(UN News)* — Greece must adopt “safe and impartial” border policies and practices and hold its law enforcement officers accountable for abuses, a group of UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said in a statement on Wednesday [].
IOM 2016/Amanda Nero | Migrants look out at the sea in Lesvos, Greece.
That’s the message from the group of eight experts, including Ashwini K.P., the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, who urged Greece on Wednesday to investigate alleged violations against asylum-seekers.
They said that they were “particularly concerned” by the failure of the country’s security personnel and coast guard to provide “prompt and effective” assistance to migrants in distress and ensure safe disembarkation and adequate reception.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aug 16 2023 (IPS)* – When representatives from dozens of countries gathered recently at the UN High Level Political Forum in New York to share progress on their efforts to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this disturbing reality was clear: the world is not even close to meeting the goals by 2030 as intended.
If people living in informal settlements gained access to adequate housing, the average life span would jump 2.4 years on average globally, saving 730,000 lives each year. Credit: Lova Rabary-Rakontondravony/IPS
(UN News)* — The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is grappling with a dire humanitarian crisis fuelled by ongoing political instability and armed conflicts, severely impacting the entire food supply, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday [].
The situation is particularly alarming in the east, where malnutrition has taken hold among 4.4 million people, exacerbated by compromised health services, lack of clean water, and an uptick in gender-based violence, highlighted Peter Musoko, WFP Country Director, during a press briefing in Geneva.
23 August 2023 — Recent months have brought a dramatic deterioration in the situation in eastern DR Congo, where countless civilians are attacked with impunity. Extreme levels of violence, hunger, and displacement receive scant funding, media apathy, and neglect. The outside world is neglecting a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions in a region where humanitarian needs have been enormous for decades.
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NRC’s Secretary General Jan Egeland visited Nyamusasi camp in Ituri province in eastern DR Congo 22 August. NRC supports the camp, including with education, shelter, cash assistance, and sanitation.
The Project for a New American Century was a Washington-based “think tank” founded in 1997 by William Kristal and Robert Kagen.
John Scales Avery
The basic idea behind the organization was that since the United States had emerged as the world’s sole surviving superpower, the country should increase its military spending and use its military power to promote US interests and values throughout the world.
Global Hegemony through Military Force
In recent years, the United States has aimed at “full spectrum dominance”, military dominance over all other nations, global hegemony through military force, and the construction of an empire.
For anti-war activists, the preparations for a major war have an aspect that is literally nightmarish. In this bad dream, one watches as if physically or morally paralyzed while a menacing situation approaches step by step until it is too late to avert a foreseeable disaster.
Richard E. Rubenstein
This is exactly how one feels watching the United States government prepare for a military confrontation with China.
The technical aspects of this preparation remain largely under wraps, except for demonstrative military exercises and occasional impolitic statements like Air Force General Mike Minihan’s remark last January, “My gut tells me that we will fight in 2025.”
But the civilian aspects of this mobilization are increasingly evident and alarming.
Systematic Abuses of Ethiopians May Amount to Crimes Against Humanity
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Saudi border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023.
Saudi officials are killing hundreds of women and children out of view of the rest of the world while they spend billions on sports-washing to try to improve their image.
(UN News)* — Conflict and insecurity in countries such as South Sudan and its neighbour to the north are set to make 2023 another year of high death tolls and and injuries for aid workers in the field, the UN warned on Thursday [].
The grim forecast comes ahead of World Humanitarian Day, commemorated annually on 19 August.
Since the start of the year, 62 aid workers have been killed, 84 have been wounded and 34 kidnapped, the UN said, citing provisional data from the independent research organization Humanitarian Outcomes. Last year, the death toll reached 116.
South Sudan remains the most dangerous place to be a humanitarian. Forty attacks and 22 fatalities have been reported there as of 16 August.
(UN News)* — Heatwaves sweeping large parts of the world offer yet another reminder that extreme weather events boosted by human-induced climate change have become “the new normal”, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Friday [].
Weather agency Spokesperson Clare Nullis said that heat warnings have been issued by many weather services across Europe this week, including in France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland.
Meanwhile, parts of the Middle East were expected to see temperatures over 50 degrees Celsius in the coming days, and Japan was experiencing a “prolonged” heatwave which shattered temperature records.
11 August 2023 (WHO)* — Rabies, a deadly viral disease, continues to have a profound impact on communities throughout Africa, causing progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. However, the good news is that rabies is 100% vaccine-preventable.
“Vaccinating dogs, including puppies, is the most cost–effective strategy for preventing rabies in people because it stops the transmission at its source.” Meseline Mulokozi
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 