Pakistan: More Aid Needed as Flood Disaster Affects 17 Million
The ITUC is calling for a major increase in international aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan, as estimates of the number of people affected and damage to homes, buildings and infrastructure continue to increase. The United Nations has warned that the area affected is still growing from the current estimate of 160,000 square kilometres, with some 1.2 million homes destroyed or badly damaged and over 17 million people “significantly affected”.
The ITUC Deeply Shocked by the Mass Rapes in Eastern Congo
A joint UN mission has confirmed the rape of at least 154 civilian girls and women around the village of Luvungi in North Kivu, although according to local aid workers the number of victims may be as high as 220. Women were raped during four days, from July 30 up to August 3rd, allegedly by the Mai-Mai militia and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a group of ethnic Hutu fighters linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The UN peace keeping mission present in the region uncovered the crimes only ten days later, on August 12.
Barclays Burma Scandal Shows Need to Tighten Sanctions
The announcement that Barclay’s Bank has agreed with the US Department of Justice to pay a $298m fine for breaching sanctions on Burma and other countries shows yet again that international sanctions on Burma need to be made tighter and more comprehensive, according to the ITUC.
Youth Unemployment a “Social Time-Bomb”
The ITUC has described the high and rising levels of youth unemployment globally as a “social time-bomb”, which risks damaging the social, economic and political fabric of countries around the world. New figures released by the International Labour Organisation today, the United Nations Youth Day, underline the dramatic increase in the number of young jobless as the employment impacts of the global economic crisis continue to worsen.
ITUC Calls for UN Summit to endorse Financial Transactions Tax to help fund development and growth
The ITUC is calling on governments to commit to introducing a financial transactions tax (FTT) at September’s United Nations Development Summit to help tackle global poverty and accelerate action on jobs and climate change.