By Lorraine Farquharson
NEW YORK, Sep 14 2022 (IPS)

Cross-continent vacations seem to be the norm once again with the lessening of COVID-19 while new cities are being built with skyscraping $4M condos shooting up in a matter of months, and just-out-of-University millennials launching into their careers with minimum start-off salaries of $75K.

Sounds pretty good.

Those scenarios present a shocking oxymoron to newly-released facts that shockingly, 90 percent of the world’s nations are currently undergoing gravely altered lives due to a downward spiral of human development over the past two years.

According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP)’s annual Human Development Report (HDR) and Index (HDI), released Sept. 8, the percentage greatly exceeds any other reversals during the global financial crisis – setting the globe roughly six years backward. Therefore, the organization makes a solid global call for collective action.

Results of the survey show that for the first time in 32 years of calculating the world’s well-being, nine out of every 10 countries have fallen backwards in health, education, and standard of living. The organization says that although there are many reasons for the degradation, continuous effect of back-to-back crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are the most to be blamed.

Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator, pinpointed areas showing that human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels and that world leaders find themselves collectively paralyzed in making changes. Steiner added that the current state of regress thwarts the U.N.’s 2030 deadline at achieving the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Other draining factors include the exorbitant increase in cost of living; unemployment; artificial intelligence chosen over human activity rather than using it to maximize existing tasks.

There is also digitalization – “a double-edged sword for mental wellbeing;” mental distress, which constrains freedom to achieve plus the climate and energy crises. But those get easily sutured up by subsidizing fossil fuels; lack of access to adequate resources, as well as persistent and growing inequalities.

These all negatively affect and delay long-term goals as well as necessary systemic changes, and causes insecurity in both the leaders as well as the population.

Speaking during the launch of the HDR, António Guterres U.N. Secretary General said the current crises creates an uneven economic recovery from the pandemic and is further exacerbating inequalities, leaving entire regions behind.

“This is triggering spikes in food and energy prices, driving up inflation and drowning vulnerable countries in debt,” he said.

The most under-developed nations in South America, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia, are hardest hit. For example, Pakistan – which already had a very low rating on the index, has fallen 7 places lower. It now ranks 161, on the HDI, out of 192 countries, while Afghanistan rings in at the 180th position.

The Report, titled “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World” was released just a day prior to the UNDP’s high-level assembly of global leaders, the SDG Media Summit, highlighting those who are driving social change to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.

Isis Jaraud-Darnault, Political Coordinator of The Permanent Mission of France to the U.N., spoke on France’s participation with the European Union to alleviate woes in the entire Horn of Africa region.

France is especially aiding the food crisis in Somalia by dispatching a Special Envoy to the country, as well as keeping its promise to provide continuous financial aid (which has amounted to €61 million in 2022), and also launching a humanitarian airlift to provide emergency food and medicine, especially to areas hard to reach by road. “The international community must mobilize”, Jaraud-Darnault said. “France is taking its full part in this aid.”

“Today, with one-third of people worldwide feeling stressed and less than a third of people worldwide trusting others, we face major roadblocks to adopting policies that work for people and planet,” says Steiner. “There is a skyrocketing perception of insecurity in most countries, even some high-ranking HDI ones.”

Despite the dark clouds, despair, doubts that grip many countries, along with the fact that recovery is uneven and partial, some seem to be dusting off their heels and getting back on their feet.

The UNDP holds onto the hope of positivity and promise by expressing the sentiments that if futures are reimagined, refreshed and renewed; pathways carved and molded; plans, goals and values are developed then there has to be an uptick – as nothing lasts forever – not even the bad.

Guterres’ reiterated the Report’s clearly-stated steps forward to quench this conundrum, which was to “Double down on human development and advance policies around ‘The Three I-s’ – investment, insurance, and innovation.” He added, “We must invest in global public goods; expand insurance through social safety nets; and innovate, fostering new pathways and technologies.”

The UNDP report depicts a totally overwhelmed global society staggering from crisis to crisis. Steiner adds. “This risks heading towards increasing deprivation and injustice and in a world defined by uncertainty, we need a renewed sense of global solidarity to tackle our inter connected interconnected, common challenges.”

Lorraine Farquharson is a writer / essayist and an investigative freelance journalist seeking to raise awareness and lessen the woes of humanitarian issues. She has travelled to more than 30 countries and written articles for several international news organizations based at the United Nations.

IPS UN Bureau

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As violence hit record highs in the Central African Republic (CAR), United Nations French Ambassador Gerard Araud, Tuesday, called for increased peacekeeping efforts, warning that the heavy violence between Christians and Muslims could spiral into mass genocide.

