Archive for ‘Middle East’

24/12/2021

The Global Assault on Human Rights

Human Wrongs Watch

ROME, Dec 17 2021 (IPS)* – Human rights are under global assault. In 2021, the escalation of the worldwide siege on human rights included clampdowns on civil society organisations, attacks on minorities, the undermining of democratic institutions, and violence against journalists.

Young-people-take_

Young people take part in a pro-democracy demonstration in Myanmar. Credit: Unsplash/Pyae Sone Htun via United Nations

Meanwhile, more than 10 months since Myanmar’s military seized power, the country’s human rights situation is deepening on an unprecedented scale, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned December 10.

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24/12/2021

Severe Water Stress, Absolute Scarcity for 2 to 4 Billion Humans by 2025

Human Wrongs Watch

MADRID, Dec 23 2021 (IPS)* – Now it comes to the scary water crises, as it is estimated that, globally, over two billion people live in countries that experience high water stress.

impure-water_-629x418

Up to four billion people – over half the population of the planet – are already facing severe water stress for at least one month of the year, while half a billion suffer from permanent water stress. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

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23/12/2021

The Threat of a Large-Scale Famine

Human Wrongs Watch

By John Scales Avery, Ph.D. – TRANSCEND Media Service*

The Threat of a Large-Scale Global Famine by the Middle of the 21st Century

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John Scales Avery

Unless efforts are made to stabilize and ultimately reduce global population, there is a serious threat that climate change, population growth, and the end of the fossil fuel era could combine to produce a large-scale famine by the middle of the 21st century.

As glaciers melt in the Himalayas and the Andes, depriving India, China and South America of summer water supplies; as sea levels rise, drowning fertile rice-growing regions of Southeast Asia; as droughts reduce the food production of North America and Southern Europe; as groundwater levels fall in China, India, the Middle East and the United States; and as high-yield modern agriculture becomes less possible because fossil fuel inputs are lacking, the 800 million people who are currently undernourished may not survive at all.

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23/12/2021

Yemen Alert: 8 Million Face Reduced Rations amid Funding Shortages

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — The UN food relief agency warned on Wednesday [22 December 2021] that it is running out of funds to continue providing food assistance to 13 million Yemenis.

© WFP/Mohammed Awadh | A one-year-old boy eats with his family in a displaced persons camp in Aden, Yemen.
From January, eight million who are going hungry in Yemen will receive a reduced food ration, while five million others who are at immediate risk of slipping into famine, will remain on a full ration.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures and we have to stretch our limited resources and prioritize, focusing on people who are in the most critical state”, said Corinne Fleischer, Regional Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) for the Middle East and North Africa.

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22/12/2021

Inequality

Human Wrongs Watch

By Francine S. R. Mestrum*

Why international organisations prefer to chase the chimera of poverty

Between $20 and $30 trillion US dollars remains hidden from tax authorities
Between $20 and $30 trillion US dollars remains hidden from tax authorities | Image from Wall Street International.

22 December 2021 (Wall Street International)*At the beginning of October 2021, the ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) published the Pandora Papers – leaked data on how the world’s very rich hide their wealth in tax havens. The practice is perfectly legal, but less so when it is used to avoid or evade tax.

In both cases, it is money that remains hidden, and not only skews the statistics – according to Tax Justice between $20–30 trillion US dollars remain hidden from the tax authorities – but also causes financial problems for national governments.

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21/12/2021

What Would Europe, the US, Do with One Billion Climate Refugees?

Human Wrongs Watch

MADRID, Dec 20 2021 (IPS)* – A bit of fiction. Or maybe not. If things keep going the way they are, the result will be that such a massive flux would create instability and tensions, impact the global markets, cause record prices of fossil fuels, food and everything else, and the bankruptcy of big private financial corporations…
Climate-Refugees_4_Credit: UNHCR

Already seven years ago, a former director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), William Lacy Swing, estimated that the number of climate migrants and refugees could reach one billion humans by the year 2050.

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21/12/2021

‘Monster’ Antarctic Glacier at Risk as Key Ice Shelf Faces Collapse Years Earlier Than Expected

Human Wrongs Watch

By Kenny Stancil | Common Dreams – TRANSCEND Media Service*

West Antarctica’s massive Thwaites Glacier is often called “one of the world’s most dangerous glaciers” because of its potential contributions to sea level rise. (Photo: James Yungel/NASA)

“What we’re seeing is already enough to be worried about,” said one researcher.

The ice shelf holding back one of Antarctica’s most perilous glaciers is eroding from below due to higher ocean temperatures, prompting scientists to warn today that this key reinforcement could shatter in the next three to five years—a development that would threaten millions of people with intensifying sea level rise.

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20/12/2021

Another Wake-Up Call: Sea Ice Loss Is Speeding Up

Human Wrongs Watch

20 December 2021 (UNEP)* — The Arctic is now amongst the fastest-warming regions on the planet, heating at more than twice the global average. Scientists are worried because carbon dioxide and methane previously locked up below ground are released as permafrost thaws.

Arctic_sea_ice_2_Photo_by_Andreas_Weith,_Wikimedia_Commons

Andreas Weith / Wikimedia Commons / 28 Sep 2020
19/12/2021

‘Solidarity with Migrants Has Never Been More Urgent’

Human Wrongs Watch

PAHO/Karen González | Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Venezuelan migrant refugees have faced numerous challenges in Colombia.
 
Today, more people than ever live in a country other than the one where they were born. While many individuals migrate out of choice, many others leave home out of necessity. 

Approximately 281 million people were international migrants in 2020, representing 3.6 per cent of the global population.

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17/12/2021

Looking for Due Diligence with Electric Vehicles

Human Wrongs Watch

By Katie Singer*

Before anyone buys another one

Electric vehicles require hundreds if not thousands of substances
Electric vehicles require hundreds if not thousands of substances | Image from Wall Street International magazine

13 December 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Last month, I read a newspaper story that called the future of automobiles electric; and it quoted an electric vehicle (EV) owner who worries “only about replacing his tires, wiper blades and air filter.”

Oh, dear.

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