North Americans have been shocked by the death and destruction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, filling our screens with bombed buildings and dead bodies lying in the street. But the United States and its allies have waged war in country after country for decades, carving swathes of destruction through cities, towns and villages on a far greater scale than has so far disfigured Ukraine.
House bombed by coalition forces in East Mosul, Northern Iraq, 15 March, 2017. Credit: Amnesty International
As we recently reported, the U.S. and its allies have dropped over 337,000 bombs and missiles, or 46 per day, on nine countries since 2001 alone. Senior U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officers told Newsweek that the first 24 days of Russia’s bombing of Ukraine was less destructive than the first day of U.S. bombing in Iraq in 2003.
MADRID, Apr 20 2022 (IPS)* – The gloomy picture is drawn from indisputable scientific conclusions and should be already known by everybody, in particular by decision-makers, whether they are politicians… or rather not.
The planet is losing 4.7 million hectares of forests every year – an area larger than Denmark, according to a new UN report. Credit: UNDP
Oceans filling with plastic and turning more acidic. Extreme heat, wildfires and floods, as well as a record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season, have affected millions of people. Even these days, we are still facing COVID-19, a worldwide health pandemic linked to the health of our ecosystem.
MÉRIDA, Mexico , Apr 18 2022 (IPS)* – At home, Isabel Bracamontes uses gas only for cooking. “We try to prepare food that doesn’t need cooking, like salads,” she says in the southeastern Mexican city of Mérida. | En español
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The Yucatán peninsula in southeastern Mexico has abundant solar and wind resources, but relies on fossil fuels for electricity generation. The photo shows a wind turbine belonging to the state-owned CFE next to a section of the power grid between Cancún and Puerto Morelos, in the state of Quintana Roo. CREDIT: Emilio Godoy/IPS
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2022 (IPS)* – As the world is rocked by a confluence of crises, the global economic outlook for 2022 is becoming ever more uncertain and fragile. Prospects for sustainable development for all and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 are bleak, particularly for developing countries.
A rainy day in the camps under COVID-19 lock-down, Maina IDP camp, Kachin, Myanmar. Credit: UNICEF/UNI358777/Oo.
While some, mostly developed countries, had access to cheap financing to cushion the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and invest in recovery, many others did not.
14 April 2022 (UN News)* — The world’s best-known coral reefs could be extinct by the end of the century unless we do more to make them resilient to our warming oceans.
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Ocean Image Bank/Brook Peterson | Coral reefs harbour the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem globally.
That’s the stark message from UNESCO, which is behind an emergency bid to protect these natural marine wonders, 29 of which are on the agency’s protected World Heritage list.
Our oceans are getting warmer because of increasing global carbon dioxide emissions.
13 April 2022 (WMO)* – Eastern Africa is facing the very real prospect that the rains will fail for a fourth consecutive season, placing Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia into a drought of a length not experienced in the last 40 years. Humanitarian agencies have issued urgent appeals for support to prevent widespread famine.
The 18th Free Land Camp is underway in Brasilia, with thousands of Indigenous People coming together for 10 days of non-violent, mass demonstrations to denounce the ongoing violations of their rights and to foster solidarity across Brazilian society.
However, whatever insight these two giants of an earlier era brought to our understanding of war, the reality is that a great deal has been learned since they corresponded.
Nevertheless, since the emergence of an identifiable, organized anti-war movement during World War I which has grown to include a diverse range of activists and organizations from across the political spectrum, as well as peace and conflict resolution scholars from various disciplines, there is little evidence that this movement, or any of the many organizations within it, has been learning from its failures by systematically undertaking or commissioning further research to understand the phenomenon of war more completely and then devising a strategy to end it based on that learning.
The Polish authorities have arbitrarily detained nearly two thousand asylum-seekers who crossed into the country from Belarus in 2021, and subjected many of them to abuse, including strip searches in unsanitary, overcrowded facilities, and in some cases even to forcible sedation and tasering, Amnesty International said today [11 April 2022].
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Authorities violating rights of asylum-seekers, including strip searches and other degrading treatment, in overcrowded detention centres
Some people forcibly sedated during return
Pushbacks and arbitrary detention in stark contrast with welcome shown to those fleeing Ukraine
(UN News)* — The UN has allocated $100 million to fight hunger in Africa and the Middle East as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to push millions even closer to famine.
The contribution from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), announced on Thursday [14 April 2022], will go towards relief projects in six African countries and Yemen.
Lifesaving relief
The money will enable UN agencies and their partners to provide critical support, including food, cash, nutritional help, medical services, shelter, and clean water.
Projects will also be tailored to help women and girls, who face additional risks due to the crisis.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 