'Unseen' News and Views
(UN News)* — Climate change shocks caused record levels of disruption and misery for millions in Europe in 2023 with widespread flooding and severe heatwaves – a new normal which countries must adapt to as a priority, the UN weather agency said on Monday [].
‘Fear and loss’ multiplies in Sudan exodus
Thousands more are arriving by the day, agency spokesperson Olga Sarrado told journalists at the regular news briefing in Geneva.
– Developing countries are being blamed for having borrowed and spent irresponsibly. But they have only been doing what foreign powers and financial interests have urged them to do.
Ndongo Samba Sylla
Since the 2008 global financial crisis, developing nations have been told to borrow massively from private finance, even at exorbitant interest rates, to scale funding up ‘from billions to trillions’.
With progress towards sustainable development often in reverse, servicing external debt now blocks progress. Many governments have cut back spending in line with conditions or advice from powerful foreign economic agencies.
Current account tales
Many still believe all national economies should have trade or current account surpluses with others – typically citing Germany’s and Japan’s post-war booms. But of course, not all countries can have surpluses simultaneously.
How UNFPA helps mothers around the world embrace their right to good health and safe pregnancy
UNITED NATIONS, New York, 5 April 2024 (UNFPA)* -– Everyone has the right to health; and for women and girls, one aspect of this fundamental promise is the right to safe motherhood.
Yet every two minutes, a woman or girl still dies due to pregnancy or childbirth, with the vast majority of these tragedies preventable.
“I thought I was going to lose my baby and die on the journey to hospital.”
The chilling words of Samueline Razafindravao, who had to make the harrowing hours-long trip to the nearest specialist hospital in Ambovombe town in the Androy region of southern Madagascar after it became clear she might lose her child if she did not seek urgent medical attention.
(UN News)* — In April 1994, a sinister call was broadcast over radio stations across Rwanda, triggering the start of 100 days of genocide that left more than one million people dead. Henriette Mutegwaraba heard that call.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe | Henriette Mutegwaraba, survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and founder of the Million Lives Genocide relief fund, addresses the commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide.
“Every time I talk about it, I cry,” she told UN News, describing how propaganda spread messages of hate that sparked a deadly wave of unspeakable violence. She lost 60 family members and friends in the mass slaughter.
United Nations, Geneva
The UN is studying plans to close the Palais des Nations beginning 22 April. Only conferences would run, but some of the offices would shut.
In the earlier cutbacks, some of the Geneva offices remained closed or partially closed from 20 December last year to 12 January 2024.
Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, PhD, Former President of the Republic of Mauritius
Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
– The title of this piece is not mine.
It’s from the President of Turkiye calling for a reform of the United Nations Security Council.
It has since become a motto in the UN reform campaign encapsulating the shared resentment at a global system that gives the five Permanent members – The P5 of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – unfair and often destructive veto powers that undermines the very ideals for which the UN was established.
When improperly managed, much of that refuse—from food and plastics to electronics and textiles—emits greenhouse gases or poisonous chemicals.
This damages ecosystems, inflicts disease and threatens economic prosperity, disproportionately harming women and youth.
On 30 March, the world will mark the International Day of Zero Waste.
Nairobi, 27 March 2024 (UNEP)* -– Households across all continents wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger and a third of humanity faced food insecurity.
Food waste continues to hurt the global economy and fuel climate change, nature loss, and pollution. These are the key findings of a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report published today, ahead of the International Day of Zero Waste.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 