UN
Myanmar situation continues to remain unsafe for civilians: Bangladesh
Bangladesh is concerned that the situation in Myanmar continues to remain unsafe for civilians, especially for the ethnic and religious minorities such as Rohingyas, Ambassador Rabab Fatima has said.
While referring to the precarious security situation in Myanmar which is causing a delay in the repatriation of the Rohingyas, she also expressed concern about the denial of access to the UN and other humanitarian agencies in the country.
Ambassador Fatima was speaking at the UN Security Council (UNSC) Open Debate Wednesday.
She said the protection of civilians (POC) is an important national priority for Bangladesh, and the country remains committed to all efforts to strengthen it.
Convened by the US delegation as the current president of the Council, the debate focused on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.
It discussed possible practical measures that the UNSC can take in the context of denial of humanitarian access, and attacks against humanitarian workers, among others.
The Bangladesh ambassador said the protection of civilians remains a serious challenge in the context of ongoing conflicts, protracted humanitarian crises and growing forced displacement.
While humanitarian needs are soaring, access remains a major challenge.
Ambassador Fatima mentioned Bangladesh's commitment to the protection of civilians, and the role its peacekeepers play in fulfilling this mandate.
"Nearly 7,000 peacekeepers from Bangladesh are serving in some of the most challenging missions, providing security at civilian sites, ensuring unhindered humanitarian services, supporting delivery of health and social services, community engagement and empowerment of women and youths," she added.
However, the peacekeepers and the humanitarian workers are increasingly becoming targets of attacks, often fueled by misinformation and disinformation.
The ambassador suggested that the relevant UN entities develop effective communications strategies to combat this.
She also emphasised ensuring that the peacekeeping missions are adequately resourced and equipped to fulfil their POC mandates.
Ambassador Fatima also called for increased awareness of compliance with international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflicts.
She also stressed the importance of holding the perpetrators accountable for violations of international humanitarian law. "Targeting civilians, schools, hospitals, and humanitarian actors cannot be condoned under any pretext. These attacks must be investigated and accounted for."
Also read: FM urges UNHCR to expedite efforts at Rohingya repatriation to Myanmar
Disaster prevention, risk reduction critical to sustainable future: UN
The world will experience 1.5 medium to large-scale disasters every day through the end of the decade unless countries ramp up action on prevention and risk reduction, according to the UN.
Disasters are already hampering global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
"We can – and we must – put our efforts firmly behind prevention and risk reduction, and build a safe, sustainable, resilient and equitable future for all," UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said in Bali, Indonesia Wednesday while addressing the opening of the Seventh Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction – the first international forum on the issue since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read: Over 4.18 lakh people affected by flash floods in 5 districts
"We must secure better coherence and implementation of the humanitarian development nexus. That means improving risk governance. Because despite our efforts, risk creation is outpacing risk reduction," Amina added.
There are no governance frameworks in place to manage risks and mitigate their impact.
The UN's 2022 Global Assessment Report, published last month, outlines ways in which governance systems can evolve to better address systemic risks.
The report makes it clear that in a world of uncertainty, understanding and reducing risk is fundamental to achieving sustainable development.
Amina referred to "new multilateral instruments" in this area, such as the UN's Complex Risk Analytics Fund, which supports "data ecosystems" that can better anticipate, prevent, and respond to complex threats, before they turn into full-blown disasters.
"This includes jointly developing risk analysis and investing in coordination and data infrastructure that enables knowledge-sharing and joint anticipatory action. Such investments will help us navigate complex risks earlier, faster, and in a more targeted and efficient manner," she said.
Read: Tension mounts as BCL, JCD clash at DU
"Also, We urgently need to step up international cooperation for prevention and disaster risk reduction in the most vulnerable countries and the most vulnerable communities, including women and girls, people with disabilities, the poor, marginalised and isolated," Amina added.
Climate change threatens access to water, sanitation
Climate change is set to significantly increase pressure on people's access to water and sanitation unless governments do more to prepare key infrastructure now, according to the UN.
Climate change is already posing serious challenges to water and sanitation systems in countries around the world, Thomas Croll-Knight, spokesperson for the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), said Friday.
Despite being a priority aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement, plans to make water access possible in the face of climate pressures, are absent in the pan-European region, according to the UNECE and the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe.
And "in most cases" throughout the region of 56 countries, there is also a lack of coordination on drinking water, sanitation and health.
