'Unseen' News and Views
(UN News)* — Israeli forces are blocking aid deliveries into famine-stricken northern Gaza as the five-month-long war grinds on despite recent strong demands from the top UN court and the Security Council for open aid access into the enclave and for a temporary ceasefire and the return of all hostages taken in October, as the UN plans an assessment mission into Al-Shifa Hospital, which had been occupied by Israeli troops for two weeks.
When improperly managed, much of that refuse—from food and plastics to electronics and textiles—emits greenhouse gases or poisonous chemicals.
This damages ecosystems, inflicts disease and threatens economic prosperity, disproportionately harming women and youth.
On 30 March, the world will mark the International Day of Zero Waste.
(UNRWA)* — Alaa is a young teenager from the Zaytoun neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. She and her family, along with most of the population in Gaza, have been displaced to Rafah, all searching for safety from Israeli bombardments.
Living in the Rubble: Alaa’s Harrowing Story of Displacement
Rafah is now overrun with internally displaced people (IDPs) seeking shelter. Home to only 300,000 people before the start of the war, it now hosts some 1.5 million Palestinians.
Alaa’s story of displacement, fear, and sadness is shared by hundreds of thousands of other children.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haïti, 28 March 2024 (UNFPA)* -– The National Institute for Midwifery in Haïti’s capital usually trains around 80 midwives per year, who go on to help thousands of pregnant women deliver their babies safely.
But when armed gangs stormed and looted the institute in Port-au-Prince at the end of February, students and staff fled in terror; many are not sure if or when they will ever be able to return.
With the latest alarming upsurge in gang violence, health facilities are coming under near-constant attack, stripped of their equipment, medicine and even ambulances.
Nairobi, 27 March 2024 (UNEP)* -– Households across all continents wasted over 1 billion meals a day in 2022, while 783 million people were affected by hunger and a third of humanity faced food insecurity.
Food waste continues to hurt the global economy and fuel climate change, nature loss, and pollution. These are the key findings of a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report published today, ahead of the International Day of Zero Waste.
MARCH 28TH, 2024 (UNDP)* — The war in Gaza led to a dire humanitarian condition, profoundly affecting the lives of its 2.2 million people – loss of life, property and desperate need of food, dignified shelter and medical care.
(UN News)* — Sudan, and Darfur in particular, are facing a humanitarian and security crisis after a war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), although ethnic conflicts in Darfur date back more than two decades.
Fatima*, a resident of the city of El Geneina in West Darfur state, where thousands of people have been reportedly killed, escaped with her family across the border as rival militias battled for control of her city.
“We were trapped inside our house for more than 57 days while militias systematically targeted and killed people based on their ethnicity. They did not spare women, children or elders.
(UN News)* — Immediate and bold action is required to tackle the “cataclysmic” situation in Haiti, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said in a report issued on Thursday [28 March 2024].
© CAPAC/Jean Vadler Presume | Children in Haiti line up for a hot meal and water distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Port-au-Prince.
Corruption, impunity and poor governance, compounded by increasing levels of gang violence, have eroded the rule of law in the Caribbean country and brought state institutions close to collapse.
The impact of generalised insecurity on the population is dire and deteriorating, severely affecting human rights.
(UN News)* — There are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories said on Tuesday [26 March 2024].
Francesca Albanese was speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where she presented her latest report, entitled ‘Anatomy of a Genocide’, during an interactive dialogue with Member States.
“Following nearly six months of unrelenting Israeli assault on occupied Gaza, it is my solemn duty to report on the worst of what humanity is capable of, and to present my findings,” she said.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 