(UN News)*— US sanctions on Iran are resulting in harm to the country’s environment and preventing everyone there – including migrants and Afghan refugees – from fully enjoying their rights to health and life, and contributing to other factors such as rising air pollution, UN-appointed independent experts said on Tuesday [].
Unsplash/Mehrshad Rajabi | Hakim Expressway, Tehran, Iran.
“Like many countries, Iran has environmental issues. The sanctions not only prevent the Iranian Government from addressing them effectively; they contribute to making the challenges worse,” the group of Special Rapporteurs and the Independent Expert on international solidarity, said in a statement.
Air pollution is a particular concern and reportedly causing higher levels of respiratory and other diseases among residents, that lead to an estimated 4,000 premature deaths per year in the capital Tehran and 40,000 premature deaths annually across the country.
(UN News)* — Demonising victims of trafficking and modern slavery, turns the public against them and legal methods for keeping them safe, leaving them vulnerable to extremist attacks, independent UN human rights experts on warned, urging the United Kingdom to step up its efforts to protect survivors.
UN News/Omar Musni | The Palace of Westminster and central London, as seen from across the River Thames.
The credibility of victims of trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery – including migrants and nationals – is now under attack in the UK, the Human Rights Council-appointed experts warned, in a statement published on Monday.
‘Unsubstantiated claims’
“We are alarmed by the rise in unsubstantiated claims by public officials and Government departments regarding persons seeking protection under the Modern Slavery Act and the National Referral Mechanism in the past days and weeks,” they said.
MADRID, Dec 19 2022 (IPS)* – When tens of thousands of Europeans had to flee the horrors of two born-in-Europe devastating armed conflicts that attracted other powers: the World Wars I and II, they migrated to the Americas and other Western countries in search of safe haven.
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“There is no migration crisis; there is a crisis of solidarity” says UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. Credit: Credit: UNOHCR
Upon their arrival at their destination, they were checked at the border and admitted to enter as useful workforce.
Seldom, if ever, anybody classified them as “illegal” migrants. Those human beings were fleeing the horrors of those wars.
MADRID, Dec 14 2022 (IPS)* – The external debt of the world’s low and middle-income countries at the end of 2021 totalled 9 trillion US dollars, more than double the amount a decade ago. Such debt is expected to increase by an additional 1.1 trillion US dollars in 2023.
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About 60% of the poorest countries are already at high risk of debt distress or already in distress. Credit: Pixabay.
Moreover, the debt-service payments, projected to top 62 billion US dollars in 2022, put the biggest squeeze on poor countries since 2000, according to the World Bank.
As defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), debt service refers to payments in respect of both principal and interest.
(UN News)* — Amid rising humanitarian needs worldwide, the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, on Tuesday [13 December 2022] launched a $1.2 billion appeal to support 66 million women, girls and young people in 65 countries affected by crisis.
The 2023 Humanitarian Action Overview is UNFPA’s largest appeal ever and includes $289 million in Afghanistan, $70 million in Ukraine, $62 million in Somalia, and $23 million in Haiti.
As the world faces multiple, intersecting crises, the agency calls for predictable and flexible humanitarian funding to save lives and ensure that the rights and needs of women and girls are protected and fulfilled.
The past year has seen a shocking increase in needs globally, with the number of people forcibly displaced worldwide surpassing 100 million for the first time in history.
11 December 2022 (UN News)* — More than 11,000 boys and girls have been killed or injured in the war in Yemen – an average of four a day since fighting escalated in 2015, though the number is likely to be far higher, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported.
Agency chief Catherine Russell, who has completed a visit to the country, called for urgent renewal of the truce between the Government and Houthi rebels.
The landmark agreement was initially announced in April and led to a significant reduction in the intensity of the conflict. However, a further 62 children have been killed or injured in the period since it ended in early October and 30 November, UNICEF said.
Dec 8 2022 (IPS)* – After four failed rainy seasons, the land of the Maasai has withered. The worst drought in 40 years is a slow-motion storm of devastation in the Greater Horn of Africa, ruining the livestock, the communities, the Maasai way of life. Their cattle have been their greatest source of wealth and nutrition, but with grazing lands shriveled from the dry heat and their livestock emaciated, the entire region is in peril.
Places where Indigenous tenure is secure are where lands and waters are best protected. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS
In contrast, the storms that smash the Philippines bring intense rains and devastating winds. The Igorot communities on the Island of Luzon have a front-row seat for these storms, and they are hard pressed keeping their way of life intact.
A new report, including disturbing video and audio evidence, shows security forces along European Union borders detaining migrants and asylum seekers at secret locations before forcing them back across borders. The report, released by collaborative journalism outfit Lighthouse Reports, primarily documented abuses occurring in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Croatia.
MADRID, Dec 7 2022 (IPS)* – “Western Europe and the European Union remains the highest scoring region in the world’s corruption index, progress has halted and worrying signs of backsliding have emerged.”
While corruption levels remain at a standstill worldwide, in Western Europe and the European Union, 84% of countries have declined or made little to no progress in the last 10 years, report finds. Credit: Shutterstock.
The report shows that while corruption levels remain at a standstill worldwide, “in Western Europe and the European Union, 84% of countries have declined or made little to no progress in the last 10 years.”
MADRID, Dec 6 2022 (IPS)* – In these times when all sorts of human rights violations have been ‘normalised,’ a crime which continues to be perpetrated everywhere but punished nowhere: corruption is also seen as a business as usual. A business, by the way, that relies on the wide complicity of official authorities.
Multinational companies bribing their way into foreign markets go largely unpunished, and victims’ compensation is rare, according to new report. Credit: Ashwath Hedge/Wikimedia Commons
“Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is the solicitation of bribes.”
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 