By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS (IDN) — Three multilateral development banks have joined with the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch the Health Impact Investment Platform. This is a landmark development aimed at investing in and strengthening essential, climate-resilient primary health care (PHC) services in low- and low-and-middle-income countries (LICs and LMICs).
Vanuatu: People Don’t See Millions Govt. Gets for Cyclone Recovery
By Josepheen Tarianga* PORT VILA, Vanuatu, 25 June 2023 (IDN | Wansolwara) — In the first week of March this year after days of cyclone warnings—it did finally come. Not one but two cyclones and a devastating earthquake—all within a week. When the cyclones came, there was already a chill in the air and dark […]
UN Chief Refuses to List Israel for Killings of Children
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 22 June 2023 (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his annual report on Children and Armed Conflict,, has once again left out Israel from the list of perpetrators of grave violations and killings of children. Perhaps the only consolation this year is his decision to stand up to Russia, […]
200 Million Migrant Workers Sent $647 Billion to over 800 Million Families
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 15 June 2023 (IDN) – In Asia, some of the countries dependent on remittances from migrant workers overseas include India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Bangladesh and the Philippines. At the international airport in one of the Southeast Asian capitals, there is a sign at the “arrivals” terminal for a special […]
Global Trade Rebounds, But the Outlook for 2023 Is Bleak
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA, 21 June 2023 (IDN) — Trade in goods and services rebounded between January and March 2023 after two consecutive quarters of decline. However, the outlook for the rest of the year is bleak. According To UNCTAD‘s Latest Global Trade Update, published on 21 June, global merchandise trade rebounded both in volume […]
UN Adopts Historic Global Treaty on Oceans
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 20 June 2023 (IDN)— After years of negotiations, the United Nations has reached an agreement on a Global Ocean Treaty aimed at ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity which covers over two thirds of the world’s high seas. “You have pumped new life and hope to give […]
Protesters Occupy South African Bank for ‘Ecocide’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 19 June 2023 (IDN) — Hundreds of climate activists occupied South Africa’s Standard Bank Group this week as it considers new investments into fossil fuels – also known as “dirty energy projects.” “We want Standard Bank to stop putting their investment into fossil fuels and to invest […]
A Pakistani University Employs Artificial Intelligence to Boost Agriculture
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | KARACHI, Pakistan, 18 June 2023 (IDN) — A member institution of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) in Pakistan, the Iqra University, appears to have spared the South Asian country of an impending food crisis, predicted within two years.
The Women Who are Barred from the Negotiating Table…
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 17 June 2023 (IDN) — Shirley Chisholm, the first Black American woman elected to the US Congress back in 1972, once famously remarked: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” The legendary remark was a reflection of the gender bias in the US […]
Nations Pledge to Improve Refugee and Migrant Health
By Bernhard Schell RABAT, Morocco, 16 June 2023 (IDN | WHO) — One in eight people worldwide is either a migrant or is forcibly displaced by factors including conflict, persecution, environmental degradation, or the lack of human security and opportunity. With this in view, United Nations member states and several UN agencies have adopted a […]