(UN News)* — The proportion of women killed in armed conflicts doubled last year compared to 2022, accounting for 40 per cent of all deaths in war, while UN-verified cases of conflict-related sexual violence increased by 50 per cent.
— Recently I learned a new word – “permacrisis” – a frightening concept of the endless loop of problems the world faces today, like being on a rollercoaster that never stops.
CARACAS, Oct 24 2024 (IPS)* – Migration, trade, the defence of democracy, the confrontation with China and the collapse of multilateralism are issues that shed more doubts than certainties on Latin America’s expectations of the imminent presidential elections in the United States. | En español
The two White House hopefuls debated on ABC television on September 10, 2024, but their mentions of Latin America were mainly dedicated to the issue of migration. Credit: Michael Le Brecht II / ABC
The conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands of children and their families.
UNICEF/UNI652312/Choufany
23 October 2024 (UNICEF)* — “We could see the rockets above us. We saw them while we were running,” Zeinab says as she recalls the moments after she fled from her aunt’s home. “We saw them and just kept running.”
Zeinab is one of the more than 1 million people in Lebanon who have been displaced by the catastrophic escalation of hostilities.
EAST JERUSALEM/AMMAN/GENEVA, 23 October 2024 (UNICEF/WHO)* – Due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza, including the Palestinian Ministry of Health, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and partners have been compelled to postpone the third phase of the polio vaccination campaign, which was set to begin today.
UNICEF/UNI637065/El Baba
.
This final phase of the ongoing campaign aimed to vaccinate 119,279 children across northern Gaza.
(UN News)* — The head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA appealed on Tuesday [] for an immediate truce in northern Gaza in a social media post describing how “three weeks of non-stop bombardments” by Israeli forces have impacted the region.
UNRWA staff report that they cannot find food, water or medical care, Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X.
‘Just waiting to die’
“The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied,” he said.
URBANA, Illinois, US, Oct 21 2024 (IPS)* – Hurricanes Helene and Milton resulted in record-setting rain, flooding, and flash flooding events across several states, including Florida and North Carolina, leaving devastating impacts on people, communities, and infrastructure that will require many years of rebuilding and recovery.
.
Eventually, flooding waters recede, leaving behind a path of destruction and a fundamentally different habitat for non-human beings including plants and soil dwelling macro and microorganisms. Credit: Shutterstock.
(UN News)* — UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged delegations from some 190 countries to “make peace with nature” and shore up a plan to stop habitat loss, save endangered species, and preserve our planet’s precious ecosystems as the latest UN biodiversity summit got under way in Cali, Colombia on Sunday [] night.
Environment Ministry of Colombia | A young man displays a button with the official COP16 image at a carnival march in Ibagué, Tolima.
.
The UN chief’s call came in a video message to the opening ceremony of the gathering, which officially begins on Monday 21 October in one of the most biodiverse countries on earth.
.
Over the next two weeks, government experts, environmental activists and indigenous groups will tackle pressing global challenges in biodiversity protection.
17 Oct 2024 – Each new week brings new calamities for people in the countries neighboring Israel, as its leaders try to bomb their way to the promised land ofan ever-expanding Greater Israel.
Photo credit: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, Wikimedia Commons
In Gaza, Israel appears to be launching its “Generals’ Plan” to drive the most devastated and traumatized 2.2 million people in the world into the southern half of their open-air prison.
BEIRUT, 16 October 2024 (UNICEF)* – Children in Lebanon are at growing risk of health and protection issues – including waterborne diseases like cholera, hepatitis and diarrhoea – as the continued bombardment of the country increasingly disrupts and damages essential services that families rely on.
UNICEF/al Mussawir – Ramzi HaidarSouthern Beirut suburbs following airstrikes during the first 3 days of October 2024.
At least 28 water facilities have been damaged by the conflict, affecting water supply to more than 360,000 people, primarily in the south of the country.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 