From reduced water availability and contamination of water supplies to damage to sewerage infrastructure, these risks are set to increase significantly unless countries step up measures to increase resilience now, Croll-Knight said.
Also read: Climate change costs poor women in Bangladesh up to 30pc of their outgoings
It is estimated that more than one-third of the European Union will be under "high water stress" by the 2070s, by which time the number of additional people affected (compared to 2007) is expected to surge to 16–44 million.
And globally, each 1°C increase caused by global warming is projected to result in a 20 percent reduction in renewable water resources, affecting an additional seven percent of the population.
Meanwhile, as governments prepare for the next UN climate conference (COP 27) in November and the UN 2023 Water Conference, the UNECE painted a potentially grim picture moving forward in parts of Europe.
From water supply and sewerage infrastructure damage to water quality degradation and sewage spillage, impacts are already being felt.
For example, increased energy demand and disruption to treatment plants in Hungary are threatening significant additional operational costs for wastewater treatment.
Challenges in ensuring adequate water supply in the Netherlands have increased, while Spain struggles to maintain a minimum drinking water supply during drought periods.
Also read: President Hamid urges global efforts to combat climate change
Despite water management adaptation initiatives in many nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national action programmes (NAPs) under the Paris Agreement, governance mechanisms and methods for integrating water and climate are absent, leaving the interface of drinking water, sanitation and health worryingly unaddressed, in most cases.
Perpetrators must account for vicious crimes against Rohingya: UN
UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu has said they must hold accountable those who perpetrated vicious crimes against the Rohingya."The Rohingya refugees that I engaged with expressed their wish to return home to Myanmar, but only when they can do so in a safe manner, with access to equal rights," she said highlighting the importance of holding accountable those who perpetrated crimes against the Rohingya.The UN under secretary general who recently visited Cox’s Bazar refugee camps said it is shocking that almost five years since the 2017 violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar, which resulted in over 7 lakh fleeing to Bangladesh, the risk of atrocity crimes, in particular genocide, facing this population in their home country remains unchanged.
Also read: Myanmar curriculum pilot reaches first 10,000 Rohingya children in Cox’s Bazar: UNICEFNderitu also met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam and other government officials during her visit.
Ending gender digital divide critical to full enjoyment of women’s rights: UN expert
UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan has urged States to protect women journalists from online and offline attacks, and social media companies to ensure that online spaces are free from discrimination and safe for all women. Khan, on World Press Freedom Day, expressed deep concern at rising levels of online gender-based violence, gendered hate speech and disinformation that heighten the risk of physical violence against women journalists. “Whether online or offline, those who threaten women journalists seek to intimidate and silence them, are putting media freedom, pluralism and diversity as well as the safety of the women themselves in danger,” said Khan on Tuesday. “Independent, free, pluralistic and diverse media is essential for democracy. This creates an imperative and urgency for States and media outlets to work proactively to ensure women’s safety, equal participation and representation in the media sector.” On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, the UN Special Rapporteur issued a Joint Declaration on freedom of expression and gender justice in collaboration with freedom of expression experts from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of American States (OAS), and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR).The Joint Declaration focuses on challenges to women’s freedom of expression and the roles and responsibilities of States, internet intermediaries and media outlets to address them. “International human rights law has made it clear that it is not enough for States only to refrain from unlawfully restricting women’s freedom of opinion and expression. They are obliged to proactively remove structural, systemic and legal barriers that inhibit women’s free expression and public participation,” Khan said. The Joint Declaration calls on States, the private sector, including media outlets, social media platforms and civil society to address social discrimination, gender stereotyping, entrenched bias, misogyny and interpretations of religion, culture and custom, as well as sexual and gender-based violence and discriminatory laws and policies, that are at the root of gendered censorship. Noting the vital importance of the internet and access to information for women’s empowerment, the Declaration urges governments to accelerate efforts to close the gender digital divide and cautions social media platforms to ensure their business practices and automated or algorithmic processes do not amplify gender stereotypes, bias, misogyny and gender-based violence. “Internet intermediaries must respect and uphold women’s human rights and ensure their safety online, including through secure digital communications, strong encryption and anonymity-enhancing tools, products and services,” said Khan. Also read: Threats to media workers' freedom growing: UN
Threats to media workers' freedom growing: UN
Journalists and media workers are facing increasing politicisation of their work and threats to the freedom to simply do their jobs, according to the UN.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many media workers have been on the frontlines, providing accurate, science-based reporting to inform decision-makers and save lives, said the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, marking World Press Freedom Day Tuesday.
