<span fr-original-class="customBullet" fr-original-style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 12px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline-block;" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 12px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline-block; box-sizing: border-box;">•&nbsp; Protect the evidence:&nbsp;The United Nations' Human Rights Committee has ordered Venezuela "to refrain from destroying" the voting tallies from July's presidential election.<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The backstory:&nbsp;Both incumbent Nicolas Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez declared themselves the winners of the disputed presidential election on 28 July. Maduro was announced as the official winner but Gonzalez and many in the international community don't recognize Maduro as the legitimate president. Gonzalez recently fled to Spain, saying his life was in danger.</li></ul>

Aposto World

<span fr-original-class="customBullet" fr-original-style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 12px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline-block;" style="font-size: 24px; line-height: 12px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline-block; box-sizing: border-box;">•&nbsp;&nbsp; Milei fires FM for UN vote:&nbsp;Argentina's president, Javier Milei, fired Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, after the country voted in favor of lifting the US economic embargo on Cuba at the United Nations.<ul fr-original-style="padding-inline-start: 20px;" style="padding-inline-start: 20px; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; box-sizing: border-box;"><li fr-original-style="" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Important note:&nbsp;Argentina, along with 187 countries voted to lift the embargo. It was the first time since Milei's arrival in office that Argentina has not aligned itself with the US and Israeli governments.</li></ul>

MUNICH/OTTAWA – In late November, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.unep.org/events/conference/inter-governmental-negotiating-committee-meeting-inc-1" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">met for the first time</a>. The INC was established by the United Nations Environment Assembly with a well-defined mission: to create the first-ever legally binding global agreement on plastic pollution. The fact that delegates and observers finally met to have this discussion is welcome. But the meeting results are just the beginning of addressing the scale or scope of the problem.Plastic pollution threatens people’s health and endangers the environment. And plastic causes harm throughout its entire lifecycle, beginning with resource extraction and continuing after disposal.But the problem is not just plastic itself. Plastic contains over <a fr-original-style="" href="https://cen.acs.org/articles/99/i25/Inventory-finds-10000-chemicals-used.html#:~:text=More%20than%2010%2C000%20additives%2C%20processing,used%20in%20plastics%20manufacture%20(Environ." style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">10,000 chemicals</a>, more than a quarter of which are toxic to humans and wildlife. In the absence of a global requirement that companies make known exactly which chemicals are in which plastic materials and goods, what we know about plastic in our lives is dictated by the whims of individual manufacturers and national legislatures. As a result, we are ignorant of the full extent of the problem. No one – from workers facing occupational hazards to parents trying to make healthy choices for their children – has all the information they could and should have.Plastic does not affect everyone equally. Vulnerable groups like low-income families, indigenous communities, and people of color are especially at risk. For example, the vulnerable and disadvantaged are <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/voices-from-the-fenceline/3" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">more likely</a> to live or work near petrochemical manufacturing facilities and refineries, exposing them to air, water, and soil pollution from the toxic chemicals used to manufacture plastic products.This inequality exists within and between countries. Plastic products are often made in developing countries, transported to developed countries, and then <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/17/recycled-plastic-america-global-crisis" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">returned</a> to developing countries as waste. It is not only the last stage of plastics’ lifecycle that creates pollution and endangers communities. Plastic production itself is hazardous.Consider the textile sector, where workers create clothes from synthetic fibers made of plastics. The workers are largely unaware of the <a fr-original-style="" href="https://greenbusinessbureau.com/industries/fashion/what-is-toxic-fast-fashion-and-how-does-it-impact-the-environment/" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">toxicity of the chemicals</a> they are using while they assemble skirts and shirts for people an ocean away. They do not have all the information they need to understand the risks they are facing from doing their jobs. There is an obvious gendered component to this, too, given that the textile sector in developing countries is <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.fashionrevolution.org/exploitation-or-emancipation-women-workers-in-the-garment-industry/" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">dominated</a> by women.But while people are unfairly and unevenly affected by plastic pollution, the reality is that no one is spared. Plastic pollution does not respect borders. Women everywhere use menstrual products <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.mamavation.com/beauty/pfas-tampons.html" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">containing plastics</a> with chemicals that pose a direct risk to their health. Children all over the world, including in wealthy countries, play with cheap plastic toys containing unknown chemicals.Given the high-stakes challenges facing the first INC, it is disappointing that delegates did not even manage to <a fr-original-style="" href="https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2022/12/06/stakeholders-react-as-global-plastics-treaty-talks-wrap-up/" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">adopt procedural rules</a>. More substantive negotiations will be delayed until they do.There were some small successes. The presence of observers permitted corridor conversations in which they could help delegates better understand the link between plastic, chemicals, and health. This was reflected in some delegates’ <a fr-original-style="" href="https://enb.iisd.org/plastic-pollution-marine-environment-negotiating-committee-inc1-summary" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">statements</a>, which highlighted the need for transparency on chemicals in plastics.That is not nothing. But it is also not enough.In May 2023, delegates will have another chance. Representatives of governments from around the world will convene in Paris for the INC’s <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.unep.org/events/conference/second-session-intergovernmental-negotiating-committee-develop-international" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">second meeting</a>. Their mission will once again be to work toward a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution.Delegates cannot simply retread the same ground as in November. Delegates will need to demonstrate their governments’ commitment to reducing plastic production. Together, they will need to consider the entire plastic lifecycle and the dangers that it poses to communities, people, and the environment.Perhaps most important, they will need to remember that the point of these meetings is to establish a global, legally binding instrument, not to shrug and sigh and let countries follow mere voluntary guidelines, effectively allowing business as usual to continue.In Paris next year, negotiations on plastic pollution need to be both more efficient and more ambitious. Delegates must act as though they are saving the world. If they get this right, they will be.<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">Olga Speranskaya is Co-Director of Health and Environment Justice Support. Alexandra Caterbow is Co-Director of Health and Environment Justice Support.<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.project-syndicate.org/&source=gmail&ust=1671548582055000&usg=AOvVaw1VvG31cvAZUUkU2sBEvHWI" fr-original-style="" href="https://link.apos.to/c/Vqu4QDDMkmhc?c=_bYmC3TIyJo6RlmEm6QSR&sub=62b033905d379200061d8935&s=web" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">www.project-syndicate.org</a>

