February 24, 2021 No comments
Myanmar: Stop harassment of workers, UN agency urges military
INTERNATIONAL, 24 February 2021, Peace and Security - The United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) has called on the military in Myanmar to end the harassment and intimidation of workers by security forces, and ensure that they can exercise their rights to freedom of expression, in a climate free of violence and fear. In a statement on Tuesday, the agency said it received allegations that police and military are conducting door-to-door searches for trade unionists at their dormitories and hostels in the Hlaingtharyar industrial township, in the country’s largest city, Yangon. It is alleged that the acts of harassment and intimidation are “largely targeted” at young female workers working in the private sector industries of Yangon, who are living far away from their families in the...
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February 24, 2021 No comments
Ghana receives first historic shipment of COVID-19 vaccinations from international COVAX facility
INTERNATIONAL, 24 February 2021, Health - Six hundred thousand doses of lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine from the UN-partnered COVAX initiative have arrived in Ghana: a historic first for the international partnership to provide equitable innoculations for all. Confirming the news on Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that further supplies of the AstraZeneca/Oxford jab will reach Côte d’Ivoire later this week. These are the first coronavirus shots from the COVAX scheme to be distributed outside India, where the vaccine is being produced under licence. They were shipped from Mumbai to the Ghanaian capital, Accra, by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as part of the first wave of vaccines headed to several low and middle income countries. UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore described their arrival as “the historic moment for which we have been planning and working so...
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February 24, 2021 No comments
FROM THE FIELD: Millions of Yemenis facing ‘death sentence’
INTERNATIONAL, 25 February 2021, Humanitarian Aid - Yemen remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the situation for the millions of affected people is deteriorating, says the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). A woman in Aden, Yemen prepares food at a settlement for people who have fled their homes due to insecurity., by UNOCHA/Giles Clarke The grim outlook for Yemen – ongoing conflict, economic collapse and major cuts in donor support for emergency aid – has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a significant drop in the amount of money sent home by the Yemeni diaspora, as global work opportunities dry up. Cuts to life-saving food, water and health care programmes mean that four million fewer people are being...
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February 24, 2021 No comments
Pandemic recovery presents historic opportunity to ensure human rights for all: Guterres
INTERNATIONAL, 24 February 2021, Human Rights - Human rights have been battered in the COVID-19 pandemic but recovery represents a chance to improve on the status quo and finally ensure dignity for all, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the General Assembly on Wednesday. The UN chief addressed ambassadors exactly one year after he issued a Call to Action for Human Rights, a seven-point blueprint aimed at boosting equality and reducing suffering everywhere. Amid budget cuts and financial crisis, he appealed for support for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and related bodies, noting that funding is critical to achieve transformational change. “Much like COVID-19 vaccines, human rights will not lead to a healthier world if they are only available to the privileged few”, he cautioned. Pandemic exposes...
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February 24, 2021 No comments
UN independent experts ‘appalled’ by deportation of migrants to Myanmar, in defiance of court order
INTERNATIONAL, 24 February 2021, Human Rights - Independent UN human rights experts castigated Malaysia on Wednesday over its decision to deport more than1,000 detained migrants back to crisis-ridden Myanmar – despite a court order to suspend their return, pending a judicial review. Malaysian immigration authorities returned 1,086 migrants, including unaccompanied minors and toddlers as young as three, the UN experts said in a statement on Wednesday. In defiance of the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s order, the Malaysian authorities “breached the principle of non-refoulement, a rule of jus cogens, which absolutely prohibits the collective deportation of migrants without an objective risk assessment being conducted in each individual case”, they said. “Children should not have been separated from their family or returned without determining that their return is in...
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