MADRID, Dec 20 2024 (IPS)* – Perhaps demographers would consider designing a new classification system to separate from their estimates of the world’s total population –eight billion plus– the billion humans who live without legal identity and, thus, are deprived from the most basic rights.
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The IOM estimates that one billion people live without legal identity, limiting their access to vital services and restricting their mobility. Credit: Shutterstock
The one billion figure seems to fall short if you consider that there are at least 150 million unregistered births.
(UN News)* —The UN Secretary-General on Thursday [] urged the Security Council to act decisively to establish international guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI), warning that delays could heighten risks to global peace and security.
UNMAS/Martine Perret | Advances in artificial intelligence offer potential to detect landmines and unexploded ordnance, but misuse of this technology could pose significant risks to society.
Addressing ministers and ambassadors, António Guterres warned that rapid developments in AI are outpacing humanity’s ability to govern it, raising important questions about accountability, equality, safety and human oversight in decision-making.
RIYADH & HYDERABAD, Dec 17 2024 (IPS)* – The 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP 16) concluded early hours of Saturday with a renewed focus on building drought resilience globally.
COP16 in Riyadh launched a drought resilience initiative, which also saw contributions of over USD 12 billion for land restoration and drought resilience. Credit: IISD/ENB
However, the COP also failed to agree on bringing a legally binding drought protocol.
(UN News)* —Tropical Cyclone Chido struck northern Mozambique over the weekend, bringing torrential rains and powerful winds that caused devastation for communities in Cabo Delgado province.
Current assessments show the storm destroyed or damaged over 35,000 homes, displaced thousands of families, and impacted more than 90,000 children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday [].
According to the latest situation report, at least 174,000 people have been impacted overall but numbers may increase as assessments continue.
MADRID, Dec 17 2024 (IPS)* – Planet Earth is drying up, relentlessly. Over three-quarters of all lands have become permanently drier in the last three decades. This is not jut a statistic but a stark scientific fact. But while such an ‘existential crisis’ affects nearly every region, guess where -and who- are the most hit?
“Without concerted efforts, billions face a future marked by hunger, displacement, and economic decline.” Credit: Desmond Brown/IPS
They are the 1.35 billion humans living in Asia’s drylands, that’s more than half the global total. And they are the 620 millions people who inhabit Africa’s drylands, e.g. nearly half of the continent’s population.
(UN News)* — A new UN plan for Libya aims to overcome political deadlock, put the country back on the path to long-awaited presidential elections and renew the legitimacy of its institutions, the Security Council heard on Monday [].
Stephanie Koury, Deputy Special Representative for Libya and acting head of the UN Support Mission in the country, UNSMIL, briefed ambassadors on the initiative a day after presenting it to the population.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec 17 2024 (IPS)* –– The new geopolitics after the first Cold War undermines peace, sustainability, and human development. Hegemonic priorities continue to threaten humanity’s well-being and prospects for progress.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
End of first Cold War The end of the first Cold War has been interpreted in various ways, most commonly as a US triumph.
Francis Fukuyama famously proclaimed the ‘end of history’ with the victory of capitalism and liberal democracy.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and allied regimes, the US seemed unchallenged and unchallengeable in the new ‘unipolar’ world. The influential US journal Foreign Affairs termed ensuing US foreign policy ‘sovereigntist’.
(UN News)* — Central African nations continue to grapple with multidimensional crises, including security threats, extreme weather events and geopolitical tensions, a senior UN official said on Friday [], calling for renewed solidarity with nations in the region.
Abdou Abarry, UN Special Representative for Central Africa, told ambassadors in the Security Council that disasters and extreme weather events displaced more than three million people in the region this year alone.
This has worsened an already fragile socio-economic situation and underscored the need for stronger climate action.
MADRID, Dec 11 2024 (IPS)* – The available data is self-explanatory: business-prompted human activities have already altered over 70% of the Earth’s lands, with 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil lost due to industrial agriculture, the excessive use of chemicals, overgrazing, deforestation, pollution and other major threats.
Human activity has degraded over 70% of Earth’s land, with 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil lost annually. It takes up to 1,000 years to produce just 2-3 cm of soil. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS
Border Guards Use Force, Deny Access to Asylum Procedures
(Budapest) – Polish law enforcement is unlawfully, and sometimes violently, forcing people trying to enter the country back to Belaruswithout considering their protection needs, Human Rights Watch said on 10 December 2024.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 