New investigation shows how a US Christian right group is pushing an ‘unproven, unethical’ treatment to ‘reverse’ abortions
Illustration: Inge Snip
25 March 2021 (openDemocracy)* — “You are the first client I personally have worked with in Germany, but we have assisted many women all over Europe,” a US-based nurse told an openDemocracy undercover reporter, posing as a woman who had taken the first, but not the second, pill required to have a medical abortion.
(UN News)* — Though significant steps have been taken to prevent debt crises across the world sparked by the COVID-19 crisis, they have not been sufficient to restore economic stability in many developing countries, according to a policy brief issued by the UN Secretary-General on Monday 29 March 2021.
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UN News\Vibhu Mishra | Developing countries, in particular, have been hit hard by the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Pictured, here a daily wage earner during the COVID-19 lockdown in Kathmandu, Nepal.
SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 30 2021 (IPS)* – COVID-19 has set back the uneven progress of recent decades, directly causing more than two million deaths. The slowdown, due to the pandemic and policy responses, has pushed hundreds of millions more into poverty, hunger and worse, also deepening many inequalities.
Anis Chowdhury
Development setbacks
The outlook for developing countries is grim, with output losses of 5.7% in 2020. Compared to pre-pandemic trends, the expected 8.1% loss by end-2021 will be much worse than advanced countries dropping 4.7%.
COVID-19 has further set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As progress was largely ‘not on track’ even before the pandemic, developing countries will need much support to mitigate the new setbacks, let alone get back on track.
In late 2020 Robert J. Burrowes and myself were asked by some Melbourne activists protesting against the lockdowns and Covid vaccinations to help them develop more effective strategy.
Anita McKone
Many of the protesters were new to activism, and those with an inclination towards following a nonviolent approach wanted education in this area.
In February, Robert and I ran two Introduction to Nonviolent Action workshops, and one Nonviolent Strategy weekend, and with the inspiration and input of this great group of participants, I have now put the basics of a worldwide nonviolent campaign strategy to defeat the Great Reset on a website. We have named this campaign We Are Human, We Are Free.
The website is designed as a resource that activists anywhere in the world can use to develop effective local nonviolent campaigns.
(UN News)* — Now is not the moment to reduce humanitarian aid to Syria, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told the Security Council on Monday 29 March 2021, stressing that after 10 years of conflict, more support was needed to avoid further “dramatic and widespread” deterioration.
Mark Lowcock, who’s also the Humanitarian Affairs chief, said that after a decade of “death, destruction, displacement, disease, dread and despair”, Syrians “see no respite”.
Shark fin soup is well-known. When we hear that 100 million sharks are killed every year by the fishing industry, some people may assume it’s because of shark fin soup. But these assumptions are just not true. Only focusing on shark fin soup crowds out other reasons sharks are in trouble, including a huge global market for shark products like meat and oil.
“We want Thai society to understand that our people have lived in the forest for countless generations. We are not intruders. We are guardians of the forest.”
27 March 2021 (UN News)* — The UN is scaling up its efforts to help Nepal, which faces numerous natural threats, to become more resilient, minimize human casualties and preserve livelihoods.
UNDP Nepal | Nepal has promoted farming which helps to reduce the impact of natural disasters.
Floods, landslides and wildfires are regularly occurring threats in Nepal, and the climate crisis is making such extreme weather events more frequent, and unpredictable.
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Working closely with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the Nepalese Government is ensuring that the voices of marginalized groups, such as women, people with disabilities, and indigenous communities, are heard and taken into consideration in their plans, which include early warning systems, off-grids clean energy solutions, and reforestation.
CRATER, Yemen, 25 March 2021 (UNFPA)* — “It was the morning of a normal working day before fighting escalated close to the hospital. I heard a mother screaming at the gate,” midwife Shrook Khalid Saeed told UNFPA this week at the Al Shaab Hospital in the district of Crater, in Yemen.
(UN News)* — Two senior UN officials denounced on Sunday [28 March 2021], “systematic” attacks on peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar and flagged that the international community has a responsibility to protect the people from atrocities.
Unsplash/Zinko Hein | People across ethnic and religious divides hold vigil in Yangon, Myanmar.
Following another day of widespread bloodshed by the Myanmar military, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, strongly condemned the Myanmar military’s widespread, lethal, increasingly systematic attacks against peaceful protesters, as well as other serious violations of human rights since it seized power on 1 February.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 