'Unseen' News and Views
(Greenpeace International)* — The meat and dairy industries in Europe have a problem. More and more people do not want their steaks, their minced meat and their chicken wings.
Slowly but surely meat consumption is decreasing, and the industry is desperate to find a way to reverse this trend.
As thousands flee non-state armed groups attacks in northern Mozambique, urgent resources are needed to support them and the communities hosting them. | Español | Français
Adelino Alberto and his family who fled an attack claimed by non-state armed groups on the town of Palma are seen at a transit centre in Pemba, Mozambique.
© REUTERS/Emidio Jozine
(UN News)* — The UN and partners are “following with deep concern” new reports of violations against civilians in northern Mozambique, the UN Spokesperson on 8 April 2021 said.
Citing reports of atrocities carried out by child soldiers, alleged beheadings during attacks by non-State armed groups, and clashes in the Cabo Delgado region, Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the regular daily briefing that although verifying information was extremely difficult, “we are concerned about the situation of civilians who fled the violence and those who remain in Palma”.
The coastal town just south of the border with Tanzania, was reportedly overrun by militant extremists on 24 March, but three days ago, Mozambique’s military reported that it had regained control.
(UN News)* — The world is “a long way off” from meeting the goals of the landmark Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the President of the crucial upcoming UN climate conference, COP26, on 8 April 2021 said.
British politician Alok Sharma was speaking during a global discussion on the ‘green’ transition in sectors such as energy, transport and food systems, held as part of the 2021 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
ROME, 8 April 2021 (FAO)* – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has partnered with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and 30 countries in a major initiative to tackle marine litter and clean up the world’s oceans.
The GloLitter Partnerships Project is being implemented by FAO in partnership with the IMO, with initial funding from the Government of Norway through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).
(UN News)* — The COVID crisis “has revealed how unequal our societies are” said the UN chief in his message for World Health Day released on 5 April 2021.
Highlighting the inequalities and injustices that have been apparent throughout the pandemic, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the day to be marked on Wednesday, that the vast majority of vaccine doses administered so far, have been confined to “a few wealthy countries” or those producing the shots cleared for distribution.
“Within countries, illness and death from COVID-19 has been higher among people and communities that contend with poverty, unfavourable living and working conditions, discrimination and social exclusion”, said Mr. Guterres.
© UNICEF/Seyba Keïta | Mali begins its vaccination programme against COVID-19 with Fanta Siby, Minister for Health, the first to be inoculated.
Geneva, Switzerland, 7 April 2021 (WHO)* — COVID-19 has unfairly impacted some people more harshly than others, exacerbating existing inequities in health and welfare within and between countries. For World Health Day, 7 April 2021, WHO is therefore issuing five calls for urgent action to improve health for all people.
Within countries, illness and death from COVID-19 have been higher among groups who face discrimination, poverty, social exclusion, and adverse daily living and working conditions – including humanitarian crises. The pandemic is estimated to have driven between 119 and 124 million more people into extreme poverty last year.
7 April 2021 (UNEP)* — Aside from the myriad new challenges it introduced, the wide and rapid spread of COVID-19 also revealed long-standing global health inequalities. And while the pandemic may be the most widely publicized example, it is hardly the only case in which those who are already vulnerable bear the brunt of the impact.
Moritz Thibaud/ABACA via Reuters / 06 Apr 2021
Recently, snake bite was re-declared as a neglected tropical disease. According to the World Health Organization, about 5.4 million snake bites occur each year – even though most of their harmful consequences could be prevented by making safe and effective antivenoms more widely available and accessible.
(UN News)* — Levels of hunger in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are at a “staggering” record high, now affecting one-in-three people, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday [6 April 2021].
This means that the central African country is home to the highest number of people in the world, who are in urgent need of food security assistance, according to the latest Integrated Phase Classification analysis.
6 April 2021 (Wall Street International)* — We should praise Joe Biden for the good decisions that he had made during his first few months in office. He has filled positions in his cabinet with and administration with an ethnically diverse and gender balanced group of people.
For example, we can think of his new Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, who is a Native American. We can also think of his choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate. These decisions are to be applauded.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 