UNITED NATIONS, Sep 19 2023 (IPS)* – Politically, the United Nations has largely been described as a monumental failure —with little or no progress in resolving some of the world’s past and ongoing military conflicts and civil wars, including Palestine, Western Sahara, Kashmir, and more recently, Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan and Myanmar, among others.
Credit: United Nations
Still, to give the devil its due, the UN has made some remarkable progress providing food, shelter and medical care to millions of people caught in military conflicts, including in Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, Libya and Somalia. Has the UN been gradually transformed into a humanitarian aid organization — diplomats without borders?
The military-industrial complex needs enemies. Without them it would wither. Thus, at the end of the Second World War, this vast power complex was faced with a crisis, but it was saved by the discovery of a new enemy: Communism.
John Scales Avery
However, at the end of the Cold War there was another terrible crisis for the military establishment, the arms manufacturers and their supporters in research, government and the mass media.
People spoke of the “peace dividend”, i.e., constructive use of the trillion dollars that the world wastes each year on armaments.
However, just in time, the military-industrial complex was saved from the nightmare of the “peace dividend” by the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
(UN News)* — The number of children missing out on any schooling has increased by six million, bringing the total to 250 million, according to new figures released on Monday [] by the UN Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The increase is partly due to the mass exclusion of women and girls from education in Afghanistan but can also be attributed to broader stagnation in education provision worldwide.
The findings undermine UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, which sets the goal of quality education for all by 2030.
(UN News)* — Over 4.5 billion people worldwide lack coverage for essential health services the UN health agency said on Monday [], underscoring the need for stronger political commitment and increased government investment.
Moreover, two billion face severe financial hardships when paying out-of-pocket for necessary medical treatment, according to a joint World Health Organization (WHO)-World Bank report.
(UN News)* — The world is falling worryingly short in terms of closing the gender gap as part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) warned UN Women on Thursday [].
The new Gender Snapshot report from the UN’s gender equality agency at this midway point towards the SDGs warns that if current trends continue, over 340 million women and girls will be living in poverty by 2030. That represents eight per cent of the female population worldwide.
Close to one in four will experience moderate or severe food insecurity and at the current rate of progress, the next generation of women will still be spending 2.3 more hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work than men.
BULAWAYO and BONN, Sep 4 2023 (IPS)* – Mango farmer Eufria Nyadome used to earn USD 60 from selling a 20-litre bucket of fresh mangoes and now can barely make USD 20 even though her mango trees are giving a good yield. She is throwing away buckets of rotten mangoes.
Wild boar female (Susscrofa) walking on mud beside a river with her piglets. The wild boar is an invasive Alien Species in countries such as South Africa, Vanuatu, and Uruguay. Credit: Budimir Jevtic/Shutterstock
Nyadome, from Mhondiwa Village in Ward 9 Murehwa District of Zimbabwe, has lost her income to an invasive Oriental fruit fly all the way from Asia.
(UN News)*— Amplified by wildfires and desert dust fanned by climate change, more frequent heatwaves are leading to a sharp drop in air quality and human health, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a new report on Wednesday [].
UN News | In early June 2023, strong wind brought heavy smoke from wildfires in Canada to New York City.
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The news came as the UN chief released a strongly worded statement on a record summer of global warming in the northern hemisphere, according to the European Union’s climate service Copernicus and WMO.
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Earth has just experienced its hottest August on record – by a large margin – and the second hottest month ever after this July.
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Factoring in June, they represent the hottest three month period ever, the data indicates. The year overall is the second warmest on record behind 2016.
(UN News)* — Startling findings from a new UN data platform reveal that the marine dredging industry is extracting a staggering six billion tons of sand and sediment annually.
This is equivalent to over one million dump trucks every day – placing immense pressure on marine biodiversity and the well-being of coastal communities.
(UN News)* — Food assistance to two million people in Afghanistan will have to be cut later this month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday [].
Forced to take the drastic measures citing a “massive funding shortfall”, WFP will only be able to provide emergency assistance to three million people per month across the country from October.
(UN News)* — Members of the African diaspora continue to face immense challenges participating in public life in many countries, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said in a new report on Tuesday [].
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Unsplash | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk urged States to “accelerate action towards meaningful, inclusive and safe participation for people of African descent in every aspect of public affairs”.
It details how systemic racism, marginalization and exclusion, rooted in the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, continue to have a negative effect on all aspects of life.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 