Human Wrongs Watch
14 March 2024 (UNICEF)* — Most people know that you can’t survive without water. But the truth is slightly more nuanced. You need more than just water – you need SAFE water.
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UNICEF/UN0211984/Noorani
25/03/2024
‘Extremely Alarming’ Conditions Worsen in Haiti’s Capital
Human Wrongs Watch
(UN News)* — The situation in the gang-ravaged capital of Haiti has gone from worrying to “extremely alarming” as conditions in Port-au-Prince continue to worsen amid growing hunger and serious shortages in hospitals to treat gunshot victims, said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator there on Thursday [].
25/03/2024
World’s Democracies Threatened by Disinformation Generated by Artificial Intelligence
Human Wrongs Watch
On March 21, the 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution—the first ever — on the promotion of “safe, secure and trustworthy” artificial intelligence (AI) systems that will also benefit “sustainable development for all”. Adopting a United States-led draft resolution, without a vote, the Assembly also highlighted the respect, protection and promotion of human rights in the design, development, deployment and the use of AI. The text was “co-sponsored” or backed by more than 120 other Member States
Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
– Speaking at the third Summit for Democracy in South Korea last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that a malicious “flood” of disinformation is threatening the world’s democracies—triggered in part by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
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21/03/2024
Democracy’s Contested Territory
Human Wrongs Watch
– This year more than half the world’s population has the chance to go to the polls. That might make it look like the most democratic year ever, but the reality is more troubling.
Too many of those elections won’t give people a real say and won’t offer any opportunity for change.
Credit: Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images
2024’s bumper election year comes as a record number of countries are sliding towards authoritarianism, and global advances in democratisation achieved over more than three decades have been all but wiped out.
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20/03/2024
Records Smashed – New WMO Climate Report Confirms 2023 Hottest So Far
Human Wrongs Watch
(UN News)* — Records were once again broken for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, ice cover and glacier retreat, a new global report issued by the UN weather agency (WMO) on Tuesday [] shows.
Heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones caused misery and mayhem, upending everyday life for millions and inflicting many billions of dollars in economic losses, according to the WMO State of the Global Climate 2023 report.
“Sirens are blaring across all major indicators… Some records aren’t just chart-topping, they’re chart-busting. And changes are speeding up,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a video message for the launch.
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16/03/2024
Top United Nations Officials Condemn the Rising Tide of Anti-Muslim Hate
Human Wrongs Watch
(UN News)* — Amid a rising tide of anti-Muslim hate, top UN officials condemned the scourge on Friday [] as the General Assembly adopted a resolution to push back against it during commemorations marking the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
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The new resolution, tabled by Pakistan, calls for, among other things, concerted action to fight ongoing violence against Muslims and requests the UN Secretary-General to appoint a special envoy to combat Islamophobia.
The world body created the International Day through a resolution adopted following attacks on two mosques Christchurch, New Zealand, that left 51 people dead on this day in 2019.
Prior to adopting the new resolution, by a vote of 113 in favour to none against, with 44 abstentions, a divided Assembly rejected by a close margin two amendments proposed by a group of European nations.
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15/03/2024
Haiti: World Food Programme ‘Will Be Forced to Stop Serving Hot Meals to Those Who Urgently Need Food as Soon as Next Week Due to Lack of Funds’
Human Wrongs Watch
(UN News)* — Out-of-control gang violence has created a humanitarian crisis in Haiti that the UN aims to help alleviate with the creation of an airbridge with the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
15/03/2024
Waves of Violence Have Displaced More Than 15,000 Haitians in Just a Week – “Port-au-Prince Is Under Siege”
Human Wrongs Watch
(UN News)* — Waves of violence have displaced more than 15,000 Haitians in just a week amid ongoing looting at the country’s main port, according to the latest report from the UN agency for migration, as the Security Council on Monday [] strongly condemned “destabilizing” criminal activity by armed gangs ravaging the Caribbean nation.
Council members urged the armed gangs to “immediately cease their destabilizing actions” and reiterated the call for the “perpetrators of these abhorrent acts to be brought to justice”, according to a statement issued following a closed-door briefing last week by the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
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13/03/2024
‘Haiti Is on the Edge of a Devastating Hunger Crisis…’
Human Wrongs Watch
World Food Programme scrambles to respond to hunger crisis in Haiti amid funding crunch as country teeters on the brink
Photo: WFP/Antoine Vallas
PORT-AU-PRINCE, (WFP)* -– The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has on 12 March 2024 warned that Haiti is on the edge of a devastating hunger crisis, with humanitarian operations at risk of grinding to a halt, as rampant insecurity limits access to communities and donor funding dries up.
As fighting raging across the capital, WFP has been able to reach almost 300,000 people in the first ten days of March, delivering vital hot meals, food distributions, mobile money transfers and meals in schools. read more »
13/03/2024
Global South Stagnating under Heavier Debt Burden
Human Wrongs Watch
– Much higher interest rates – due to Western central banks – are suffocating developing nations, especially the poorest, causing prolonged debt distress and economic stagnation.
US Fed-induced stagnation
After the greatest US Fed-led surge in international interest rates in more than four decades, developing countries spent $443.5 billion to service their external government and government-guaranteed debt in 2022.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
The World Bank’s last International Debt Report showed most of the poorest countries in debt distress as borrowing costs began to surge.
The increase has cut into scarce fiscal resources, reducing social spending on health and education.
Debt-servicing costs for all developing countries in 2022 increased by 5% over 2021. The US Fed continued to raise interest rates through 2023, compounding debt distress, while the European Central Bank warns against ‘prematurely’ lowering interest rates.
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