Citizens for Justice and Peace
UN migration body urges Facebook to curb People Smugglers
13-Dec-2017
The United Nations’ migration agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has urged social media firms, including Facebook, to up their efforts in curbing people smugglers using their platforms, The Independent reported. IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle has said people smugglers frequently use Facebook for unlawful deals to take migrants to Libya, where they could potentially…
High Commissioner’s 10th Dialogue on Protection Challenges
13-Dec-2017
The High Commissioner’s 10th Dialogue on Protection Challenges, which is aimed at discussing the proposed Global Compact on Refugees is taking place on December 12-13 in Geneva, Switzerland. In his speech opening the dialogue, Filippo Grandi, the United nations High Commissioner for Refugees cautioned that forced displacement has deepened a year after the New York…
Universal Health Coverage Day 2017
12-Dec-2017
December 12, 2017 is Universal Health Coverage Day; this year is the five-year anniversary of the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution that underscores health as a key factor in international development, and calls on governments to make progress on ensuring that all people can access quality, affordable healthcare. Universal health coverage…
One Planet Summit 2017
12-Dec-2017
On December 12, 2017, two years after the Paris Climate Change Agreement was adopted, world leaders, governments, and representatives of civil society and the private sector are convening in Paris for the One Planet Summit. The summit is aimed at setting in motion initiatives that will facilitate in increasing “financial flows” into developing countries. Among…
UN cautions sanctions on North Korea could hurt millions requiring aid
12-Dec-2017
UN human rights commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said at a special security council meeting that stringent sanctions levied on North Korea are affecting the flow of humanitarian aid into the country, the Guardian reported. 70% of North Korea’s population, an estimated 18 million people, struggle with a severe lack of food, and humanitarian agencies…
EU governments complicit in abuse of refugees, migrants in Libya: Amnesty
12-Dec-2017
Amnesty International has released a report alleging that European governments “are knowingly complicit in the torture and abuse of tens of thousands of refugees and migrants detained by Libyan immigration authorities in appalling conditions”. Libya is the primary transit point for migrants attempting to reach Europe. However, after the EU has supplied funding, ships and…
The Kyoto Protocol’s 20th anniversary
11-Dec-2017
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement tied to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which establishes internationally binding targets to cut emissions. Under the Protocol, nations are required to implement national measures to meet emissions targets. However, the Protocol also outlines market-based measures, such as trading emissions units, to achieve targets. At the…
AP finds “sweeping and methodical” rape of Rohingya women and girls
11-Dec-2017
An Associated Press investigation that involved interviews with 29 Rohingya women and girls who escaped to Bangladesh from Myanmar found that Myanmar’s security forces have engaged in systematic rape against the minority. AP notes that there was “a sickening sameness” in the sexual assault survivors’ reports, “with distinct patterns in their accounts, their assailants’ uniforms…
Study highlights children’s acute plight in Syrian war
09-Dec-2017
A study published in Lancet Global Health found that shelling and aerial bombings in Syria had a “disproportionate lethal impact on civilians, particularly children,” according to the study’s lead author, Professor Debarati Guha-Sapir at the University of Louvain, the Guardian reported. The study found that in the first six years of Syria’s civil war, 71%…
UNICEF warns of “crisis of invisibility” in Sub-Saharan Africa
09-Dec-2017
UNICEF has released data indicating that the births of 95 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have not been registered. Leila Pakkala, Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa said, “Such levels of invisibility cannot persist. The cost is too high,” cautioning that “an unregistered child is vulnerable to violations such as child marriage, child labour…