Archive for October, 2023

06/10/2023

Number of Unaccompanied Children Crossing Deadly Central Mediterranean Sea Migration Route to Italy Increases by 60% – UNICEF

Human Wrongs Watch

Deaths and disappearances on the Central Mediterranean route tripled this summer compared to the same period last year

On 26 September 2023, a child and his father, migrants from Tunisia, sit near Italian Red Cross tents at the ‘hotspot’ reception centre on the island of Lampedusa, Italy.
UNICEF/UNI443194/AntonioliOn 26 September 2023, a child and his father, migrants from Tunisia, sit near Italian Red Cross tents at the ‘hotspot’ reception centre on the island of Lampedusa, Italy.

GENEVA/ROME, 29 September 2023 (UNICEF)* – More than 11,600 children crossed the Central Mediterranean Sea to Italy without their parents or legal guardians between January and mid-September 2023. This is an increase of 60 per cent compared to the same period last year, where around 7,200 unaccompanied or separated children made the perilous crossing.

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06/10/2023

1 in 10 Babies Worldwide Are Born Preterm, with Complications

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — An estimated 13.4 million babies were born early in 2020, with nearly one million dying from preterm complications, UN agencies and partners said in a new report on Thursday [].

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A premature baby receives care at a hospital in Al-Mukalla City in Yemen.
© UNICEF/Ali Bahumaid | A premature baby receives care at a hospital in Al-Mukalla City in Yemen.
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The data is equivalent to around 1 in 10 babies born early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy worldwide.
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Health experts blame poor maternal health and malnutrition for the high numbers.

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06/10/2023

‘Protect Children at All Times and at All Places’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Senior UN officials on Thursday [] reiterated the call for protection of children and ensuring their rights at all times, as enshrined in international law, and ending impunity for crimes against them.

South Sudanese refugee children walk home together after school in the Nyumanzi refugee settlement in Uganda. (file)

© UNICEF/Jiro Ose | South Sudanese refugee children walk home together after school in the Nyumanzi refugee settlement in Uganda. (file)

In 2022, the UN verified 27,180 instances of grave violations targeting children – use in conflict, killing and maiming, rape and sexual violence, abduction, attacks on schools, and denial of humanitarian assistance, said Virgina Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict.

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05/10/2023

America’s Record-Breaking Immigration

Human Wrongs Watch

PORTLAND, USA, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)* – America’s immigration has reached record-breaking levels having weighty consequences domestically and internationally.
The estimated number of foreign-born residents in the United States as of September 2023 is at a historic high of nearly 50 million. Credit: Shutterstock.

The estimated number of foreign-born residents in the United States as of September 2023 is at a historic high of nearly 50 million. Credit: Shutterstock.

Based on the Census Bureau’s 2023 Current Population Survey, the estimated number of foreign-born residents in the United States as of September 2023 is at a historic high of nearly 50 million.

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04/10/2023

How Can We Combat Militarism?

Human Wrongs Watch

By Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service*

Everyone knows that the United States is the world’s leading military power, with an annual “defense” budget approaching one trillion dollars, considerably more than the arms budgets of the next 144 nations combined.

richard-rubenstein

Richard E. Rubenstein

The U.S. employs more than 3.5 million active military and civilian personnel and maintains more than 750 military bases located in some 80 nations around the world.

The nation’s most profitable and fastest-growing manufacturing sector is the military-industrial complex, which employs more than 4 million workers and supplies approximately 40 percent of the total weaponry used by the world’s armed forces.

In the production and deployment of nuclear weapons, of course, the U.S. is absolutely dominant.

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04/10/2023

A Decade after the Lampedusa Shipwreck, the Continuing Tragedies Need to End

Human Wrongs Watch

Joint statement by the Coordinator of the UN Network on Migration, Amy E. Pope, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi
 
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A wooden boat carrying 13 refugees and migrants from Tunisia and Morocco is towed into the port of Lampedusa in October 2020. © UNHCR/Alessio Mamo

3 October 2023 (UNHCR)* — When a boat crammed with over 500 women, men, and children sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa 10 years ago, the world said “never again”. 

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04/10/2023

Open Migration Flows and Closed-Up Houses in Venezuela

Human Wrongs Watch

CARACAS, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)* – Gladys swore she would not cry in front of her small children, but she still had to wipe away a couple of tears when she turned her head and looked, perhaps for the last time, at her dream house on Margarita Island in Venezuela, from where she migrated, driven by a lack of income and by fear. | En español
 
A view of Caracas from the south side of the narrow valley where it sits, dotted with houses and residential buildings where full occupancy was the norm until a few years ago. As a result of the massive migration of young people and adults, more and more homes are left unoccupied or inhabited only by the elderly and young children. CREDIT: Humberto Márquez / IPS

A view of Caracas from the south side of the narrow valley where it sits, dotted with houses and residential buildings where full occupancy was the norm until a few years ago. As a result of the massive migration of young people and adults, more and more homes are left unoccupied or inhabited only by the elderly and young children. CREDIT: Humberto Márquez / IPS

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04/10/2023

How Costa Rica Drafted Latin America’s First Ever Anti-Hate Strategy

Human Wrongs Watch

1 October 2023 (UN News)* — For Faustina Torres, from the Bribri indigenous community in Costa Rica, feeling invisible to others is a stinging form of discrimination she has fought against since childhood..

Migrants who pass through Central America to Costa Rica often face discrimination and can be the victims of hate speech.
IOM/Gema Cortés | Migrants who pass through Central America to Costa Rica often face discrimination and can be the victims of hate speech.
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“Costa Rican society does not teach us that there are indigenous people in this country,” she said.
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“It is a form of discrimination, making the existence of indigenous peoples invisible.”