A groundbreaking new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Anand Grover, was released yesterday. And it is big!!
In the new report, Grover calls for the immediate removal of all impeding restrictions to abortion, full access to modern contraceptive methods, and complete and accurate information on sexual and reproductive health.
As the International Planned Parenthood Federation explains, “the report examines the disproportionate impact these laws and policies have on those who already suffer human rights violations and the denial of adequate heath care (e.g., women, impoverished peoples) and emphasizes individuals’ right to dignity and autonomy in health-related decision making.”
Having someone this high up basically say that all UN members states should provide safe abortion and contraception is a big deal, and many women’s health orgs are already hailing this as a huge victory for global sexual and reproductive rights and health.
For more, check out AWID’s analysis of the report (also available in Spanish and French).
RH Reality Check is also running a series looking at the issues in the report from different angles, including US policy.
Hundreds of the world’s largest investors, representing more than $20 trillion in assets, today encouraged governments and international policy makers to take new legally-enforceable steps to combat climate change at the upcoming UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa.
The group of 285 investors issued a joint statement emphasizing the urgent need for policy action which stimulates private sector investment in climate change solutions, creates jobs, and ensures the long-term sustainability and stability of the world economic system.
The statement represents the largest group, by both number of signatories and assets under management, ever to call for policy action on climate change. Signatories to the statement include financial institutions, state treasurers, controllers, pension fund leaders, asset managers, insurance groups, faith groups and foundations worldwide.
| — | Poll: Vast majority of Israelis would accept U.N. recognizing Palestine | The Raw Story (via progressivefriends) |
In a shift of tactics that has alarmed American officials, the antisecrecy organization WikiLeaks has published on the Web nearly 134,000 leaked diplomatic cables in recent days, more than six times the total disclosed publicly since the posting of the leaked State Department documents began last November.
A sampling of the documents showed that the newly published cables included the names of some people who had spoken confidentially to American diplomats and whose identities were marked in the cables with the warning “strictly protect.”
State Department officials and human rights activists have been concerned that such diplomatic sources, including activists, journalists and academics in authoritarian countries, could face reprisals, including dismissal from their jobs, prosecution or violence.
…Government officials and journalists were poring over the newly released cables on Monday to assess whether people named in them might face repercussions. A quick sampling found at least one cable posted on Monday, from the American Embassy in Australia, had a name removed, but several others left in the identities of people whom diplomats had flagged for protection.
Among those named, despite diplomats’ warnings, were a United Nations official in West Africa and a foreign human rights activist working in Cambodia. They had spoken candidly to American Embassy officials on the understanding that they would not be publicly identified.
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The New York Times, “Wikileaks Leaves Names of Diplomatic Sources In Leaked Cables.” This is so fucking outrageous and sickening and is an asshole move on Julian Assange’s part. He knows full well that he is now putting lives in danger and simply doesn’t give a fuck. (via inothernews) |
The U.N.’s World Food Program has been airlifting food and supplies into the famine-stricken areas of the Horn of Africa. The program’s director, Josette Sheeran just returned from Somalia.
Droughts may not be avoidable, but famines are, Sheeran said.
More here. And an update from the Dadaab refugee camp and hospital in Kenya.
