Health & Well Being

UN Committee Rewards Countries for Protecting Human Rights Despite COVID-19

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) — The Human Rights Committee periodically scrutinizes the implementation of the legal obligations of countries that have ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Despite the challenges to its work brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Committee was able to hold online follow-up reviews of 12 countries during its three regular sessions in 2021.

To date, 173 countries have ratified the Covenant. An additional six countries have signed the Covenant but have yet to ratify it, while 18 have taken no action.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 02 January 2022

Photo: The UN Secretary-General António Guterres talks to Yeashea Braddock, Operations Manager of the Bronx high school where he received a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe.

UN Chief Calls for Making Recovery 'Our Resolution For 2022'

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) — Together, let's make recovery "for people, planet and prosperity" our resolution for 2022, the UN chief said in his message for the New Year.

"The world welcomes 2022 with our hopes for the future being tested by deepening poverty and worsening inequality…an unequal distribution of COVID vaccines…climate commitments that fall short, and by ongoing conflict, division, and misinformation", Secretary-General António Guterres lamented.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 01 January 2022

Photo: Australian PM Scott Morrison making the national cabinet statement on December 30, 2021. Credit: Prime Minister of Australia Website.

Omicron Surge Forces Australia to Redefine COVID-19 Response

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — In July 2021 Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Australians to go out and get vaccinated as the Delta variant of COVID-19 spread across the world. They were assured that once double-vaccinated the lockdowns will be lifted. He said at the time “by Christmas Australia will be a different place” if fellow Australians follow his advice.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 31 December 2021

Collage: Image of the reviewed book (Credit: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute) superimposed on a picture from freemalaysiatoday.com

COVID-19 and the Structural Crises of Our Time - BOOK REVIEW by Chan Kok Peng*

By Lim Mah-Hui and Michael Heng Siam-Heng

SINGAPORE (IDN) — This is clearly an ambitious book spanning over 200 pages and covering the history of economic and philosophical thought, pandemics, climate change, different economic and political systems and recent financial developments. The authors’ objective is to argue that these subject matters are not separate but are all intertwined. In doing so, the three authors’ years of experience in academia, public and private sectors are clearly discernible in each of the six chapters. By entitling the book ‘COVID-19 and the Structural Crises of Our time’ the authors are aiming to ride on a topical issue and hence appeal to the broader general public.

: Opinion Editor; ARTS & CULTURE; 28 December 2021

Photo: According to a UNDP survey, the textile, tourism, hospitality, and construction sectors have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and the political upheaval, as have small and medium enterprises. Credit: UNDP Myanmar.

Urban Poverty Rates in Myanmar Set to Triple, Warns New UN Survey

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK | YANGON (IDN) — By early 2022, nearly half of Myanmar’s 55 million population—some 25 million people—will be living below the national poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A survey leaves no doubt that the country’s poverty headcount is likely to return to levels not seen since 2005, effectively erasing 15 years of pre-pandemic economic growth.

“The rising levels of poverty is not just about the lack of incomes to survive but we are also seeing a significant risk to nutrition, health and education, which will negatively impact on the human capital of the next generation,” said the survey report.

: Caroline Mwanga; UN INSIDER; 28 December 2021

Photo: Lake Chad desertification water seedlings. UNDP Chad

A New Programmatic Offer for the Sahel Region

By UNDP

NEW YORK (IDN) — In A Special Online event featuring voices from the Sahel, from top-level officials to artists and activists in the region, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) presented on December 9 its new programmatic Offer for the Sahel region: A Regeneration. Covering ten countries—Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and The Gambia—the programme is a call for new partners to join local actors and the United Nations in a unique contribution to the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel (UNISS) to regenerate this great land of opportunity.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 23 December 2021

Photo: The 17 Sustainable Development Goals projected on UN headquarters, New York, 2015. UN Photo/Cia Pak

With a Rise in Infections, UN Advises Staffers to Work Remotely—and Return to their Homes

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The United Nations, which temporarily dropped its defences and partially lifted its 20-month-old lockdown last month, has reacted swiftly to the rise in COVID-19 infections in New York city by suspending its “flexible working arrangements” and advising staffers to work remotely—from their homes beginning December 20.

The new restrictions will continue through January 9, 2022.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 20 December 2021

A Book Fair Blossoms in Mogadishu

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | MOGADISHU (IDN) — A Book Fair is flowering in Mogadishu, bringing the world of literature and other areas of learning to a region challenged by the coronavirus pandemic and political tension linked to disagreements over the ongoing parliamentary elections in the country.

The event had been suspended last year due to Corona-19.

This year’s event was limited in size but according to the founder of the fair, Mohamed Diini, organizers are already working to accommodate more people next year.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 December 2021

Kenya's Nomads Hit by Longest Dry Spell in Memory

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | NAIROBI (IDN) — Kenya’s crucial rainy season came up short this year with only a few showers, wiping out livestock and putting millions of people at risk.

Photographs from Wajir County, near the border with Somalia, show dying and dead cows in a desert dotted with thorn trees. The longest dry spell in memory is pushing pastoralists nearer to starvation. “If they die,” said one herder referring to his camels, “we all die.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 December 2021

Nigeria’s Slot War with UAE at the Cost of Travellers

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — It’s not been a merry run-up to Christmas for many Nigerian travellers. It all started with Canada, Saudi Arabia, and then the UK, red-listing Nigeria (and 10 other African countries) for the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in spite of relatively low reported cases.