But the threats to their freedom to go about their reporting and storytelling fairly and accurately are multiplying daily.
Also read: In Kashmir, India batters press freedom — and journalists
From global health to the climate crisis, corruption, and human rights abuses, they face increased politicisation of their work and attempts to silence them from many sides, Guterres said.
Digital technology has democratised access to information, but it has also created serious challenges, he added.
The UN chief also said many social media platforms make their money not through increasing access to fact-based reporting, but by boosting engagement, "which often means provoking outrage and spreading lies."
Media workers in war zones are threatened not only by bombs and bullets but by the weapons of falsification and disinformation that accompany modern warfare. They may be attacked as the enemy, accused of espionage, detained, or killed, simply for doing their jobs.
Guterres said digital technology was also making censorship easier for authoritarian governments and others, seeking to suppress the truth, with many journalists and editors facing the prospect of their work being taken offline daily.
Digital technology is also creating new "channels for oppression and abuse," with women journalists "at particular risk" of online harassment and violence.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has found that nearly three-quarters of women respondents had experienced online violence. Hacking and illegal surveillance also prevent journalists from doing their jobs.
The methods and tools change, but the goal of discrediting the media and covering up the truth remains the same as ever, said the UN chief, leading to citizens without free media being "manipulated in horrifying ways."
Without freedom of the press, there are no real democratic societies. Without freedom of the press, there is no freedom, he added.
Ten years ago, the UN established a Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists to protect media workers and end impunity for crimes committed against them and continues to fight to protect their rights.
Over 3,000 lost at sea trying to reach Europe in 2021: UN
More than 3,000 people died or went missing last year while trying to cross the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to reach Europe, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
Of the total, 1,924 people were reported to have died or gone missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, and 1,153 on the Northwest African maritime route to the Canary Islands, finds the UNHCR's new report "Protection, saving lives, & solutions for refugees in dangerous Journeys."
Fatalities for 2020, stood at 1,776 for the three routes – reflecting an increase of 478 people since the beginning of this year.
Read: 150 migrants feared dead after boats capsize off Libya coast
Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats – many of which capsized or were deflated leading to the loss of life, UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said Friday.
The sea journey from West African coastal states, such as Senegal and Mauritania to the Canary Islands, is long and perilous and can take up to 10 days.
Many boats drifted off course or otherwise went missing without a trace in these waters, she said.
Land routes also continue to be highly dangerous, where even more people may have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas, in detention centres, or while being held by smugglers or traffickers.
Extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced labour and marriage are just some of the abuses reported by people travelling these routes.
Also, Covid-related border closures impacted movements towards North Africa and European coastal countries, with many desperate refugees and migrants turning to smugglers.
Read: Dozens feared dead in DR Congo boat accident
Continued political instability and conflicts, deteriorating socioeconomic conditions as well as the impact of climate change may increase displacement and dangerous onward movements, Shabia said.
In launching an updated protection and solutions strategy for refugees on dangerous journeys along routes towards Europe across the Central and Western Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, the UNHCR appealed for support in providing meaningful alternatives to these dangerous journeys and preventing people from becoming victims of traffickers.
The approach calls for increased humanitarian assistance, support and solutions for people in need of international protection and survivors of gross human rights abuses.
It covers some 25 countries across four regions connected by the same land and sea routes – used by migrants, asylum seekers and refugees – and includes countries of origin, departure, first asylum, transit and destination.
UN works to broker civilian evacuation from Mariupol
The United Nations doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol on Friday, while Ukraine accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organization by bombing Kyiv when the U.N. leader was visiting the capital.
The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port city’s last stronghold is dire, and citizens are “begging to get saved.” Mayor Vadym Boichenko added: “There, it’s not a matter of days. It’s a matter of hours.”
Ukraine’s forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country’s industrial Donbas region. Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities. And a senior U.S. defense official said the Russian offensive is going much slower than planned in part because of the strength of Ukrainian resistance.
Also read: Allies must ‘double down’ and send Ukraine tanks, jets: UK
In other developments:
— A former U.S. Marine was killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, his family said in what would be the war’s first known death of an American in combat. The U.S. has not confirmed the report.
