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News in Brief 14 July 2021

News in Brief 14 July 2021

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Deaths soar on perilous maritime migration routes to Europe

Deaths of migrants travelling by dangerous sea routes to Europe have soared in the first six months of the year.

At least 1,146 people died attempting to reach Europe by boat from January to June, the UN migration agency, IOM said on Wednesday.

That’s more than double the number of deaths recorded over the same period last year and it highlights how perilous maritime migration routes are from Africa to Europe.

In an appeal to countries to respect international human rights laws and obligations, IOM Director-General António Vitorino called for “urgent and proactive steps” to reduce loss of life.

“Increasing search-and-rescue efforts, establishing predictable disembarkation mechanisms and ensuring access to safe and legal migration pathways are key steps towards achieving this goal,” he said.

New data from IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, highlighted that the spike in deaths was coupled with insufficient search and rescue operations - both in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic Route to the Canary Islands.

Coup and COVID fuelling ‘perfect storm’ in Myanmar: UN expert

To Myanmar now, where a top UN independent rights expert has warned that there’s a risk of “significant” loss of life, amid surging COVID-19 cases, a collapsed health system and people’s “deep mistrust” of the military junta.

Taken together, these factors are a “perfect storm”, said Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, who’s urged the international community to provide “emergency” assistance for the people of Myanmar.

“The highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being and that right is being denied to most within Myanmar,” he said in a statement.

Mr. Andrews repeated his appeal for emergency humanitarian aid to be provided to the country, amid reports of severe shortages of medical supplies and oxygen.

And he maintained that the junta lacked the resources, capability and legitimacy to bring the crisis under control, after it seized power in a coup on 1 February.

EU carbon reduction deal won’t hurt exporters as badly as feared: UNCTAD

Plans by the European Union to reduce CO2 emissions will likely see some regional clean-air successes and not hurt carbon-intensive exporting countries as badly as had been expected, UN trade experts UNCTAD said on Wednesday.

After it comes into force in 2023, the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will favour more developed countries where manufacturing and production are relatively carbon efficient.

Concerns by the bloc’s commodity-exporting partners who are in developing countries that they will see a substantial fall in trade are probably unfounded, said the UN Trade and Development body.

In a new report, it indicated that exports by developing countries across targeted carbon-intensive sectors would likely fall by 1.4 per cent if the EU deal is implemented with a levy of $44 per tonne of CO2 emissions, and by 2.4 per cent if the CO2 tax was $88 per tonne.

The effects “would vary significantly by country depending on their export structure and carbon production intensity”, said UNCTAD, which urged the EU to consider using revenue generated by the emissions-reduction deal to support uptake of cleaner production technologies in developing countries.

At a carbon price of $44 per tonne, the income of developed countries would rise by $2.5 billion, while that of developing nations would fall by $5.9 billion, according to UNCTAD’s research.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.

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  • Coup and COVID-19 fuelling ‘perfect storm’ in Myanmar: UN expert
  • Deadly sea routes cause migrant deaths to double
  • UNCTAD: EU carbon reduction deal won’t hurt developing exporters as badly as feared
Audio Credit
Daniel Johnson, UN News - Geneva
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3'15"
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SOS Méditerranée/Anthony Jean