Archive for ‘Asia’

21/11/2025

West Bank: Israel Emptying Refugee Camps a Crime Against Humanity

Human Wrongs Watch

By Human Rights Watch*

Tens of Thousands of Palestinians Forcibly Displaced in Early 2025 Denied Return

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Women carry children as Israeli forces forcibly displace them from Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank, with Israeli soldiers looking on, one with his weapon raised, on February 10, 2025. © 2025 Wahaj Bani Moufleh

(Jerusalem) – The Israeli government’s forced displacement of the populations of three West Bank refugee camps in January and February 2025 amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on 20 November 2025.

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21/11/2025

Security Council’s Veto Power Is ‘Poster Child’ of Global Gridlock: UN General Assembly President

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock warned on Thursday [] that repeated deadlock in the Security Council has become the “poster child” for wider global gridlock, undermining trust in multilateral institutions.

General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock chairs a meeting on the report of the International Criminal Court.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe | General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock chairs a meeting on the report of the International Criminal Court.

The UN was founded to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” Ms. Baerbock said, but the world body is struggling to meet that mandate when the Council is blocked by a veto from one of its five permanent members: China, France, Russia, the UK and the US).

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20/11/2025

Gaza: Displaced Palestinians Dealing with the ‘Death of Dignity’, Warns UNICEF

Human Wrongs Watch

Washing is hung up to dry in a damaged home in Gaza City.
© WFP/Maxime Le Lijour | Washing is hung up to dry in a damaged home in Gaza City.

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20/11/2025

Artificial Intelligence Has an Environmental Problem. Here’s What the World Can Do about That

Human Wrongs Watch

By the UN Environment Programme*

SciencePhoto Library via AFP

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20/11/2025

Top Syria Envoy: Humanitarian Conditions Are “Extremely Serious”

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Nearly a year on from the fall of Assad, Syrians still lack many basic necessities as the transitional government works to shore up the economy and build social cohesion.

A man sells vegetables on the streets of Idleb in Syria.
© UNOCHA/Ali Haj Suleiman | A man sells vegetables on the streets of Idleb in Syria.

Humanitarian conditions are “extremely serious,” UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi told the Security Council on Wednesday [].

There are over 16 million people in need of aid with hundreds of thousands displaced, according to the UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA).

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20/11/2025

Ending Violence against Women ‘a Matter of Dignity, Equality and Human Rights’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — When Salma* was just 15, she was forced to get married, even though she wanted to stay in school and become a doctor someday.

The National Council of Justice (CNJ) of Brazil signed a cooperation agreement with the iFood delivery platform to combat violence against women.
Agência Brasil/Joédson Alves | The National Council of Justice (CNJ) of Brazil signed a cooperation agreement with the iFood delivery platform to combat violence against women.
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Instead, she found herself tied to a man who “changed from being kind to being a monster.” He would beat her “with his bare hands,” she said recently.

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19/11/2025

Ending World Hunger Costs Less than 1% of Military Spending

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Ending hunger by 2030 would cost just $93 billion a year — less than one per cent of the $21.9 trillion spent on military budgets over the past decade, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

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A woman in the eastern DR Congo, who was forced to flee her home, due to violence works on a smallholding.
© WFP/Benjamin Anguandia | A woman in the eastern DR Congo, who was forced to flee her home, due to violence works on a smallholding.

By 2026 a staggering 318 million people would face crisis levels of hunger or worse, more than double the figure recorded in 2019, the food agency reported in its 2026 Global Outlook.

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18/11/2025

Methane Is the Fastest Climate Win — Here’s the Data the World Needs

Human Wrongs Watch

17 November 2025 — Methane might only stay in the atmosphere for a short time, but its impact is powerful—and cutting it is one of the quickest ways to slow global warming.

Methane is the fastest climate win — here’s the data the world needs

Credit: UNEP

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17/11/2025

European Banks Pour Nearly €8 Billion a Year into Critical Minerals Mining Despite Links to Human Rights and Environmental Abuses

Meanwhile, the EU rolls back and weakens its sustainability and green rules

17 November 2025 — New Oxfam, Fair Finance International and 11.11.11. report exposes how Europe’s banks and investors are blindly investing in mining companies linked to land grabs, pollution and human rights violations.

This comes ahead of the EU’s Raw Materials Week.  

The report, “Financing Critical Minerals but Failing Critical Safeguards”, finds that Europe’s drive to secure critical raw materials needed for the green transition inadvertently fuels human rights abuses and environmental harm.

 
 

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17/11/2025

Healing the Hidden Wounds of Childbirth

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — In Somalia, where six out of ten births take place without a doctor, childbirth is often a matter of survival. 

A patient recovering from fistula repair surgery is examined at Dayniile Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia.

© UNFPA/Usame Nur Hussein | A patient recovering from fistula repair surgery is examined at Dayniile Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia.

For women like 38-year-old Farhiya from rural Beletweyne, the consequences can be devastating — a painful obstetric fistula, a hole in the birth canal that left her incontinent, isolated, and cut off from her community.

“I was stressed, constantly worried, and isolated from my community. I was living in my house as if I had some sort of contagious disease,” she said.

In Somalia, 6 out of 10 births occur without a doctor present, which often leads to childbirth complications like obstetric fistula.

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