Aposto Science

Who's Ready to Fight Plastic Pollution?

The censorship law was published in the Official Gazette (Resmi Gazete) last night and entered into force. More precisely, except for some articles that will enter into force as of April 1, 2023, Article 29, which is a direct violation of freedom of thought and expression and imposes prison sentences on the owners of expressions that the government does not like, entered into force immediately.Although it is said to have been prepared in consultation with the undersecretary of the US Embassy, the statements, reactions and realities belie the claim that ‘Turkey has enacted a law that is an example for the world.’The disinformation law opened its eyes to the world with the government's disinformation.&nbsp;The US said they did not have a similar law.The United Nations condemned the law. Marta Hurtado, the spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, ‘Under international human rights law, freedom of expression is not limited to truthful information, but includes all forms of information and opinion.’The UN spokesperson emphasised that the Turkish law ‘contravenes the article on the right of the people to information’ in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe also condemned the law. In a joint statement, international press freedom organisations opposed the law, particularly on the grounds of Article 29, which violates press freedom.In Turkey, independent journalists and their organisations, as well as opposition parties, have also said that the law targets not only journalists but society as a whole.Facilitating access to informationFreedom House, a non-governmental organization defending freedom and human rights, publishes annual reports on freedoms around the world. In its 2022 report on Internet freedom, the organisation states:<blockquote fr-original-style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); border-color: rgb(37, 44, 60); border-width: 4px; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px;" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); border-color: rgb(37, 44, 60); border-width: 4px; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left-style: solid; box-sizing: border-box;">‘The fight against disinformation and propaganda depends on public access to reliable information and news from the ground. Democracies should step up efforts to develop independent online media at home and abroad with financial support, create financial models, technological support and professional development.’</blockquote>There is no need for prison sentences to prevent the public from being exposed to fake news.The only thing that needs to be done is to establish a transparent communication system to ensure that the media, and therefore the public, have access to accurate news.By calling the silencing law ‘disinformation’, the government is trying to demagogue that those who reveal the truth and criticise the government are ‘out of the loop, with a foreign name’.As if this was not enough, the Directorate of Communication has started publishing ‘disinformation’ reports every week. &nbsp;They address prosecutors.Restrictions on freedom of expression thought and the press does not only affect journalists and activists. The private sector, entrepreneurs, science, academia, and healthcare sector are also affected by this toxic environment.Bans backfire in IranIn Iran, the demonstrations that started with women's riot faced a very harsh reaction from the regime.As in previous demonstrations, the Internet was restricted again and this time access to WhatsApp and Instagram was banned.But the riot has not been extinguished.The demonstrations continue to grow.The Instagram bans also had economic consequences. There are reports that more than 450 online businesses have closed, many workers have been laid off, and 4 million people and their families are facing economic hardship.In many regions, workers, shopkeepers, and traders are now joining the women's riot.&nbsp;According to official reports, 240 people have lost their lives in Iran.But they cannot do it, they cannot suppress the voice of the people.In no period of history could the truth be covered up by pressure, persecution, imprisonment, and tyranny.Those who feared the truth lost, and those who tried to work from their dark corners were sooner or later left alone with their shame.Because the truth is free, it does not shut up when told to ‘shut up.’

Spektrum

Truth is free, it does not shut up when told to shut up

Quietening Law

• <a fr-original-style="" href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-health-economic-outlook-government-and-politics-b25de2fb0c02394d8a8f8b915314c726" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">The OECD</a> announced it expects the global economy to expand by 3% in 2022, down from December's prediction of 4.5%. The World Bank, the United Nations, and the IMF have recently made similar downgrades to their economic forecasts. The inflation estimate among OECD’s 38 members is at nearly 9%, almost double what was previously forecasted, Associated Press reported.

United Nations ile ilgili hikayeler