Archive for ‘Others-USA-Europe-etc.’

19/08/2024

Education on Hold: Sudan War robs Young People’s Hope for the Future

Human Wrongs Watch

By Moulid Hujale in Kosti, Sudan

An entire generation is facing a bleak future as continued violence in Sudan disrupts education for millions.

Ibrahim Abdulrahman inside the classroom he shares with dozens of other forcibly displaced families in Kosti in Sudan’s While Nile State. © UNHCR/Samuel Otieno

14 August 2024 (UNHCR)* — When Ibrahim Abdulrahman’s name was announced on national radio as the top performing student in the country’s high school examinations in 2020, his achievement was celebrated by everyone in his small mountainous village of Al-Dambaire in Sudan’s North Kordofan State.

18/08/2024

The Silent Crisis of Air Pollution

Human Wrongs Watch

 

 

 

 

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Heavy smog seen engulfed amid rise in pollution levels at Barakhamba on November 2, 2023 in New Delhi, India. The Air Quality Index (AQI) remained in the “very poor” category for the sixth consecutive day on November 2. © Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images.

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This year, to mark the UN Environment Program’s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies, Greenpeace East Asia’s Clean Air Unit is highlighting the severe health impacts of air pollution and the positive steps global communities are taking to quantify and combat the problem.

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18/08/2024

Mercury Has Long Poisoned Gold Miners. This New Strategy Is Helping Change That

Human Wrongs Watch

15 AUG 2024 (UNEP)* — In the small coastal town of Guapi, Colombia, Mary Luz Ante Orobio is meeting with a group she calls “the unstoppable women.”  

Credit: AFP/Lius Tato

They are gathered around a wooden chest filled with loose cash, a ledger and a calculator. Orobio flips through the ledger, eyes poring over tidy notes outlining a series of financial investments.

She jots down some numbers before distributing cash among the group.

The women are members of one of 80 local savings and credit groups in Colombia formed with the help of planetGOLD, a programme led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

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17/08/2024

“Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis for Children Is, by Numbers, the Biggest in the World…” – UNICEF

Human Wrongs Watch

This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at 13 August 2024 press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

On 10 August, UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder (L) peaks to 13-year-old Abu at Al Nau hospital following an injury by shrapnels while playing football at a UNICEF child-friendly space in Al Hattana in Khartoum.
UNICEF/UNI625366/IsamaldeenOn 10 August 2024, UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder speaks to 13-year-old Abu at Al Nao hospital, Sudan.

ATBARA, Sudan/GENEVA 13 August 2024 (UNICEF)* – “Sudan’s humanitarian crisis for children is, by numbers, the biggest in the world. It is also a crisis of neglect.

“So many of the countless atrocities upon children in Sudan have gone unreported, often as a result of very limited access.

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17/08/2024

UN Human Rights Calls for Accountability for Latest ‘Horrific’ West Bank Killing

Human Wrongs Watch

By Daniel Johnson

(UN News)* — The perpetrators of a deadly rampage targeting a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank must face justice to deter future attacks, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted on Friday [].

The movement of Palestinians is restricted in the West Bank including through the use of checkpoints. (file)
© UNRWA/Kazem Abu Khalaf | The movement of Palestinians is restricted in the West Bank including through the use of checkpoints. (file)
 
Echoing widespread condemnation internationally and within Israel of the attack reportedly by Israeli settlers on the village of Jit on Thursday which left a Palestinian man dead and about a dozen injured, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani described the incident as “horrific”.
 
She noted that the killing “was not an isolated attack”, in reference to years of violence directed at Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers, maintaining that it was “the direct consequence” of Israel’s policy of occupation.
17/08/2024

Colombia: Millions Now Living in Conflict Zones

Human Wrongs Watch

By The Norwegian Refugee Council*

15 August 2024 — The number of Colombians living in areas where armed groups operate has increased by 70 per cent since 2021, reports the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Carmen is from an indigenous community, hours into the Colombian Pacific jungle. They face violence, threats, and displacement from armed groups and have been forced to flee many times. Carmen said her community is being destroyed. Photo: Jess Wanless/NRC
 
Today, nearly 8.4 million Colombians live in these zones of conflict, 3.5 million more than in 2021. Civilian suffering is being ignored, and more must be done by both the government and aid agencies to address the humanitarian and protection needs of the civilian population.
16/08/2024

Yemen: Exceptionally Heavy Rain and Deadly Flash Flooding Have Compounded the Already Dire Situation for People

Human Wrongs Watch

By Daniel Johnson

(UN News)* — Exceptionally heavy rain and deadly flash flooding in Yemen have compounded the already dire situation for people across the country, UN humanitarians said on Thursday [].

Continuing heavy rains across Yemen have impacted and damaged vital public services and swept away homes.
© IOM | Continuing heavy rains across Yemen have impacted and damaged vital public services and swept away homes.
16/08/2024

Most of Gaza’s 40,000 Dead Are Women and Children : UN Human Rights

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — As the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza passes the dark milestone of 40,000, UN rights chief Volker Türk called on Thursday [] for an end to the killing “once and for all” and the release of all hostages while negotiators prepared to meet in Qatar to renew efforts to halt the conflict and avert a wider war. 

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Gazans gather at a camp for displaced people which was bombed in May 2024. (file)
© UNRWA | Gazans gather at a camp for displaced people which was bombed in May 2024. (file)
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“Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.
15/08/2024

World Health Organization Announces Highest Level of Alert for Mpox

Human Wrongs Watch

WHO declares mpox virus a public health emergency of international concern

Mpox - formerly monkeypox - is a rare but dangerous infection similar to the now eradicated smallpox virus.
© CDC/Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regnery | Mpox – formerly monkeypox – is a rare but dangerous infection similar to the now eradicated smallpox virus.
 
(UN News)* — The chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the rise in mpox cases constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), following advice from members at Wednesday’s [] International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee meeting.  
 
A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm under international health law.
15/08/2024

Gaza at ‘High Risk’ of Polio Virus Spread: United Nations

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — The risk of polio spreading in Gaza remains high unless there is an urgent and comprehensive response to the serious health threat, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday [].

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A family on the move in Gaza where 10 months of war and stifling summer temperatures have increased the risk of disease spreading
© UNRWA | A family on the move in Gaza where 10 months of war and stifling summer temperatures have increased the risk of disease spreading
 
“At least two rounds of [orally delivered polio vaccine] will be necessary to shut down transmission,”the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) explained in an update.