'Unseen' News and Views
Geneva (IOM)* – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 19 February 2-2o called on the international community including the European Union to find an alternative safe disembarkation mechanism for migrants rescued fleeing Libya by boat after roughly 200 migrants were returned to Tripoli, hours after the city’s main port was heavily shelled on Tuesday [18 February 2020].
IOM Libya staff assist migrants at a disembarkation point in Tripoli. Photo credit: IOM 2020
20 February 2020 (United Nations)* — Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality, or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.
For the United Nations, the pursuit of social justice for all is at the core of our global mission to promote development and human dignity.
The adoption by the International Labour Organization of the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization is just one recent example of the UN System’s commitment to social justice.
If the future is going to work for everyone, it will mean putting people and planet first. But how? Tell policymakers what you think!
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© Ronn aka “Blue” Aldaman
19 February 2020 (UN News)* — The world’s survival depends on children being able to flourish, but no country is doing enough to give them a sustainable future, dozens of highly respected international health experts on 19 February 2020.
In a UN-backed report assessing the capacity of 180 countries to ensure that their youngsters can survive and thrive, the authors highlight numerous “immediate” threats to their health, environment and opportunities.
As climate and commercial threats intensify, WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission presses for radical rethink on child health
Credits: PAHO/WHO/Fernando Revilla
No single country is adequately protecting children’s health, their environment and their futures, finds a landmark report released today [19 February 2020] by a Commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world.
Measures Proposed for the Sperm Whale and the Nut-Cracking Chimpanzee at UN Wildlife Conference
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Nut-cracking skills enable Chimpanzees to survive dry seasons in their western habitats © Tetsuro Matsuzawa Primate Research Institute, Kyoto
– When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addressed the 193-member General Assembly last December, he focused on the smoldering climate crisis– pointing out that the last five years have been the hottest ever recorded.
Ice caps are melting, he said, In Greenland alone, 179 billion tonnes of ice melted in July. Permafrost in the Arctic is thawing 70 years ahead of projections. Antarctica is melting three times as fast as a decade ago.
“Ocean levels are rising quicker than expected, putting some of our biggest and most economically important cities at risk.
– In an annual ritual early in the year, most major economic organizations have released forecasts for the global economy in 2020. Incredibly, almost as a reminder of where financial power resides in this day and age, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its forecasts at the World Economic Forum’s 50th annual meeting in Davos.
Anis Chowdhury
Although the IMF revised its global economic growth prognosis slightly downwards from its October 2019 forecast, it still offers the most optimistic prospect of 3.3% growth in 2020.
The World Bank’s forecast of 2.5% – identical to the United Nations (UN) estimate – is the lowest, with the OECD’s at 2.9%.
(UN News)* — Many animals – including birds, fish and mammals – migrate along set routes in search of food or breeding grounds. How best to protect them in a rapidly changing world is the focus of a major UN wildlife meeting which opened in Gandhinagar, India, on Monday [17 February 2020].
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 