marriage
After learning about the illegality of child marriage through life-skills education provided by the UNFPA-supported Kishori Resource Center in her community in Jamalpur District, Tahiya (right) was able to help stop the marriage of her high school classmate Shila (left). © UNFPA Bangladesh/Prince Naymuzzaman

Too many women and girls were married off before they reached 18 – many forced to leave school, exposed to violence and pressed into parenthood before they were ready physically or emotionally.

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06/02/2022

US: Border Program’s Huge Toll on Children

Human Wrongs Watch

By Human Rights Watch*

Data Analysis of ‘Remain in Mexico’ Shows Impact

(Washington, DC) 4 February 2022 – The United States and Mexican governments have subjected more than 20,000 children to the risk of serious harm under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), commonly known as the “Remain in Mexico” program, Human Rights Watch said today based on analysis of new data.

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05/02/2022

Conversation with a Media Icon: Dr. Roberto Savio

Human Wrongs Watch

By Mushahid Hussain*

The Inter Press Service co-founder is part of a vanishing breed

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Dr. Roberto Savio is somewhat unique as an eyewitness to history and builder of institutions, a man who turns his visions into reality
Dr. Roberto Savio is somewhat unique as an eyewitness to history and builder of institutions, a man who turns his visions into reality | Image from Wall Street International.

5 February 2022 (Wall Street International)* — We are sitting in the heart of Rome, Via Panisperna, where Dr. Roberto Savio has had his office for the last 58 years. His energy and activity, both mental and physical, belies his age.

At 87, he walks the 7 kilometres from his house to his office building and climbs two flights of stairs to reach his office.

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05/02/2022

Is It Time to Bar Coup Leaders from the UN?

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 4 2022 (IPS)* – A rash of military coups in Africa has resurrected a long dormant question: should leaders who take power through armed insurrections be barred from addressing the United Nations—an institution which swears by, and promotes, multi-party democracy?
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Protesters take to the streets in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Credit: UN Sudan/Ayman Suliman

The most recent surge, which the United Nations describes as “an epidemic of coups”, include military takeovers in Chad, Guinea, Mali, Sudan, and Burkina Faso (and not excluding Myanmar, which marked the first anniversary of a military government in the Southeast Asian country on February 1).

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05/02/2022

Teleworking: All That Glitters Is Not Gold

Human Wrongs Watch

MADRID, Feb 4 2022 (IPS)* – Now it comes to teleworking, the double-edged, relatively recent phenomenon imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns. On the one hand, it improves work-life balance, opportunities for flexible working hours and physical activity, reduced traffic and commuting time, and a decrease in air pollution. So far so good, but…
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Without proper planning, organization and health and safety support the impact of teleworking on the physical and mental health and social wellbeing of workers can be significant, warns new report. Credit: Martin/ILO

Without proper planning, organization and health and safety support the impact of teleworking on the physical and mental health and social wellbeing of workers can be significant, warns new report. Credit: Martin/ILO

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04/02/2022

#PlasticTreaty: Stop Exploiting African and Other Global Majority Countries with ‘Waste Colonialism’

School children in Ghana look over plastic waste
School children in Ghana look over plastic waste © David Tesinsky

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04/02/2022

The Gauge for World Food Prices Went Up in January, Largely Catalysed by Supply-Side Constraints for Vegetable Oils

Human Wrongs Watch

Vegetable oils and dairy products push FAO Food Price Index higher

A rice field in Cambodia.

A rice field in Cambodia. ©FAO/Tang Chhin Sothy

Rome, 3 February 2022 (FAO)* The gauge for world food prices went up in January, largely catalysed by supply-side constraints for vegetable oils, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 3 February 2022 reported.

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04/02/2022

Drought in Kenya Proves a Setback to Eliminating Female genital Mutilation

Human Wrongs Watch

WEST POKOT COUNTY, SAMBURU COUNTY, Kenya, 3 February 2022 (UNFPA)* There are two rainy seasons in Kenya: The long rains in March, April and May and the short rains in October, November and December.

Drought in Kenya proves a setback to eliminating female genital mutilation
Drought in Kenya has forced pastoralist communities to travel great distances in search of water. Girls pulled out of school to join their families are at particular risk of female genital mutilation. © UNFPA Kenya

The past three seasons have failed, and the next one is forecast to do the same. In some parts of the country, the severe drought – affecting more than 2.8 million people, including more than 730,000 women of reproductive age – has been declared a national disaster. 

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03/02/2022

Island States Must Bolster Resilience to Existential Climate Threats

Human Wrongs Watch

2 February 2022 (UN News)*The massive volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga followed by another earthquake and aftershocks just days afterwards, has highlighted once again the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a meeting this week convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has heard.

© Konionia Mafileo | Tonga’s volcanic eruption and tsunami highlights the vulnerability of small islands and developing States (SIDS).
 
The Global SIDS Solutions Dialogue, focused on the “severe challenge” these often impoverished low-lying nations face in being able to reach the goals of the  UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said FAO Chief Economist, Máximo Torero Cullen.