News headlines in March 2023, page 6

JOHANNESBURG, Mar 24 (IPS) - Greed, poverty, irresponsible legal mining giants which exploited and then abandoned South Africa's mines, together with the government's failure to enforce regulations on the mining giants to rehabilitate mines before closing them, have created fertile ground for a thriving illegal artisanal mining sector called Zama Zama, many of them run by criminal syndicates.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Mar 24 (IPS) - Over the past two decades Iraq has been affected by several waves of intense conflict and violence. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States and United Kingdom toppled the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein.

The UN 2023 Water Conference closed on Friday with the adoption of the Water Action Agenda, a “milestone” action plan containing almost 700 commitments to protect “humanity’s most precious global common good”.

India must immediately halt its crackdown on Kashmiri activists, the independent UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said on Friday, calling for greater accountability. 

The human rights situation in Ukraine as Russia continues its military campaign following last year’s full-scale invasion, remains dire, according to a new report released on Friday by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) covering the six months to the end of January.

As water scarcity and the potential for conflicts between countries over resources increase, the UN is urging more nations to sign up to the Water Conventiondesigned to reduce tensions and improve international cooperation.

Celebrated by millions of Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time “to come together, bound by our common humanity”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message just ahead of the holy month.

Without urgent action, millions in Yemen could face ever greater risks of hunger and malnourishment, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

SAN SALVADOR, Mar 24 (IPS) - An open hearing in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Beatriz v. El Salvador case is raising hopes that this country and other Latin American nations might overturn or at least mitigate the severe laws that criminalize abortion.

BIARRITZ, France, Mar 23 (IPS) - The woman we're meeting in a house on the outskirts of Biarritz -800 kilometres southwest of Paris- is a university professor, the author of several books and hundreds of articles, and a well-known human rights activist.