This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
New High-Level Panel to support millions internally-displaced
Around the world, the number of internally displaced persons has continually grown in recent years, with 41 million uprooted from their homes at the start of 2019, as a result of armed conflict - with natural disasters pushing out millions more.
The UN Secretary-General on Wednesday announced the establishment of a High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement, to coincide with the ten year anniversary of the adoption of the only legally binding instrument for the protection of the displaced, known as the Kampala Convention.
The UN chief noted that internal displacement poses unique risks to persons’ livelihoods, health and well-being, with “ever more” people displaced for longer periods.
The Panel will be charged with increasing global attention and support for displaced communities, while delivering lasting solutions for implementation by Member States.
Mr. Guterres said he will announce the composition of the High-Level Panel “shortly” and expects it to start work early next year.
Safe and healthy working conditions still not upheld as universal human right
Although healthy working conditions are a globally recognized human right, they remain “more a privilege”, the UN independent expert on hazardous substances, Baskut Tuncak, declared on Wednesday.
The right of all workers to safe and healthy conditions has been recognized worldwide for over 50 years, yet the International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that some 2.7 million workers die as a result of hazardous conditions every year.
Mr. Tuncak’s latest report, published in July, highlights the need for safe conditions and control of hazardous substances in the workplace, and outlines principles of health hazard prevention and the right to treatment for injured or harmed workers.
Mr. Tuncak stressed his concern that after half a century of recognition by the United Nations, the right to a healthy workplace is still not one of ILO’s fundamental principles.
UN Environment campaign to help disappearing snow leopard thrive
One of the most endangered cat species in the world, often referred to by locals who know them as “the ghosts of the mountains”, are elusive by nature.
But the snow leopard, native to Central and South Asia is now at risk of completely disappearing.
Only between 4,000 and 7,500 leopards are left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Red List Species.
On Snow Leopard Day, recognized annually on 23 October, the UN’s Environment wing (UNEP) has teamed up with regional partners in Tajikistan and the Kyrgz Republic to better understand the big cat’s vulnerabilities, and help the population coexist alongside humans, as part of it’s Vanishing Treasures initiative.
Demand for the leopard’s fur, and increasing pressures on their habitats imposed by climate change and pastoralists, has landed the endangered cat a place on the International Red List of threatened species, alongside some 28,000 other animals at risk of extinction.
This year, UNEP’s Wild for Life campaign, rooted in the UN’s 2030 targets to protect and restore the planet, is donating funds to a snow leopard science trust to save the animal, encouraging all actors to work together to increase awareness, stay informed and lift the threat of extinction.
Natalie Hutchison, UN News.
