Nairobi, 28 August 2024 – In half the world’s countries one or more types of freshwater ecosystems are degraded, including rivers, lakes and aquifers. River flow has significantly decreased, surface water bodies are shrinking or being lost, ambient water is growing more polluted, and water management is off-track.
()* — The level of the sea globally is rising faster and higher than ever before, creating what the United Nations has described as an “urgent and escalating threat” to people around the world.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been visiting the Pacific Ocean nations, Tonga and Samoa, where sea level rise has been one of the key issues he has been discussing with the communities he has met.
On 25 September, global leaders and experts will gather at the UN to discuss how best to address the threat.
Here’s what you need to know about sea level rise:
(UN News)* — Amid further raids, airstrikes and settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday [], the UN human rights office, OHCHR, warned that the Israeli military’s actions risked further enflaming an “already explosive situation”.
The development follows “at least four” airstrikes by the Israeli Security Forces (ISF) in the Nur Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarem on Monday night that left five dead – three Palestinian men and two boys aged 13 and 15.
(UN News)* — The World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday [] a pause in the movement of its employees in Gaza until further notice following an attack on a team returning from an aid delivery mission on Tuesday evening, just metres from an Israeli-controlled checkpoint.
WFP | A WFP team came under fire on the evening of 27 August, a few metres from an Israeli checkpoint at the Wadi Gaza Bridge.
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“This is totally unacceptable and the latest in a series of unnecessary security incidents that have endangered the lives of WFP’s team in Gaza,” said the UN agency’s Executive Director Cindy McCain, calling on the Israeli authorities and all parties to the conflict to act immediately to ensure the safety and security of all aid workers in Gaza.
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 2024 (IPS)* – The Communist Manifesto of a bygone era, authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, begins with an implicit warning: “A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of Communism.”
US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) presiding over a meeting of the UN Security Council. Credit: United Nations
And today another specter is haunting– this time at the United Nations — the specter of a second Trump presidency.
(UN News)* — Around 20 villages in eastern Sudan have reportedly been “destroyed”, with 70 impacted overall, after floodwaters burst through a major dam, according to UN humanitarians – adding to the suffering of communities already devastated by the ongoing war between rival militaries.
The Arba’at Dam, located around 38 kilometers (24 miles) northwest of Port Sudan, collapsed on Sunday, damaging roads, electricity, and telecommunication networks, making it difficult to assess the situation, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
(Jerusalem) – Israeli forces have arbitrarily detained Palestinian healthcare workers in Gaza since hostilities began in October 2023, deported them to detention facilities in Israel, and allegedly tortured and ill-treated them, Human Rights Watch on 26 August 2024 said.
The detention of healthcare workers in the context of the Israeli military’s repeated attacks on hospitals in Gaza has contributed to the catastrophic degradation of the besieged territory’s healthcare system.
(UN News)* — Protecting war-weary people in Sudan from a second deadly cholera outbreak is proving a huge challenge for aid teams after more than 16 months of heavy fighting, combined with flooding and ongoing access obstacles, they reported on .
“The needs are huge in Sudan; we are talking about people dying of hunger, we have conflict, we have protection issues, we have displacements on a daily basis; the needs are just huge,” compounded by several weeks of heavy rainfall, said Kristine Hambrouck, UNHCR Representative in Sudan.
Famine ‘ongoing’
In addition to cholera, famine is still “ongoing” in Zamzam camp near El Fashertown, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO). It said that 658 cases have been reported since the latest outbreak was declared on 12 August, with 28 deaths.
CAIRO & NAIROBI, Aug 26 2024 (IPS)* – As peace eludes war-torn Sudan, thousands of displaced people fleeing the deadly battle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have found refuge in neighboring countries, including Egypt.
These Sudanese refugee children are among the 748,000 refugees and asylum-seekers who have sought refuge in Egypt. Credit: ECW
The Sudanese refugee population in Egypt has grown almost sevenfold in what is considered the worst displacement crisis in the world, impacting 10 million people, with at least 2 million having fled to neighboring countries, including Egypt.
(UN News)* — The United Kingdom must take action to curb racist hate speech and xenophobic rhetoric, a UN human rights body said on Friday [], following recent riots that rocked the country.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racism (CERD) voiced concern over persistent hate crimes, hate speech and xenophobic incidents on various platforms, including by politicians and public figures.
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It was particularly concerned about recurring racist acts and violence by extremist far-right and white supremacist individuals and groups targeting ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 