News headlines in 2021, page 77

COVID-19 has taken a toll on the mental health of children and young people, and impacts could be felt for many years to come, UN children’s agency, UNICEF, warned on Tuesday.

Oct 04 (IPS) - The evidence of child labour on cocoa farms in West Africa became public knowledge in the late 1990s. This followed press reports documenting the existence of hazardous child labour on cocoa farms. Pressure on the cocoa industry to end child labour has been growing ever since, particularly from civil society and more recently from both US and European regulators.

The world currently faces unprecedented catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, according to UN agencies, and around $6.6 billion is needed urgently, to support 41 million in danger of sliding into famine. 

For the education system to recover from the COVID pandemic, it requires more investment in the well-being, training, professional development and working conditions of the world’s 71 million educators, UN agencies chiefs said on Monday, just ahead of World Teachers’ Day.  

Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic must be sustainable and inclusive, Secretary-General António Guterres said in remarks to a major UN trade conference which opened on Monday in Barbados, unveiling “an urgent four-point debt crisis action plan.”

The number of women employed in the international space industry represents just 20-22 percent of the workforce, according to figures released by the UN; roughly the same proportion as 30 years ago.  

Haiti is currently undergoing “one of the most fraught periods of its recent history”, the head of the UN office in the country told the Security Council on Monday.  

War crimes and crimes against humanity have likely been committed in Libya by all parties to conflict since 2016 including by external actors, a Human Rights Council-appointed probe said on Monday. 

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Oct 04 (IPS) - There is no doubt that Secretary General Antonio Guterres is going big and bold with the recent release of an ambitious blueprint that could pave the way for a more inclusive, effective and networked international system centered on youth’s aspirations and needs.

For the UN Secretary-General, the benefits of making cities more environmentally friendly are “enormous”, and include reduced climate risk, more jobs, and better health and well-being.