KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jul 24 2024 (IPS)* –– Many low-income countries (LICs) continue to slip further behind the rest of the world. Meanwhile, people in extreme poverty have been increasing again after decades of decline.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram
Falling further behind
World output more than doubled from $36 trillion in 1990 to $87 trillion by 2021 (in constant US dollars), but this growth has not been evenly distributed, causing most LICs to fall further behind.
Many of the world’s poorest economies have had meagre growth since the 1960s. As most developing countries have made progress, income gaps among nations have declined.
(UN News)* —A UN convoy has been hit by “heavy shooting” from Israeli forces at a checkpoint while en route to Gaza City, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Monday [].
UNRWA | A displaced Palestinian woman washes clothes in a classroom at shelter run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 22 2024 (IPS)* ––The Palestinians in Gaza have been victims of a double tragedy: killings by Israel’s mostly American-made weapons and deaths by starvation.
A family cooks a meal in a temporary accommodation in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Credit: UN World Food Programme (WFP)
And now comes a revelation of a new weapon of war: how Israel has been systematically weaponizing water against Palestinians in Gaza, according to a new report from the global human rights organization, Oxfam.
On the outskirts of Lebanon’s second capital, Tripoli, lies a Palestinian refugee camp that is almost as old as their plight itself.
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UN News/Ezzat El-Ferri | A girl sitting on the steps to her home in the Al Biddawi camp for Palestine refugees in northern Lebanon.
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()* —The Al Biddawi camp for Palestine refugees was established in 1955 to host many of those who had been forcibly displaced from the Upper Galilee and northern coastal cities during what is known as the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic.
Climate change is fuelling flooding and other forms of extreme weather, causing fresh displacement and making life even harder for people already uprooted from their homes.
(UN News)* — In Gaza, overwhelmed hospitals, soaring temperatures, hunger and a lack of even basic sanitation present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday [].
UNRWA | Forcibly displaced by Israeli relocation orders, Palestinians take as many belongings as they can, before heading in search of a new place to shelter.
Briefing journalists in Geneva, UN World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said that according to the enclave’s health authorities, 34 people have died of malnutrition and dehydration amid ongoing Israeli bombardment, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks on 7 October.
(UN News)* —Israel’s order for people to leave Gaza City on Wednesday [] “will only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families”, many of whom have been displaced multiple times, the UN relief coordination office, OCHA, has warned.
(UN News)* — The desperate plight of migrants and refugees tortured, trafficked and sold “at scale” in Libya took centre stage at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday [], where UN rights chief Volker Türk urged the international community to consider halting its agreement with the north African country on asylum seekers and migration.
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 10 2024 (IPS)* – An overwhelmingly staggering 186,000 killings in Gaza –- compared with the official figure of over 37,000—has resurrected accusations of genocide and war crimes in the devastating nine-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, with no signs of a cease-fire.
Streets in Rafah were emptying as families continue to flee in search of safety, following an evacuation order by the Israeli authorities. Credit: UNRWA
The new estimates have come from The Lancet, one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed British medical journals.
On 15 November 2022, the world’s population reached an estimated 8.0 billion people, a milestone in human development. This unprecedented growth, according to the UN, is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of fertility in some countries. Meanwhile, the UN will be commemorating World Population Day on July 11.
WASHINGTON DC, Jul 9 2024 (IPS)* – Across East Asia, birthrates are plummeting. Japan’s has been falling for eight straight years and recently hit a record low of 1.2 children per woman, the lowest since record keeping began in 1899.
For reference, a total fertility rate of 2.1 is needed to maintain a stable population. China’s total fertility rate is now approaching 1.0. South Korea’s plummeted in 2023 to a record low of 0.72, the worlds’ lowest.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 