KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb 25 2025 (IPS)* – Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) appeal captured US mass discontent against globalisation.
In recent decades, variations of America First have reflected growing ethnonationalism in the world’s presumptive hegemon.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Deglobalisation?
Trade liberalisation probably peaked at the end of the 20th century with the creation of the multilateral World Trade Organization (WTO), which the West kept outside the UN system.
With deindustrialisation in the North blamed on globalisation, their governments gradually abandoned trade liberalisation, especially after the 2008 global financial crisis.
Free trade mahaguru Jagdish Bhagwati has long complained of the weak commitment to multilateral trade liberalisation. Most recent supposed free trade agreements (FTAs) have been plurilateral or bilateral, undermining multilateralism while promoting non-trade measures.
(UN News)* — Breast cancer cases are expected to increase by 38 percent globally by 2050, withannual deathsfrom the diseaseprojected to rise by 68 percent, according to a new report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialisedbranch of the World HealthOrganization (WHO).
Those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are the worst affected, while those who have done the most to provoke it are the most shielded from its impacts.
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We talk about this in the new episode of SystemShift, a Greenpeace podcast that explores how we can move from a world that serves the economy to an economy that works for people and the planet.
This time Carl and Joycelyn host two young climate leaders: Lali Riascos, from Guapi, Colombia, and Mateus Fernandes, from Sao Paulo,Brazil.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 2025 (IPS)* –The UN’s human rights agenda is in danger of faltering since the Geneva-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) is planning to “restructure” the office, under the moniker OHCHR 2.0.
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Credit: United Nations
But this proposal, if implemented, would result in the abolition of the Special Procedures Branch, established by the Human Rights Council (HRC), to report and advise on human rights from thematic and country-specific perspectives.
(UN News)* —Every day, almost one in five young women are married off while still children, according to the UN reproductive and sexual health agency, UNFPA, which is urging countries to say “I don’t” to child marriage, an illegal practice that is almost universally condemned and yet remains widespread globally.
“I was married at 14, and I lost my first child at 16 during pregnancy,” Ranu Chakma said. Child marriage is common in her village of Teknaf Upazila, on the southern coast of Bangladesh, even though it is illegal and a human rights violation.
Those violations occur even at a time when many countries are banning the illegal practice, most recently in Colombia, where a law came into effect earlier this month.
Here are five common misconceptions about child marriage:
(UN News)* —The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has launched a $40.4 million appeal to address the deepening humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its impact on neighbouring countries, particularly Burundi, where thousands are arriving daily in desperate conditions.
As fighting escalates in eastern DRC, more than 40,000 Congolese refugees – primarily women and children – have crossed into Burundi since February, with over 9,000 arrivals recorded in a single day this week.
MBARALI, Tanzania, Feb 21 2025 (IPS)* – A hush had fallen over Mbarali District, but it was not the quiet of peace—it was the silence of uncertainty.
The REGROW project, aimed at doubling the size of Ruaha National Park, has left many without land and prospects. Credit: Kizito Makoye/IPS
Just months ago, the rolling plains were gripped by fear as government-backed rangers, dressed in olive green fatigues, roamed through villages, seizing cattle, torching homes, and forcing entire communities to the wobbly edge of survival.
21 February 2025 — In early 2024, clashes between armed forces and non-state armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo resumed after a period of inactivity. By late 2024, the city of Goma was surrounded and most access roads were blocked.
Jorime and Desanges were forced to flee their homes by brutal violence in eastern DR Congo. Photo: Desire Cimerhe/NRC
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The already isolated population was deprived of access to essential goods. They had no idea they were about to face the country’s most dramatic crisis since the conflict began nearly three decades ago.
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In the village of Kivale, daily life was relatively peaceful. Children ran freely, families cooked tasty meals under the shade of the trees, and people cultivated the land and ran their businesses as best they could.
20 February 2025 – The Trump administration has enacted new immigration policies at a dizzying pace, some of which obliterate programs built over decades to enable avenues to safety for people fleeing war and persecution.
The impact of these policies is felt directly by the asylum seekers, migrants, refugees, their families and communities. But the impact will also be far-reaching as the US sets an example that is likely to cause other countries to turn their backs on people fleeing for their lives.
(UN News)* — The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Tuesday [] sounded the alarm over escalating rights abuses in Sudan, warning that impunity is driving violations as fighting spreads and more armed groups become involved.
In a newreport, UN investigators detailed multiple attacks on civilians, healthcare facilities, markets, and schools, as well as ethnically motivated summary executions.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 