Although 6,000 peacekeepers are currently deployed, Araud said that the amount seems quite low because of the country’s total land mass and the incredible outrage of war. He said that at least 4,000 more troops are required to restore some sort of order in the country.

Despite the amount of troops currently situated in the country (5,000 African, 1,600 French and 500 European Union), ex-Séléka  – supported by armed Muslim civilians rebels – and Christian militias – known as anti-Balaka (anti-machete who have now taken up arms) – are committing a barrage of atrocious acts, putting Muslim civilians in an even more vulnerable state.

“The CAR is no longer a state,” Araud said. “The country needs strong civilian support as the amount of peacekeepers currently there is not enough to rebuild state institutions.”

According to a press release, both High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined together to express their reinforcement of the urgent need for a more robust response to the CAR crisis. “This is needed to protect civilians, prevent further violence, end impunity and promote reconciliation,” the joint statement said.

Violence in CAR is now at its peak because of rebels who re-started relentless attacks in the country in 2013.  The attacks have occurred in several neighbourhoods. Roughly 4,000 homes, plus many shops and mosques were stormed over the past weekend.  Hundreds of thousands are estimated to have been killed and roughly half the country’s population needs humanitarian aid. The town of Bangui is deserted as almost one million civilians have fled from their homes – half of which are children.

“We simply cannot let the social fabric of this country be torn apart. I call this a matter of utmost urgency upon the international community to strengthen peacekeeping efforts,” said Pillay.

The African International Support Mission to CAR (MISCA) working along with the WFP has provided aid to more than 110,000 displaced people in Bangui. The two organizations have also begun airlifting food from Cameroon into CAR. Two days ago, the WFP distributed food to 40,000 beneficiaries in the village of Bossangoa and last week 1,209 people were also fed.

Central African Republic’s interim President Catherine Samba-Panza has also written to the UN to call for the African peacekeeping force to be transformed into a larger U.N. operation.

Midwives assume the role of the doctor and replaces the more clinical hospital setting with holistic and homeopathic methods. Credit: Bigstock

By Lorraine Farquharson
NEW YORK, Jan 27 2014 (IPS)

It was a long and hard 10 hours of labour.

“Don’t give up,” Carolina Pinheiro recalls her doula urging, as she provided both physical and emotional support.“If you feel safer in a hospital then do that, but there should not be an assumption that hospitals are safer than home. " -- Carolina Pinheiro

Pinheiro says she chose at-home birthing with midwife assistance because she wanted a safe environment, plus the gentle care the method provides, which included exercise stretches, a foot massage and aromatherapy.

Since Pinheiro could not sit up to eat during the 10 hours, yet still needed strength to push, the doula squeezed “fresh green [kale and fruit] juice” for her and constantly brought jugs of water.

“A doula is recommended if a mother chooses the at-home [birth], because she comes to your house and guides you through until the time is right for the midwife to come,” Pinheiro tells IPS.

Pinheiro’s baby was positioned feet-down, and it took three hours to turn him around. “Usually, pushing should last two to three hours,” she says.

“If I was in a hospital they would not allow me to push so long and suggest a C-section. I didn’t want that,” she adds. “My doula and I agreed to invite the midwife over only when the time felt right.”

In Pinheiro’s view, the midwife assumes the role of the doctor and replaces the more clinical hospital setting with holistic and homeopathic methods. “So there is no medication during pushing. She just guided me holistically in the positions that I could try,” Pinheiro says.

Even as women in the United States spend 98 billion dollars a year on hospitalisation for pregnancy and childbirth, the country’s maternal mortality rate has doubled in the past 25 years, to around 15 deaths per 100,000 births. Currently, the U.S. ranks 50th in the world in terms of maternal mortality, among the bottom of the most developed countries.

“My midwife took care of me through my entire pregnancy and was there by my side all along, so I knew I would feel safer,” said Pinheiro. She said that having the midwife carry out the delivery at home also made her feel more private. “If you are in a safe environment, you will be fine.”

Sandra Londino, a licensed midwife who runs a private practice in Ithaca, New York, says more than 90 percent of births with obstetricians occur in hospitals. For the most part, the use of modern technology proved effective in the early detection of complications and providing faster solutions, but there are drawbacks as well.

Londino says that when women ask questions about the birth and delivery, they are too often “brushed off” or they are not told the truth.

“Many just agree to an epidural [spinal anesthesia] or a quick C-section just because the doctor says so,” she adds. “Perhaps it is due to money and power, because we don’t see physiological births any more. There are hardly normal births in this country.”

