News headlines in June 2021, page 3

Although the fight against terrorism has made important advances in thwarting attacks across the world, the UN chief said on Monday that threats continue to persist and diversify.

Migrants smuggled across borders are often subjected to extreme violence, torture, rape and kidnapping, whether in transit or in captivity, but authorities take little action to address these offences, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report published on Monday. 

SYDNEY, Australia, Jun 28 (IPS) - Robby Nena is one of the many farmers and fishermen on the frontline of climate change in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), where coastal flooding and erosion, variable and heavy rainfall, increased temperature, droughts and other extreme weather events are becoming all too common.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jun 28 (IPS) - With health systems at a breaking point, hospitals at capacity and desperate family members searching for oxygen for loved ones, the devastating second wave of COVID-19 that has swept across South Asia has felt surreal. Official figures have indicated record-breaking daily coronavirus cases and deaths, not only in South Asia, but across the entire Asia-Pacific region during the latest surge. As devastating as it has been, the truth is we may never know how many people have died during the pandemic.

The disregard for children’s rights amid war and upheaval “is shocking and heartbreaking”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday during a high-level open debate in the Security Council, held virtually. 

NEW YORK, Jun 28 (IPS) - In elections last October in Georgia, women’s share of seats in parliament went up by nearly seven percent, following the enforcement of a 25 percent quota for women candidates.

Radical policing reforms are needed to address systemic racism affecting people of African descent around the world, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday, as her Office published a series of recommendations prompted by the killing of George Floyd. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds “enormous potential” for improving the health of millions around the world if ethics and human rights are at the heart of its design, deployment, and use, the head of the UN health agency said on Monday. 

It’s overwhelmingly accepted that climate change is a very significant threat to humanity and while there are countless solutions to tackling what has been described by the UN as the “existential threat” of our times, it is still not fully clear how these solutions will be paid for. 

Three employees of the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) agency have been killed by unknown attackers in the restive Tigray region of Ethiopia, drawing swift condemnation from UN Secretary-General António Guterres who said on Saturday he was “deeply shocked” by the murders.