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Photo: Shefuka (9) studies at home with support from her mother and teacher, while her learning centre remains closed in the Rohingya refugee camp. Credit: UNICEF | UNI340770

World Leaders Call for Funds to Stop COVID-19 Generation from Being Locked Out of the Classroom

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – As country lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic come to an end, an immediate priority is the fate of 30 million children who may never return to school, warns a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report.

With this in view, former world leaders, economists and educationalists say in a letter to the Group of Twenty (G20) nations and other countries: "We cannot stand by and allow these young people to be robbed of their education and a fair chance in life." They urge them to take action to prevent the global health crisis creating a "COVID generation" – leaving tens of millions of children with no hope of education.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 4; 20 August 2020

Photo: The Indian government is apparently trying to find some mechanism for informal sector workers. Credit: Press Trust of India (PTI).

India's COVID-19 Experience May Usher in a More Humane World for Women and Informal Sector Workers

Viewpoint by Lakshmi Lingam*, Tata Institute of Social Studies

MUMBAI (IDN) – Women in India spend 297 minutes on unpaid domestic work each day, 245 minutes more than men who contribute only 52 minutes. Women’s work is not accounted for in the national accounting system, making their contributions unrecognised and unvalued.

An Oxfam report observes that the unpaid work of Indian women plays a crucial role in sustaining economic activity, equivalent to 3.1 per cent of GDP. Economic and social challenges, including domestic violence, dowry at the time of marriage and the trafficking of women, coalesce to sustain and perpetuate gender inequalities in India.

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 5; 19 August 2020

Photo: With the lockdown to fend off the spread of COVID-19, many Southern Africans, have lost their jobs and switched to vending on the streets where they engage in cat and mouse games with police enforcing lockdown rules. Consequently, the game to survive still remains tough for most Africans as they battle to support their children amid schools closure. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | INPS-IDN

COVID-19 Derails Education in Southern Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

MUSINA, South Africa (IDN) – His three teenage children play home-made paper ball on the dusty streets of Musina, exercise books scattered on the veranda of their rented home in the South African border town with Zimbabwe. Yet Gerald Gava, the children's 47-year old father, lies on a reed mat spread on the veranda, apparently with nothing to do after he stopped working three months ago as the lockdown took toll on the construction company that employed him.

Gava, who is a migrant from Zimbabwe, said even his children have had to remain home as schools also shut down, thanks to the coronavirus that has pounded the entire globe. (P13) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

: Katsuhiro Asagiri; Project Articles; 18 August 2020

Photo. Gorilla in the Ebo Forest, located in Southwestern Cameroon. San-Diego Global Zoo

Cameroon Decides to Save Last Intact Forest in Central Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Good news is rare for those toiling to save the environment, but environmentalists could finally share the excitement of hard-won success.

The government of Cameroon announced on August 14 it was cancelling plans to log some 170,000 acres of the Ebo Forest, home to hundreds of rare plant and animal species, including the tool-using Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, the western gorilla and giant frogs.

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 13+14+15; 17 August 2020

Chronic Underfunding of Public Health and Racist Policies Responsible for the Impact of COVID-19 in the US

Viewpoint by Marshall Auerback

The writer is a market analyst and commentator. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW YORK (IDN) – It is understandably tempting to drop all the blame for America’s catastrophic response to COVID-19 on the big desk in the Oval Office. But there’s more to the story than epic incompetence, grift and delusion at the highest levels of government. The stark divide in the level of health care from testing to treatment is divided by wealth and the legacy of systemic racism.

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 3; 16 August 2020

UN Women Bashed for Indiscriminate Partnership with Unilever

Viewpoint by Sharanya Kanikkannan

The writer is Legal and Policy Adviser at AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Like so many Indian girls, I learned at an early age that light skin was feminine, precious, and desirable.

Pink tubes of Fair & Lovely cream—a product that comprises 40 per cent of the skin lightening market in India—were a staple of my childhood, tucked away in dressing table drawers in every home and displayed on the shelves of every corner store. Looking back, I wonder why so many adults failed to imagine a world where girls were more than a “pantone” shade on a plastic tube.

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 5; 13 August 2020

Photo: Mauritius Declares Environmental Emergency After Massive Oil Spill, Credit: India.com

Dirty Oil Floods Pristine African Beach in Major Spill

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – An Indian Ocean island nation, beloved for its sandy beaches, pristine lagoons and reefs, its tropical climate and its multi-ethnic population, has become another world treasure soiled by the relentless trade in oil, shipped by tankers, unsafe at any speed.

The ship that ran aground off the shores of Mauritius began spilling oil into the country’s famed blue lagoons this week, setting off an environmental crisis in a tiny island nation that relies on its waters for fishing, food and tourism.

: Ramesh Jaura; Goal 13+14+15; 11 August 2020

We Need A One-World Monitoring System to Watch and Destroy Viruses

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Almost forgotten in the story about the Coronavirus is the story of AIDS. The drive to deal with it, the search to find medicine to cure it, and the self-discipline by homosexuals only began in 1981, when the disease was discovered, and its causes understood.

It was a stroke of luck that AIDS was discovered so quickly. Another five or ten years could have easily passed before it was detected. Then it would have rampaged through societies all over the world.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 04 August 2020

Bronx Zoo Issues Apology for Displaying African Man In Cage

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – 'Black Lives Matter' can take credit for the scores of apologies from around the world for racist statues, discriminatory corporate policies and now from the Bronx Zoo for its cruel and racist display of an African man in a cage in 1906.

“In the name of equality, transparency, and accountability, we must confront our organization’s historic role in promoting racial injustice as we advance our mission to save wildlife and wild places,” officials with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said a statement released to the press on July 29. JAPANESE

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 10; 03 August 2020

Photo: WHO Headquarters in Geneva, North and West sides. CC BY-SA 3.0

Trump's Withdrawal From WHO: A Cover-Up for His Abject Failure on COVID-19

Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha

The writer is the founding editor of Newsclick.in, a digital media platform. He is an activist for science and the free software movement. This article was produced in partnership by Newsclick and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – Microbes do not recognize borders. We are all safe only when everybody is safe. In a pandemic, to attack the only body we have for global cooperation endangers everyone. That is why the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) is dangerous not only for the United States, but for all of the world.