'Unseen' News and Views
Systematic Abuses of Ethiopians May Amount to Crimes Against Humanity
(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.
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.
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.
(UN News)* — After four months of war in Sudan, UN humanitarians on Tuesday [] called for action to be taken to end the conflict which is having a “devastating impact” on people’s lives, health and well-being.
In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that the “disastrous, senseless war in Sudan, born out of a wanton drive for power, has resulted in thousands of deaths, the destruction of family homes, schools, hospitals and other essential services, massive displacement, as well as sexual violence, in acts which may amount to war crimes”.
(UN News)* — A spike in conflict and displacement in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is pushing children into the worst cholera crisis since 2017, warns UNICEF.
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Endless Arms for Ukraine
In the United States, the Biden administration has adopted the policy of sending many billions of dollars’ worth of advanced weapons to Ukraine, with the hope of weakening Russia, and in the hope of a Ukrainian victory.
John Scales Avery
An underlying motive can be found in the enormous profits made by the American weapons industry.
In fact, the military-industrial complex (against which President Eisenhower warned in his famous Farewell Address) has complete control over both political parties.
The latest yearly appropriation for military purposes was almost a trillion dollars.
The war in Ukraine has always been a proxy war between NATO and Russia, although it is being fought on Ukrainian soil, and although it involves great suffering for the Ukrainian people.
(UN News)* — Arms and ammunition transfers to Ukraine have increased rapidly in recent months, alongside concerning reports of deliveries of banned cluster munitions, the UN’s top disarmament official told the Security Council on Thursday [].
“The influx of weapons and ammunition into any armed conflict can contribute to the escalation and presents significant risks of diversion and proliferation even after the conflict has ended,” Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the Council, briefing on the latest developments in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
(UN News)* — The first global Traditional Medicine Summit convened by UN health agency WHO, got underway this week in the Indian city of Gandhinagar focused on sharing evidence and best practices in this field.
(UN News)* — Dire predictions about escalating hunger in Sudan have tragically come true, as conflict-induced food scarcity has plunged 20.3 million people into severe acute hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday [].
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Of that figure, 6.3 million people – 13 per cent of Sudan’s population – are experiencing emergency levels of hunger – classified as Phase 4 of the Integrated Food Security Classification – just one step from famine, with the conflict continuing to disrupt access to humanitarian aid and forcing millions to flee their homes.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 