Food Shortages - Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns

Protectionist measures by national governments during the coronavirus crisis could provoke food shortages around the world, the UN’s food body has warned.

Harvests have been good and the outlook for staple crops is promising, but a shortage of field workers brought on by the virus crisis and a move towards protectionism – tariffs and export bans – mean problems could quickly appear in the coming weeks, Maximo Torero, chief economist of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, told the Guardian.

“The worst that can happen is that governments restrict the flow of food,” he said. “All measures against free trade will be counterproductive. Now is not the time for restrictions or putting in place trade barriers. Now is the time to protect the flow of food around the world.”

Read more at: Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns | Global development | The Guardian

The Netherlands: Dutch PM, member of secretive conservative Bilderberg group, supports Trump's critical remarks re: NATO - EU members defense spending for NATO, and UN activites in general

Dutch PM Mark Rutte

Read more at: 

https://nltimes.nl/2019/10/04/dutch-pm-calls-trumps-eu-defense-spending-un-criticism-ju

United Nations: one million species at risk of extinction due to human actions UN report says

One million species at risk of extinction due to human actions, UN report says Up to one million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.

Read more at: 

http://www.france24.com/en/20190423-one-million-species-risk-extinction-due-human-actions-un

United Nations - Poland - COP24: 200 Nations reach deal to implement the Paris Climate Accord

200 Nations today Saturday December 15 reached a deal to implement the Paris climate goals, after all-night negotiations to hammer out a plan to limit global temperature rises exposed a range of conflicts.

 

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https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBR0nlY?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare

The Netherlands is once again in the top 10 happiest countries in the world

Each year, the UN investigates the reported level of happiness in countries around the world. This year, in the sixth World Happiness Report, more than 150 countries were included in the study.

The UN report evaluates the happiness levels in a country by assessing the population by means of a survey in which individuals report their own life evaluations. The following variables are used to judge a country’s level of happiness:

• GDP per capita
• Social support
• Healthy life expectancy at birth
• Freedom to make life choices
• Generosity
• Absence of corruption

Social support refers to whether a person feels that they have relatives or friends who they can count on, should they find themselves in a troublesome situation. Freedom to make life choices is based on the binary response to the question “Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your freedom to choose what you do with your life?” The generosity factor refers to whether individuals donate to charity.

The following countries make it into the top ten happiest in the world.

1. Finland
2. Norway
3. Denmark
4. Iceland
5. Switzerland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Sweden
10. Australia

When it comes to the happiness of foreign-born nationals compared to that of locals, Finland tops the list again. Denmark, Norway, Iceland and New Zealand make up the rest of the top five.

In this particular ranking, the Netherlands doesn’t hold onto its sixth place. Instead, it falls out of the top 10 to 11th place. Coming in just above the Netherlands is Mexico. The top 10 happiest countries for immigrants are as follows.

1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Norway
4. Iceland
5. New Zealand
6. Australia
7. Canada
8. Sweden
9. Switzerland
10. Mexico

see also the World Happiness Report 2018 

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Read more: The Netherlands is once again in the top 10 happiest countries in the world

Kurds: UN accuses Turkey of 'serious' human rights violations against its Kurdish south-east region

High Time Erdogan Restarts Peace Process

The United Nations has accused Turkey of ‘serious’ human rights violations during operations against Kurdish separatists in the south-east of the country.

The UN says up to half a million people were displaced and at least 2000 people killed from July 2015.
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The town of Cizre is said to have seen destruction on a massive scale.

Numerous disappearances and instances of torture were also documented in a report released by the UN human rights office on Friday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville said:“It appears that not a single suspect was apprehended and not a single individual was prosecuted for violations that occurred during this period. The government of Turkey has repeatedly failed to grant us access but has nevertheless contested the veracity of the very serious allegations made in this report.”

The surge in violence is said to have occured after a ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK fell apart. Ankara did not immediately comment on the UN’s findings.

In early 2016, nearly 200 people were trapped for weeks in basements without food, water or medical help before they were killed in fire by shelling, the report said.

Note EU-Digest: Interesting is that Turkey always is one of the first to complain when Israeli's attack Palestinians in Gaza or on the occupied West-bank. But on the other hand  consider it absolutely normal to do the same against the Kurds, who numbered about 14 million people (or 18% of the Turkish population) who live mainly  in the south-eastern and eastern parts of Anatolia in Turkey

Isn't it high time the Peace Process between the Turks and the Kurds gets a new start?  

EU-Digest

United Nations: UN rights chief slams ′demagogues′ Trump and Wilders

Speaking in The Hague on Monday, United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein accused US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of spreading "humiliating racial and religious prejudice" and warned of a rise of populist politics that could turn violent.

Zeid said Trump and Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders (picture above, left) are among the "populists and demagogues" - which also included Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, leader of France's National Front (FN) Marine Le Pen, and the UK's leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage - who have mastered propaganda like the "Islamic State" (IS), saying that they "benefit from each other."

