'Unseen' News and Views
(UN News)* — Food assistance to two million people in Afghanistan will have to be cut later this month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday [].
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Forced to take the drastic measures citing a “massive funding shortfall”, WFP will only be able to provide emergency assistance to three million people per month across the country from October.
(UN News)* — An unprecedented number of migrants and refugees continue to cross the dense tropical jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darien Gap, risking their lives and facing horrific human rights abuses, the UN rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday [].
So far this year, more than 330,000 people have crossed the Darien Gap on their journey towards North America – the highest annual figure recorded to date, OHCHR said. One in five was a child.
(UN News)* — Members of the African diaspora continue to face immense challenges participating in public life in many countries, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said in a new report on Tuesday [].
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It details how systemic racism, marginalization and exclusion, rooted in the legacies of enslavement and colonialism, continue to have a negative effect on all aspects of life.
The children stare at us, all curious. They are, by now, used to seeing World Food Programme (WFP) staff zipping in and out of the informal settlement they live in on the outskirts of Kabul, in white SUVs.
Only this mission is not to deliver food or sign anyone up for anything. It’s simply to place on the record how people are doing after we cut food assistance to them altogether.
Since the crisis began when rival military groups clashed in mid-April, projections of growing numbers of people trying to escape fighting have sharply spiked upwards.
“The crisis has triggered an urgent demand for humanitarian assistance, as those arriving in remote border areas find themselves in desperate circumstances due to inadequate services, poor infrastructure and limited access,” said Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR Regional Bureau Director for the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes, and Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation.
In the mountainous province of Bukidnon in the southern Philippines, local indigenous groups are being forced to adapt to the alarming impacts of climate change. With UN support, communities are making significant strides, using centuries-old knowledge to forge sustainable solutions.
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Ameenah Gurib-Fakim argues that Innovative global development finance ecosystems are needed to unlock equitable international financing flows while preserving the fiscal sovereignty of developing countries to pursue development pathways unique to their circumstances and realities.
A view of an artificial installed at Mon Choisy Beach to combat soil erosion and create resilience. The installation will break up the waves before they reach the shore and will also act as a habitat for fish. Credit: Reuben Pillay/Climate Visuals Countdown
– The Africa Climate Summit 2023 is expected to start with renewed hope. In its 60+ years of post-independence history, Africa has contributed around 3% of Green House Emissions, accounts for approximately 2.6% of global trade, and less than 3% of the world’s GDP in 2021.
(UN News)* — Children in Africa are among the most at risk from climate change impacts but are being woefully deprived of the financing necessary to help them adapt, survive and respond to the crisis, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a new report on Friday [].
It was released as leaders prepare to meet for the African Climate Summit, taking place next week in Nairobi, Kenya.
Children in 48 out of 49 African countries assessed were found to be at high or extremely high risk of the impacts of climate change, based on their exposure and vulnerability to cyclones, heatwaves and other climate and environmental shocks, and access to essential services.
(UN News)* — A nexus of protracted armed conflict, internal displacement and limited humanitarian access threatens to plunge nearly one million children under the age of five into acute malnutrition by the end of this year – with at least 200,000 at risk of dying of hunger if life-saving aid fails to reach them, UN agencies said on Friday [].
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Biden Administration Should End Dangerous Deportations to Haiti.
On August 30, the United States embassy in Port-au-Prince called on all US citizens to leave Haiti “as soon as possible” because of the worsening security situation in the country. The next day, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement loaded 57 Haitians on a plane and deported them to Haiti.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 