— Ukrainian forces are cracking down on people accused of helping Russian troops. In the Kharkiv region alone, nearly 400 have been detained under anti-collaboration laws enacted after Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.
— The international sanctions imposed on the Kremlin over the war are squeezing the country. The Russian Central Bank said Russia’s economy is expected to contract by up to 10% this year, and the outlook is “extremely uncertain.”
On Thursday, Moscow’s forces launched a missile attack on a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv, shattering weeks of relative calm in the capital following Russia’s retreat from the region early this month.
U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the bombardment. Ten people were wounded, one of them losing a leg, authorities said.
The missile strike came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.
“This says a lot about Russia’s true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the U.N. and everything the organization represents,” Zelenskyy said.
Also read: A chilling Russian cyber aim in Ukraine: Digital dossiers
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s way of giving “his middle finger” to Guterres.
In an apparent reference to the Kyiv bombing, Russia’s military said it had destroyed “production buildings” at the Artem defense factory.
The missile strike came just as life in Kyiv seemed to be getting back a little closer to normal, with cafes and other businesses starting to reopen and growing numbers of people going out to enjoy the arrival of spring.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst and head of the Kyiv-based Penta Center think tank, said the attack carried a message: “Russia is sending a clear signal about its intention to continue the war despite the international pressure.”
Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.
But so far, Russia’s troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains.
The U.S. believes the Russians are “at least several days behind where they wanted to be” as they try to encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, said the senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the American military’s assessment.
As Russian troops try to move north out of Mariupol so they can advance on Ukrainian forces from the south, their progress has been “slow and uneven and certainly not decisive,” the official said.
In the bombed-out city of Mariupol, around 100,000 people were believed trapped with little food, water or medicine. An estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders and 1,000 civilians were holed up at the Azovstal steel plant.
The Soviet-era steel plant has a vast underground network of bunkers able to withstand airstrikes. But the situation has grown more dire after the Russians dropped “bunker busters” and other bombs.
“Locals who manage to leave Mariupol say it is hell, but when they leave this fortress, they say it is worse,” said Boichenko, the mayor.
U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the organization was negotiating with authorities in Moscow and Kyiv to create safe passage.
This time, “we hope there’s a slight touch of humanity in the enemy,” the mayor said. Ukraine has blamed the failure of numerous previous evacuation attempts on continued Russian shelling.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, told Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that the real problem is that “humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultra-nationals.” Moscow has repeatedly claimed right-wing Ukrainians are thwarting evacuation efforts and using civilians as human shields.
Also Friday, two towns in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.
Fighting could be heard from Kramatorsk to Sloviansk, two cities about 18 kilometers (11 miles) apart in the Donbas. Columns of smoke rose from the Sloviansk area and neighboring cities. At least one person was reported wounded in the shelling.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy accused Russia of trying to destroy the Donbas and all who live there.
The constant attacks “show that Russia wants to empty this territory of all people,” he said.
“If the Russian invaders are able to realize their plans even partially, then they have enough artillery and aircraft to turn the entire Donbas into stones, as they did with Mariupol.”
The governor of Russia’s Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar attack from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.
In the village of Ruska Lozava, near Kharkiv, hundreds of people were evacuated after Ukrainian forces retook the city from Russian occupiers, according to the regional governor. Those who fled to Kharkiv spoke of dire conditions under the Russians, with little water or food and no electricity.
“We were hiding in the basement. It was horror. The basement was shaking from the explosions. We were screaming, we were crying and we were praying to God,” said Ludmila Bocharnikova.
A video posted by Ukraine’s Azov battalion showed troops raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over the government building in the center of the village, though fighting continued on the outskirts.
Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.
“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for,” she said, “and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it.”
The Marine Corps said Cancel served four years but was given a bad-conduct discharge and sentenced to five months’ confinement for violating orders. No details on the offense were given.
At least two other foreigners fighting on the Ukrainian side, one from Britain and the other from Denmark, have also been killed.
Palak calls for Global Internet Governance Council & Frontier Technology Guidelines under UN
State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Wednesday called for the formulation of Global Internet Governance Council and Frontier Technology Guidelines under the support of the United Nations to protect the data and privacy of citizens.
“Through global inclusive participation, we will be able to protect the rights of our citizens as well as the economy in cyberspace,” said the state minister during a panel discussion titled ‘Diminished Democracies: Big Tech, Red Tech, and Deep Tech’ at RAISINA Dialogue 2022 in New Delhi.
