CNS: February 2021

Comic Launch: Corporate Capture of the UN

click here to register for the event

join us on Zoom
Zoom meeting ID: 896 8418 8083, passcode: 872963

As part of the South Asian Solidarity Forum for Federal Democracy in Myanmar, this week on Friday, 26th February 2021, the third session will focus on the theme: "Sri Lankan groups express solidarity with people of Burma and call for federal democracy in Myanmar."

Are we failing children in the HIV response?

Shobha Shukla - CNS

The promise was that by 2020, no child will be born with HIV or newly infected with HIV during breastfeeding across the world. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to health systems, the progress towards the HIV-related 2020 goalpost, despite some commendable gains, was not very encouraging.

'Have a seat but shut up please': Whither equality?

Shobha Shukla - CNS

'Dumb dolls' may soon be adorning board meetings of Japan's ruling party. As per a news report, in response to criticisms that its board is dominated by men, Japan's ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has condescended to allow 5 female lawmakers to join its board meetings provided they keep their mouths shut and do not talk during the meetings. Their status will be that of observers to see how decisions were being made. They would not be able to speak during the meetings, but could submit their opinions later to the secretariat office. According to the party's 82-year-old secretary general, this move would allow more female LDP members to see how decisions were being made.

United Against the Burma Army: Ethnic Nationalities Call for Federalism

As part of the South Asian Solidarity Forum for Federal Democracy in Myanmar, this week on Friday, 19th February 2021, the session will focus on the theme: "United Against the Burma Army: Ethnic Nationalities Call for Federalism."

Among the first responders in times of emergencies or crises is often expected to be the police. This was no different when Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to a grinding halt. The public health emergency arising due to the pandemic, as well as cascading humanitarian crises in several countries and communities, only made the job of the police even more challenging.

Maximum travel speed of 30 km/hour: Are we walking-the-talk on road safety?

[हिंदी] Not just motorised vehicle riders but every person has a human right for safe commuting. But over 50 million people get injured and 1.35 million die every year due to road traffic crashes worldwide. More alarming is the fact that 90 per cent of these injuries and deaths occur in developing countries. Road traffic crashes are also the leading cause of death around the world for children and young people between 15 and 29 years of age. Over-speeding is identified as a major cause of almost 70% of these road traffic crashes in countries like India.

Growing call for federal democracy in Myanmar

Constanze Ruprecht and Bobby Ramakant

[हिंदी, watch the recording, endorse the joint statement condemning the Coup d'état in Burma] Growing number of civil society networks for peace, health and human rights from around the world are unifying their call for federal democracy in Myanmar. In a joint statement condemning the Coup d'état in Burma (after an online South Asia Solidarity Forum for federal democracy in Myanmar), over a hundred of these individuals, groups and networks from South Asia and other parts of the world united in solidarity with the people of Burma to strongly denounce the military coup d'état on 1 February 2021.

[video] South Asia solidarity forum for federal democracy in Myanmar

[video] #RailRoko, farmers' movement and Chauri Chaura: Dr Sandeep Pandey's viewpoint

[video] Connect the dots: Farmers' movement, Greta's call for climate justice and Uttarakhand disaster

South Asia solidarity forum for federal democracy in Myanmar

watch recording on YouTube, Facebook

South Asia solidarity forum for federal democracy in Myanmar will be organized on 10th February, 2021, Wednesday (6pm India/ Sri Lanka, 5:30pm Pakistan, 6:15pm Nepal, 6:30pm Bangladesh, 7pm Myanmar, 7:30pm Thailand).

[video] Growing strength of farmers' movement gives hope for stronger democracy

HIV science has advanced but policies-programmes have been slow to #endAIDS

Shobha Shukla - CNS

[watch the interview with Mitchell Warren] HIV science has advanced but policies and programmes have been slow to respond towards ending AIDS, said Mitchell Warren, co-chair of the global conference on HIV Research for Prevention (HIVR4P) and Executive Director of AVAC (Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention).

[हिंदी] India along with 193 countries had promised to halve deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 2020 (as part of UN Sustainable Development Goals). But we have failed to keep this promise as the year 2020 passed by. In 2015, number of road traffic accident deaths in India were 146,133. In 2019, instead of declining (by half), the number of people who died in road traffic accidents had increased to 154,000 in India. Moreover, a lot more people were injured or left with disabilities. More shockingly, most of these accidents were due to over-speeding (almost 60%). It is high time we recognize the writing on the wall: every single injury or death due to road traffic accident is preventable and untimely, and could have been averted.

Expanding range of options to prevent HIV is key as no one size fits all

Shobha Shukla - CNS

While the currently available HIV prevention and treatment tools have helped reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 23% and 39% respectively since 2010, we still have a long way to go before ending this epidemic. With 1.7 million new HIV infections and 690,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2019, one cannot but over emphasise the urgent need to have more HIV prevention options, including long-acting HIV prevention strategies that might prove to be more acceptable and user friendly to people from diverse communities.