Archive for ‘Africa’

19/03/2019

The Future of Work

Human Wrongs Watch

By Marilyn Langlois – TRANSCEND Media Service*

Do you know anyone who genuinely loves their job, greeting each new work day with focused energy and joyful anticipation? Do you know others who dread going to work, can’t wait for the weekend and cringe at the sound of the alarm clock on Monday morning?

Marilyn-Langlois-e1508246946670

Marilyn Langlois

What is it that makes work enjoyable and rewarding for some, while for others it is a torment?  And why are so many people unemployed or underemployed, living under the constant stress of not knowing how they will manage from day to day?

Ten key components to job satisfaction include:

.

  1. You like what you do.
  2. Your work is fairly compensated, acknowledged and appreciated by others.
  3. You have some say in shaping the parameters of your work either directly on the job or via union participation.
    read more »

19/03/2019

Europe Must Re-Start Relocation Programme

2MB_Lesvos, 0811j.jpg
Refugees arriving to Lesvos in Greece before the EU-Turkey statement. Photo: Tiril Skarstein/NRC
“Three years after the EU-Turkey statement was agreed, Europe is neither providing sufficient support to refugees in Syria’s neighbouring countries, nor giving people necessary protection within its borders,” said Edouard Rodier, Director of NRC Europe.
19/03/2019

Impeachment Is Not Enough!

Human Wrongs Watch

By Hall Gardner*

18 March 2019 (Wall Street International)*  — In commenting on the new status of Chinese President Xi as president for life, President Trump quipped: “And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll give that a shot someday.” (March 3, 2018). What Trump may have considered to be a joke could instead prove to be a lapsus révélateur. It is not absolutely certain that Trump was joking about becoming president for life.
.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Mount Rushmore National Memorial | Photo from Wall Street International.
.
19/03/2019

What Is ‘South-South Cooperation’ and Why Does It Matter?

18 March 2019 — This week in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, over one thousand people, including high level government delegations and representatives from the private sector and civil society, will gather for the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, or BAPA+40.*

 

©FAO/Wang Jinbiao | Through the South-South Cooperation (SSC), training and technical guidance on rice production have been provided to farmers in Africa and now in Cote D’Ivoire they are celebrating a bumper harvest.
.
19/03/2019

Human Rights Council’s Investigators Urge Israel to Review Its Military ‘Rules of Engagement’ as Gaza Protest Anniversary Looms

Human Rights Council-appointed investigators urged Israel on Monday [18 March 2019] to revise its military rules of engagement, shortly before the one-year anniversary of the start of mass demonstrations at the country’s border fence with Gaza, that have left hundreds of Palestinians dead and thousands more injured. 

UNifeed Video | Protesters walking towards the Gaza separation fence, bordering Israel.The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory presented its findings in Geneva on 28 February, 2019.
Speaking in Geneva, Santiago Canton, Chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, explained what the panel knew about the Israeli Defence Force’s relevant military protocols with regard to demonstrators.
18/03/2019

“Almost 20 Years Since the Adoption of Security Council’s Resolution on Women, Peace and Security, We Don’t Just Need to Be at the Peace Table. It’s Time to Redesign It”

Human Wrongs Watch

18 March 2019 (UN Women)*“Almost 20 years since the adoption of resolution 1325, we don’t just need to be at the peace table. It’s time to redesign the table,” said Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls, Chair of Board of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, speaking at a side event on 15 March at the 63rd session on the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Nasima Omari, representing the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, speaks at the side event  “The Road to 2020: Accelerating Action on Women, Peace and Security”. Photo:  UN Women/Ryan Brown

Nasima Omari, representing the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, speaks at the side event “The Road to 2020: Accelerating Action on Women, Peace and Security”. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

read more »

18/03/2019

Judging U.S. War Crimes

By Kathy Kelly – TRANSCEND Media Service*

Chelsea Manning, who bravely exposed atrocities committed by the U.S. military, is again imprisoned in a U.S. jail. On International Women’s Day, March 8, 2019, she was incarcerated in the Alexandria, VA federal detention center for refusing to testify in front of a secretive Grand Jury.

Kathy-Kelly-e1497005019250

Kathy Kelly

Her imprisonment can extend through the term of the Grand Jury, possibly 18 months, and the U.S. courts could allow formation of future Grand Juries, potentially jailing her again.

Chelsea Manning has already paid an extraordinarily high price for educating the U.S. public about atrocities committed in the wars of choice the U.S. waged in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chelsea Manning was a U.S. Army soldier and former U.S. intelligence analyst.

She already testified, in court, how she downloaded and disseminated government documents revealing classified information she believed represented possible war crimes.

read more »

18/03/2019

‘Break the Cycle’ of Disaster-Response-Recovery, Urges Top UN Official, as Death Toll Mounts from “the Worst Extreme Weather Event to Occur So Far This Year”: Cyclone Idai

UN Mozambique | Aerial view of Mozambique affected by floods due to the tropical cyclone Idai
18/03/2019

Failed Economics

 Deforestation for palm oil Indonesia © Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace

A recently cleared forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. © Ulet Ifansasti / Greenpeace

At the end of 2018, Credit Suisse published its updated report on global wealth. Forty-two-million millionaires and billionaires comprise the richest 0.5% of the world’s population. That translates to 0.8% of adults in the report, possessing 44.8% of the world’s economic wealth. A decade ago, researchers commonly reported that the wealthy 15% of humanity owned 85% of the resources.

Today, 6.2% (9.5% of adults) now claim 85% of the wealth. The rich got richer.

read more »

18/03/2019

“You Are Stealing Our Future” – Thundering Youth Call on Power to Act Now

Human Wrongs Watch

By UN Environment*

“You are stealing our future.”

When Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg first spoke out, she was alone. On Friday, 15 March 2019, she was joined by thousands of young people around the world, as demonstrations gathered momentum in the Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, and beyond.

They are speaking out and their voices are thundering: “Act now!”

Climate-March-Cvr

Photo from UN Environment.

As the largest climate strikes in history gather pace around the world, hundreds of thousands of youth are uniting in their mission to send a clear message to policymakers: let us into the discussion, now.

read more »