Many women who first chose midwifery for pre-natal and birthing assistance are now opting for at-home birthing with therapeutic guidance from a doula, a phenomenon that grew 41 percent from 2004 to 2010, according to Londino.

Saraswathi Vedam, chair of Home Birth at the American College of Nurse-Midwives, says that this method is increasingly within the mainstream.

“One can always change their mind and go to the hospital,” Vedam says. “Women just enjoy the comfort and continuing care from someone who they feel a more personal relationship with, such as a midwife.”

Results of a survey show that expectant mothers chose an at-home birth in order to avoid unnecessary interventions and to have more control over her birthing decisions. Some said they trust in natural birth as a normal healthy process and did not want any separation from their newborn.

Others said that since they underwent a healthy pregnancy, having the baby at home would make them feel safer by decreasing the possibility of contracting an infection or being coaxed into a Caesarean.

Still, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists argues that home births are unsafe and does not support them.

“It’s important to remember that home births don’t always go well, so as physicians, we have an obligation to provide families with information about risks, benefits, limitations and advantages,” said Richard N. Waldman, the group’s president.

Insurance companies have decided to follow ACOG’s advice by refusing to reimburse clients for at-home births. Londino says she doesn’t understand the logic from a financial perspective.

“Hospital births, without intervention or complication, cost roughly 9,500 dollars, which an insurance company is willing to pay,” she says. “Yet an at-home birth performed by a midwife, whose invoice includes regular pre-natal visits, all necessary tools and delivery, is only 3,500 dollars – which is refused reimbursement.”

Retired hospital midwife Ellen Cohen, who wrote a book about the effectiveness of pre-natal care in order to deliver safe babies without modern technology, says bearing a child is a vulnerable time in women’s lives where they try to do the best for themselves and their newborns.

“If one looks at childbirth as a pathological incident as opposed to something natural, then they will use a machine to help them feel safe – even something like the electrical fetal [heartbeat] monitoring,” Cohen added.

This method is not for everyone though, Pinheiro cautioned. “If you feel safer in a hospital then do that, but there should not be an assumption that hospitals are safer than home. One responds better when they are in their own environment. For me, it was a remarkable experience.”

The United Nations, working in conjunction with the World Food Programme (WFP),  Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Malawi’s government in a series of relief operations, has launched another initiative to combat the effects of stunted child growth and development in the southern-African country.

“WFP’s focus on prevention of stunting, through [providing the] right food at the right time and beyond, is very exciting,” says WFP Representative Coco Ushiyama. “Through strong partnerships, multi-sector engagement and evidence-based approach, we want to show the world that we can, and must address stunting,” he added.

At an estimated cost of 10 million dollars, the new stunting-prevention project complements 2010’s global “SUN” initiative and 2011’s  “1,000 Special Days” initiative. The projects are a continued effort to reduce malnutrition, accelerate childhood progress and lessen stunting in general, by 5 to 10 per cent. This new launch places strong focus on 66,000 children in Malawi’s Ntchisi district.

The situation in Ntchisi is currently at its height, as the ‘lean’ season means long dry spells, low crop production, food shortage and high food prices. That, coupled with poor dietary diversity, young children and mothers are experiencing repeated illnesses.

A press release by WFP and CIFF says World Vision is the lead NGO in this project and, by working with a network of community volunteers, hopes to reach 100 per cent of households. Registered children under two years old will be fed a specialized nutritional product called Nutributter. Those over three-and-a-half years old will receive integral feeding to control their acute malnutrition. Their mothers will be trained in practising safe hygiene.

According to research, the potential to make the greatest difference in the lives of children lies in the fundamental 1,000 days between conception and two years of age. It also shows that Malawi’s childhood under-development rate is 47%, due to malnutrition. Undernourished children are more likely to have low educational grades than healthy children.

Malawi President Dr. Joyce Banda, speaking at a news conference said, “This literally means half the children in Malawi are stunted. This is very alarming and unacceptable.” Banda further stated that the importance of nutrition in children, in order to achieve sustainable development, must be understood.

“Stunting in children can be reduced to under 20 per cent by 2020,” said Banda. “With the right support and intervention, stunting in children can be reduced to under 20 per cent by 2020.”

UN Humanitarian Chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has allocated 20 million dollars to Sudan for emergency aid operations and relief efforts – in light of last week’s statement by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović, saying South Sudan can now be seen as a “horrifying humanitarian and human rights disaster.”

The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which provides money for both sudden-onset and chronically neglected crises, has released 86 million dollars from its disaster relief fund to ten chronically neglected countries currently undergoing dire urgencies – of which South Sudan was allocated the most amount.

