News headlines in November 2021

Nov 30 (IPS) - Despite the advances that have been made against HIV, the world has 37 million people living with HIV. And 680,000 people died from AIDS-related causes in 2020. While the prevention of mother to child transmission, and provision of treatment as prevention, are great successesthere are still gaps. Over 1.5 million new HIV infections were recorded in 2020.

CANBERRA, Australia, Nov 30 (IPS) - The famed Rosewood forests of the Greater Mekong region in Southeast Asia produce dark, richly grained timbers zealously sought after worldwide by manufacturers of luxury furniture, flooring and musical instruments, among other products. But their high value has also made them a major commodity in transnational organized crime.

The early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic were “plagued by confusion, fear, isolation, and discrimination” against those infected or at high risk, the President of the UN General Assembly reminded a commemorative meeting on Tuesday marking World AIDS Day – 40 years after the first cases were reported.

With violence continuing daily throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process urged the Security Council on Tuesday to adopt a more coordinated approach to the region.  

BRISTOL, UK, Nov 30 (IPS) - Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the increase in domestic violence rates has led the United Nations to declare a ‘shadow pandemic’ of gender-based violence. In the most brutal cases, the violence has led to murder – or ‘femicide’, as the World Health Organisation calls the killing of women specifically because of their gender.

Global trade is expected to be worth about $28 trillion this year - an increase of 23 per cent compared with 2020 - but the outlook for 2022 remains very uncertain, UN economists said on Tuesday.

“Myths and misconceptions” about HIV and AIDS continue to fuel stigma and discrimination in the workplace, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Tuesday. 

With more people dying due to COVID-19 this year than in 2020, the UN Secretary-General argued on Tuesday that “the only way out of a global pandemic – and out of this unjust and immoral situation – is through a global vaccination plan.” 

The UN refugee Agency, UNHCR, is “appalled by a series of deadly attacks” on displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the agency’s spokesperson told journalists on Tuesday in Geneva.

The head of the UN health agency has criticized “blunt” and “blanket” measures taken by countries in the past few days to stop the spread of the Omicron variant.