(UN News)* — The UN and partners launched a more than $5 billion funding appeal for Afghanistan on Tuesday [11 January 2022], in the hope of shoring up collapsing basic services there, which have left 22 million in need of assistance inside the country, and 5.7 million people requiring help beyond its borders.
Speaking in Geneva, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that $4.4 billion was needed for the Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Plan alone, “to pay direct” to health workers and others, not the de facto authorities.
(UN News)* — Amid record global displacement, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday [10 January 2022] urged European countries to prioritize the better protection of people fleeing war, conflict and persecution.
UNHCR made the appeal in recommendations to France, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU), and the Czech Republic, which assumes the presidency in July.
10 January 2022 (UN News)* — A group of independent human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council has condemned the continued operation of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility in Cuba as a site of “unparalleled notoriety” and “a stain on the US Government’s commitment to the rule of law”.
US Army/Kevin Cowan | Camp X-Ray was a part of Joint Task Force Guantanamo and has not been used since April 2002.
The detention camp, sited within a US naval base on the island, was set up in 2002 to house prisoners captured in Afghanistan, and at its peak housed some 780 people, most of whom were detained without trial.
New York, 9 January 2022 – Twenty years after Guantánamo Bay detention operations commenced on January 11, 2002, a new report assesses the massive costs of US unlawful transfers, secret detention, and torture after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
(UN News)*— Fifty-five journalists and media professionals were killed last year, latest UN data showed on Thursday [6 January 2022], with nearly nine in 10 killings since 2006 still unresolved.
(UN News)* — UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday [4 January 2022] that a harsh winter in Afghanistan is aggravating already severe conditions faced by millions across the country.
In the past 24 hours, heavy snowfall and rain have impacted a number of areas, disrupting flights to and from Kabul Airport, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“Further snow and low temperatures are forecast in the coming days”, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the daily briefing for correspondents in New York.
The future is gloomy, with abortion rights threatened, rampant voter suppression and radical Republicans undermining democracy at every turn
The March to Save America rally on 6 January 2021 that preceded the US Capitol ‘insurrection’ | Shay Horse/NurPhoto/PA Images
(openDemocracy)* — Sad to say, when it comes to political life and civil society in the United States, 2021 has not given proponents of democracy and human rights much to celebrate.
(UN News)* — The people of Myanmar are facing an unprecedented political, socioeconomic, human rights and humanitarian crisis with needs escalating dramatically since the military takeover and a severe COVID-19 third wave.
According to a UN Humanitarian Needs Overview published on Friday [31 December 2021] by OCHA, the turmoil is projected to have driven almost half the population into poverty heading into 2022, wiping out the impressive gains made since 2005.
Human Wrongs Watch sincerely asks for your indulgence as its daily updates focus on the so many and so inhuman violations of the most basic rights everywhere in the world.
Unfortunately we could not do otherwise. Media generally report on an astonishingly reduced number of events that are either irrelevant to the principle of “All Human Beings Are Born Equal,” or to the basic, pressing needs of the most vulnerable.
And we do so to modestly attempt to call you attention towards the numerous unseen –or unwanted to be seen– news and views.
Human Wrongs Watch wishes for all a new year of peace, serenity, heath and care, much care for Mother Nature.
(UN News)* — Armed conflict, inter-communal violence and insecurity continued to take a devastating toll on thousands of children throughout 2021, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), warned on Friday [31 December 2021].
From Afghanistan to Yemen, and Syria to northern Ethiopia, UNICEF denounced grave violations against youngsters in both protracted and new conflicts.
‘Dreadful disregard’
Last week, four children were reportedly among the victims of an attack that killed at least 35 people – including two Save the Children staff – in Kayah state in eastern Myanmar.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 