'Unseen' News and Views
Washington, DC – Asylum seekers sent to Mexico by the administration of former US president Donald Trump have suffered violence and extortion by Mexican police, immigration agents, and criminal groups, Human Rights Watch on 5 March 2021 said.
– Marcela Loaiza was just 21 years old when a man approached her at her workplace in Pereira City, Colombia with promises of fame and money. The well-dressed, mysterious Colombian said he could give her an opportunity for a better life. Loaiza was also working at a supermarket to support herself and her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter.
Credit: Unsplash /Melanie Wasser.“He said he want to help me to become an international dancer, that he would take me to another country to sing,” Loaiza told IPS News from her Las Vegas home.
Obock, Djibouti (IOM)* – At least 20 people have drowned after smugglers threw dozens of migrants overboard early 3 March 2021 morning during their journey from Djibouti to Yemen, the third such incident on the Gulf of Aden in six months.
Fishing boats such as this one abandoned outside Obock, Djibouti, are used to smuggle tens of thousands of migrants annually across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen where they continue their journey to Gulf countries in search of work. Photo: IOM/2018
Survivors receiving medical treatment at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Migrant Response Centre in Obock said at least 200 migrants, including children, were crowded aboard the vessel when it departed. Thirty minutes into the journey the smugglers forced roughly 80 people into the sea. Five bodies were recovered on 3 March.
Nairobi/Paris, 4 March 2021 (UNEP)* – An estimated 931 million tonnes of food, or 17% of total food available to consumers in 2019, went into the waste bins of households, retailers, restaurants and other food services, according to new UN research conducted to support global efforts to halve food waste by 2030.
The weight roughly equals that of 23 million fully loaded 40-tonne trucks — bumper-to-bumper, enough to circle the Earth 7 times.
(UN News)* — Institutional suspicion and fear of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim has escalated to epidemic proportions, the Human Rights Council heard on Thursday [4 March 2021]. Addressing the Council in Geneva, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, independent rights expert Ahmed Shaheed, said that “numerous” States, regional and international bodies were to blame.
(UN News)* — Trapping and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil power generation and industry is needed urgently to achieve carbon neutrality, the UN’s Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) said in a report published on Wednesday [3 March 2021].
.
The net-zero emissions goal is crucial to limit global warming, as outlined in the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the technology brief calls for rapid scale-up of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS).
The process involves capturing CO2 emissions from coal and gas power plants, and from heavy industry, for deep underground storage or re-use.
(UN News)* — The world still has a “fighting chance” to limit global warming by ending dependence on coal, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told representatives from governments, local authorities and the private sector, meeting online on Tuesday [2 March 2021].
Addressing members of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, the UN chief stressed that keeping temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is achievable over this decade.
“Once upon a time, coal brought cheap electricity to entire regions and vital jobs to communities. Those days are gone”, he said in a video message. “Phasing out coal from the electricity sector is the single most important step to get in line with the 1.5 degree goal.”
3 March 2021 (UNEP)* — Deserts and drylands are often far from the barren images they are known for. These ecosystems play a vital role in climate regulation – nearly 46 per cent of global carbon is stored in drylands. Despite the harsh conditions, they are home to over 2 billion people and harbor some of the world’s rarest biodiversity. Many deserts contain hidden water bodies that sustain several species of flora and fauna.
Shutterstock
To raise awareness about these unique but often overlooked ecosystems; the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) has launched a Wild for Life virtual journey through three unique deserts: the rocky Gobi Desert in Central Asia; Wadi Rum in Jordan and the expansive Sahara Desert.
Representatives of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, Governments, civil society and the private sector came together to celebrate the role of forest communities and their experiences in conserving the world’s forests.
.
Geneva/Jackson Hole, WY/Rome/New York, 3 March 2021 (UNDP)* – For the first-ever virtual celebration of the United Nations World Wildlife Day, representatives of UN Member States, UN System organizations, international and non-governmental organizations, Indigenous Peoples and Local communities, and youth took part in an online event marking the Day.
2 March 2021 (United Nations)* — World Wildlife Day will be celebrated in 2021 under the theme “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet“, as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forested and forest-adjacent areas.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 