Many other aid organizations are also working intensely at salvaging Sudanese civilians.

UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is doing 24-hour patrolling while currently protecting 22,000 civilians in Malakal and 70,000 others in seven other bases around the country.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated 500,000 people have been displaced since December 15 when more intense fighting began.

OCHA is working with experts from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in setting up new camps for over 85,000 Sudanese that have fled to neighboring countries. UNHCR estimates that that number will soon surpass 100,000.

UNICEF reports that, despite the limited accessibility to civilians, it has offered food for more than 160,000 people in six states, hundreds of children have received nutrition supplements and another 200,000 people have received other types of aid.

“These essential and life-saving supplies will help thousands of children and women in desperate need across South Sudan,” said Dermot Carty, UNICEF Deputy Director of Emergency Programmes.

The remaining balance of the original 86 million dollars from CERF will go to people facing similar of other critical humanitarian crises in their countries.

“These people are caught in crises and have been forgotten or overshadowed by other emergencies,” Amos commented. “These allocations will go to help millions of people who do not get the help they need.”

Displaced Malians who still face effects of 2012’s inter-communal violence have been allocated 11.5 million dollars. UN agencies in Myanmar are set to receive 5.5 million dollars to help sustain displaced families.

Chad’s 10 million dollars; Yemen’s 14 million dollars; North Korea’s 6.5 million dollars; Haiti’s 6 million dollars; Colombia’s 4.5 million dollars; Djibouti’s 4 million dollars and Uganda’s 4 million dollars will all go toward supporting relief efforts in each country.

Since CERF’s 2006 launch, it has already allotted 3 billion dollars to 88 countries and territories. In 2013, almost 480 million dollars was offered for emergency relief, 174 million dollars of that total was delegated to chronically under-funded crises.

CHART: CERF Underfunded Emergencies 2014 Round 1 (as of 15 Jan 2014)

Earlier this week, the United Nations exerted rigorous efforts to resume distribution of food, full protection and increased  security assistance to the estimated 100,000 civilians who have fled their homes over the past weeks due to increased splurges of uprisings in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, cautioned the Security Council that CAR’s situation seems to be escalating into unrelenting violence among religious groups and causing further destabilization of the entire region.

The  World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and many non-governmental organisations NGOs – as well as community leaders – have organized secure distributions of food and other assistance to refugees who are currently sheltering at the country’s Bangui Airport after raiders, brandishing machetes, ransacked and stole staples from the WFP food distribution site three weeks ago.

Civilians have set up camps at the airport using bed sheets, cardboard, tarpaulin and other improvised items to build temporary housing, while necessities such as mosquito nets, mattresses, blankets and soap were offered by the UNHCR. The WFP offered rice, oil, sugar and other food items, and since the

Civilians Ci restart of food distribution, roughly 5,500 people have received food rations. The 10-day plan to ensure that all the displaced will receive food and necessary care.

UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani expressed the urgent need of the strengthening of the international community and its response to protect and assist fleeing civilians – especially women, children and the disabled. “The flare-up of crises elsewhere should not affect the scale of the response which is urgently needed in the Central African Republic,” Beyani said.

This most recent act, along with increased amounts of armed attacks between ex-Séléka and Christian anti-balaka militias, has heightened the already intense amount of fear in civilians. The clashes have killed more than 1,000 people since December and have also put a disgruntling halt to the WFP’s food distribution efforts, due to its perilous security issues.

UN agencies and its partners underwent extreme difficulties gaining contact with dispersed civilians who were in dire need. So far, roughly one million civilians have had to flee from their homes and another two million are in need of humanitarian aid.

Denise Brown, West Africa’s Regional Director of the WFP, expressed deep appreciation for the joint efforts of the international community that allowed food distributions at the airport to resume. “We have overcome a significant challenge due to the efficient collaboration of UN agencies,” Brown said. “We very much hope that [better] security conditions) will allow them to continue.”

The United Nations Thursday took rigorous steps to launch a new a six-point action plan called ‘Rights up Front,’ seeking to revamp preventive strategies which play a vital role in sending out quick responses to human rights violations.

With Thursday’s attack of a United Nations peacekeeping base in South Sudan’s Jonglei state, which killed many, and the continuous bloodshed in Syria and the Central African Republic (CAR), dark shadows loom over the UN with memories of its failed attempts at ending the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, told reporters Wednesday the UN’s lack of broad and timely political support was one of the main impediments to early and effective action to prevent human rights crises. He said that if the UN cannot fulfill its obligations of acting early in these dire situations, then there will ultimately be even more devastating effects.

