Archive for ‘War Lords’

19/05/2019

Skyscraper-Depth Well Brings Clean Water to Rohingya Refugees

Cox’s Bazar, 17 May 2019 (IOM)*  –  Under clear 36-degree Celsius skies, an exhausted Rafiq leans against his house, surrounded by his five children. Glancing upwards, he ponders another sweltering walk down a steep dirt path to haul clean water for his family.

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Rohingya refugees at a shallow well in Cox’s Bazar.

A pump just nearby provides water whose drinkability he views as “unreliable” and requires an arduous hillside trek. Sterilizing water by boiling also is difficult because firewood is hard to come by.

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18/05/2019

Human Rights Org: Treatment of Indigenous People Is Genocide

18 May 2019 (teleSUR)*Canada has long been overrun with large numbers of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and over-representation of Indigenous people in correctional facilities.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights says the colonial experience in the country, from the time of first contact to present day, is genocide.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights says the colonial experience in the country, from the time of first contact to present day, is genocide. | Image from teleSUR.

The treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada was reviewed and will henceforth be identified as a genocide, the Winnipeg-based Museum for Human Rights has declared.

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17/05/2019

Do We Need a Global Convention of Common Principles for Building Peace?

Human Wrongs Watch

STOCKHOLM, May 17 2019 (IPS)* When the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) concluded a three-day forum on “Peace and Development” on May 16, the primary focus was the daunting challenges threatening global security, including growing military interventions, spreading humanitarian emergencies, forced migration, increasing civil wars, extreme weather conditions triggered by climate change and widespread poverty and conflict-related hunger.

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Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation Peter Eriksson

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17/05/2019

Brazil’s Students Plan Another Massive Strike Against Bolsonaro

The far-right politician’s disqualification of protesters, who were branded as idiots and dolts, fueled a new cycle of unstoppable demonstrations, local observers anticipate.

Brazilians protest against education-related budget cuts in Sao Paulo, Brazil May 15, 2019. The banner reads

Brazilians protest against education-related budget cuts in Sao Paulo, Brazil May 15, 2019. The banner reads ‘Out Bolsonaro.’ | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.

16 May 2019 (teleSUR)* — The Brazilian Union of High School Students (UBES), the National Union of Students (UNE) and the National Association of Graduate Students (ANPG) jointly called for Wednesday the Second Nationwide Strike in Defense of Education, which will be held on May 30.

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17/05/2019

‘Starvation’ Now a Reality for Displaced Syrians Stranded in Camp Near Jordanian Border

Human Wrongs Watch

Starvation “is already starting” in a camp for displaced people in south-east Syria, a senior UN official said on Thursday [16 May 2019], while condemning ongoing airstrikes and retaliatory shelling in opposition-held territories in the north-west.

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WFP | Children in Syria’s Rukban camp (November 2018).
16/05/2019

Money, Media and the Climate Crisis

Human Wrongs Watch

By John Scales Avery – TRANSCEND Media Service*

Immediate Action Is Needed to Save the Future

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John Scales Avery

The central problem which the world faces in its attempts to avoid catastrophic climate change is a contrast of time scales.

In order to save human civilization and the biosphere from the most disastrous effects of climate change, we need to act immediately.

But it is difficult to mobilize public opinion behind urgently needed action because the most severe effects of global warming belong to the long-term future.

However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in their October 2018 report, used strong enough language to wake up at least part of the public: the children whose future is at stake.

Here is an excerpt from a speech which 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg made at the Davos Economic Forum in January, 2019:

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16/05/2019

Revealed: Controversial Plan to Boost Religious Lobby in Brussels, as Far Right Pledges to Fight for ‘Christian Europe’

By Sian Norris*

Leaked proposals from a senior Irish politician, backed by powerful Christian lobbyists, raise stakes in European elections, where the far right is pushing for big gains
Far right rally in Prague, Czech Republic 2019 | unreguser/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images. | From openDemocracy.

15 May 2019 (openDemocracy)* — A leaked report reveals a controversial plan to dramatically increase the influence of religious groups on the European Parliament, openDemocracy can reveal today [15 May 2019].

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16/05/2019

‘Disastrous Drought’ in Somalia Leaves 2.2 Million People Faced with Severe Hunger

Human Wrongs Watch

Mogadishu/Rome (FAO)* —  A disastrous drought in Somalia could leave some 2.2 million people – nearly 18 percent of the population – faced with severe hunger during the July-September period, FAO warned today [15 May 2019].

Photo: ©FAO/Karel Prinsloo

Some 2.2 million Somalis to face hunger during the July-September period.

The UN agency issued a special alert on Somalia, indicating that the number of hungry people in the country this year is expected to be 40 percent higher than estimates made at the beginning of 2019.

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16/05/2019

’15 Million Children in Yemen Are Asking You to Save Their Lives’ – UNICEF Chief to Security Council

Human Wrongs Watch

“Fifteen million children in Yemen are asking you to save their lives” the head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told the 15 members of the Security Council on Wednesday [15 May 2019], in an impassioned plea for action to end four years of fighting which has left at least 7,300 children killed or seriously injured. 

© UNHCR/Rashed Al Dubai | A UNHCR staff member talks to displaced children and others in Yemen’s Hajjah Governorate. (21 March 2019)
16/05/2019

1 in 7 Babies Worldwide Born with a Low Birth-weight – The Lancet Global Health, UN Children Fund, World Health Organization

Human Wrongs Watch

Progress is also slow in high-income countries including the UK, Finland, France, Germany, USA, Australia, and New Zealand.*

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UNICEF/Kate Holt | Baby in Papua New Guinea wears an orange hypothermia alert device at the neo natal unit in Mendi General Hospital in Southern Highlands Province to monitor its temperature.

NEW YORK/ LONDON/ GENEVA, 15 May 2019 (UNICEF)*More than 20 million babies were born with a low birthweight (less than 2500g; 5.5 pounds) in 2015—around one in seven of all births worldwide. Almost three-quarters of these babies were born in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where data are most limited.

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