Articles by Baher Kamal
We found 213 results.
The Most Expensive 529 Billion Dollars
Baher Kamal | Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 May 2019
8 May 2019 – The immense human cost over 260 million migrant workers do pay to rescue their families. Children are being smuggled, sexually abused, maimed, killed for their vital organs, recruited as soldiers or otherwise enslaved. According to the International Labour Organization, forced labour alone (one component of human trafficking) generates an estimated 150 billion dollars in profits per annum.
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All What Your Jeans Can (and Do) Hide!
Baher Kamal - Wall Street International Magazine,
8 Apr 2019
1 Apr 2019 – Let’s start with the case of innocent blue jeans: it takes around 7,500 litres (some 2,000 gallons) of water to make just one single pair! Know what this means? It is equivalent to the amount of water the average person drinks over a period of seven years. That’s just one of the many startling facts that emerge from recent environmental research, which show that the cost of staying fashionable is a lot more than just the price tag.
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Born Complete, Don’t Mutilate Them!
Baher Kamal | Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
1 Apr 2019
30 March 2019 — While male circumcision is spread mainly among Muslim and Jews communities, and it is apparently accepted by some medical spheres, more than 200 million child-girls have already fallen prey to a dangerous practice, which is carried out in the name of traditions or even religions: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
→ read full articleLost in Globalisation – A Chaotic Tale of a Process Now Being Dismantled (Apparently)
Baher Kamal | Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Mar 2019
28 Feb 2019 — Do not panic! This is not about telling you how bank accounts and pension funds have been used to finance the production of nuclear bombs (they call it ‘investment’). Nor it is about the four dozens of major and minor wars that the so-called “traditional weapons,” which are being manufactured and exported by civilised, democratic countries, continue to systematically fuel.
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The Water Factor
Baher Kamal – Wall Street Int’l Magazine,
26 Mar 2018
22 Mar 2018 – A new alarm has been now sounded, this time on the occasion of the World Water Day marked today. – Climate Change and Water Crisis: More Poverty, Conflicts and Migration
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No Health But Bombs!
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
19 Mar 2018
14 Mar 2018 – The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)–2017 Nobel Peace Laureate–along with other civil society organisations, has been relentlessly alerting against what private banks and pension funds have done with your money: financing the production of nukes. At least 1 in 2 of our “Planet-mates” human beings does not know what basic health services are all about.
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Daughters of a Lesser God
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
12 Mar 2018
7 Mar 2018 – Indigenous Women Raped for Land Grabbing – While women worldwide have organised massive demonstrations to claim for their due legitimate rights on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, tens of thousands of women and girls are “silenced” victims of sexual violations and all kinds of abuses without being protagonists in the news.
→ read full articleGhost Fishing?
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
5 Mar 2018
640.000 Tonnes of Fishing Gear Dumped in Oceans Every Year
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The Polar Boom: Corporations Flock to Melting Arctic for Oil and Trade Routes
Baher Kamal | Toward Freedom – TRANSCEND Media Service,
26 Feb 2018
16 Feb2018 — As the global demand for fossil fuels rises and the Arctic sea ice continues to melt, multinational corporations and governments are deepening efforts to expand oil exploration and trade routes in the region. While corporations see a profit, environmentalists see a crisis.
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Tax Justice Network Reveals the Ranking of Corrupt Countries: Switzerland, US ‘The Most Corrupt’
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
12 Feb 2018
9 Feb 2018 – A new study by Tax Justice Network has revealed that Switzerland is the world’s most-corrupt country, with a high secrecy score of 76. The US ranks second, while several European countries hold high positions in the list, ahead of many poor, developing nations.
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Are the Miserable of the Earth Aware of Davos? The Nation of Millions of Jobless Youth (Part 1)
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
29 Jan 2018
25 Jan 2018 – This is not about spoiling your day—not at all. Some unavoidable, pressing questions, however, impose themselves while the world’s business pundits meet (23-26 January 2018) in the icy resort of Davos in Switzerland, pronouncing thousands of ‘politically correct’ words about inequality, gender and the future of the youth.
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Are the Miserable of the Earth Aware of Davos? Heinous Inequalities (Part 2)
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
29 Jan 2018
26 Jan 2018 – The richest are accumulating wealth at such an astonishing rate that the world could see its first trillionaire in just 25 years. To put this figure in perspective – you would need to spend 1 million dollars every day for 2738 years to spend 1 trillion dollars, the report alerted.
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To Bee or Not to Bee… Again!
