Everyone knows that the United States is the world’s leading military power, with an annual “defense” budget approaching one trillion dollars, considerably more than the arms budgets of the next 144 nations combined.
Richard E. Rubenstein
The U.S. employs more than 3.5 million active military and civilian personnel and maintains more than 750 military bases located in some 80 nations around the world.
The nation’s most profitable and fastest-growing manufacturing sector is the military-industrial complex, which employs more than 4 million workers and supplies approximately 40 percent of the total weaponry used by the world’s armed forces.
In the production and deployment of nuclear weapons, of course, the U.S. is absolutely dominant.
3 October 2023 (UNHCR)* — When a boat crammed with over 500 women, men, and children sank off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa 10 years ago, the world said “never again”.
CARACAS, Oct 4 2023 (IPS)* – Gladys swore she would not cry in front of her small children, but she still had to wipe away a couple of tears when she turned her head and looked, perhaps for the last time, at her dream house on Margarita Island in Venezuela, from where she migrated, driven by a lack of income and by fear. | En español
A view of Caracas from the south side of the narrow valley where it sits, dotted with houses and residential buildings where full occupancy was the norm until a few years ago. As a result of the massive migration of young people and adults, more and more homes are left unoccupied or inhabited only by the elderly and young children. CREDIT: Humberto Márquez / IPS
1 October 2023 (UN News)* — For Faustina Torres, from the Bribri indigenous community in Costa Rica, feeling invisible to others is a stinging form of discrimination she has fought against since childhood..
IOM/Gema Cortés | Migrants who pass through Central America to Costa Rica often face discrimination and can be the victims of hate speech.
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“Costa Rican society does not teach us that there are indigenous people in this country,” she said.
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“It is a form of discrimination, making the existence of indigenous peoples invisible.”
(UN News)* — Police and criminal justice systems in the United States require urgent reform to eradicate “systemic racism” against people of African descent, UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Thursday[].
UN News/Daniel Dickinson | A prison in upstate New York.
A new report by UN International experts advancing racial justice and equality in policing, published after an official visit to the country, shows that Black people in the US are three times more likely to be killed by police than if they were White, and 4.5 times more likely to be incarcerated.
In a move terrible for human rights, the European Union Commission announced on Friday it will go ahead with a controversial deal on migration control, reached in July, by imminently releasing 67 million euros to Tunisia despite an absence of any specific human rights guarantees for migrants and asylum seekers, or any indication the EU has evaluated whether the funds would make the bloc complicit in abuses.
(UN News)* — More than 16,000 children are displaced in eastern Libya following Africa’s deadliest storm in recorded history the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Thursday [], highlighting the urgent need for psychosocial care.
UNICEF stated that many more children are affected due to lack of essential services, such as health, schooling and safe water supply.
“When disasters hit, children are always among the most vulnerable,” said Adele Khodr, UNICEF’s Regional Director, who has just returned from a visit to Al Bayda and Derna.
Storm Daniel struck eastern Libya on 10 September and left widespread flooding and destruction in its wake across Derna, Albayda, Soussa, Al-Marj, Shahat, Taknis, Battah, Tolmeita, Bersis, Tokra and Al-Abyar.
LIMA, Sep 28 2023 (IPS)* – Nearly 700,000 people have migrated internally in Peru due to the effects of climate change. This mass displacement is a clear problem in this South American country, one of the most vulnerable to the global climate crisis due to its biodiversity, geography and 28 different types of climates. | En español
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is inflaming hatred of Muslims in India, as the world looks the other way. Hindu hard-liners, one holding a sword, chant slogans against Muslim communities.
Moin Qazi
A darker narrative is starting to define Modi’s India. The government has been systematically oppressing, marginalizing and inciting hatred toward its 220-million Muslim minority.
This campaign has been slowly gathering momentum over the years and has reached new intensity levels today. India is not a healthy democracy.
The poisonous rhetoric is having an effect. Shortly after these speeches, during celebrations commemorating the birth of Lord Rama, multiple attacks took place all over the country.The dangerous provocations continue.
“Tolerant Muslims can be counted on fingers. T. Even that is a tactic. It is to stay in public life with a mask.”
Meanwhile, Modi was praising an extremely Islamophobic new film at a rally ahead of local elections this month.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 