13 Sepetmber 2020 (Human Rights Watch)* — Fires that consumed Europe’s largest refugee camp, Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos earlier this week have left nearly 13,000 men, women, and children without shelter or access to basic services.
On 16 August 1819, an estimated 60,000 pro-democracy and anti-poverty activists were peacefully protesting the utterly corrupt nature of the Parliament in Westminster and demanding the reform of parliamentary representation (which afforded less than 2% of people the right to vote).
Robert J. Burrowes
The gathering took place in St Peter’s Field, Manchester in England.
The protest was precipitated by the acute economic slump, including chronic unemployment and harvest failure, following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars as well as by enforcement of the Corn Laws which kept the price of bread high, by blocking (or imposing tariffs on) the import of cheap grains, at the expense of ordinary people.
It is hard to know where things began when we are already in the middle of it all
We suffer through today’s a difficult, complicated and partially obfuscated time | Image from Wall Street International.
12 September 2020 (Wall Street International)* — It is hard to know where things began when we are already in the middle of it all. This is especially so as we suffer through today’s difficult, complicated and partially obfuscated time. Perhaps the beginning occurred in 1865 when the American Civil War was officially declared ended, but continued to seethe in less organized ways.
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 11 2020 (IPS) – Back in 1998, Senator Jesse Helms, a rightwing Republican from the US state of North Carolina, carried out a virulent one-man hate-campaign against the UN– and its very presence in New York.
World leaders have been urged to stay home in the first “virtual” UN General Assembly sessions in the 75-year history of the United Nations. The annual high-level sessions, with mostly pre-recorded video speeches, begin September 22. The UN says there will be “no marvelling at seemingly endless presidential motorcades on First Avenue and no “standing-room only” moments in the gilded General Assembly Hall, as the Organization’s busiest time of the year is reimagined in the time of COVID-19. Credit: Anton Uspensky, UN News
10 September 2020 (UN Environment)* — They say a picture is worth a thousand words, a map could be worth a million. To understand the complex interactions between nature and human society, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has teamed up with MapX – an online platform for managing geospatial data on natural resources.
Glacial lakes in Bhutan. Photo: NASA 2016
“Nature’s value is often invisible in the economic choices we make,” said Salman Hussain, Head of Ecosystem Services Economics at UNEP.
“As a result, we have been drawing down our natural capital without accounting for the costs of nature’s ability to provide humanity with essential services.”
The Sinja Valley in northwest Nepal is a breathtaking place with a rich history. Plunging mountainsides and rocky caves hide ruins of grand palaces and temples: remains of the capital city of the influential Western Malla kingdom that ruled the area between the 12th and 14th century.
(UN News)* — A proposed new anti-terrorism law in Switzerland could set a dangerous precedent for the suppression of political dissent worldwide, a group of five independent UN human rights experts warned on Friday [11 September 2020].
Unsplash/Claudio Schwarz | The Swiss parliament building in the capital, Bern.
The draft legislation, currently before the Swiss Parliament, expands the definition of terrorism and no longer requires the prospect of any crime at all, they said, in a plea for a last-minute reversal by legislators.
Scams and exploitation from UK employment agencies have increased by two thirds during lockdown, yet the government is failing to take action.
Steve Parsons/PA Archive/PA Images
9 September 2020 (openDemocracy)* — Employment agencies operate at the heart of almost every key worker profession, employing around one million workers in the UK. It has long been an industry rife with exploitation, including recruitment scams, non-payment and even modern slavery.
But according to SAFERjobs, a charity that assists flexible economy workers, the spike in unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is being capitalised on by criminals.
7 September 2020 (FAO)* — The problem? Burning crop residues. Although it causes a variety of health issues and significantly raises levels of pollution, it is a common practice in India and many other countries around the world. The solution? Turn the crop residues into something useful, such as bioenergy.
11 September 2020 (UN News)* — Fresh fires at a Greek island centre for thousands of refugees and migrants, have destroyed all remaining accommodation for those affected by the initial blaze on 11 September 2020 evening.
In an alert on Friday, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that people of all ages have been left homeless in Lesbos after further fires on Wednesday and Thursday.
Moria camp on Lesbos island following a fire that started on the evening of September 8, 2020, destroying most of the camp and leaving 12,000 asylum seekers and refugees without shelter. © 2020 Private
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 