Baher Kamal – Wall Street International Magazine,
15 Jan 2018
10 Jan 2018 – At Risk, over 20,000 Species of Bees in Charge of Pollination – Honeybees and wild pollinators play a crucial role in agriculture and food production… however, the current chemical-intensive agriculture model is threatening both, and thereby putting food supply at risk.
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Trump-Mideast: Much More than a ‘Kiss of Death’ to Palestinians
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Dec 2017
7 Dec 2017 – US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital does not represent only a ‘kiss of death’ to the two-State solution, but also a strong blow in the face of 57 Muslim countries, let alone igniting fire in this easily inflammable region, providing more false arguments to criminal terrorist groups to escalate their brutal attacks, in addition to taking a step further in Washington’s new conflict with Iran and the ‘restructuring’ of the Middle East.
→ read full articleSouth-South Cooperation Key to a New Multilateralism
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Dec 2017
4 Dec 2017 – South-South and triangular cooperation can contribute to a new multilateralism and drive the revitalisation of the global partnership for sustainable development… Solutions and strategies created in the South are delivering lasting results around the world.
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Six ‘Signature Solutions’ – New Development Plan for a New Era
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
4 Dec 2017
30 Nov 2017 – ‘The new challenges that have emerged show the need to adapt the actions necessary to face them’–is the key rationale behind the 21 century development plan, which identifies six “signature solutions”: poverty, governance, energy access, gender equality, resilience and environmental sustainability.
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Good to Know (Perhaps) That Food Is Being ‘Nuclearised’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Nov 2017
16 Nov 2017 – It might sound strange, very strange, but the news is that scientists and experts have been assuring, over and again, that using nuclear applications in agriculture –and thus in food production—are giving a major boost to food security. So how does this work?
→ read full articleClimate Change Summit a Step Further, Yes… But Where To?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Nov 2017
6 Nov 2017 – The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn is the next step for governments to implement the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The central aim should definitely be to prevent the growing everyday human dramas such as the loss of food security and means of survival, the forced need to abandon their homes and families to face death and brutality at the hands of smugglers and human traffickers, to be exploited as “modern” slaves, and to prevent the world’s seas and oceans from being home to more plastic than fish.
→ read full articleNations without Nationality – An ‘Unseen’ Stark Reality
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Nov 2017
10 Nov 2017 – Here’s another ‘unseen’ stark reality—that of millions of people around the world who are deprived of their identity, living without nationality. Their total number is by definition unknown and their only ‘sin” is that they belong to an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in the country where they have often lived for generations.
→ read full articleWhat Do You Really Eat When You Order a Steak, Fish or Chicken Filet?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Oct 2017
18 Oct 2017 – The world is running out of antibiotics to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, the World Health Organization warned. This was not the first time UN agencies have sounded the alarm about the misuse and abuse of antibiotics both in humans and animals.
→ read full articleHow to Eradicate Rural Poverty, End Urban Malnutrition – A New Approach
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 Oct 2017
9 Oct 2017 – Population growth, increasing urbanisation, modern technologies, and climate change are transforming the world at a fast pace. But what direction are these transformations headed in? “Unless economic growth is made more inclusive, the global goals of ending poverty and achieving zero hunger by 2030 will not be reached,” warned FAO head Graziano da Silva.
→ read full articleWhere Do 50 Million Tonnes a Year of Toxic E-Waste Go?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 Oct 2017
27 Sep 2017 – Each year, the electronics industry generates 41 million tonnes of e-waste, but as the lifespan of devices shrinks in response to demand , that figure could reach 50 million tonnes this year. A staggering 60-90 per cent of that –worth nearly 19 billion dollars– is illegally traded or dumped, often with the involvement of transnational criminal gangs.
→ read full articleAlert: Nature, on the Verge of Bankruptcy
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Sep 2017
12 Sep 2017 – Pressures on global land resources are now greater than ever, as a rapidly increasing population coupled with rising levels of consumption is placing ever-larger demands on the world’s land-based natural capital, warns a new United Nations report.
→ read full articleFloods, Hurricanes, Droughts… When Climate Sets the Agenda
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Sep 2017
11 Sep 2017 – When officials and experts from all over the world started the first-ever environmental summit hosted by China, they were already aware that climate and weather-related disasters were already seriously beginning to set the international agenda – unprecedented floods in South Asia, strongest ever hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and catastrophic droughts striking the Horn of Africa, among the most impacting recent events.