"All seek in varying degrees to recover a past, halcyon and so pure in form, where sunlit fields are settled by peoples united by ethnicity or religion," Zeid told the inauguration of the Peace, Justice and Security Foundation, adding that promises to recover such a past were fiction.

"Its merchants are cheats," he said, accusing populist leaders of using "half-truths and oversimplification" to feed the fears of "anxious" individuals.

It was a simple formula "to make your target audience feel good by offering up what is a fantasy to them, but a horrendous injustice to others."

"Make no mistake, I certainly do not equate the actions of nationalist demagogues with those of Daesh," Zeid said, using the Arabic term for IS. "But in its mode of communication, its use of half-truths and oversimplification, the propaganda of Daesh uses tactics similar to those of the populists."

Wilders ahead in opinion polls

Ahead of the Netherland's elections in March next year, Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) launched its campaign platform last week, vowing to "close mosques, Islamic schools and ban the Koran" if elected.

The PVV, which has been leading in opinion polls, also vowed to reverse the "Islamization" of The Netherlands by closing the borders, shutting asylum seeker centers, banning migrants from Muslim countries and stopping Muslim women from wearing a headscarf. Wilders also wants to leave the European Union (EU).

Zeid said on Monday that he was angry "because of Mr. Wilder's lies and half-truths, manipulations and peddling of fear."

"We must pull back from this trajectory," Zeid warned, adding that there was a risk "the atmosphere will become thick with hate" which could "descend rapidly into colossal violence."

Reacting to Zeid's speech, Wilders said in a text message to French news agency AFP that the Jordanian prince was "an utter fool."

"Another good reason to get rid of the UN," the populist politician said.

"Islam and freedom are incompatible whatever this Jordanian bureaucrat says," Wilders added.



Read more: UN rights chief slams ′demagogues′ Trump and Wilders | News | DW.COM | 06.09.2016

UN Human Rights Council: Giving Saudi Arabia a vital position on the UN Human Rights Council is like putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank - by Noman Ansari

During my 15 years growing up in Saudi Arabia, there was one tenet I, like most expatriates, strictly abided by. This simple unwritten rule was; minimise your interaction with locals.

This is because many, though certainly not all Saudis we encountered, looked upon foreigners as if they were insolent slaves. From interactions in the neighbourhood, workplace, shops, and more, the Saudi disdain for foreigners is pretty clear.

With Saudi media towing the Kingdom line, it was only through word of mouth that we learnt of expatriate girls, women, boys, and boyish looking men escaping capture from Saudi groups. These gangs often travelled in hulking SUVs that sported tinted black windows, and would usually take their victims out into the middle of the desert to assault them sexually.

I myself evaded a child molester, when my childhood friend and I were followed by a big bellied man with a large beard who tried to bribe us with money and candy. This monster regularly prowled the neighbourhood for a few weeks.

Read more: Giving Saudi Arabia a vital position on the UN Human Rights Council is like putting Dracula in charge of a blood bank – The Express Tribune Blog

International Labour Organization: GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT TRENDS 2014 - by Raymond Torres

South Asia  farrner plowing rice field

Global unemployment increased by 5 million people in 2013

The global labour market situation remains uneven and fragile. True, there are encouraging signs of economic recovery in those advanced economies most affected by the global financial crisis which erupted in 2008.

Also, a number of emerging and developing countries − including: in the Sub-Saharan Africa − are enjoying relatively robust economic growth. The world economy may thus be growing somewhat faster than over the past three years.

However, the report finds that those economic improvements will not be sufficient to absorb the major labour market imbalances that built up in recent years. First, over the fore seeable future, the world economy will probably grow less than was the case before the global crisis. This complicates the task of generating the over 42 million jobs that are needed every year in order to meet the growing number of new entrants in the labour market.

Second, and more fundamentally, the root causes of the global crisis have not been prop erly tackled. The financial system remains the Achilles heel of the world economy.

The state of many banks is such that many sustainable enterprises, notably small ones, have limited access to credit, thereby affecting productive investment and job creation. Significant financial bubbles have re-appeared in a number of advanced and emerging economies, adding new uncertainties and affecting hiring decisions.

Also, global labour incomes continue to increase at a slower pace than justified by observed productivity gains, thus affecting aggregate demand.

Third; and this is an important new finding in view of the post-2015 development debate  −  little progress is being made in reducing working poverty and vulnerable forms of employment such as informal jobs and undeclared work. If confirmed, this trend would unambiguously delay the achievement of development goals.

To ensure lasting job recovery, the report highlights the role of a strategy that combines short-term measures (job-friendly macroeconomic and labour market policies) with further action to tackle long-standing imbalances.

Such a strategy would strengthen the economic recovery and pave the way for more and better jobs.

Read more wcms_233953.pdf