“Those horrendous events led us all to say ‘never again’, and calls for a more alert, flexible and coordinated UN System – both on the ground and at headquarters. This is what the ‘Rights up Front’ initiative aims to accomplish,”  Eliasson said.

Since the start of Syria’s three-year civil war, over 100,000 people have been killed and eight million have fled the country. Inter-communal and religious conflicts have claimed thousands of lives in the Central African Republic (CAR) and have left more than 600,000 people displaced. “These inhumane atrocities are reminders that serious human rights abuses are often the clearest early warning of emerging conflict,” he added. “Violence is spreading and could spread even further.”

The ‘Rights up Front’ strategy, initiated by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, includes the strengthening of actions with the General Assembly, the Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council in order to achieve more coherence. He said that providing earlier and more logical support to ground-level teams is essential, before any crisis materializes. Ban called for the reorganization of human rights staff to sharpen their skills in order to quickly identify risks of serious violations of human rights, which inevitably lead to atrocities.

According to Eliasson, the ‘Rights up Front’ initiative is related to the UN Charter; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the 1994 Rwandan genocide; as well as the occurrences in Srebrenica in 1995.

As he listed some of the six points of the initiative, he mentioned that all member states need to be doing a better job of meeting core responsibilities. He calls for maintaining diplomacy when contacting the Security Council in order to come to an agreement of knowing when to act on threats to international peace and security, and how to respond to human rights violations.

One other element is the protection of civilians, he said. If the UN becomes lax in taking note of early warning signals on human rights it becomes an issue, there will inevitably be more uprisings and endless fighting. Another element was the UN’s organizational structure and preparedness for such monstrosities before they escalate into unmanageable situations. He suggested the creation of inter-departmental and inter-agency working groups and the full training of staff so that they become aware.

In closing, Eliasson said the entire initiative involved the reinforcement of all the elements of ‘Rights Up Front’ so that there will be better information management and the planning of necessary operational activities.

“This is a political crisis and urgently needs to be dealt with through political dialogue,” Eliasson added. “When people in today’s world are at risk or subject to serious violations, they expect and request the United Nations to act – and we do.”

Efforts to improve and implement international legal provisions for the protection of journalists across the globe was the main focus of a meeting held at the UN Security Council Friday.

Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, reminded the Council of the increasingly detrimental situations journalists were facing. He commented that perpetrators seemingly feel a sense of privilege for these acts of violence, which is then the driving force for the growing number of killings. “The sense of impunity is a main cause for the recurrence of episodes of attacks against journalists around the world,” La Rue stressed.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB), an organisation devoted to protecting journalists assigned to dangerous areas, began producing annual reports in 1995 to reveal the amount of journalists being murdered each year. Results showed that between March 2011 and now 84 journalists were killed in Syria alone. Globally, a total of 89 journalists were killed in 2012 – that’s roughly seven per month, or almost two per day. The RWB stated that 2012 was the most baneful for journalists as it is a clear sign that their safety as news providers is deteriorating.

Resolution 1738, initiated by RWB in 2006, condemns intentional attacks against journalists in conflict situations – which the Security Council adopted. Yet, murder rates are still increasing. This was the impetus for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) overall coordination effort to launch the new 2012 “Plan of Action” for journalists’ protection.

Despite the plan, hundreds of journalists have been forced to flee their country; many are in even more danger while passing through transit countries and approximately 53 journalists have been killed since the start of this year – sparking the General Assembly’s adoption of a new resolution on Nov. 26. It calls for the implementation of tougher measures to combat impunity.

The latest crime against journalists was the Dec. 7 killing of Juan Carlos Argeñal Medina, who was shot dead in his home in southeastern Honduras. “The bullet must not be allowed to replace the pen,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. “Every country should enjoy a free press in which journalists and media owners are allowed to exercise independence in collecting and reporting news without fearing violent reprisals.

RWB stresses that it is essential the Security Council itself urgently address this issue and calls for an amendment to Article 8 of the International Criminal Court’s statute for deliberate attacks on journalists and media workers to be defined as war crimes.

“We intend to tackle the Security Council’s members, and the UN in general, about the importance of protecting journalists. [We need] to remind member states of their obligations to prevent acts of violence against them and combat impunity for those responsible,” said Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of RWB, who attended the meeting Friday. “This resolution is a forward step in the right direction.”

RWB said the November murders of two journalists in Mali, as well as many others in different countries (such as Syria, Somalia, Pakistan, Brazil, etc.) are only some of the very recent extreme cases which reveal the daily risks journalists face in order to keep the world up-to-date with events.

