Archive for ‘Asia’

17/11/2025

Lebanon: UN Peacekeeping Patrol Targeted by Israeli Tank, IDF Blames ‘Misidentification’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — On Sunday [], a foot patrol of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was targeted by an Israeli army Merkava tank from an Israeli position in Lebanese territory.
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According to the UN peacekeeping mission, bursts of heavy artillery hit an area just five meters away from the UNIFIL blue helmets, who had to quickly retreat and take shelter in the terrain.
UNIFIL peacekeepers on patrol (file)
© UNIFIL | UNIFIL peacekeepers on patrol (file)

Mission representatives were able to contact the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) via their communications channels and ask them to stop firing, UNIFIL explained in a press release. The patrol was able to leave safely half an hour later, when the tank withdrew to IDF positions.

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16/11/2025

The Silent War Before COP30: How Corporations Are Weaponising the Law to Muzzle Climate Defenders

Human Wrongs Watch

BELÉM, Brazil, Nov 10 2025 (IPS)** As the world prepares for the next COP30 summit, a quieter battle is raging in courtrooms.
Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are the fossil-fuel industry’s new favourite weapon, turning justice systems into instruments of intimidation.

Family agriculture and land defenders in Colombia. Credit: Both Nomads/Forus

“Speak out, and you’ll pay for it”

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16/11/2025

‘We’ll Always Need the Toilet’

Human Wrongs Watch

By the United Nations*

No matter what lies ahead, we will always rely on sanitation to protect us from diseases and keep our environment clean.

Today, billions of people still live without a safe toilet — with the poorest, especially women and girls, worst affected.

As time goes by, the pressure on sanitation is only increasing. Across the world, ageing infrastructure is failing. Investment hasn’t kept pace with demand.

And climate change is reshaping our world – with glaciers melting, weather worsening, and sea levels rising.

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16/11/2025

Diabetes Now Affects 1 in 6 Pregnancies: What You Need to Know

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Diabetes is one of the world’s fastest-growing health challenges – and its impact stretches across every life stage, from childhood to older age.

A girl is treated for diabetes at Jashpur district hospital in India.
© UNICEF/Mithila Jariwala | A girl is treated for diabetes at Jashpur district hospital in India.

This Friday [], for World Diabetes Day, the UN is highlighting how the disease affects pregnancy, in line with this year’s global theme of managing diabetes “across life stages”.

The organization has also launched its first-ever global guidelines on how to manage diabetes before, during and after pregnancy.

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15/11/2025

Over 1.7 Million Children Live in Areas Affected by Strongest Typhoon to Hit the Philippines This Year

Human Wrongs Watch

By UNICEF*

MANILA, 13 November 2025 – More than 1.7 million children are impacted by Super Typhoon Fung-wong, which made landfall in the Philippines on 9th November. 

Children impacted by Super Typhoon Fung-wong in the Philippines.
 
UNICEF/UNI896456/PiojoChildren stay in Reserva Elementary School in Baler, Aurora, as the province braced for the impact of Super Typhoon Uwan (international name: Fung-wong) on November 9, 2025.

The severe storm has wreaked havoc to children’s homes, schools, and access to health services across 16 regions in the archipelago that is already exhausted by multiple climate-related and geophysical shocks this year. 

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15/11/2025

Public Health Besieged by Industry Interference

Human Wrongs Watch

BANGKOK, Thailand, Nov 13 2025 (IPS)** – The 183 Parties to the global health treaty, WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will convene in Geneva from 17 – 22 November with one objective – to strengthen their efforts to arrest the No.1 preventable cause of disease and 7 million deaths annually – tobacco use.

Credit: Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control

The WHO FCTC is unique in that it serves to regulate a unique industry that produces and markets a uniquely harmful product.

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15/11/2025

‘Mobs’ Target Palestinians in Occupied West Bank, as Floods Roil Gaza

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Images emerged this week of what appear to be mobs of masked Israeli settlers carrying out arson attacks on Palestinian homes and property, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Friday [].

Families return to their destroyed homes in Gaza City.
© WFP/Maxime Le Lijour | Families return to their destroyed homes in Gaza City.

OHCHR condemned this week’s attacks as abhorrent and said they reflected a wider pattern of increased violence against Palestinians.

Several people were reportedly injured in the attacks, which included a raid on a dairy factory, while delivery trucks and homes were set ablaze. 

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15/11/2025

Millions of Lives at Risk, Warn UN Food Agencies, as Hunger Crisis Worsens

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) warn of a major hunger emergency, with acute food insecurity set to worsen in 16 countries and territories between now and May 2026, putting millions of lives at risk.

Freshly baked bread is handed out to people in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.
© WFP/Maxime Le Lijour | Freshly baked bread is handed out to people in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.

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14/11/2025

Gaza: War Has Made Children Violent, Sad and Bereft

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — More than nine in 10 children in Gaza are displaying signs of aggressive behaviour linked to more than two years of war between Hamas and Israel, welfare agencies have reported. 

A girl looks over the destruction of Gaza City.
© WFP/Maxime Le Lijour | A girl looks over the destruction of Gaza City.
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Issuing a warning that the children’s sense of stability and security has been eroded as key everyday services have collapsed, humanitarians insist that young Gazans will need “sustained, long-term efforts to recover.”

According to child safety partner assessments conducted in September, shared by the UN aid coordination office (OCHA), 93 per cent exhibited aggressive behaviour and 90 per cent were violent towards younger children.

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14/11/2025

From Haiti to Ethiopia: Voices of Climate Displacement at COP30

Human Wrongs Watch

By Felipe de Carvalho, in Belém

(UN News)* — Floods, heatwaves, droughts and storms are forcing millions from their homes every year. Most never cross a border; they remain internally displaced yet uprooted all the same. But experts warn that in the not-so-distant future, entire nations could disappear beneath rising seas or become uninhabitable through drought.

Natural disasters trigger the displacement of millions of people each year.
IOM/Muse Mohammed | Natural disasters trigger the displacement of millions of people each year.

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