Archive for ‘Middle East’

30/06/2024

5 Facts about Food Waste and Hunger

Human Wrongs Watch

By World Food Programme (WFP)*

The shocking cost of poor storage in the farms of developing countries — and careless shopping in rich ones.
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Cambodian woman smiles as she drives a motorbike loaded with green leafy vegetables
Sourcing school meals ingredients from local farmers like this one in Cambodia can help reduce food waste. Photo: WFP/Samantha Reinders

– Global hunger isn’t about a lack of food. Right now, the world produces enough food to nourish every child, woman and man on the planet.

But nearly a fifth of all food produced each year is squandered or lost before it can be consumed.

In many rich countries, this food waste happens in the kitchen — when we prepare foods that go uneaten, or leave food to spoil in fridges and kitchen cabinets.

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30/06/2024

UN Refugee Agency Sounds the Alarm on Climate Change Pounding Refugee Communities

Human Wrongs Watch

This is a summary of what was said by Andrew Harper, UNHCR Special Advisor on Climate Action – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

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An area of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, once home to refugee families, that was devastated by unprecedented floods last month. © UNHCR/Ricardo Ara

28 June 2024 (UNHCR)* — Devastating extreme weather events and natural disasters are shattering many refugee and other displaced communities worldwide, worsening their plight and in some cases forcing them to move onwards and start from zero once again.

This is what UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has observed with a series of catastrophic floods, earthquakes, cyclones, storms and heatwaves afflicting refugee and internal displacement settings in Africa, the AmericasLink is external, Asia and beyond.

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29/06/2024

United Nations’ Human Rights Chief Calls Time on ‘Economic Violence’ against Women and Girls

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — On Friday [28 June 2024], at the UN Human Rights Council’s (OHCHR) first panel for the annual full-day discussion on women’s rights, The UN human rights chief Volker Türk told a Human Rights Council panel that it’s time to eliminate laws and practices that contribute to “economic violence” against women and girls.

Women attend a community meeting in Cameroon.
UN Women/Ryan Brown | Women attend a community meeting in Cameroon.

During his opening statement to the all-day panel dedicated to women and human rights, Mr. Türk said there had been “extraordinary progress” thanks to the worldwide women’s movement.

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29/06/2024

Explainer: What’s a Dignity Kit?

Human Wrongs Watch

()* — Every month, nearly two billion women and girls menstruate, but during times of war and climate disasters, from the conflict in Gaza to the devastation caused by Cyclone Remal in Asia, UN humanitarian teams rush to serve affected communities, providing critical aid, which includes dignity kits.

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A teacher in India leads an awareness class about menstrual and general hygiene to her students. (file)

UNICEF/Prashanth Vishwanathan | A teacher in India leads an awareness class about menstrual and general hygiene to her students. (file)

29/06/2024

Going Back into ‘Hell’: An Aid Worker’s Journey through Shattered Gaza

Human Wrongs Watch

By Daniel Johnson

(UN News)* — Over and above the difficulty of actually getting into Gaza, aid teams now face the crushing realization that with a shortage of fuel and dwindling supplies, there is a limit to what they can do to help all those in need, UN aid worker Louise Wateridge told UN News on Friday [28 June 2024].

People search for water in Khan Younis city in the southern the Gaza Strip. (file)
© UNICEF/Eyad El Baba | People search for water in Khan Younis city in the southern the Gaza Strip. (file)
28/06/2024

Unveiling the “Dark Matter” of Food, Diets and Biodiversity

Human Wrongs Watch

Jun 20 2024 (IPS)** This year, bee pollen has become a trendy superfood thanks to a wide range of potential benefits. Last year, sea moss led the superfood trends. Before that, it was turmeric.
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We need help illuminating the dark matter in food and charting the intricate interplay between food, ecosystems, climate and health, argue the authors. Credit: Shutterstock.

We need help illuminating the dark matter in food and charting the intricate interplay between food, ecosystems, climate and health, argue the authors. Credit: Shutterstock.

Invariably, these newly celebrated superfoods are never new; they have long been consumed by non-Western cultures.

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27/06/2024

Why Won’t the US Help Negotiate a Peaceful End to the War in Ukraine?

Human Wrongs Watch

By Jeffrey D. Sachs – TRANSCEND Media Service*

For goodness’ sake, negotiate!

For the fifth time since 2008, Russia has proposed to negotiate with the U.S. over security arrangements, this time in proposals made by President Vladimir Putin on June 14, 2024.

Four previous times, the U.S. rejected the offer of negotiations in favor of a neocon strategy to weaken or dismember Russia through war and covert operations.

Jeffrey D. SachsThe U.S. neocon tactics have failed disastrously, devastating Ukraine in the process, and endangering the whole world. After all the warmongering, it’s time for Biden to open negotiations for peace with Russia.

Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. grand strategy has been to weaken Russia. As early as 1992, then Defense Secretary Richard Cheney opined that following the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union, Russia too should be dismembered.

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27/06/2024

Worse Than Genocide: Killing Truth

Human Wrongs Watch

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ATLANTA, Georgia, Jun 26 2024 (IPS)** There have been many genocides throughout history, but the first to be displayed on TV in all its sickening horror before the entire world is the Israeli genocide against the civilians of Gaza.
 

Destruction in northern Gaza. Credit: UNRWA

Truth is the first casualty of war, so it’s no surprise that the slick Israeli propaganda machine has managed to make Israel’s slaughter of 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 15,000 children, acceptable to multitudes of Americans.

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26/06/2024

As Sudan War Drags On, Millions Still Languish in Displacement Camps

Human Wrongs Watch

By Moulid Hujale in Kosti, Sudan, and Funmi Osibona and Reason Runyanga in South Sudan

With no end to the violence in Sudan, nearly 2 million people have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries including South Sudan, where at least 1,000 people still cross the border daily.

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Nyapuot Riak Dup, a South Soudanese refugee displaced from Omdurman city in Sudan, is one of 440,000 people now living in Alagaya camp in Sudan’s White Nile State. © UNHCR/Samuel Otieno


24 June 2024 (UNHCR)* — Nyapuot Riak Dup recalls the fateful day last April when a piece of shrapnel ripped through her house in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman and smashed a hole through the floor near where she was hiding.

26/06/2024

When U.S. Officials Show You Who They Are, Believe Them

Human Wrongs Watch

SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 21 2024 (IPS)* – “When someone shows you who they are,” Maya Angelou said, “believe them the first time.” That should apply to foreign-policy elites who show you who they are, time after time.
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© UNICEF/Tess Ingram Parts of the city of Khan Younis are now almost unrecognizable after more than eight months of intense bombardment, UN officers report. Credit: UNICEF/Tess Ingram

Officials running the Pentagon and State Department have been in overdrive for more than 250 days in support of Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

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