Archive for ‘Latin America & Caribbean’

03/09/2019

Extreme Heating: Are We Hot Enough to Act Now on Climate?

3 September 2019 (UN Environment)*  — The cautionary tale of the boiling frog describes how a frog that jumps into boiling water will save itself by jumping straight out, but the frog that sits in the water while it gradually gets hotter and hotter will boil to death. 

Wildfires 4 Wikimedia Forest_fire_in_Almora_District_2016

Photo by Wikimedia

This summer, Europe has sweltered in its hottest ever July since records began, causing multiple deaths, closed offices and disruptions to flights and vital services.

Wildfires broke out in the Arctic, with smoke-filled air swirling across an unprecedented area of Arctic wilderness.

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02/09/2019

Is the UN’s High Seas Treaty Heading Towards Troubled Waters?

Human Wrongs Watch

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 2 2019 (IPS)* The world’s high seas, which extend beyond 200 nautical miles, are deemed “international waters” to be shared globally– but they remain largely ungoverned.

Scientific-expeditions_

Scientific expeditions in recent years have revealed that the high seas, 200 nautical miles from coastal shores, harbor an incredible array of species that provide essential services for life on Earth. Credit: The Pew Charitable Trusts

“It’s a jungle out there”, remarks one diplomat, describing a virtually lawless wide-open ocean which has steadily undergone environmental destruction, including illegal fishing and overfishing, plastics pollutions, indiscriminate sea bed mining and degradation of marine eco systems.

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02/09/2019

Agriculture Is Crucial to Africa’s Development But Needs Increased Mechanization to Boost Productivity, Reduce Harvest Losses, Meet Growing Demand for Food

30 August 2019, Yokohama (FAO)* Agriculture is crucial to Africa’s development but needs increased mechanization to boost economic productivity, reduce harvest and post-harvest losses and meet growing demand for food.

02/09/2019

Trump Administration to Deport Sick Children, People with Disabilities

Policy Change Jeopardizes Rights to Health, Life

02/09/2019

Average Sea Surface and Land Temperatures across Large Parts of the World Are Forecast to Be Above Normal in September/November – World Meteorological Organization

2 September 2019 (WMO)*Average sea surface and land temperatures across large parts of the world are forecast to be above normal in September-November, despite the expected absence of a full-blown El Niño event, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
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El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a naturally occurring phenomenon involving fluctuating ocean temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific coupled with changes in the atmosphere: It is associated with hazards such as heavy rains, floods and drought in different parts of the world.

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02/09/2019

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Expresses Alarm at Statelessness Risk in India’s Assam

A woman carrying her son arrives to check her name on the draft list of the National Register of Citizens at an NRC centre in Chandamari village, India,

A woman carrying her son arrives to check her name on the draft list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) at an NRC centre in Chandamari village in the northeastern state of Assam, India. in January 2018.  © Reuters/Anuwar Hazarika (Photo posted here from UNHCR).

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02/09/2019

A Long, Steep Road to Equality for Women at Work in Latin America and the Caribbean

Human Wrongs Watch

Women in the region are earning 17 per cent less than men per hour, on average, and while an increasing number of women are entering the labour force, their treatment is still far from equal, according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report. | español | français 

 

LIMA, 27 August 2019 (ILO)* – Persistent gender gaps and lack of progress in achieving gender equality at work, requires countries in Latin American and the Caribbean to adopt a series of transformative measures, according to a new ILO Thematic Labour Overview Report.

02/09/2019

India Renders 2 Million Stateless, Far-Right BJP Slammed by Hindu Nationalists for Excluding Hindus

India excluded 1.9 million from citizenship dividing families who have submitted the same documents to prove they are living in India before Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. 

Indian rendered 1.9 million people from northeastern state of Assam stateless.

Indian rendered 1.9 million people from northeastern state of Assam stateless. | Photo: Reuters (Photo from teleSUR).

1 September 2019 (teleSUR)* — Nearly 2 million people have been left off a list of citizens released Saturday [31 August 2019] in India’s northeastern state of Assam, after a mammoth years-long exercise to remove so-called illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

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02/09/2019

Indigenous Peoples Protest in West Papua

Human Wrongs Watch

30 August 2019 (IGWIA)* “Monkey”, “pig”, “dog” – these words were shouted at a group of West Papuan students, who had been arrested and later released due to lack of evidence. They were accused of burning the Indonesian flag. This is the latest development in a more than 60-year struggle for the independence of West Papua.

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Photo credit: One PNG

Massive protests are currently taking place in West Papua, and news of victims on both sides has reached the media. A local indigenous organisation condemns the racist remarks and general stigmatisation of indigenous peoples in West Papua.

Thousands of people in West Papua have gone to the streets protesting against Indonesia’s government, and against the racism, they encounter in Indonesian society.

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02/09/2019

The Idea of Harmony – Religions in Modern China

Human Wrongs Watch

By Igor Micunovic*

August 2019 (Wall Street International*The core value of Chinese traditional culture is the concept of harmony (Hexie, 和谐). Harmony is, in fact, a complete ideological system that consists of not only values but also a philosophy with its own world outlook. To be more specific, harmony includes principles such as the Tai Chi (Taiji, 太极) philosophy and the yin-yang dialectics that help people understand the origins of human beings and the evolution of society.

Religions in China
Religions in China | Image from Wall Street International.

Based on these principles, ancient Chinese sages and philosophers established this ideological system that sought to attain a harmonious equilibrium in the world.

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