'Unseen' News and Views
(UN News)* — Though significant steps have been taken to prevent debt crises across the world sparked by the COVID-19 crisis, they have not been sufficient to restore economic stability in many developing countries, according to a policy brief issued by the UN Secretary-General on Monday 29 March 2021.
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– COVID-19 has set back the uneven progress of recent decades, directly causing more than two million deaths. The slowdown, due to the pandemic and policy responses, has pushed hundreds of millions more into poverty, hunger and worse, also deepening many inequalities.
Anis Chowdhury
Development setbacks
The outlook for developing countries is grim, with output losses of 5.7% in 2020. Compared to pre-pandemic trends, the expected 8.1% loss by end-2021 will be much worse than advanced countries dropping 4.7%.
COVID-19 has further set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As progress was largely ‘not on track’ even before the pandemic, developing countries will need much support to mitigate the new setbacks, let alone get back on track.
In late 2020 Robert J. Burrowes and myself were asked by some Melbourne activists protesting against the lockdowns and Covid vaccinations to help them develop more effective strategy.
Anita McKone
Many of the protesters were new to activism, and those with an inclination towards following a nonviolent approach wanted education in this area.
In February, Robert and I ran two Introduction to Nonviolent Action workshops, and one Nonviolent Strategy weekend, and with the inspiration and input of this great group of participants, I have now put the basics of a worldwide nonviolent campaign strategy to defeat the Great Reset on a website. We have named this campaign We Are Human, We Are Free.
The website is designed as a resource that activists anywhere in the world can use to develop effective local nonviolent campaigns.
Mark Lowcock, who’s also the Humanitarian Affairs chief, said that after a decade of “death, destruction, displacement, disease, dread and despair”, Syrians “see no respite”.
Shark fin soup is well-known. When we hear that 100 million sharks are killed every year by the fishing industry, some people may assume it’s because of shark fin soup. But these assumptions are just not true. Only focusing on shark fin soup crowds out other reasons sharks are in trouble, including a huge global market for shark products like meat and oil.
100 Million Dead Sharks – it’s not all about Shark Fin Soup | Image from GREENPEACE INTERNATIONAL.
“We want Thai society to understand that our people have lived in the forest for countless generations. We are not intruders. We are guardians of the forest.”
Prasert Pukad, a representative of the indigenous Karen community gives an interview in Bangkok. © Songwut Jullanan/ Greenpeace
Such was the message that Prasert Pukad, Gip Tonnampetch and Phanomphon Wanakhunsiri gave during a protest at the Government House in Bangkok.
26 March 2021 (IWGIA)* — Liberalisation of the Indian economy began in 1991. One of the priority objectives was to exploit the natural resources located on Indigenous territories. Anyone calling for respect for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, implementation of environmental safeguards or exercise of their right to freedom of association and assembly was therefore viewed as suspicious.
The world knows little of the political situation in India. With a conservative regime that considers social protest to be seditious, the Indian state is persecuting Indigenous Peoples and human rights defenders. Tribal communities are the silent victims of growth in the Indian economy. The cases of defender Soni Sori and Jesuit priest Stan Swamy.
27 March 2021 (UNEP)* — Hidden in and around the muddy depths of the Mekong River is a wondrous animal world.
Here you can find catfish that weigh up to 300 kilograms and measure almost the length of a car. You might come across a dolphin that is known to communicate with humans to coordinate fishing expeditions.
Or you could stumble upon something completely unknown: between 1997 and 2014, over 2,000 new species were discovered in the Lower Mekong Basin.
But this critical ecosystem is under immense strain from climate change, toxic farm runoff and scientists suspect, a rising tide of plastic pollution.
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Halima lost everything in the fire that ripped through a large area of Kutupalong camp, and she still does not know the whereabouts of one of her children. © UNHCR/Amos Halder
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 