'Unseen' News and Views
12 February 2021 (openDemocracy)* — The Myanmar coup is a sad and onerous turn of events for a country with a long and unhappy experience of military rule. It is important to note that this is not an institutional crisis. What we are witnessing is a squabble among court factions for the throne.
– The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has called for unimpeded access to all parts of Ethiopia’s Tigray Region, to locate an estimated 20,000 unaccounted for refugees and assess damage to its Hitsaats Camp which was looted and set alight in early January.
In Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says that for three months Ethiopia’s Tigray Region has been completely blocked off from the world. The reports that have trickled out speak to extensive violence, extensive conflict and extensive impact on civilians, the humanitarian agency says. (File photo) Credit: James Jeffrey/IPS
(New York) – Myanmar police should immediately end the use of excessive and lethal force against people protesting the February 1, 2021, military coup, Human Rights Watch said today [9 February 2021]. On February 9, police shot a young woman in the back of her head and wounded a man in his chest at a protest in the capital, Naypyidaw, a doctor reported.
Despite depending on separate news media that purvey different realities, the two corporate parties both serve a corporate dictatorship.
– When the 134-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing countries, was trying to strike a hard bargain in its negotiations with Western nations years ago, one of its envoys famously declared: “You have the numbers. We have the money.”
When Palestine made history as Chair of the Group of 77 in 2019. The current chair is the Republic of Guinea. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias
But that implicit threat– signifying the power of the purse– did not deter the G77 from playing a key role in helping shape the UN’s socio-economic agenda, including sustainable development, environmental protection, universal health care, South-South cooperation, eradication of extreme poverty and hunger—all of them culminating largely in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 and targeted for a 2030 deadline.
(UN News)* — “An unknown number” of foreign nationals have died while being detained in squalid camps in Syria’s northeast, senior UN-appointed independent rights experts said on Monday [8 February 2021].
Citing concerns for the wives and children of extremists who have been detained in these “squalid” camps in northeast Syria, 57 unnamed countries have been urged to repatriate their nationals immediately.
Leading the appeal, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, said that many western Europeans countries could do more to bring them home.
Dakar, 7 February 2021 (IOM)* – A study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on the impact of indebtedness on returnee migrants in six West African countries reveals that 68 per cent are in debt, while over two-thirds characterize either the shame or burden of their indebtedness as a hindrance to their reintegration in their home communities.
An IOM study on migrant debt reveals that the estimated amount of the indebtment of all returnees across the six countries surveyed may reach EUR 18 million Photo: IOM
As migration becomes increasingly hazardous and costly, many migrants take out loans and incur debt from relatives and friends to finance their journey. On a personal level –social and psychological– many of those surveyed cited feelings of anxiety, failure, social isolation and fear of not being able to repay their obligations.
Amsterdam, 8 February 2021 – Online only, free of charge, and streaming across the Netherlands. These are the unique features of the 9th edition of the Human Rights Weekend(February 12 to 14), 2021. All three documentaries are European or Dutch premieres and available on all days of the event, accompanied by various bonus content.
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© Pieter Scheltema for Human Rights Watch
The opening night, co-presented by De Balie, features a live event about refugee rights on Zoom and the Netherlands premiere of Mira Jargil’s documentary film Reunited, available from February 11 through February 14.
Reunited is the heartbreaking story of a family torn apart by the Syrian war and their attempts to navigate frustrating bureaucracies, living separately in Denmark, Canada, and Turkey.
5 February 2021 — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced a plan to extend citizenship opportunities to highly-educated, skilled, or wealthy foreign nationals and their families.
Unfortunately, the country’s citizenship law still leaves out other groups, including children born to Emirati women and foreign fathers, and stateless people.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 