→ read full articleClimate Migrants Might Reach One Billion by 2050
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Aug 2017
21 Aug 2017 – Currently, forecasts vary from 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants by 2050, moving either within their countries or across borders, on a permanent or temporary basis, with 200 million being the most widely cited estimate, according to a 2015 study carried out by the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University.
→ read full articleMillions of Women and Children for Sale for Sex, Slavery, Organs…
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Aug 2017
28 Jul 2017 – It is happening now. Millions of humans are forced to flee armed conflicts, climate change, inequalities, and extreme poverty. They fall easy prey to traffickers lurking anyone who can be subjected to sexual exploitation, forced labour and even sell their skin and organs.
→ read full articleClimate Change-Poverty-Migration: The New, Inhuman ‘Bermuda Triangle’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Jul 2017
7 Jul 2017 – World organisations, experts and scientists have been repeating it to satiety: climate change poses a major risk to the poorest rural populations in developing countries, dangerously threatening their lives and livelihoods and thus forcing them to migrate.
→ read full articleThe ‘Water-Employment-Migration’ Explosive Nexus
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
5 Jun 2017
30 May 2017 – Water–everybody talks about it, warns against its growing scarcity, excessive waste, the impact of climate change, the frequent severe droughts and so on. Now, a global action network with over 3,000 partner organisations in 183 countries comes to unveil the dangerous nexus between water, employment and migration, in particular in the Mediterranean region.
→ read full articleA Grisly Tale of Children Falling Easy Prey to Ruthless Smugglers
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 May 2017
22 May 2017 – Among a raft of alarming statistics, a new UN report has just found that children account for around 28 per cent of trafficking victims globally. And that Sub-Saharan Africa and Central America and the Caribbean have the highest share of children among detected trafficking victims, at the rates of 64 and 62 per cent, respectively.
→ read full articleCholera Outbreak in War-Torn Yemen Spreading at ‘Unprecedented’ Speed
Baher Kamal | Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
29 May 2017
As war-torn Yemen grapples with heavy rains, a collapsed healthcare system and crippled economy, a resurgent cholera outbreak has spread with “unprecedented” speed and taken medical professionals by surprise, the World Health Organization warned on 19 May 2017.
→ read full articleAgony of Mother Earth: The Unstoppable Destruction of Forests (I)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 May 2017
The world’s forests are being degraded and lost at a staggering rate of 3.3 million hectares per year. While their steady destruction in many Asian countries continues apace, deforestation of the world’s largest tropical forest – the Amazon – increased 29 per cent from last year’s numbers. And some of the most precious ecosystems in Africa are threatened by oil, gas and mineral exploration and exploitation.
→ read full articleAgony of Mother Earth: World’s Forests Depleted for Fuel (II)
Baher Kamal – Other News,
22 May 2017
Humankind is the biggest ever predator of natural resources. Just take the case of forests, the real lungs of Mother Earth, and learn that every 60 seconds humans cut down 15 hectares of trees primarily for food or energy production. And that as much as 45,000 hectares of rainforest are cleared for every million kilos of beef exported from South America.
→ read full articleAfrican Migrants Bought and Sold Openly in ‘Slave Markets’ in Libya
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 May 2017
9 May 2017 – Hundreds of migrants along North African migration routes are being bought and sold openly in modern day ‘slave markets’ in Libya, survivors have told the United Nations migration agency, which warned that these reports “can be added to a long list of outrages” in the country. The International Criminal Court is now considering investigating.
→ read full articleMiddle East, Engulfed by a ‘Perfect Storm’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 May 2017
21 Apr 2017 -Reporting to the UN Security Council on the “dire situation across the Middle East region, marked by the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War, fractured societies, proliferation of non-State actors and unbelievable human suffering,” Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, reiterated the need for a surge in diplomacy for peace to ease the suffering of innocent civilians.
→ read full articleIndigenous Peoples – Best Allies or Worst Enemies?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 May 2017
25 Apr 2017 – It all happened on the very same day—4 April. That day, indigenous peoples were simultaneously characterised as fundamental allies in the world’s war on hunger and poverty, while being declared as collective victims of a “tsunami” of imprisonments in Australia…. The Rome meeting of the Global Indigenous Youth Caucus coincided with the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous Peoples.
→ read full articleYemen, World’s Largest Humanitarian Crisis
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
24 Apr 2017
19 Apr 2017 – With 18.8 million people –nearly 7 in 10 inhabitants– in need of humanitarian aid, including 10.3 million requiring immediate assistance, Yemen is now the largest single-nation humanitarian crisis in the world, the UN informs. According to OCHA, over 17 million people are currently “food insecure,” of whom 6.8 million are “severely food insecure” and require immediate food assistance, and two million acutely malnourished children. The Yemeni population amounts to 27.4 million inhabitants.