The organisation also said most cases of violence and threats toward journalists are rarely investigated. Responsible perpetrators remain hidden among society and are never brought to justice for their actions. Before a journalist is killed, threats and other forms of attacks take place without any attention from the national authorities or the international community, La Rue noted.

“In the last two years, I have prepared letters on attacks against 171 journalists to 40 different countries,” he said. “However, the problem that remains to be addressed is not a legal void but the lack of any verification of respect by member states for their obligations.”

India takes two significant steps into backwardness and gives human rights a heavy blow by re-instating one of the rules in its Penal Code that has been over-turned since 2009, according to a United Nations press release.

Section 377 of India’s Penal Code mandates that anyone found guilty of performing “unnatural acts” is being offensive and should be punished. The British had originally introduced this section of India’s laws, over 150 years ago, when India was one of its colonies.

However, The Delhi High Court, in 2009, had overruled Section 377 on the ruling that the occurrence of any sexual conduct, in private and between consenting adults, is not a crime. The Court said if this act was called criminal, it would be in blatant opposition to the fundamental principles of equality and dignity. The Court also outlined that India’s nondiscrimatory constitution is being ignored under the re-instatement of Section 377.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed her dismay regarding the ruling and commented that “Criminalising private, consensual same-sex sexual conduct violates the rights to privacy and to non-discrimination enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which India has ratified.”

Despite that, India’s top court yesterday declared Section 377 to be constitutionally valid, which means that the High Court’s 2009 decision has now been over-turned and that Section 377 will be re-instated. The matter was brought to the country’s Supreme Court for appeal.

The UNAIDS, in a statement, said the 2009 decision which annulled the law was a huge “milestone against homophobia and towards zero HIV-related discrimination” and calls on India and other countries to repeal laws that criminalize adult consensual same sex sexual conduct.

UNAIDS stated that such criminalization gets in the way of responses to HIV across the world,  making it more difficult for the delivery of HIV treatment services to a population particularly affected by HIV. Since the annulling the law an increase of more than 50 began providing HIV services for homosexuals, lesbians and transgender people in India.

Pillay encouraged the Indian Parliament to take definitive action against criminalising same-sex conduct and relationships. She also expressed her wishes for a review of the case before a larger panel of judges as it would open doors for the reconsidering of all relevant arguments.

“The Supreme Court of India has a long and proud history of defending and expanding protection of human rights.” Pillay said. “This decision is a regrettable departure from that tradition as the laws not only violate human rights.”

Progress in achieving some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been hitting road blocks due to corruption and lack of good governance in many countries, according to the United Nations.

Corruption’s complexity is either directly or indirectly felt by billions of citizens across the globe as it undermines human rights and intensifies poverty. Results also show that corruption fosters detrimental and draining effects plus, it slows down economic development.

The United Nations also points out that corruption not only creates social, political and economic devastation, but also undermines democratic institutions, which eventually causes governmental instability.

In commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9, a biannual international conference brought together member state parties of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in Panama. More than 1,400 participants from all over the world discussed progress and challenges in the implementation of provisions to prevent and combat corruption.

“This is a huge problem that should unite us all. It is clear that corruption is a serious challenge that not one segment of society can solve alone,” said Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson, who gave a statement from the UN Headquarters in New York.  He added, “We have to do it together. Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.”

According to World Bank estimates, developing countries are being drained of roughly 35 billion dollars annually, due to extortion and bribery. Therefore, over the last decade, the private sector has made it a priority to recognize its role in helping  fight corruption.

The UN also insists upon embedding the principles of social and environmental accountability, fair labour practices and anti-corruption into the global marketplace.

The launch of a campaign “Call to Action,” by the UN Global Compact  ( UNGC), is making efforts to mobilize and encourage governments and local businesses and governments to act against corruption. This calls for businesses to do business based on fair competition and good governance, because many businesses in developing countries still give in to corrupt practices.

The campaign sets its focus on highlighting corruption’s caustic effects by stating that it increases the costs of doing business, as small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the “start-up costs. The crime also distorts markets and impedes economic growth because foreign direct investment is discouraged. Corruption affects health in a country as it removes the focus from averting child deaths and fighting epidemics like HIV/AIDS.

The UN says it honours the commitment to fulfilling its obligations, and offers reassurances that an increasing amount of anti-corruption measures, as well as robust post-2015 development efforts to eradicate this crime, are underway.

“To achieve an equitable, inclusive and a more prosperous future for all, we must foster a culture of integrity and accountability,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message to mark International Anti-Corruption Day. “That is why transparency, the rule of law and good governance should be taken into account as we set global development priorities for the post-2015 period.”

