News headlines in May 2022, page 13

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil, May 17 (IPS) - "We do everything through parties, we don't want power, we don't want to take over the role of the State, but we don't just protest and complain," said Itamar de Paula Santos, a member of the United Community Council for Ribeiro de Abreu (Comupra), in this southeastern Brazilian city.

For a world in crisis, rescuing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) “must be our highest common priority,” the UN chief told Member States on Tuesday at a key development meeting in New York.

Syrian families living in refugee camps in Iraq are facing new and alarming levels of food insecurity, according to figures released by the World Food Programme (WFP) and UN refugee agency, UNHCR, on Tuesday.

A surge in violence fuelled by heavily armed gangs in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, prompted the UN rights chief on Tuesday to express her deep concern over its severe impact on human rights across the Caribbean nation.

The severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka shows no signs of ending any time soon, with the country’s newly installed Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, warning of more difficult days ahead. Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, the most senior UN official in Sri Lanka, told UN News that, amid violent protests and the imposition of a state of emergency, any solution must involve a robust democracy and respect for human rights.

Marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) on Tuesday, leaders from across the UN system called for a world where all people can live free from violence and discrimination.

Severe malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, is one of the top threats to child survival, yet perhaps one of the least known or understood, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The UN Secretary-General has called for Lebanon’s political leaders to swiftly form an inclusive government in the wake of parliamentary elections on Sunday, that can help the crisis-wracked nation implement reforms to put the country “on the path to recovery”.

The news that more than 100,000 people in Mexico are now officially registered as “disappeared” is a tragedy, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday, in a call for action to tackle the country’s longstanding problem.

HONG KONG / LOME, May 17 (IPS) - Despite World Day Against Child Labour launched in 2002 by the International Labour Organization (ILO), little has changed over the past two decades for the millions of children who remain trapped.