3 October 2023 (UNHCR)* — When a boat crammed with over 500 women, men, and children sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa 10 years ago, the world said “never again”.
CARACAS, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)* – Gladys swore she would not cry in front of her small children, but she still had to wipe away a couple of tears when she turned her head and looked, perhaps for the last time, at her dream house on Margarita Island in Venezuela, from where she migrated, driven by a lack of income and by fear. | En español
A view of Caracas from the south side of the narrow valley where it sits, dotted with houses and residential buildings where full occupancy was the norm until a few years ago. As a result of the massive migration of young people and adults, more and more homes are left unoccupied or inhabited only by the elderly and young children. CREDIT: Humberto Márquez / IPS
1 October 2023 (UN News)* — For Faustina Torres, from the Bribri indigenous community in Costa Rica, feeling invisible to others is a stinging form of discrimination she has fought against since childhood..
IOM/Gema Cortés | Migrants who pass through Central America to Costa Rica often face discrimination and can be the victims of hate speech.
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“Costa Rican society does not teach us that there are indigenous people in this country,” she said.
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“It is a form of discrimination, making the existence of indigenous peoples invisible.”
LIMA, Sep 28 2023 (IPS)* – Nearly 700,000 people have migrated internally in Peru due to the effects of climate change. This mass displacement is a clear problem in this South American country, one of the most vulnerable to the global climate crisis due to its biodiversity, geography and 28 different types of climates. | En español
(UN News)* — The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process on Wednesday [] expressed deep concern over the relentless expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
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UNICEF/Mouhssine Ennaimi | An Israeli settlement in northern West Bank. (file)
During the last three months, more than 10,000 housing units were advanced, Tor Wennesland told ambassadors at the UN Security Council in New York.
“Settlements further entrench the occupation, fuel violence, impede Palestinian access to their land and resources, and systematically erode the viability of a Palestinian State as part of a two-State solution”, the senior envoy said.
— Despite being one of Earth’s least known and least researched ecosystems, we do know the deep sea contains the greatest diversity of species on earth and is a vital carbon store. The oceans and the seabed are absolutely crucial for regulating the climate and important ecosystem processes.
A living sea is worth more than the minerals it contains..
Geneva/Berlin/San José, 12 Setpember 2023 (IOM)* – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) documented 686 deaths and disappearances of migrants on the US-Mexico border in 2022, making it the deadliest land route for migrants worldwide on record.
Deaths and disappearances of migrants in the Americas are increasing every year; 2022 was the deadliest year since IOM’s Missing Migrants Project began in 2014. Photo: IOM/Camilo Cruz
The figure represents nearly half of the 1,457 migrant deaths and disappearances recorded throughout the Americas in 2022, the deadliest year on record since IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) began in 2014.
DONATE NOWNo Clear Path to Compensation for Iraqis Abused in Detention by US Forces
The US government has apparently failed to provide compensation or other redress to Iraqis who suffered torture and other abuse by US forces at Abu Ghraib and other US-run prisons in Iraq two decades ago.
Iraqis tortured by US personnel still have no clear path for receiving redress or recognition from the US government though the effects of torture are a daily reality for many Iraqi survivors and their families.
1. Mother Earth is a sacred, self organized living being. She creates and sustains life.Through her biosphere and her complex ecological processes, she regulates her water systems, her nutrition cycles, and her climate system.Over 4 billion years, using the energy of the sun, the power of photosynthesis by microbes and the green leaf of plants, she brought the temperature of the planet down from 290 C to 13 C, and the concentration of atmospheric CO2 down from 98% to .03%, from around 4,000 to somewhere around 250-270.
Whether – like in Derna – it’s too much water leading to floods, or too little water causing droughts, or polluted water resulting in health risks, addressing the dangers that water poses can save lives.
As climate change intensifies these threats, there is an urgent need for action.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 