With the support of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), another campaign – called ‘Zero Corruption, 100% Development’ – is currently underway.  It was designed by youths – for youths – to raise awareness of corrupt practices that seems to spread virally.  In a closing statement, Eliasson said, “You can count on the Secretary-General and me in advancing this important cause.”

According to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), U.S. federal prosecutors more often than not threaten drug offenders with extraordinarily severe prison sentences as a means of coercion into waiving their right to trial and pleading guilty.

HRW’s research shows that the average sentence for federal drug offenders who pled guilty was five years, four months. For those convicted after trial, their average sentence was sixteen years. Drug defendants convicted of offences carrying mandatory minimum sentences, and who pled guilty during trial, were given an average sentence of 82.5 months compared with 215 months for those convicted after trial, a difference of 11 years.

Among drug defendants with prior felony convictions, the odds of receiving a sentencing enhancement based on those convictions was 8.4 times greater for those who went to trial than for those who pled guilty.   For defendants with a gun involved in their offence, their sentences were 2.5 times greater for those who went to trial than for those who pled guilty.

Jamie Fellner, senior advisor to the US Program at Human Rights Watch, said, “Going to trial is a right, not a crime, but defendants are punished with longer sentences for exercising that right.” The report cites the case of first-time offender Mary Beth Looney, who refused a plea of 17 years for dealing methamphetamines and possessing guns in her home. The prosecutor then filed a repudiating indictment to increase her charges. After being convicted at trial, Looney was sentenced to 45.5 years in prison.

Congress had enacted mandatory minimum sentencing statutes during the 1980s, and lawmakers predetermined minimum sentences of 10-years for drug lords, and five years for mid-level traffickers. In August 2013, Attorney General Eric Holder instructed federal prosecutors to avoid charging certain low-level nonviolent offenders who have carried out offences carrying mandatory minimum sentences.

Prosecutors were also commissioned to avoid seeking mandatory sentencing enhancements based on whether they had any prior convictions and if so, then at what level. Another case involved a defendant named Roy Lee Clay who had initially faced a 10-year sentence for conspiracy to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin. When he refused to plead guilty, the government sought a mandatory sentencing enhancement based on prior convictions. Clay was convicted after trial and sentenced to life in prison.  John Gleeson, a federal judge in New York’s Eastern District, commented “[This is] so excessively severe. [It] takes your breath away.”

Strong efforts to close a 70 per cent gap between current food availability and estimated requirements for 2050 are under way. The World Resources Institute (WRI)  – along with UN agencies and the World Bank – has produced a report showing that the global populations will more than likely grow, from the present seven billion to 9.6 billion people by 2050.

According to a new WRI analysis, the quick-growing population is due to increasing wealth. Of the 9.6 billion, at least three billion are likely to enter the global middle class by 2030 – which means the likelihood for demand of more resource-intensive foods such as meat and vegetable oils. Those already on a lower income scale will either become poorer or stay on the same scale that they are now on, while roughly 900 million of the world’s poor will remain undernourished.

Between now and the next 37 years, the WRI says a few strategies have to be implemented in order to achieve success in this goal. These include:

a)      Reducing food loss and waste — A significant share of food grown is not eaten. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 32 percent of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted.

b)      Taking better steps to maintain healthy water and ecosystems, — More than one billion currently live in water-scarce regions, and perhaps 3.5 billion could experience water scarcity by 2025. Also, increasing pollution degrades freshwater and coastal aquatic ecosystems, and.

c)      Ensuring that agriculture supports inclusive economic and social development — the agricultural sector alone gives rise to far greater growth than that of other economic sectors as it offers more than two billion people around the world sustainable employment – 28 percent of the global population – thereby effectively reducing poverty.

“We are at the intersection of food security, development and the environment. We must close the food gap,” said WRI President Andrew Steer. “But we must do so in a way that creates opportunities for the rural poor, limits clearing of forests, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture,” Steer added.

The WRI says each of these goals have to be concurrent with each other for the plan to bring about fruitful results. With the collaboration of many agricultural organizations, local farmers, plus applying the principles of climate smart agriculture across landscapes (crops, livestock, forests and fisheries) this process, otherwise called the “great balancing act,” will increase sustainability, heighten food security, enhance resilience and reduce the carbon trail that agriculture leaves behind.

There is also hope  the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will be a part of these efforts.  “Pursuing this approach is not a luxury, it’s an imperative,” said Juergen Voegele, World Bank Director for Agriculture and Environmental Services.

