Statement by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Policy Director, Ole Solvang, on the US President’s veto to a bill to end military support for the war in Yemen*
17 April 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* – “President Trump said that withdrawing from the war in Yemen would ‘negatively affect ongoing efforts to prevent civilian casualties.’ Yet if he was truly concerned about civilian life, he would first and foremost ensure that the US-supported Saudi-led coalition stop breaking the laws of war and depriving millions of Yemenis of life-saving assistance.
Yasser al Hibshi, 38, lost his house and three of his children in one of the first air raids launched by the Saudi-led coalition on the night of 26 March, 2015. Photo: Nuha Mohammedi/NRC
18 March 2019 (Wall Street International)* – In my last essay for the Wall Street International Magazine, I argued that Democrats and Independents need to push now for a single term presidency in the effort to prevent Trump from winning a second, if not third, presidential term1.
Trump is running high with the apparent economic boom in hiring (that is financed by heavy federal debts and tax reductions for the very wealthy), and the (false) belief that he has been “totally exonerated” after accusations of electoral “collusion” with Russia.
Since the government suppressed street protests last April, thousands have sought safety in neighbouring Costa Rica, where meeting basic needs remains a challenge. | Español | Français
16 April 2019 (UNHCR)* — Despite having little interest in politics, Manuel* found himself caught up in the violence and persecution that erupted in Nicaragua a year ago, after the government cracked down on street protests.
“We lived with the anxiety of not knowing when they would break into the house to get us,” the farmer recalls. “We were besieged at night.”
Beira, 16 April 2019 (IOM)* – One month after Cyclone Idai made landfall through Mozambique and neighbouring countries, despite the concerted efforts of humanitarian organizations, many families remain in need, and without assistance they lack the resources to repair and rebuild their homes. Latest figures indicate that more than 1.8 million people are in need, and nearly 240,000 houses were affected, half of those partially destroyed, and the other half totally destroyed.
Baby Ernesto was born the day before the cyclone; his family’s home was destroyed. They are now living in Samora Machel site. Photo: Amanda Nero
Torture is likely still widespread in Afghanistan’s State-run prisons for detainees linked to ongoing conflict there, the UN said on Wednesday [17 April 2019], while also noting an “encouraging reduction” in the level of abuse since 2016.
UNAMA/Eric Kanalstein | An elderly woman being held at a female detention centre in northern Afghanistan (2010).
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Based on interviews with more than 600 detainees and published jointly by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), their latest report on the treatment of prisoners in 77 facilities in 28 out of 34 provinces indicates that an average of nearly one in three, provided “credible and reliable” accounts of suffering.
Representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations agree more must be done, and urgently, to manage the millions of tonnes of e-waste produced each year.
GENEVA, 17 April 2019 (ILO)* – The ILO has called for urgent action to better manage the toxic flood of electric and electronic waste (e-waste) produced around the world, so it can be turned into a valuable source of decent work.
Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency, as Max Blumenthal points out in his insightful book “The Management of Savagery: How America’s National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump,” was made possible not only by massive social inequality and concentration of wealth and political power in the hands of the oligarchic elites but by the national security state’s disastrous and prolonged military interventions overseas.
Swedish schoolgirl climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, reacts before a meeting of the Environment Committee at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 16 April 2019. [Photo: EPA-EFE/PATRICK SEEGER]
The book documents an increasing trend towards the harassment and criminalisation of indigenous peoples and communities.
It also highlights the rising tensions between states and indigenous peoples, shrinking civil society space, loss of land rights and lack of access to justice for indigenous peoples to enjoy their rights.
“Indigenous peoples make up 5% of the world’s population, yet they represent 15% of the world’s poorest, and in 2017, half of the approximately 400 environmental and human rights defenders were killed.
London, 16 April 2019 (IOM)* –Ten thousand people separated by conflict and persecution have been reunited with their families in the United Kingdom under a British Red Cross (BRC) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) family reunification programme.
Khaled is reunited with his son at the airport under the IOM-British Red Cross Family Reunification programme. Photo: British Red Cross
