'Unseen' News and Views
(UN News)* — The outbreak of conflict seven months ago in Sudan has led to “a convergence of a worsening humanitarian calamity and a catastrophic human rights crisis”, according to a senior UN official, and the restive region of Darfur has been particularly badly affected.
In a region scarred by years of wars and displacement, climate change and water scarcity have become yet another threat for fragile contexts in Middle East and North Africa.
Dried reeds in the marshes of southern Iraq. Photo: Fareed Baram/NRC
In this region, populations’ ability to cope with the impacts of climate change is limited, thereby aggravating their overall vulnerability.
How Uzbekistan’s farmers are overcoming soil salinity and water shortages.
After years of soil degradation in western Uzbekistan, smallholder farmers like Adyl have turned to climate-smart techniques to tackle the impacts of drought. ©Temur Khujanazarov
The industrial agriculture paradigm, which sees the world as a machine, and not as a self-organized living system, has created devastation on the planet, while contributing significantly to the issue of climate change.
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Navdanya International’s latest graphic report, ‘Regeneration is Life‘, presented at Cop 28 in Dubai, analyzes the actual causes at the root of climate change and highlights the true regenerative solutions against the false solutions proposed by polluters.
(UN News)* — This year’s surprising spike in dengue infections globally represents a potentially high public health threat, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday [22 December 2023].
© UNDP/Gwenn Dubourthoumieu | Bed nets protect against mosquitoes that carry diseases like malaria and dengue fever.
The warning came as WHO reported more than five million dengue infections and 5,000 deaths from the disease worldwide this year.
By Bill Frelick, Director, Refugee and Migrant Rights Division | Human Rights Watch*
Lawmakers Demand Mandatory Detention in Return for Aid Support
The Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, New Mexico, US, September 29, 2022. © 2023 Andres Leighton/AP Photo
The Biden administration is reportedly considering accepting mandatory detention of asylum seekers, one of the demands of Republican Party lawmakers to “secure the border” in exchange for passing the administration’s supplemental aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and US border enforcement.
The US Immigration and Nationality Act already makes detention mandatory for asylum seekers in expedited removal who are awaiting credible fear of persecution interviews.
(WMO)* — Mountains Matter and the Cryosphere is Critical is the message from the peaks to the valleys to the desert landscape of COP28 in Dubai on International Mountain Day, an annual event on 11 December drawing attention to the importance of our mountain ecosystems to the whole planet. 
(UN News)* — Heavy rains created new misery in Gaza as UN humanitarians repeated deep concerns on Thursday [] over the deteriorating health situation in the Strip, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and fighting with Palestinian armed groups.
UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said that many areas in the enclave have been flooded, “worsening the struggle of displaced Palestinians”, while UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini was due to brief journalists in Geneva on the situation on Thursday, following his most recent visit to Gaza.
4 Dec 2023 – Yesterday, a large number of registered voters in Venezuela voted in a referendum over the Essequibo region that is disputed with neighboring Guyana. Nearly all those who voted answered yes to the five questions.
Vijay Prashad
These questions asked the Venezuelan people to affirm the sovereignty of their country over Essequibo.
“Today,” said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, “there are no winners or losers.” The only winner, he said, is Venezuela’s sovereignty. The principal loser, Maduro said, is ExxonMobil.
In 2022, ExxonMobil [read Rockefeller] made a profit of $55.7 billion, making it one of the world’s richest and most powerful oil companies.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 