'Unseen' News and Views
World Youth Skills Day, 15 July 2021
15 July 2021 (ILO)* — On World Youth Skills Day 2021, ILO Senior Youth Employment Specialist, Susana Puerto, speaks about the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s education and job prospects and the skills that are in demand by employers and a changing world of work.
World Youth Skills Day, 15 July 2021
NEW YORK, 14 July 2021 (UNICEF)* – Nearly 40 per cent of migrant and displaced youth identified education and skills training as their top priorities, while 30 per cent named employment opportunities, according to a new UNICEF poll announced on the eve of World Youth Skills Day.
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These findings were revealed through a U-Report poll of more than 26,000 people, including almost 9,000 young people (aged 14-24), across 119 countries.
The poll, conducted between 6 May and 1 June 2021, asked respondents about their aspirations to learn and earn, and the unique barriers they face – as a girl or as a refugee, trying to access the labour market with or without legal status.
Horatio upon seeing the ghost of his father: “O day and night, but this is wonderous strange.” Hamlet: “Therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
(Shakespeare in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5)
15 July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — If someone wanted to ruin his career, taking UFOs seriously has been a good way to do it. In polite circles, the idea that nonhuman species are visiting Earth from distant civilizations has ranked high on the kook scale. Now that might be changing.
(UN News)* — Although a new European Union (EU) climate initiative unveiled on 14 July 2021 could change global trade patterns to favour countries where production is relatively carbon efficient, its value in mitigating climate change will likely be limited, the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD, has warned.
Berlin (IOM)* – At least 1,146 people died attempting to reach Europe by sea in the first six months of 2021 according to a new briefing on 13 July 2021 released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
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At least 1,146 people died attempting to reach Europe by sea in the first six months of 2021. Photo: IOM
‘Tremendously off track’ to meet 2030 Sustainable Development Goals: UN chief
(UN News)* — Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020 – some 161 million more than for 2019 – the UN Secretary-General said on 12 July 2021; “new, tragic data”, which indicates the world is “tremendously off track” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
(UN News)* — Global hunger levels have skyrocketed because of conflict, climate change and the economic impact of COVID-19; and one in five children around the world is stunted, UN agencies on 12 July 2021 warned.
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– ‘No one is protected from the global pandemic until everyone is’ has become a popular mantra. But vaccine apartheid worldwide, due to rich countries’ policies, has made COVID-19 a developing country pandemic, delaying its end and global economic recovery.
Anis Chowdhury
Systemic inequities
Most rich countries have been blocking the developing country proposal to temporarily suspend relevant provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the duration of the pandemic to more affordably and effectively contain it.
Needed to quickly scale up production and affordable access to relevant diagnostic tests, medical treatments, personal protective equipment and prophylactic vaccines, the proposal – by South Africa and India in late 2020 – is now supported by more than two-thirds of WTO members.
The Biden administration has reversed Trump’s opposition to the proposal, albeit only for vaccines.
13 July 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Every once in a while, a seductive term comes along to save the fortress of rulers from being taken down by disgruntled ‘subjects’. We’ve had concepts like ‘inclusive’, ‘sustainable’, and ‘participatory’, each hiding what is otherwise business as usual. The latest in this lineage is ‘net-zero’.
World Youth Skills Day 2021 will again take place in a challenging context due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 