→ read full articleAfrican, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States: One Billion People to Speak to Europe with One Voice
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Apr 2017
14 Apr 2017 – Seventy-nine countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which are home to around one billion people, will speak with one voice as they prepare to negotiate a major partnership agreement with the European Union (500 million inhabitants) in May.
→ read full articleHumanity and Social Justice, a Must for the Future of Work – Ryder
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Apr 2017
10 Apr 2017 – “The future of work must be inspired by considerations of humanity, of social justice and peace. If it is not, we are going to a dark place, we are going to a dangerous place,” said the head of the leading world body specialised on labour issues.
→ read full articleSlaves
Baher Kamal |Human Wrongs Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Apr 2017
For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were victims of transatlantic slave trade. Slavery is far from being a chapter of the past—it still there, with estimated 21 million victims of forced labour and extreme exploitation around the world–nearly the combined population of Scandinavian countries.
→ read full articleDon’t Understand Clouds? But You Should!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Mar 2017
Today scientists understand that clouds play a vital role in regulating the Earth’s energy balance, climate and weather, says the UN World Meteorological Organization.
→ read full articleNo Water, No Life – Don’t Waste It!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Mar 2017
This story is part of IPS coverage of World Water Day, observed on March 22. “Water is finite. It has to serve the need of more and more people and we only have one ecosystem from which to draw our water,” says the UN-Water’s Chair Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization.
→ read full articleUN Farms to Create One Million Days of Work for Mideast Migrants
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Mar 2017
15 Mar 2017 – The problem is rather complex and often not recognised: in one of the major regions of both origin and destination for migrants and refugees — the Near East and North of Africa, 10 per cent of rural communities is made up of forcibly displaced persons, while more than 25 per cent of the young rural people plan to emigrate.
→ read full articleUN Declares War on Ocean Plastic
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Feb 2017
According to estimates, at the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish and an estimated 99 per cent of seabirds will have ingested plastic. Microplastics in oceans outnumber stars in our galaxy by 500 times.
→ read full articleIndigenous Peoples Lands Guard 80 Per Cent of World’s Biodiversity
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2017
9 Feb 2017 – They are more than 370 million self-identified peoples in some 70 countries around the world. In Latin America alone there are over 400 groups, each with a distinct language and culture, though the biggest concentration is in Asia and the Pacific– with an estimated 70 per cent. And their traditional lands guard over 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity.
→ read full articleA Dire Vacuum in a World in Crisis
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Feb 2017
The Geneva Centre for the Advancement of Human Rights and Global Dialogue will launch a new initiative during the current session of the UN Human Rights Council: a panel discussion around the theme “Islam and Christianity, The Great Convergence: Working jointly towards equal citizenship.”
→ read full articleWant to Prevent Stroke, Diabetes, Cancer? Get Moving… Now!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Feb 2017
2 Feb 2017 – Tired, lazy, bored, laying down long hours watching TV or seated checking your email? Wrong. And dangerous: not enough exercise contributes to cancer, diabetes, depression and other non-communicable diseases.
→ read full articleInequality (I): Half of World’s Wealth in the Pockets of These Eight Men
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2017
Article I of a three-part series focuses on the alarmingly deepening inequality. Part II deals with the staggering impact of inequality on women, and Part III with the future and quality of jobs.
→ read full articleInequality (II): “It Will Take 170 Years for Women to Be Paid as Men Are”
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2017
Article II of this three-part series on inequality, focuses on the impact of discrimination on women. Part III will tackle the issue of the future and quality of jobs. Part I has dealt with the alarming deepening inequality worldwide.
→ read full articleInequality (III): Less Employment… And More ‘Junk’ Jobs
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2017
Article III of of this three-part series on inequality tackles the issue of the future and quality of jobs. Part II focused on the impact of inequality on women. Part I dealt with the alarming deepening inequality worldwide.
→ read full articleTrump, the Banks and the Bomb
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 Jan 2017
7 Jan 2017 – When pro-nuclear disarmament organisations last October cheered the UN decision to start in 2017 negotiations on a global treaty banning these weapons, they did not expect that the US would elect Donald Trump. Much less that he would rush to advocate for increasing the US nuclear power.
