(UN News)* — The outbreak of conflict seven months ago in Sudan has led to “a convergence of a worsening humanitarian calamity and a catastrophic human rights crisis”, according to a senior UN official, and the restive region of Darfur has been particularly badly affected.
Close to nine million people need humanitarian assistance and reports suggest that some 4000 people have been targeted and killed because of their ethnicity.
(UN News)* — A record 114 million forcibly displaced around the world represents a “crisis of humanity”, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday [] as the Global Refugee Forum got underway in Geneva.
The world’s largest gathering dedicated to refugee issues, the Forum is co-hosted by UNHCR and Switzerland and convened by Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan and Uganda.
Thirty years ago, Philip Roth wrote a profound, funny, disturbing novel about Israel, Palestine, and antisemitism called Operation Shylock.
In this story, an American Jewish writer named Philip Roth discovers that another writer who also calls himself Philip Roth is giving people in Israel fits by preaching “Diasporism” – a doctrine calling on Israel’s Jews to return to the mostly European lands from which they or their parents originally came.
Roth #2 considers Europe and America to be the Jews’ true homelands: places where a humane, creative Jewish culture once flourished, and which are now needed as sanctuaries because of Israel’s failure to make peace with the Palestinians and the Islamic world’s hostility to Israel.
(UN News)* —The last barely functioning hospital in northern Gaza is a “humanitarian disaster zone”, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday [], highlighting the disastrous consequences of ongoing Israeli bombardment for critically ill and injured civilians across the enclave.
(UN News)* — Myanmar is now the world’s largest opium producer, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported on Tuesday [], as the economic and political crisis following the 2021 coup and widening conflict between the military and armed groups continues to drive farmers towards illicit opium poppy production.
The southeast Asian country’s opium output has surpassed that of Afghanistan, where the Taliban imposed a ban on its production in April last year – leading to a 95 per cent fall in cultivation, UNODCsaid.
(UN News)* — Over half a million people have been displaced in Myanmar amid a surge in fighting between the military and armed groups that started in late October and has spread to over two-thirds of the country, the UN humanitarian affairs office reported on Friday [].
Among those fighting the military are a loose coalition of well-armed ethnic militias, as well as the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) – an armed group supporting National Unity Government (NUG) and opposed to the February 2021 military coup, according to media reports.
Rome, 11 December 2023 (FAO)* — In 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is seeking a total of $1.8 billion within the Humanitarian Response Plans to assist 43 million people to produce their own food, as acute hunger continues to escalate worldwide.
The announcement by FAO was made as part of the United Nations’ large-scale humanitarian appeal, which was launched today on behalf of more than 1,900 humanitarian partners and covers 72 countries impacted by crises, both directly and indirectly.
DUBAI, Dec 12 2023 (IPS)* – The United State’s contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund equals nine minutes of Pentagon spending, says Jeffrey D. Sachs, a world-renowned economist, bestselling author, innovative educator, and global leader in sustainable development.
Jeffrey D. Sachs speaks at the ReWired Summit at COP28. Credit: X
(Beirut) – Houthi and Yemeni government forces have violated the rights of Taizz residents to water since the Houthis laid siege on Taizz city in 2015, creating a desperate situation, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today [11 December 2023].
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 11 2023 (IPS)* – As the civilian death toll in Gaza continues to rise to unprecedented heights —reaching over 17,000 since October 7, with more than 46,000 injured – one of the most distressing reports to come out of the war zone is the use of excessively heavy weaponry by Israel.
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On Oct. 19, 2023, Ahmad, 9, stands in the ruins of his house, destroyed by an aerial bombardment in Rafah city. “Here was my room, my bed, my toys, and my clothes,” he said. “I cannot see anything now except rubble and traces of the fire that destroyed everything.” Credit: UNICEF/UNI457839/El Baba
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 