News headlines in April 2021

The roll-out of vaccinations to prevent COVID-19 infections rising in the Maldives is a good example of “vaccine equity in action” according to Catherine Haswell, the UN Resident Coordinator for the Indian Ocean island nation.

NEW DELHI, India, Apr 30 (IPS) - Every time a woman journalist receives threats of physical and sexual violence, cyber attacks and surveillence, doxxing, public humiliation, damage to her professional & personal credibility, the driving forces behind these intents are deeply rooted misogyny, sexism and abuse of power.

Although COVID-19 cases are declining in Brazil, the pandemic is putting decades of public health gains there at risk, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. 

The UN rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday that it is deeply disturbed by security forces in Chad's use of live ammunition during recent protests after the death of former President Idriss Déby, on 19 April.

After the postponement of the Palestinian Legislative Council elections, originally scheduled for 22  May, a senior UN official in the region on Friday urged the authorities to set a new date for heading to the polls. 

The devastating impact of COVID-19 serves as a stark reminder that the European Union must “put human lives” above economic policy considerations, that privilege competition between EU Member States, an independent UN human rights expert said on Friday. 

Inequalities in addressing AIDS threaten global efforts to stamp out the disease as a public health threat by 2030, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a report published on Friday, which provides 10 key recommendations to get the world back on track.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Apr 30 (IPS) - Human Rights Watch's 27 April report, A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution, could also have been entitled Better Late Than Never.

WASHINGTON, Apr 30 (IPS) - When Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government in February, one of its first actions was to further squeeze the already restricted free flow of information in the country. It obstructed news stations, temporarily shuttered phone and internet access, and blocked social media platforms.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 30 (IPS) - When the UN’s Beirut-based Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), released a landmark 2017 report on “apartheid” in Israel, the United Nations disassociated itself with the study and left it to die--- unceremoniously and unsung.