→ read full articleChildren of the ‘Others’, Sons of Minor Gods
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
5 Dec 2016
In December 1946, “faced with the reality of millions of children suffering daily deprivation after World War II,” the General Assembly created the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Seventy years later, as Europe copes with a refugee crisis not seen since it was founded, the organisation remains an ever-present advocate for children’s rights.
→ read full articleBattle of the Desert: UNCCD ‘s Louise Baker on the Silk Road (III)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Nov 2016
23 Nov 2016 – Marking this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification last June, the United Nations announced the launch of a China-United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification to curb desertification along the Silk Road.
→ read full articleBattle of the Desert: To Fight or to Flee? (I)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
21 Nov 2016
“As the effects of climate change undermine livelihoods, inter-ethnic clashes are breaking out within and across states and fragile states are turning to militarisation to control the situation.” UNCCD
→ read full articleBattle of the Desert: A ‘Great Green Wall for Africa’ (II)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
21 Nov 2016
Desertification, land degradation, drought, climate change, food insecurity, poverty, loss of biodiversity, forced migration and conflicts, are some of the key challenges facing Africa—a giant continent home to 1,2 billion people living in 54 countries.
→ read full articleTrump – The Symptom
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2016
11 Nov 2016 – The electoral victory of U.S. Republican Donald Trump — many have said — is an alarming signal that heralds new, difficult times. Maybe. Anyway, this victory could –and should-be seen as a symptom not as a disease. Such disease consists of a widespread malaise, the feeling of frustration and even oppression that the majority of citizens shelter in their hearts and minds worldwide.
→ read full articleToxic Air – The ‘Invisible Killer’ That Stifles 300 Million Children
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2016
Children Breathe Faster, Take in More Air than Adults – UNICEF further stressed that children are more susceptible than adults to both indoor and outdoor air pollution as their lungs, brains and immune systems are still developing and their respiratory tracks are more permeable.
→ read full articleDying to Get to Europe
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2016
They are not just data or numbers for statistical calculations. They are desperate human beings fleeing wars, violence, abuse, slavery and death. They hear and believe the bombastic speeches about democracy and human rights and watch the many images of welfare and good life in Europe.
→ read full articleWorld to Cut Gas Emissions by 25 Percent More than Paris Agreement
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Nov 2016
4 Nov 2016 – On the eve of the entry into force of the Paris Agreement today, the United Nations sounded new climate alarm, urging the world to ‘dramatically’ step up its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions by some 25 per cent more.
→ read full articleClimate Doomsday – Another Step Closer
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Oct 2016
Globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has surged again to new records in 2016… and will not dip below pre-2015 levels for many generations. The warning comes from the United Nations weather agency–the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and further confirms the alarm of climate experts and world specialised organisations.
→ read full articleLow Food Prices: Good for Your Pocket, Bad for Small Farmers
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Oct 2016
10 Oct 2016 – What would be your reaction if you were told that food prices are steadily declining worldwide? Good, very good news, you may say. But do the 600 million small, family farmers, those who produce up to 80 per cent of food in some regions, think the same way? Definitely not at all.
→ read full articleWhat Happens When a Small Farmer Migrates?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Oct 2016
With 2 in 3 people estimated to be living in towns and cities by the year 2030, an old “equation” jumps rapidly to mind: each time a small farmer migrates to an urban area, equals to one food producer less, and one food consumer more.
→ read full articleTake a Deep Breath? But 9 in 10 People Worldwide Live with Excessive Air Pollution!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2016
29 Sep 2016 – The warning is sharp and the facts, alarming: 92 per cent of the world’s population lives in places where levels exceed recommended limits. And 6.5 million people die annually from air pollution: UN WHO.
→ read full article‘The Earth Is Not Flat; It Is Urban’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2016
4 Oct 2016 – When the United Nations elaborated its latest report on the impact of what it calls “the dramatic shift towards urban life,” it tried to draw a balanced portrait of both the opportunities and the challenges of the fact that 1 in 2 world inhabitant already lives in urban areas and what this implies.
→ read full articleOne Humanity? Millions of Children Tortured, Smuggled, Abused, Enslaved
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 Aug 2016
Children are being smuggled, sexually abused, maimed, killed for their vital organs, recruited as soldiers or otherwise enslaved. And 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030. These are just some of the dramatic figures that UNICEF and other UN and international bodies released few weeks ahead of the World Humanitarian Day marked every year on August 19.
