News headlines in July 2021, page 3

People being plunged into poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the killing of people with albinism, the outgoing UN appointed independent expert said on Thursday.  

UN Secretary General António Guterres on Thursday urged States to take action against human trafficking, where a third of all victims are children.

A senior official with the World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted the need for a global treaty on pandemic preparedness and response, urging countries to “seize the moment” and support its development. 

LETHBRIDGE, Canada, Jul 29 (IPS) - From an international humanitarian perspective, the first half of 2021 has been disappointing. We’re no further ahead in ending the conflict in Syria and Yemen. From the fledgling democracy that it had become, Myanmar has descended into what most of its people had hoped was a bygone era of military rule. And in Ethiopia, where its Prime Minister, Ably Ahmed, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, armed conflict in Tigray is preventing the 2020 winners of the very same prize, the World Food Programme, from delivering the food needed to stop at least 350,000 Ethiopians from starving to death.

HAMILTON, Ontario, Canada, Jul 29 (IPS) - In 1995, a highly-respected water expert in South Africa, Bill Pitmanin very concise terms illustrated that the country, already battling a growing lack of water then, would likely run out in 25 years if it did not increase its supply.

A sustainable and prosperous planet can only be achieved through working together and in solidarity, the UN Deputy Secretary-General said on Wednesday at the end of a major global food security meeting.

Three days of strong winds and heavy monsoon rain on sprawling refugee sites in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar have taken Rohingya refugee lives and wreaked havoc and destruction, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday.

DISSIN, Burkina Faso, Jul 28 (IPS) - Honorine Meda is 23. Cycling through her hometown of Dissin, in Burkina Faso’s verdant southwest, she smiles, waves and stops to chat with one of the girls she counsels.

SINGAPORE, Jul 28 (IPS) - After almost two decades, Golden Rice was approved last week by the Philippines authorities for use as food. This together with the approval of the bioengineered Bt eggplant represents a landmark victory of science over misinformation; it will provide consumers with improved nutrition (Golden Rice) and safer food (Bt eggplant).

Although the international community is providing urgent assistance to Gaza in the wake of the most recent round of hostilities, a political solution is still needed to end the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, a senior UN official in the region said on Wednesday.