News headlines in June 2023, page 6

PARIS, Jun 23 (IPS) - As the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact unfolds in Paris on 22-23 June, Forusa global network representing over 22,000 civil society organisations across Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Pacific, calls for the respect of human rights and for meaningful inclusion of civil society in shaping financial systems and structures.

BRATISLAVA, Jun 23 (IPS) - As well as creating a humanitarian crisis, the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Ukraine has wrought enormous environmental damage which may never be undone, ecologists have said.

LONDON, Jun 23 (IPS) - The violence keeps coming in Myanmar, under military rule since February 2021. The junta stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, with evidence of systematic use of killings, rape, torture and other gross human rights violations in its attempt to suppress forces demanding a return to democracy.

LONDON, Jun 23 (IPS) - Long before Hollywood highlighted the dangers of commercial fishing in The Perfect Storm, Deadliest Catch and other programming, governments around the world knew that this was one of the most hazardous jobs, killing thousands of fishers every year.

Family court systems worldwide are being impacted by “deeply embedded gender bias” which is leaving women and children vulnerable to violence and “immense suffering”, an independent UN human rights expert said on Friday.

The Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) convened for an ambassadorial-level meeting in New York on Friday to tackle the issue of organized crime in the Sahel. Poverty, institutional fragility and massive insecurity have created favourable conditions for the proliferation of organized crime across the vast African region.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war “has weakened the international collective security system we have all pledged to uphold”, the top UN political affairs official told the Security Council on Friday, briefing ambassdors on the current situation on the ground.

A particularly deadly week of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’s West Bank risks spiralling out of control, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Fridayafter a “major intensification” involving Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks.

In Tunisia, “vague” legislation is being used to criminalize independent journalism and suppress criticism of the Government, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Friday.

A Thai man has been talking about how he is able to reduce the harm caused by using the drug crystal meth thanks to a programme supported by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Thailand.