→ read full articleAfrican Farmers Can Feed the World, If Only…
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 Aug 2016
Can African farmers feed the world?. Apparently the answer is “yes.” Bold as it may sound, this statement is based on specific facts.
→ read full articleWar on Climate Terror (I): Deserts Bury Two Thirds of African Lands
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 Aug 2016
9 Aug 2016 – Two-thirds of the African continent is already desert or dry-lands. But while this vast extension of the second largest continent on Earth after Asia is “vital” for agriculture and food production, nearly three-fourths of it is estimated to be degraded to varying degrees.
→ read full articleWar on Climate Terror (II): Fleeing Disasters, Escaping Drought, Migrating
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 Aug 2016
11 Aug 2016 – “No one can deny the terrible similarities between those running from the threat of guns and those fleeing creeping desertification, water shortages, floods and hurricanes.”
→ read full articleRights of Indigenous Peoples ‘Critical’ to Combat Climate Change
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 Aug 2016
25 Jul 2016 – No longer it is about restoring the legitimate rights of over 370 indigenous peoples spread across 70 countries worldwide, many of them living in dire situation, but now about their central, critical role in combating climate change.
→ read full articleForests: To Farm or Not to Farm? This Is the Question!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 Aug 2016
19 Jul 2016 – The dilemma is critical: on the one hand, there is an absolute need to produce more food for the world’s steadily growing population; on the other, there is pressing urgency to halt -and further revert- the increasing trend to deplete the forests, which are as necessary for human survival as it is for ensuring their dietary needs. So what is at stake ?
→ read full article400 Million People Live with Hepatitis but They Do Not Know
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
1 Aug 2016
26 Jul 2016 – With some 400 million people around the world infected with hepatitis B or C, mostly without being aware, the United Nations top health agency encourages countries to boost testing and access to services and medicines for people in need to combat the ‘ignored perils’ of this disease.
→ read full article‘Monster’ El Niño Subsides, La Niña Hitting Soon
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Jul 2016
Now that the 2015-2016 El Niño –one of the strongest on record– has subsided, La Niña – El Niño’s ‘counterpart’– could strike soon, further exacerbating a severe humanitarian crisis that is affecting millions of people in the most vulnerable communities in tens of countries worldwide, especially in Africa and Asia Pacific.
→ read full articleHuman Security a Must in a Chaotic, Confused World – Japan
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Jul 2016
“Human security” is strongly linked to food and nutrition security. In fact, on-going man-made disasters—such as armed conflicts and climate change—are the very direct cause of the current, unprecedented levels of human suffering. The United Nations estimates that the number of refugees, migrants and forcibly displaced at home has now hit all-high record: 160 million worldwide.
→ read full articleXenophobic Rhetoric, Now Socially and Politically ‘Acceptable’ ?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
4 Jul 2016
“Xenophobic and racist rhetoric seems not only to be on the rise, but also becoming more socially and politically acceptable,” warns Mogens Lykketoft, president of the UN General Assembly. On World Refugee Day, June 20, he reacted to the just announced new record number of people displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution.
→ read full articleXenophobia: ‘Hate Is Mainstreamed, Walls Are Back, Suspicion Kills’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Jun 2016
“The roll-back of violent extremism calls for an in-depth approach informed by the genesis and evolution of radicalisation, its link with citizenship and possible tipping point into violence… There also needs to be a better understanding of short-cuts to violent extremism that do not transit through radicalisation.” — UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
→ read full articleWhat If Turkey Drops Its “Human Bomb” on Europe?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Jun 2016
The question is anything but trivial—it is rather a source of deep concern among the many non-governmental humanitarian organisations and the United Nations, which are making relentless efforts to fill the huge relief gaps caused by the apparent indifference of those powers who greatly contributed to creating this unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
→ read full articleWorld Oceans Day, 8 Jun – A Death Sea Called Mediterranean
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2016
It is also a huge salty lake, being a semi-enclosed sea with only two tiny points of contact with open oceans-the Suez Canal in the East and the Gibraltar Straits in the West. Its waters need between 80 and 150 years to be renewed in contact with open oceans. In other words, a drop of polluted water remains there, circulating for a whole century on average.
→ read full articleHumanitarian Aid – Business as Unusual?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2016
9 Jun 2016 – Big business is most often seen by human rights defenders and civil society organisations as “bad news,” as those huge heartless, soulless corporations whose exclusive goal is to make the biggest profits possible. Too often and in too many cases this is a proven fact.