Unlawful killings, extrajudicial executions, rape and other forms of violence against women and girls – of innumerate amounts and committed at will by the country’s security forces and armed groups – was enough reason for Amnesty International’s loud outcry to the Security Council this week, asking for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to immediately deploy vigorous peacekeeping forces to the Central African Republic (CAR).

 Thousands of civilians have fled the CAR, headed toward refugee camps across the border in neighbouring country, Chad. This escalating unrest is due to the country’s heightened lawlessness and downward spiral since the ousting of President François Bozizé in March this year, when the Seleka coalition took power. Intense transitional measures now must be taken to uproot the violence and chaos engulfing the country, and protect the many civilians who remain in their native country as internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Amnesty International says it wants to see the UN Security Council to act now. Its hope is that with the international community’s support, the Secretary-General will draw in as many troops as possible (from other UN peacekeeping missions) so that a full UN peacekeeping mission can be deployed in the Central African Republic.

“The people of the Central African Republic cannot wait another day. They are staring into the abyss, with mass slaughter of civilians a real danger,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Salil Shetty.

So far, France has already sent almost 1,000 additional troops to bolster the group of 2,600 African Union (AU) forces currently on the ground. To ensure that the French and African Union troops on the ground become more effective in peacekeeping, the Security Council is expected to provide troops with strong human rights mandates and necessary resources in order to bring the armed perpetrators to justice and protect civilians from this human catastrophe.

Proposals are also underway for a full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation to quell further ongoing abuse and human rights violations and overcome the current crisis. More reinforcements are said to follow as necessary, and discussions are expected to continue in the coming weeks and months regarding the structure and mandate of UN peacekeeping missions in the Republic.

The Security Council is also expected to seek an international arms embargo on the Central African Republic fearing that further arms being supplied to the country would be used to facilitate more inhumane acts. Such arms transfers would violate essential provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty, which can already be applied by the 115 states that have signed the treaty.

“The consequences of this life-and-death decision will affect the entire country [and] the horrific cycle of violence in the Central African Republic will hang heavily on the international community for years to come,” Shetty said.

Year after year roughly eight tropical cyclones blast the Philippine archipelago washing away everything that dares to cross its path. What remains is mostly devastation. That is nothing new however, because the Philippine islands lie 1,000 kilometers from the Asia mainland; located at the rim of the Pacific Ocean; and totally surrounded by water and prone to such monstrous weather.

After the awakening from the typhoon, flurries of questions without a doubt, fill the minds of those living in the region – with hopes of a more sustainable lifestyle. However, bigger questions should emerge in the mind of onlookers across the globe, such as: How does growth occur in the Philippines each year? From whence does the economy get its resuscitation after such commotion? After annual washouts, are the citizens just left to hang dry? Those questions need to be answered by collaborative efforts of the rest of the world, with The United Nations’ initiative. And it has started.

Now three weeks past The Philippines’ disastrous typhoon Haiyan, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that more intense efforts are being poured in.

With food being the main priority, other life-saving assistance such as clean water is still urgently required. “There has been significant progress in the delivery of relief items (however) as we enter the third week of this emergency response, food remains a priority need for affected communities,” UN World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Praveen Agrawal said.

Rice and High Energy Biscuits (HEBs) are being delivered by airlifts to remote island communities off the coast of Guiuan and Iloilo. Agrawal added that the programme is making every effort to widen its geographic scope of food-distribution to those in hard-to-reach locations on outlying islands. Many of the hard-hit citizens are just now receiving food assistance for the first time.

Thousands of people who were evacuated to public buildings, such as stadiums and schools are receiving other life-saving materials that are being flown in. And as the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) helps the government decongest evacuation centres, tents, new-born baby kits, hygiene kits and mobile storage units are being offered via the UN Humanitarian Response Depots. Other countries are also adding assistance, especially the U.S. government with its pledge of an array of support – from monetary aid to search-and-rescue missions.

This rescue effort also has a domino effect. The success of one effort is interdependent upon another. Therefore The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has mustered planes, ferries and trucks to boost the gathering and disposal of insurmountable street debris, human remains and medical waste – which needs to be disposed of in a sanitary manner. The organization has also dispatched roughly 200 men and women to begin the removal process from hospitals, schools and other areas.

“The debris removal is an important part of the relief operation as streets without rubble are a precondition for aid distribution. It is also a critical component of economic recovery,” said Haoliang Xu, UNDP’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. However, there is hope. Haoliang added. “We’re going to create 200,000 temporary jobs in debris removal in the most affected municipalities over the next six months.”