(UN News)* — Belarus and Poland must resolve the migrant and refugee crisis at their mutual border, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday [21 December 2021], describing the on-going situation as “appalling”.
OHCHR again called on the two countries to address the matter in line with their obligations under international law.
This follows a visit by a UN human rights team to Poland from 29 November to 3 December. Members were not granted access to the restricted border area, while Belarus denied a request to visit.
MADRID, Dec 20 2021 (IPS)* – A bit of fiction. Or maybe not. If things keep going the way they are, the result will be that such a massive flux would create instability and tensions, impact the global markets, cause record prices of fossil fuels, food and everything else, and the bankruptcy of big private financial corporations…
Credit: UNHCR
Already seven years ago, a former director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), William Lacy Swing, estimated that the number of climate migrants and refugees could reach one billion humans by the year 2050. Continue reading →
In August, thousands of people who worked for the UK in Afghanistan were left to the Taliban’s mercy. openDemocracy spoke to four still stuck in Kabul.
.
“I want the UK to keep its promises to us” – Baseer | All rights reserved
20 December 2021 (openDemocracy)* — On 31 August, the nearly 20-year NATO combat mission in Afghanistan ended in failure. Two weeks earlier, the Taliban had marched unopposed into Afghan capital Kabul, leaving the US and its allies, including the UK, scrambling to evacuate both their citizens and the Afghan nationals who had assisted them during the war.
West Antarctica’s massive Thwaites Glacier is often called “one of the world’s most dangerous glaciers” because of its potential contributions to sea level rise. (Photo: James Yungel/NASA)
“What we’re seeing is already enough to be worried about,” said one researcher.
The ice shelf holding back one of Antarctica’s most perilous glaciers is eroding from below due to higher ocean temperatures, prompting scientists to warn today that this key reinforcement could shatter in the next three to five years—a development that would threaten millions of people with intensifying sea level rise.
(UNHCR)* — Intercommunal clashes that erupted in Cameroon’s Far North region in the past two weeks have driven at least 100,000 people from their homes, although the real number may be much higher, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on 17 December 2021 said. | Español | Français | عربي
20 December 2021 (UNEP)* — The Arctic is now amongst the fastest-warming regions on the planet, heating at more than twice the global average. Scientists are worried because carbon dioxide and methane previously locked up below ground are released as permafrost thaws.
Andreas Weith / Wikimedia Commons / 28 Sep 2020
Methane is the primary contributor to the formation of ground-level ozone, a hazardous air pollutant and greenhouse gas, exposure to which causes 1 million premature deaths every year.
(UN News)* — Afghanistan’s economy is in “free fall”, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator told a special meeting on Sunday [19 December 2021], warning that if decisive and compassionate action is not taken immediately, it may “pull the entire population with it”.
Speaking virtually to the 17th Extraordinary Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, Pakistan, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths painted a grim picture of 23 million people facing hunger; malnourished children overflowing in health facilities; 70 per cent of teachers working without salaries; and millions of students – Afghanistan’s future – out of school.
17 December 2021 (UN News)* – In a message just ahead of International Migrants Day, celebrated on Saturday [18 December], the United Nations Secretary-General said that expressing solidarity with migrants on the move, “has never been more urgent.”
.
PAHO/Karen González | Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Venezuelan migrant refugees have faced numerous challenges in Colombia.
Today, more people than ever live in a country other than the one where they were born. While many individuals migrate out of choice, many others leave home out of necessity.
Approximately 281 million people were international migrants in 2020, representing 3.6 per cent of the global population.
New UNEP report provides a guide to increase resource efficiency in cities through circularity, better connectivity, ecosystem restoration, among others.
If no action is taken, by 2050 cities in the LAC region will consume two to four times more resources over the limits of sustainability.
Panama, 13 December 2021 (UNEP)* – If a sustainable transformation is pursued within this decade, Latin American and Caribbean cities can halve their consumption of natural resources such as fossil fuels, minerals and food, while succeeding in the fight against poverty and inequality, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
13 December 2021 (Wall Street International)* — Last month, I read a newspaper story that called the future of automobiles electric; and it quoted an electric vehicle (EV) owner who worries “only about replacing his tires, wiper blades and air filter.”
Credit: UNHCR
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 