Palak said Bangladesh is drafting a digital protection law. “We should cooperate with each other to innovate new and emerging technologies.”
He said, “We are using digital technology for the economic development of the country and the welfare of the citizens under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.”
“In the interest of security, we do not want to allow Big Tech, Red Tech and Deep Tech technology to interfere. Bangladesh is working on 4 pillars to protect our political, economic and cyberspace.”
READ: Palak visits Indian Institute of Technology, NASSCOM in New Delhi
The panel discussion, moderated by Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was attended by Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology of India Rajiv Chandrasekhar, US Deputy National Security Adviser for Cyber and Emerging Technology Ann Newberger, US CEO of General Atomics Global Corporation Vivek Lal and Evan Nanjira Sambuli, a representative of the US Technology and International Affairs Program.
On Monday, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the second edition of ' RAISINA Dialogue 2022'.
RAISINA Dialogue is a multilateral flagship conference which has been held annually in New Delhi since 2016 on International Geopolitics.
Weary of many disasters? UN says worse to come
A disaster-weary globe will be hit harder in the coming years by even more catastrophes colliding in an interconnected world, a United Nations report issued Monday says.
If current trends continue the world will go from around 400 disasters per year in 2015 to an onslaught of about 560 catastrophes a year by 2030, the scientific report by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said. By comparison from 1970 to 2000, the world suffered just 90 to 100 medium to large scale disasters a year, the report said.
The number of extreme heat waves in 2030 will be three times what it was in 2001 and there will be 30% more droughts, the report predicted. It’s not just natural disasters amplified by climate change, it’s COVID-19, economic meltdowns and food shortages. Climate change has a huge footprint in the number of disasters, report authors said.
Also read: Despite emissions growth slowing, window for climate action 'closing fast': UN body
People have not grasped how much disasters already cost today, said Mami Mizutori, chief of the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction, “If we don't get ahead of the curve it will reach a point where we cannot manage the consequences of disaster,” she said. “We're just in this vicious cycle.”
That means society needs to rethink how it finances, handles and talks about the risk of disasters and what it values the most, the report said. About 90% of the spending on disasters currently is emergency relief with only 6% on reconstruction and 4% on prevention, Mizutori said in an interview Monday.
Not every hurricane or earthquake has to turn into a disaster, Mizutori said. A lot of damage is avoided with planning and prevention.
In 1990, disasters cost the world about $70 billion a year. Now they cost more than $170 billion a year, and that’s after adjusting for inflation, according to report authors. Nor does that include indirect costs we seldom think about that add up, Mizutori said.
For years disaster deaths were steadily decreasing because of better warnings and prevention, Mizutori said. But in the last five years, disaster deaths are “way more” than the previous five years, said report co-author Roger Pulwarty, a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate and social scientist.
Also read: Twitter bans ads that contradict science on climate change
That's because both COVID-19 and climate change disasters have come to places that didn't used to get them, like tropical cyclones hitting Mozambique, Mizutori said. It's also the way disasters interact with each other, compounding damage, like wildfires plus heatwaves or a war in Ukraine plus food and fuel shortages, Pulwarty said.
Pulwarty said if society changes the way it thinks about risk and prepares for disasters, then the recent increase in yearly disaster deaths could be temporary, otherwise it’s probably “the new abnormal."
Disasters are hitting poorer countries harder than richer ones, with recovery costs taking a bigger chunk out of the economy in nations that can’t afford it, co-author Markus Enenkel of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative said.
“These are the events that can wipe out hard-earned development gains, leading already vulnerable communities or entire regions into a downward spiral,” he said.
The sheer onslaught of disasters just add up, like little illnesses attacking and weakening the body's immune system, Pulwarty said.
The report calls for an overhaul in how we speak about risk. For example, instead of asking about the chances of a disaster happening this year, say 5%, officials should think about the chances over a 25-year period, which makes it quite likely. Talking about 100-year floods or chances of something happening a couple times in 100 years makes it seem distant, Mizutori said.
“In a world of distrust and misinformation, this is a key to moving forward,” said University of South Carolina Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute Co-Director Susan Cutter, who wasn’t part of the report. “We can move forward to reduce the underlying drivers of risk: Inequality, poverty and most significantly climate change.”