→ read full articleHumanitarian Summit, the Big Fiasco
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 May 2016
The World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul on May 23-24 failed to achieve the objective of attracting the massive funds needed to alleviate the humanitarian drama, as neither the leaders of the Group-of-7 richest countries nor of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council attended, with the exception of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
→ read full article‘We Cannot Keep Jumping from Crisis to Crisis’
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2016
20 May 2016 – “We cannot keep jumping from crisis to crisis. We have to invest in long-term development that helps people cope with shocks so that they can continue to grow enough food for their communities and not require emergency aid.” — Josefina Stubbs, Chief Strategist of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development message to the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
→ read full articleMiddle East – The Mother of All Humanitarian Crises
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2016
The Istanbul World Humanitarian Summit will focus on five key areas: to prevent and end conflict; to respect the rules of war; to leave no one behind; to work differently to end need, and to invest in humanity.
→ read full article‘Human Suffering Has Reached Staggering Levels’: UN Ban Ki-moon
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2016
17 May 2016 – “Human suffering from the impacts of armed conflicts and disasters has reached staggering levels.” With these one dozen or few words, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, briefly but sharply portrayed the current humanitarian drama, explaining why the UN has decided to hold the first ever World Humanitarian Summit on May 23-24 this year in Istanbul, Turkey.
→ read full articleAny Way to Halt Extremism?
Baher Kamal – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 May 2016
“While it may be inevitable to draw on examples, such as Da’esh [also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL] or Boko Haram, the phenomenon of violent extremism conducive to terrorism is not rooted or confined to any religion, region, nationality or ethnic group. Let us also recognize that today, the vast majority of victims worldwide are Muslims,” — UN chief Ban Ki-moon
→ read full articleClimate Change: Will the Middle East Become ‘Uninhabitable’? (I)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2016
This is the first of a two-part series of reports focusing on the impact of climate change on the Middle East & North of Africa region, ahead of the signing ceremony of the Paris climate agreement, on 22 April 2016 in New York.
→ read full articleClimate Change and the Middle East: No Water in the Kingdom of the Two Seas—Nor Elsewhere (II)
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2016
This is part II of a two-part series of reports focusing on the impact of climate change on the Middle East & North of Africa region, ahead of the signing ceremony of the Paris climate agreement, on 22 April 2016 in New York.
→ read full articleClimate: Africa’s Human Existence Is at Severe Risk
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2016
This is how clear the Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is when it comes to assessing the negative impact of climate change on this continent of 54 countries with a combined population of over 1,200 billion inhabitants. “No continent will be struck as severely by the impacts of climate change as Africa.”
→ read full articleCan an Animal Heist Fable Help Solve the Middle East Crisis?
Baher Kamal – Human Wrongs Watch,
18 Apr 2016
Make no mistake-the Middle East is the longest and perhaps the most complex crisis in recent History, this explaining the innumerable, successive –and frustrating- attempts to solve it.
→ read full article(Castellano) Situación de los refugiados, peor que la Primera Guerra Mundial
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
21 Mar 2016
14 mar 2016 – Cuando los líderes de la Unión Europea disfruten el jueves 17 y el viernes 18 de sus vuelos exclusivos, sus suites de lujo y sus limusinas oficiales, en una nueva cumbre en Bruselas, para adoptar una decisión final sobre su propuesto plan de usar los refugiados como moneda de cambio, es probable que 20.000 sirios sigan aún en el campo de refugiados de Idomeni en Grecia, en una situación descrita como “peor que la Primera Guerra Mundial”.
→ read full article‘Worse Than World War I’
Baher Kamal - Human Wrongs Watch,
21 Mar 2016
14 Mar 2016 – When the leaders of 28 European states enjoy again this week their exclusive flights, luxurious suites and official limousines, to meet for a new summit in Brussels to adopt a final decision on their proposed plan of using refugees as bargaining chips, 20.000 Syrians will most probably be still starving in the Idomeni camp in Greece, in a situation that has been described as “worse than World War I.”
→ read full article(Castellano) Europa a Turquía: Tome mis iraquíes y deme algunos sirios
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Mar 2016
8 mar 2016 – En otra violación de las leyes internacionales y sus propios valores humanos, 28 países europeos acaban de acordar con Turquía abrir un nuevo “bazar” de refugiados, esta vez utilizando el viejo sistema de trueque: iraquíes y afganos a cambio de sirios y algo de dinero.
