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.
(UN News)* —Civilians in Sudan – where rival militaries are waging a bloody war, with devastating consequences – are at a high risk of falling into catastrophic levels of hunger by May next year, the UN emergency food relief agency warned on Wednesday [].
(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.
Close to nine million people need humanitarian assistance and reports suggest that some 4000 people have been targeted and killed because of their ethnicity.
(UN News)* — A record 114 million forcibly displaced around the world represents a “crisis of humanity”, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday [] as the Global Refugee Forum got underway in Geneva.
The world’s largest gathering dedicated to refugee issues, the Forum is co-hosted by UNHCR and Switzerland and convened by Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan and Uganda.
Rome, 11 December 2023 (FAO)* — In 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is seeking a total of $1.8 billion within the Humanitarian Response Plans to assist 43 million people to produce their own food, as acute hunger continues to escalate worldwide.
The announcement by FAO was made as part of the United Nations’ large-scale humanitarian appeal, which was launched today on behalf of more than 1,900 humanitarian partners and covers 72 countries impacted by crises, both directly and indirectly.
DUBAI, Dec 12 2023 (IPS)* – The United State’s contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund equals nine minutes of Pentagon spending, says Jeffrey D. Sachs, a world-renowned economist, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development.
Jeffrey D. Sachs speaks at the ReWired Summit at COP28. Credit: X
(Beirut) – Houthi and Yemeni government forces have violated the rights of Taizz residents to water since the Houthis laid siege on Taizz city in 2015, creating a desperate situation, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today [11 December 2023].
Taiz, YEMEN, 6 December 2023 (UNFPA)* –“One day, when I was returning from fetching water, I collapsed on the road. I was bleeding so badly that I knew I was going to lose my baby.”
Umm Mahra was 31 years old and five months pregnant when she was forced to seek refuge with her family in a remote displacement camp in Taiz, in Yemen’s southwestern highlands.
Conflict had erupted across the country and a crippling drought took hold, exacerbating the situation for millions of people already fleeing for their lives.
(UNCCD)* —Recent drought-related data based on research in the past two years and compiled by the UN point to “an unprecedented emergency on a planetary scale, where the massive impacts of human-induced droughts are only starting to unfold.”
(UN News)* — The past decade has been confirmed the warmest ever recorded, continuing an alarming 30-year trend that the UN weather chief said on Tuesday [] is “unequivocally driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.”
UN Photo/Mark Garten | Secretary-General Visits Antarctica
Marked by record breaking land and ocean temperatures, the decade between 2011-2020 saw continued rising concentrations of greenhouse gasses that “turbo charged” dramatic glacier loss and sea-level rise, according to a new report from the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 