July 12, 2020 No comments
A taxing problem: how to ensure the poor and vulnerable don’t shoulder the cost of the COVID-19 crisis
INTERNATIONAL, 12 July 2020, Economic Development - In the wake of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, tax systems should be reformed, and tax avoidance and evasion reduced, to ensure an economic recovery in which everyone pays their share, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Child farmers help to level fields in Balkh Province, Afghanistan., by World Bank/Ghullam Abbas Farzami Taxes pay for many of the things that are fundamental to functioning societies across the world, such as schools, health care, and social services. Money raised through taxation is crucial to ensuring that these services are maintained during the COVID-19 crisis. But, when businesses shut down, and millions lose their jobs, as has happened during the current crisis, tax revenue plummets. In the short-term, governments have put together stimulus...
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July 11, 2020 No comments
COVID-19 lockdown in Myanmar exposes precarious position of LGBTQI population
INTERNATIONAL, 11 July 2020, Human Rights - In Myanmar, the COVID-19 lockdown has laid bare the stigmatization, discrimination and harassment faced by many LGBTQI people, particularly in rural areas. The United Nations is working to support those people. When the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Myanmar in late March, quarantine centres were set up in sites around the country. People arriving in a town—such as migrant workers returning home—had to quarantine at their local centre for 21 days. One of the first people to work as a volunteer at the quarantine centre in the town of Pyay was a man named Min Min. Like other centres around the country, this one was in a school that was repurposed for the pandemic. The roughly 20 volunteers...
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July 10, 2020 No comments
UNESCO expresses deep regret over Turkey decision to change status of historic Hagia Sophia
INTERNATIONAL, 10 July 2020, Culture and Education - As the Turkish President signed a decree on Friday converting the ancient Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a mosque, the UN cultural agency (UNESCO) said that it "deeply regrets the decision" made "without prior discussion", having earlier in the day called on the State to abide by its “legal commitments and obligations” in accordance with it’s status as a museum, on the World Heritage List. The majestic building was founded around 1,500 years ago as a cathedral and is widely regarded as the foremost example of Byzantine Christian architecture in the world. Following the rise of the Ottoman Empire, it became a mosque, but in 1934, was designated a secular museum, shared by Christians, Muslims and those...
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July 10, 2020 No comments
Lebanon ‘fast spiralling out of control’ leaving many destitute and facing starvation, warns Bachelet
INTERNATIONAL, 10 July 2020, Humanitarian Aid - Sounding the alarm over the crippling impact of “growing economic shocks, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic” in Lebanon, the UN human rights chief called on Friday for a unified response by politicians and the people to overcome the worsening socio-economic crisis there. “Many have lost jobs, seen their life-savings evaporate before their eyes and lost their homes”, underscored High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urging the Government, political parties and the financial sector, to work together to protect the poorest and most defenceless. Poorest most at risk Vulnerable Lebanese and other at-risk groups, such as refugees and migrant workers, are increasingly unable to meet their basic needs. “This situation is fast spiralling out of control, with many already...
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July 10, 2020 No comments
Finding hope in calamity: how UN humanitarians cope on the frontline
INTERNATIONAL, 10 July 2020, Humanitarian Aid - What does it take to help the world’s most vulnerable people, often in dangerous and unstable situations, and at considerable personal risk? In the latest season of the award-winning UN podcast, Awake At Night, host Melissa Fleming speaks to some of the Organization’s most prominent humanitarians to find out what motivates them, and how they cope. In the first two seasons of Awake At Night, Ms. Fleming (who formerly ran communications at the UN refugee agency UNHCR, and now heads up the Department of Global Communications at UN headquarters in New York), interviewed a wide array of people who willingly put themselves in danger, in order to help others. They include famed photographer, Giles Duley, who still bears witness...
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