Rome, March 27, 2019 (OtherNews)* — Since the powerful march of hundreds of thousands of students in 1,000 towns against climate change, an unexpected campaign of delegitimation, ”demystification” and demonisation has started against Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who started the movement. After searching the media, social media and websites, this campaign can be divided into four different groups.
Roberto Savio
The first could be called the stupid. A writer reports pictures of Greta eating a banana, claiming that this proves she has double standards.She wants to reduce gas emissions, and then she eats banana which come from far away. Why does she not eat an apple, which are produced locally in Sweden?
26 March 2019 — With Yemen now in its fifth year of conflict between pro-Government forces and Houthi rebels, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is calling for “unhindered access” to the most desperate areas in the frontline regions “to prevent the food security situation deteriorating”.
WFP/Annabel Symington | The World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food assistance for those most urgently in need of support in what has emerged as one of the world’s worst hunger crises, 2019.
Against a backdrop of rising tensions in Israel and Palestine, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East, painted a bleak picture once again in the Security Council on Tuesday [26 March 2019], cataloguing further terrorist acts, attacks against civilians, reprisals against demonstrators, unlawful demolitions and settlement expansions, and a funding crisis which could have dramatic consequences for the stability of an already volatile region.*
OCHA/Muthana El Najjar | Destruction after the targeting of a residential multistory building in Gaza city, November 2018.
“I am saddened by the persistent violence that continues to result in the tragic loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives”, said Nickolay Mladenov.
Despite enormous ongoing effort over more than a thousand years, during and since the formation and shaping of the modern world, and as the number of issues being contested has steadily increased, activists of many types have made insufficient progress on key issues, particularly in relation to ending violence and war (and the threat of nuclear war), stopping the exploitation of many peoples and halting the endless assaults on Earth’s biosphere.
Of course, in order for those of us who identify as activists to have any prospect of success in these and other endeavors, we need to understand how the world works and to develop an interrelated set of nonviolent strategies that are being effectively implemented to address each of the key aspects of this crisis.
London, 26 March 2019 (IOM)* – Vulnerability to human trafficking and modern slavery is influenced by overlapping and interconnected risk factors which cut across individual, household, family, community and structural dynamics, according to a new study.
Two-year IOM, University of Bedfordshire study examined the vulnerabilities to human trafficking for Albanians, Vietnamese and Nigerians. Photo: IOM/Francesco Malavolta
Raise awareness of the dangers of racism and “stand up against old and new forms of slavery” was the resounding message of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday [25 March 2019] during a special event marking the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe | Exhibition for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade at UN Headquarters in New York, March, 2019.
“Slavery and the transatlantic slave trade were among history’s most appalling manifestations of human brutality”, he reminded delegates from across the world gathered in the General Assembly Hall with a call for “justice and equal opportunities for all people of African descent”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged artificial intelligence (AI) experts meeting in Geneva on Monday [25 March 2019] to push ahead with their work to restrict the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS, as they are also known.
UN Photo/Marco Dormino | UNMAS, MINUSMA Mark International Day for Mine Awareness. Robots have been deployed for mine clearance by military authorities in many countries, but concerns are rising over regulation of autonomous weapons which use Artificial Intelligence.
In a message to the Group of Governmental Experts, the UN chief said that “machines with the power and discretion to take lives without human involvement are politically unacceptable, morally repugnant and should be prohibited by international law”.
More than two-thirds of children surveyed experiencing psychosocial distress.
A study conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that 68 percent of schoolchildren in areas close to the Israeli perimeter fence have clear indications of psychosocial distress. Photo: Ahmed Mashharawi/NRC
25 March 2019 (Norwegian Refugee Council)*— Children living in the Gaza Strip have experienced unusually high rates of psychosocial distress because of the violent response to the Gaza protests and daily attacks they witness.
A study conducted by the Norwegian Refugee Council found that 68 percent of schoolchildren in areas close to the Israeli perimeter fence have clear indications of psychosocial distress. The majority said they were most severely affected by the sounds of nearby explosions and media images of conflict in Gaza.
Geneva (IOM)*– A focus on improved data will enable IOM to combat fake news and hate speech with solid facts and evidence, a UN meeting in Geneva heard today (22/3/2019).
New European migration section on IOM’s Global Migration Portal Data under the microscope at the UN Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. Image: IOM’s Global Migration Portal Data
A dedicated Europe section on the IOM Global Migration Data Analysis Centre website has just been launched, and it was presented on 22 March 2019 at a side event at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Regional Forum on Sustainable Development.
Forensic investigation yields credible evidence 14 civilians were killed in just five strikes
More than 100 strikes by US drones and manned aircraft since early 2017
Strikes in Somalia tripled under Trump, outpacing Yemen and Libya combined
The US government must carry out impartial, thorough investigations into credible evidence its rapidly escalating air strikes in Somalia have killed numerous civilians, Amnesty International said in a new report today [].
The Hidden US War in Somalia details how 14 civilians were killed and eight more injured in just five of the more than 100 strikes in the past two years.
These five incidents were carried out with Reaper drones and manned aircraft in Lower Shabelle, a region largely under Al-Shabaab control outside the Somali capital Mogadishu.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 