Archive for ‘Africa’

11/02/2022

Many Good Reasons Why to Eat More Pulses – And Perhaps Less Meat!

Human Wrongs Watch

 
Pulses provide nutrients and energy and they help prevent diseases like diabetes and coronary conditions. The United Nations declared 10 February World Pulses Day.

Pulses provide nutrients and energy and they help prevent diseases like diabetes and coronary conditions. The United Nations declared 10 February World Pulses Day.

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09/02/2022

Cyberbullying a Top Concern on Safer Internet Day

Human Wrongs Watch

8 February 2022 (UN News)*With more children and young people spending time online, cyberbullying is the top concern for their safety when using the internet, according to a survey carried about by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on two social media platforms.

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© UNICEF/Patricia Willocq | Two children play outside while their parents participate in a workshop about online security and positive parenting practices in Guatemala.
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In the lead up to Safer Internet Day this Tuesday, 8 February, the UN agency polled its followers on Twitter and LinkedIn to find out what worries them most about children being active online.
08/02/2022

Amnesty Apartheid Report: The Walls Protecting Israel Are Finally Crumbling

Human Wrongs Watch

By Jonathan Cook – TRANSCEND Media Service*

With the publication of Amnesty International’s new apartheid report, Israel’s supporters have just one tactic left: to accuse critics of antisemitism.

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Jonathan Cook

The walls protecting Israel are quickly crumbling. A year ago, it was Israel’s most celebrated human rights group, B’Tselem.

Months later, it was the New York-based Human Rights Watch, whose senior staff have often enjoyed a revolving door with the US State Department.

Now, the one speaking up is Amnesty International – an organisation widely viewed as the most authoritative arbiter of what constitutes human rights violations.

Over the past year, all have reached the same conclusion: Israel is an apartheid state.

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08/02/2022

13 Million People Facing Severe Hunger as Drought Grips the Horn of Africa

Nairobi (WFP)* – The Horn of Africa is experiencing the driest conditions recorded since 1981, with severe drought leaving an estimated 13 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia facing severe hunger in the first quarter of this year, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on warned.

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WFP/Michael Tewelde, Drought affected livestocks walking to a river side in Adadle district, Biyolow Kebele in Somali region of Ethiopia.
WFP/Michael Tewelde, Drought affected livestocks walking to a river side in Adadle district, Biyolow Kebele in Somali

Three consecutive failed rainy seasons have decimated crops and caused abnormally high livestock deaths. Shortages of water and pasture are forcing families from their homes and leading to increased conflict between communities.region of Ethiopia.

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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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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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