→ read full article‘Take My Iraqis and Give Me Some Syrians’ – Europe to Turkey
Baher Kamal – Human Wrongs Watch,
14 Mar 2016
8 March 2016 – In a yet another violation of international laws and their own human values, 28 European countries have just agreed with Turkey to open a new “bazaar” of refugees, this time using the old barter system. i.e. Iraqis and Afghans in exchange of Syrians.
→ read full article(Castellano) Nueva Histeria Nuclear en Medio Oriente
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Mar 2016
Ahora que el Organismo International de Energía Atómica anunció, el 18 de enero, que había verificado que Irán completó los pasos que aseguran que su programa nuclear será exclusivamente pacifico, una nueva ola de histeria nuclear parece haberse desatado ahora en la región. Véase de que se trata.
→ read full article(Castellano) África crea zona de intercambio para 620 millones de consumidores
Baher Kamal y Fareed Mahdy,
7 Mar 2016
24 feb 2016 – Más de 1.500 representantes de sectores financieros privados, expertos y líderes políticos decidieron el 20 y 21 de este mes lanzar el mayor bloque de intercambio comercial de África, de 26 países que suman 620 millones consumidores y un PIB de 1.200 billones de dólares.
→ read full articleNew Nuclear Hysteria in the Middle East
Baher Kamal - Human Wrongs Watch,
7 Mar 2016
Now that the so-called P5+1group (US, UK, France, Russia and China, plus Germany) few months ago concluded an agreement with Iran to prevent the risk of an eventual military nuclear programme in exchange of lifting massive Western sanctions, a new wave of nuclear hysteria seems to be in the air.
→ read full articleAfrica Launches Largest Trading Block with 620 Million Consumers
Baher Kamal – Human Wrongs Watch,
29 Feb 2016
22 Feb 2016 – More than 1,500 public and private business delegates and state leaders agreed on 20-21 February in Egypt to mobilize massive investments for the implementation of Africa’s largest trading bloc which was created last year by 26 African countries with a total of 620 million consumers and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nearing 1,2 trillion dollars.
→ read full articleBig War Lords Playing Brinkmanship Game in Syria
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 Feb 2016
The biggest “official” warlords on Earth—the Russian military apparatus and the US Pentagon and its “allies”–Europe, the US-led NATO, the Saudi Arabia-led Gulf countries, and Turkey, have just walked a step closer to the edge of the Middle East abyss over the weekend during their Munich Security Conference.
→ read full article(Castellano) Los grandes señores de la guerra, listos para invadir Siria
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 Feb 2016
Los grandes señores de la guerra “oficiales”, es decir el aparato militar ruso y el Departamento de Defensa de Estados Unidos y sus “aliados” -Europa, la OTAN, los países del Golfo liderados por Arabia Saudita, y Turquía- dieron el último fin de semana un paso más hacia el abismo de Medio Oriente durante su Conferencia de Seguridad de Múnich.
→ read full articleCameron At Large: Want Not to Become a Terrorist? Speak Fluent English!
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
8 Feb 2016
4 Feb 2016 – “Do you speak English fluently? No? Then you risk becoming a terrorist.” IPS posed this dilemma to some young Muslim women living in Cairo, while explaining that this appears to be David Cameron’s formula to judge the level of Muslim women’s risk to fall, passively, into the horrific trap of extremism.
→ read full articleWomen’s Rights First — African Summit
Baher Kamal - Human Wrongs Watch,
8 Feb 2016
1 Feb 2016 – Despite the enormous challenges facing Africa now, the leaders of its 1.2 billion plus inhabitants have decided to spotlight the issue of Human Rights with a Particular Focus on the Rights of Women in their 26th summit held in Addis Ababa on 21-31 January this year. Why?
→ read full article(Castellano) África, ¿es noticia solo si sangra?
Baher Kamal – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Jan 2016
Las raíces profundas que yacen debajo de la mayoría de los dramas africanos: largos siglos de colonialismo, esclavitud, empobrecimiento, dilapidación de los recursos naturales por corporaciones transnacionales, millonarias ventas de armas a las partes en conflicto, extendido acaparamiento de tierras y el grave impacto del cambio climático, causado lejos de África por los países industrializados, son solo algunos de ellos.
→ read full articleAfrica, Only If It Bleeds It Leads?
Baher Kamal – Human Wrongs Watch,
25 Jan 2016
Deep roots lying beneath most African dramas: centuries-long colonialism; slavery; massive depletion of natural resources by voracious multinational corporations; big sales of western weapons to parties in conflicts; extensive land grabbing and the heavy impact of climate change caused far away from Africa by industrialized states, just to mention some.
→ read full article