Archive for ‘Africa’

18/05/2020

Peace Education

Human Wrongs Watch

By John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service*

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Living Together in Peace

The United Nations has designated the 16th of May as a day devoted to Living Together in Peace. It therefore seems appropriate to discuss the need for reforming our educational systems so that they will prepare young people for international cooperation and harmony rather than for participation in aggressive wars.

Traditional School Systems Aim at Indoctrination in Nationalism

School systems have traditionally aimed at producing nationalism in their students. Within the Roman Empire, students were taught the motto “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (It is sweet and noble to die for one’s country).

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18/05/2020

Self-Help Project in Niger Churns Out Hygiene Products in Fight against Coronavirus

Human Wrongs Watch

By Jean-Sébastien Josset in Hamdallaye, Niger |  UNHCR*

Mini refugee ‘factory’ produces soap, liquid handwash, bleach and water containers for free distribution.  |  Français

Niger. In Niamey, refugees produce soap used to fight coronavirusA refugee woman pours soap into moulds at a soap factory in Hamdallaye, Niger. The soap is distributed for free to fellow refugees and the local community.  © UNHCR/Jean-Sebastien Josset

It started as a mini-cooperative to give a small income for hundreds of refugees evacuated from Libya.

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18/05/2020

Small Island Developing States Face a Double Exposure to External Economic and Environmental Shocks

Human Wrongs Watch

Small Island Developing States: Building resilience for sustainable trade, tourism, transport infrastructure and development

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18 May 2020 (UN Environment)* — Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as the Caribbean Island of Grenada, face a double exposure to external economic and environmental shocks.

This has been made painfully clear by the economic shock caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has, among other things, crippled the tourism industry upon which many SIDS depends. Tourism accounts for almost 30% of SIDS’ gross domestic product.

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18/05/2020

As Coronavirus Spreads, Refugee Doctors Want to Join the Fight

Human Wrongs Watch

By Sarah Schafer*

Trained medics working as cashiers and wait staff want their qualifications recognized so they can save lives in the pandemic. |  Français

Iraqi refugee medic Lubab al-Quraishi pictured in New Jersey where she has been given a temporary license to pratice medicine.   © UNHCR

NEW YORK, 18 May 2020 (UNHCR)*  – When Lubab al-Quraishi heard that officials in New Jersey would allow internationally trained medical workers to help the city fight COVID-19, she quickly filled out an online application. Six years after arriving in the United States as a refugee from Iraq, she hoped finally to practice medicine again.

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18/05/2020

Forced Marriage, Organ Trafficking Rife in Asia Pacific – Part 2

Human Wrongs Watch

The Asia Pacific region predominates in the numbers of victims of modern slavery. The region had 55 percent of the victims of forced marriage worldwide.This is the second of a 2-part series on trafficking and modern slavery in the Asia Pacific region.

 

A-trafficked-survivor-reunites-with-family-in-Vietnam.-Photo-Supplied-by-Blue-Dragon-Childrens-Foundation-1024x767

A trafficked survivor reunites with family in Vietnam. Courtesy: Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation

SYDNEY, Australia, May 18 2020 (IPS)* – A single mother, Mai (name changed) had the responsibility of providing for her young son and grandparents, who had brought her up in a poor rural province in southern Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

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18/05/2020

Dietary Fiber, the Gut Microbiome and Health

By Robert Smith | Wall Street International*

There is an undeniable link between the brain, the gut and the immune system

Eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains are important for good health
Eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains are important for good health | Image from Wall Street International.

It is well known that eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains are important for good health because they contain dietary fiber and other healthy substances1.

The dietary fiber can be fermented by healthy bacteria in our gut to produce short chain fatty acids (acetic, propionic and butyric acids) that help the neuroendocrine immune system and help make vaccines more successful2.

At the same time, eating sugar, high fructose corn syrup, meat, saturated or trans fats and drinking sweetened beverages is unhealthy, partly because it helps to produce an unhealthy gut microbiome.

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17/05/2020

COVID-19 Measures Likely to Lead to an Increase in Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking in Longer Term – UNODC

Human Wrongs Watch

Vienna (Austria) (UNODC)* – COVID-19 travel and movement restrictions are not stopping the movement of people fleeing conflict, human rights abuses, violence and dangerous living conditions, while the economic consequences of the pandemic are likely to lead to an increase in smuggling of migrants and trafficking in person flows from the most affected countries to more affluent destinations, according to a report launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on 14 May 2020.

Photo: © UNODC

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16/05/2020

How ‘Ordinary’ People Can Show Us Ways Out of Global Crises

Dalit & pastoral women of Deccan Development Society carrying sacred seeds at mobile fest, Feb 2020 © Ashish KothariDalit & pastoral women of Deccan Development Society carrying sacred seeds at mobile fest, Feb 2020 © Ashish Kothari

We don’t have any food shortages in our villages, despite the lockdown.

(Dalit women farmers, Telangana)

We saved up enough in our village fund over the last few years, by sustainable harvest of forest produce, to provide for people who have lost their jobs in cities and returned home during the corona crisis.

(Kukdel Village, Maharashtra)

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16/05/2020

Millions of Migrants across Russia, Central Asia, ‘Teetering on the Brink’, as UN Launches Urgent Appeal

Human Wrongs Watch

15 May 2020 (UN News)*The International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched an urgent $7 million appeal on Thursday [14 May 2020], to ease the impact of COVID-19 on migrant communities in five Central Asian countries and the Russian Federation, where the pandemic is pushing a growing number of migrant workers into poverty.

OCHA/Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia | Children play at the multi-ethnic Krupskaya School in the town of Nookat, Osh oblast, Kyrgyzstan. (November 2010)

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The appeal aims to help thousands who are stranded in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

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16/05/2020

Coronavirus Lockdowns in Central America, Exploited by Criminal Gangs

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Chronic violence, insecurity and now COVID-related restrictions have put tens of thousands of Central Americans at risk of increased hardship and even death, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday [15 May 2020].

©UNICEF/Tanya Bindra | Seventeen-year-old mother leaves Honduras with her one-year old son, hoping to get a visa for the United States. (File)
By the end of last year, violence in the region forced some 720,000 people to flee their homes, almost half of whom currently remain displaced within their own country, according the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

And with COVID-related lockdowns in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, community leaders and some internally displaced people (IDPs) are reporting that organized criminal groups have been exploiting the confinement, to strengthen their control over local communities.

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