Archive for ‘Africa’

01/07/2022

The Urgency to Ban All Wars

Human Wrongs Watch

The writer is Professor Emeritus of the Catholic University of Louvain

Credit: UN Peacekeeping

BRUSSELS, Jun 30 2022 (IPS)* – On Sunday 19 June, we gathered in Sezano, municipality of Verona (VR), at the Monastery of the Common Good to affirm the need and urgency to ban war, all wars, and build peace without yes or no buts.

To the powerful world leaders who want to continue the war in Ukraine (USA, Russia, NATO member states, the European Union which has become a war front, Ukraine) we say STOP your new world war for world domination, of which the one in Ukraine is a dramatic expression.

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01/07/2022

US Supreme Court Ruling on Environmental Protection ‘a Setback in Our Fight against Climate Change’

(UN News)* — The ruling by the United States Supreme Court against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday [30 June 2022], is “a setback in our fight against climate change” said the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

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© BLM Nevada | Solar power crescent dunes in Nevada, California.

He was responding to a question at the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York, about the ruling, which in effect strips away the power of the EPA to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

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01/07/2022

How Finance Is Speculating on the Wheat Crisis – Interview with Dr Vandana Shiva

Human Wrongs Watch

Navdanya International– TRANSCEND Media Service*

Vandana Shiva, president of Navdanya International, visited Italy in early June 2022 to present her latest book, From Greed to Care (Dall’avidità alla cura – Emi). The tour started in Naples and continued through Rome and Florence to Turin. In particular, the Indian activist was the guest  of the Berlingueriana event in Naples, of the Capital’s administration and the Italian Buddhist Union (UBI) in Rome, and in Turin of Cinemambiente.

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Pavlofox on Pixnio

We met her to talk about the global situation, rising inequalities and the worrying obesity figures released by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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26/06/2022

Carbon Neutrality: Utopia or the New Green Wave?

Human Wrongs Watch

New FAO/EBRD report shows pathways for decarbonizing agrifood systems

©FAO/Sonia Malpeso

The EBRD and FAO believe that a new green wave – via investment, research, commitment, action – can radically transform agrifood systems and move the needle towards a low-carbon future.©FAO/Sonia Malpeso

Rome/London, 22 June 2022 (FAO)* – A new report from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), provides a comprehensive look at decarbonizing agrifood systems, which is necessary and achievable.

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26/06/2022

Around the Globe, as the Climate Crisis Worsens, Droughts Set In

(By UNEP)* — As Riziki Bwanake walks along the Tana River Delta, the dry, dusty earth crunches beneath her feet. This part of eastern Kenya was once lush, home to a rich expanse of mangroves and an abundance of fish.

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But the sheer weight of the human demands on this fragile ecosystem, exacerbated by a devastating drought, has left the delta parched. Bwanake, and others in her community are trying to change that, working with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to plant 100,000 native trees. Their goal: stem the tide of desertification and turn the land from brown into green.

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25/06/2022

Nuclear-Armed Powers Squander $156.000 Per Minute on Their MAD Policy

Human Wrongs Watch

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With more than 13,000 nuclear weapons still held across the globe, “the once unthinkable prospect of nuclear conflict is now back within the realm of possibility.”

Credit: US government

According to their MAD doctrine a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender, with second-strike capabilities, would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. In short: destruction.

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25/06/2022

Sexual Violence in Conflict: Overlooked, Under-reported and in Danger of Being “Normalized”

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, New York, 19 June 2022 (UNFPA)* – As militants boasted about how they would divide the girls among themselves, Khetam*, a Syrian refugee in Iraq, feared for her life. “Two commanders had chosen me and my friend as their brides,” she recalled to UNFPA. The so-called “marriage” would mean rape and control for as long as the militants desired.

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Sexual violence in conflict: Overlooked, under-reported and in danger of being “normalized”
Accompanied by a mobile medical team, a UNFPA health care worker carries out regular visits to Homs, Syria. © UNFPA Syria
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“When we objected that we were too young to wed, they beat us and tortured us for most of that night, until we had no choice but to relent.”

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25/06/2022

Forced Displacement Hit Record High in 2021 with Too Few Able to Go Home

Human Wrongs Watch

The number of people forced to flee violence, war and persecution, is outpacing the available solutions. Español   |  Français   |  عربي

Nine-year-old Fauzia* and her three-year-old sister Aseela* in their temporary accommodation in Kabul. *Names have been changed.

Two internally displaced sisters from Jalalabad pictured in their temporary accommodation in Kabul, Afghanistan. © UNHCR/Andrew McConnell

GENEVA (UNHCR)* – The number of people displaced by conflict, violence, persecution and human rights abuses rose for the tenth straight year in 2021 to reach the highest level since records began, according to the latest Global Trends report released on 16 June 2022 by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

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25/06/2022

Inside the Push to Eliminate Lead from Paint

Human Wrongs Watch

22 June 2022 (UNEP)* — While many use paint to cover the blemishes on their walls, each coat they apply could end up leaving a stain on the planet. Despite legally binding controls in 87 countries, lead is still commonly used in paint, and experts warn that it’s time to stop brushing aside the hazardous chemical’s human and environmental health impacts.

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Every year, an estimated 900,000 people die from lead exposure. Lead exposure can also result in increased risk of antisocial behavior, cardiovascular disease and reduced fertility.

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24/06/2022

Global Hunger Crisis Pushing One Child Per Minute into Severe Malnutrition

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Because of the global hunger crisis, every single minute, one child is pushed into life-threatening, severe malnutrition.

© UNICEF/Ismail Taxta | A one-year-old boy suffering from severe malnutrition gets his upper arm circumference measured at a hospital in Dolow, Ethiopia.

That’s the alarming message on Thursday [23 June 2022] from UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, which issued the alert for 15 countries in crisis where the situation is worsening.

UNICEF has called for $1.2 billion to meet urgent needs of eight million children at risk of death from severe wasting, in 15 mainly African nations, such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan, but also Afghanistan and Haiti.

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