Dear future children, 'a film about young activists made by young filmmakers' by Michelle Langrand for Geneva Solutions 3/7/21
Film still of Rayen, one of the protagonists of Dear Future Children.
In another scene, we see Rayen blankly staring at flyers of the fallen victims of Chile’s 2019 protests. “I don’t want to be the next one on this wall”, she says. The camera later on is pointed at Pepper as she crouches down with other protesters hiding behind their umbrellas as shots are heard in the distance in the streets of Hong Kong.
The German—British—Austrian documentary Dear Future Children depicts the hopes and dreams, but also the fears and doubts of three female activists, fighting to change the world.
The director, Franz Böhm, was only 13 years old when he started making films. From the first day he walked on a set, he knew that he wanted “to shape the film industry with the values of my generation”. As his latest film makes its international premiere at the International Film Festival and Forum of Human Rights (FIFDH) this Friday, he tells us about a generation that wants a seat at the table.
'Why we in Panama stand ready to lead global efforts on ocean conservation' by Milciades Concepción, 2/20/2021
Milciades Concepción is the minister of the environment for Panama
In Panama, we can describe firsthand the concrete impact of a warming climate and rising sea levels. Escalating global temperatures are raising the risk of islands and our coast being lost to the sea. As temperatures and emissions have increased, so too have ocean acidification, saltwater intrusion, coastal erosion and sea levels, causing cascading consequences for Panama's resource‐rich marine coastlines.
For many years, climate change was seen as a theoretical, distant problem with vague consequences. Even as experts painted a doomsday picture of a future half a century away, societies failed to find the urgency and common will to respond, getting increasingly comfortable with inaction.
Jamaica Tourism Minister calls for fair and united approach needed in global distribution of vaccines by Linda Hohnholz for eTN, 2/28/21
Photo Credit: Author Provided
While welcoming the roll–out of COVID–19 vaccines globally, Minister Bartlett lamented that “there is great disparity in the global distribution of vaccines. The picture that is emerging is that advanced countries appear to be largely rejecting a united approach in favor of reinforcing inequalities on the basis of national citizenship.”
Minister Bartlett emphasized that “while the US and mostly other wealthy nations have begun to intensely vaccinate their citizens against COVID–19, generally, developing countries, home to billions of people, have yet to even receive vaccine supplies. In fact, nearly 130 countries had not yet delivered a single dose of vaccine to their combined population of 2.5 billion people. The current inequitable distribution of vaccines also means a greater risk of mutations that defy existing vaccines.”
He maintains that the implications of this approach are dire. The Minister explained that with more than 45 million confirmed cases and more than one million deaths, countries and territories throughout the Americas, particularly the poorest among them, are experiencing an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis.
“Tourism-dependent economies have lost 12 % of their GDP compared to global economic contraction of 4.4 %. Tourism export revenues were down globally between US$ 910 billion to US$ 1.2 trillion in 2020. Between 100 and 120 million jobs in travel and tourism were sacrificed in 2020,” Bartlett added.
Independent UN rights expert calls for unilateral sanctions to be dropped against Venezuela by UN News, 2/14/21
Photo Credit: UNICEF/Santiago Arcos
First imposed against Venezuela in 2005, sanctions have been severely strengthened since 2015, with the harshest levied by the United States. Ms. Douhan stressed that unilateral measures are only legal if they are authorized by the Security Council, used as countermeasures, or do not breach any obligation of States and do not violate fundamental human rights.
She also pointed out that “humanitarian exemptions are lengthy, costly, ineffective and inefficient”.
Lack of electricity, water, fuel, food and medicine along with the departure of qualified workers ‐ many of whom have left the country for better economic opportunities ‐ are having ”enormous impact over all categories of human rights, including the rights to life, to food, to health and to development“, the UN expert highlighted.
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