Archive for ‘Latin America & Caribbean’

31/05/2025

Bright Products. Dark Intentions. Unmasking the Appeal

Human Wrongs Watch

By the World Health Organization*

Appealing flavours, but hidden dangers.
 
Shameless manipulation of our children, for industry profit.
.
WHO calls on all young people to join the fight to become a tobacco-free generation.
WHO | WHO calls on all young people to join the fight to become a tobacco-free generation.

Every day, tobacco and nicotine industries use carefully engineered products and deceptive tactics to hook a new generation of users and keep existing ones.

Keep the industry out.

30/05/2025

Don’t Let the Lights Go Out: UN Urges Support for Women and Girls in ‘the World’s Most Neglected Crises’

Human Wrongs Watch

By the UN Population Fund*

UNITED NATIONS, New York, 28 May 2025 – In 2025, as crises multiply and conflicts become increasingly protracted, humanitarian aid budgets are being slashed across the board.

Yet in many emergency settings, it is ordinary people – and especially women and girls – who are feeling the sharpest impact of these cuts.

A woman dressed in blue and yellow sits on the ground with a baby on her lap in front of an orange tarpaulin tent
A woman and her baby sit in a camp for displaced people in the Dayniile district of Mogadishu, Somalia. © UNFPA Somalia / Usame Nur Hussein

For those caught up in crises that have already been neglected for years, the fallout is all the more brutal. But what does chronic underfunding look like?

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29/05/2025

Climate Predictions Show Temperatures Expected to Remain at or Near Record Levels in Coming 5 Years

Human Wrongs Watch

28 May 2025 — Global climate predictions show temperatures are expected to continue at or near record levels in the next five years, increasing climate risks and impacts on societies, economies and sustainable development, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

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29/05/2025

Exponential Rise in Synthetic Drug Production and Trafficking in the Golden Triangle

Human Wrongs Watch

  (UN News)* — The Golden Triangle – the remote, jungle-covered border region where Thailand, Myanmar, and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic meet – has seen an exponential surge in the illicit manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs.

Organized crime gangs are operating in the Golden Triangle where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos converge.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson | Organized crime gangs are operating in the Golden Triangle where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos converge.

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27/05/2025

The Waiting Game: How a Maternity Home in Namibia Offers Women and Newborns a Better Chance at Surviving – and Thriving

Human Wrongs Watch

By the UN Population Fund*

KUNENE REGION, Namibia, 27 May 2025 – Kuliua Maundu, 26, remembers the night seven years ago like it was yesterday. “I was at home when the pain started,” she said. “I thought it was just labour, so I tried to sleep, thinking I’d go to the hospital in the morning.”

Three pregnant women sit on a step outside against a red wall laughing
The maternity waiting home in the Kunene region offers a place for up to 40 women to stay near the hospital, with skilled midwives on hand to offer care and advice, as well as a shared kitchen, dining room and bedrooms.© UNFPA Namibia

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26/05/2025

Organized Crime Groups Increasingly Embedded in Gold Supply Chain

Human Wrongs Watch

()* — The global drive for renewable energy technologies has sharply increased demand for so-called critical minerals, heightening the risk of crime, corruption, and instability across supply chains as organised crime groups infiltrate the mining industry.

A sample of gold taken from a mine.
© UNICEF/Claudia Berger | A sample of gold taken from a mine.

Criminal networks are increasingly seeking to gain control over extraction sites, trade routes, and refining infrastructure.

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26/05/2025

75% of Land-based Environment and 66% of Marine Environment, Significantly Altered by Human Actions

Human Wrongs Watch

(United Nations)* — As the global community is called to re-examine our relationship to the natural world, one thing is certain:

Close up of a tiger

The unrestricted exploitation of wildlife has led to the disappearance of many animal species at an alarming rate, destroying Earth’s biological diversity and upsetting the ecological balance. PHOTO:Vladimir Wrangel/Adobe Stock

despite all our technological advances we are completely dependent on healthy and vibrant ecosystems for our water, food, medicines, clothes, fuel, shelter and energy, just to name a few.

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24/05/2025

Artificial Intelligence Threatens 1 in 4 jobs – But Transformation, Not Replacement, Is the Real Risk

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Women and clerical workers face the highest risk of their roles being radically transformed by Artificial Intelligence, prompting calls for inclusive policy responses.

ILO researchers first developed a methodology in 2023, and later refined it in 2025, to estimate the potential effects of generative AI on existing occupations, and then in a second step, on employment.  20 May 2025
© Unsplash/Hitesh Choudhary | ILO researchers first developed a methodology in 2023, and later refined it in 2025, to estimate the potential effects of generative AI on existing occupations, and then in a second step, on employment. 20 May 2025

The study finds that transforming job descriptions, not widespread job loss, is the more likely result.

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23/05/2025

Haiti: Armed Violence and Insecurity Expose Already Vulnerable Children to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Armed violence and insecurity in Haiti have exposed already vulnerable children to sexual violence and exploitation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Wednesday .

Haitians displaced by violence find refuge on the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
© IOM/Antoine Lemonnier | Haitians displaced by violence find refuge on the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, gang violence has permeated the capital Port-au-Prince and expanded into other regions, displacing over one million people.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than half of the displaced are children, meaning one in eight Haitian children has been uprooted in recent years.

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22/05/2025

Agenda for Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference Still Unclear

Human Wrongs Watch

NEW YORK, May 21 2025 (IPS)* The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons must not be allowed to collapse under the weight of geopolitical cynicism, the preparatory committee at the UN heard.
 
The closing session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Credit: UN TV

The closing session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Credit: UN TV

This year, the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) (April 28-May 9) was intended to address procedural issues related to the treaty and the upcoming conference next year.

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