(UN News)* — As the Syrian war has driven poverty and hunger to levels higher than at any previous point, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Friday [25 February 2022] that he would continue to focus on engaging the parties to bring an end to the protracted conflict.
“We will convene a series of Constitutional Committee meetings in March, May and June; and we will continue rolling out a set of consultations on step-for step within the wider issues…and on how we can make progress,” he said via teleconference.
New report details exploitative practices employed by $55 billion formula industry, compromising child nutrition, violating international commitments.
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Geneva, 22 February 2022 (WHO)* — More than half of parents and pregnant women (51 per cent) surveyed for a new WHO/UNICEF report say they have been targeted with marketing from formula milk companies, much of which is in breach of international standards on infant feeding practices.
The report, How marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding, draws on interviews with parents, pregnant women and health workers in eight countries.
It uncovers systematic and unethical marketing strategies used by the formula milk industry – now worth a staggering US$55 billion – to influence parents’ infant feeding decisions.
International donor-led schemes promote peacebuilding and collaboration rather than pushing Israel to end its occupation
Palestine’s struggle is also a climate and environmental struggle | Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved
25 February 2022 (openDemocracy)* — At the core of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is its theft of Palestinian natural resources, including land and water, which exacerbates the climate crisis.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 2022 (IPS)*– As a new political twist to an old saying goes: the dogs bark but the military caravan moves on.
Russian military operations inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine “on a scale that Europe has not seen in decades, conflict directly with the United Nations Charter,” Secretary General Antonio Guterres told journalists February 24. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
Despite ominous warnings from an overwhelming majority of member states both in the General Assembly and the Security Council— against a military attack on Ukraine —Russian President Vladimir Putin stood defiant when he ordered a full-scale invasion of a sovereign territory.
NARANDIBA, Brazil, Feb 23 2022 (IPS)* – Nothing is wasted from sugarcane, one can conclude from the biomethane production process at the Cocal plant, a Brazilian company that produces sugar, ethanol, electricity and other by-products from sugarcane agro-industrial waste.
Biomethane, equivalent to natural gas, which is methane of fossil origin, is the result of a long chain starting with the planting of sugarcane, originally intended for the production of sugar and spirits.
The economic importance of the tea industry has grown during the pandemic but it must confront key challenges, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu tells the 24th Session of Intergovernmental Group on Tea
Rome, 23 February 2022 (FAO)* – The tea industry can play an important part in the transformation of global agrifood systems, but it must overcome significant challenges, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said on 23 February 2022.
Politicians in the West are scrambling to use the crisis for their own agenda, while experts suggest Russia is not yet on a full war footing
Russia’s President Putin speaks at a joint press conference with Germany’s Chancellor Scholz, 15 February | Kay Nietfeld/dpa/Alamy Live News
18 February 2022 (openDemocracy)* — In the past week, the situation in Ukraine has veered from a position of imminent war to a ‘war/no war’ pendulum, producing one of the most complex crises of recent years. One thing is clear though, the certain winners will be the arms industries.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 23 2022 (IPS)* – The widening political crisis in Ukraine, which has taken a turn for the worse with the declaration of two new independent states—the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic — is likely to prove once again the ineffectiveness of the 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC).
The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled “U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa“, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.”
The article quotes the former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy saying “We’d really, really not like to see a Chinese facility” on the Atlantic, and discusses “American concern about China’s global expansionism and its pursuit of a permanent military presence on waters the U.S. considers home turf.”
SAN SALVADOR, Feb 21 2022 (IPS)* – A struggle for the defense of their territories waged by indigenous Maya Q’eqchi’ communities in eastern Guatemala could set a historic precedent for Latin America’s native peoples because it would ensure not only their right to control their lands but also their natural resources, denied for centuries. | En español
Mayan indigenous communities in eastern Guatemala are waging an ongoing struggle for the defense of their lands and resources, in the face of encroachment by mining, power and oil corporations. These struggles have resulted in protests on behalf of the affected communities and against the Guatemalan government’s repression of activists and indigenous inhabitants, and have now reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. CREDIT: Courtesy of Raúl Ico Pacham/FB
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 