LIMA, Peru, Jun 21 2021 (IPS)* – Peru’s first round of elections on 11 April saw voters choosing between 18 presidential candidates with no one candidate leading by an impressive margin.
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Police in Peru used “unnecessary and excessive force” during protests in the capital last November challenging the legitimacy of the interim President, the UN Human Rights Office found, in a January 2021 report. Meanwhile, supporters of socialist Pedro Castillo and conservative Keiko Fujimori took to the streets on Saturday June 19, as tensions rose over the result of the Jun 6 presidential election. Castillo was leading the official count while Fujimori sought to get votes annulled. Credit: Patricio Lagos Bustamante / LaMula.pe via UN News
(UNHCR)* — UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on 18 June 2021 urged world leaders to step up their efforts to foster peace, stability and cooperation in order to halt and begin reversing nearly a decade-long trend of surging displacement driven by violence and persecution.
By Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees*
Two days ago, we announced that an unprecedented number of people have been forced to flee their homes. More than 82.4 million men, women and children have had their worlds turned upside down by war, violence and persecution. While the rest of us spent much of the last year at home to stay safe, they had to run from their homes just to stay alive.
War, violence and persecution have forced more than 80 million people around the world to flee their homes, leaving everything behind to save themselves and their families.
But for so many, the pandemic has wiped out their livelihoods, led to stigmatization and vilification and exposed them disproportionately to the virus.
At the same time, refugees once again demonstrated their invaluable contribution to their adoptive societies as essential and frontline workers.
(Milan) – European Union governments have a collective responsibility to protect the lives and rights of people on the move along the central Mediterranean route, Human Rights Watch on 16 June 2021 said.
16 June 2021 (WFP)* — Famine — driven by conflict and fueled by climate shocks and the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — could soon become a reality for millions of people. Below, the World Food Programme’s acting director of nutrition, Allison Oman Lawi, explains what famine is — and spells out the urgent need for action to avert it.
Yemen: A child at a WFP-supported clinic in Hajjah is diagnosed with moderate acute malnutrition. Photo: WFP/Issa Al-Ragh
17 June 2021 (UNCCD)* — Climate change, overuse and conversion for agriculture, cities and infrastructure mean that one fifth of the planet’s land area is degraded. This damage, which also drives drought and desertification, harms the livelihoods of almost half the planet’s population.
However, as much as one billion hectares can be restored over the next 10 years if there is political will.
Mali has partnered with UNDP to strengthen agricultural communities and empower women to mitigate the consequences of climate change and desertification in the Sahel region of Africa. UNDP/Imen Meliane
Humanity is waging a relentless, self-destructive war on nature.
Biodiversity is declining, greenhouse gas concentrations are rising, and our pollution can be found from the remotest islands to the highest peaks.
We must make peace with nature.
The land can be our greatest ally. But the land is suffering.
In Faux-Cap, Madagascar, the dunes and their strong winds pose a threat to their crops. With the greenest weapons, its inhabitants worked for 120 days to secure 75 hectares of dunes. Once settled, the risk is over. PHOTO:UNDP Madagascar
16 June 2021 (United Nations)* — The 2021 Desertification and Drought Day to be held on 17 June will focus on turning degraded land into healthy land. Restoring degraded land brings economic resilience, creates jobs, raises incomes and increases food security.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 