UNITED NATIONS, Dec 18 2023 (IPS)* – The unrestrained destruction of Gaza and the disproportionate killings of over 17,000, mostly civilians– in retaliation for 1,200 killings by Hamas and 120 hostages in captivity– have left the Palestinians in a state of deep isolation and weighed down by a feeling of being deserted by the world at large.
People in Rafah city in the Gaza Strip flee a missile attack. Credit: UNICEF/Eyad El Baba
The United Nations and the international community have remained helpless– with UN resolutions having no impact– while American pleas for restrained aerial bombings continue to be ignored by the Israelis in an act of defiance.
The Biden administration is reportedly considering accepting mandatory detention of asylum seekers, one of the demands of Republican Party lawmakers to “secure the border” in exchange for passing the administration’s supplemental aid bill for Ukraine, Israel, and US border enforcement.
The US Immigration and Nationality Act already makes detention mandatory for asylum seekers in expedited removal who are awaiting credible fear of persecution interviews.
(WMO)* — Mountains Matter and the Cryosphere is Critical is the message from the peaks to the valleys to the desert landscape of COP28 in Dubai on International Mountain Day, an annual event on 11 December drawing attention to the importance of our mountain ecosystems to the whole planet.
WMO 2024 Calendar Competition – Niurma Sanchez
Mountains are home to 15% of the world´s population and host about half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. They provide freshwater to half of humanity.
(UN News)* — Amidst a multitude of global crises and escalating of armed conflicts, small arms and light weapons remain a silent killer, having claimed over 260,000 lives during 2021, amounting to 45 per cent of all violent deaths.
That’s according to Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, who briefed the Security Council on Friday [], quoting the latest figures available.
“This is more than 700 people a day, or one person dying from small arms every two minutes”, she said.
She added that “small arms and light weapons are the weapons of choice in initiating, sustaining and exacerbating conflict, armed violence, terrorism and other forms of organized crime”.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 15 2023 (IPS)* – Going back to the 1970s, thousands of UN staffers were given legal status opting for permanent residency in the US– after their retirement.
The UN Secretariat building in New York City, where staff of the UN Secretariat carry out the day-to-day work. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
But that longstanding privilege now seems to be in jeopardy forcing retirees to return to their home countries uprooting their lives in the US.
The United States Immigration and Nationality Act has for long allowed long-serving UN staff members, who held the traditional G-4 visa status, and who met certain criteria, to apply for Legal Permanent Residency, also known as a “Green Card,” under the “Special Immigrant” category (EB-4), upon separation on retirement.
Hind Khoudary, with the World Food Programme in Gaza, recounts hard days in the strip during and after a brief humanitarian pause.
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After seven weeks of relentless bombardment that left 80 percent of Gaza’s population – 1.8 million people – displaced, trapped and acutely hungry, a week-long humanitarian pause came into effect offering a temporary respite and allowing some aid into the small, decimated and fully-deprived enclave where food, water, medicine and any of life’s necessities are dangerously low.
(UN News)* — Some Gazans are so desperate for food that they are now stopping aid trucks and immediately eating what they find, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Thursday [].
Speaking later in the day at UN Headquarters, the deputy head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), confirmed that following a food assessment, around half of all Gazans “are starving”, with no idea where their next meal is coming from.
Briefing journalists in Geneva uon his return from Rafah governorate, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, explained that people were “desperate, hungry and are terrified”, 69 days since the Israeli military bombardment began in response to the 7 October Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel.
(UN News)* — Heavy rains created new misery in Gaza as UN humanitarians repeated deep concerns on Thursday [] over the deteriorating health situation in the Strip, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and fighting with Palestinian armed groups.
UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said that many areas in the enclave have been flooded, “worsening the struggle of displaced Palestinians”, while UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini was due to brief journalists in Geneva on the situation on Thursday, following his most recent visit to Gaza.
4 Dec 2023 – Yesterday, a large number of registered voters in Venezuela voted in a referendum over the Essequibo region that is disputed with neighboring Guyana. Nearly all those who voted answered yes to the five questions.
Vijay Prashad
These questions asked the Venezuelan people to affirm the sovereignty of their country over Essequibo.
“Today,” said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, “there are no winners or losers.” The only winner, he said, is Venezuela’s sovereignty. The principal loser, Maduro said, is ExxonMobil.
In 2022, ExxonMobil [read Rockefeller] made a profit of $55.7 billion, making it one of the world’s richest and most powerful oil companies.
(UN News)* —Civilians in Sudan – where rival militaries are waging a bloody war, with devastating consequences – are at a high risk of falling into catastrophic levels of hunger by May next year, the UN emergency food relief agency warned on Wednesday [].
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 