More than 8,500 children were used as soldiers last year in various conflicts across the world and nearly 2,700 others were killed, the United Nations said in the UN chief Antonio Guterres’ annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict covers the killing, maiming and sexual abuse of children, abduction or recruitment, denial of aid access and targeting of schools and hospitals.

 Violations had been committed against 19,379 children in 21 conflicts. Most violations in 2020 were committed in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen.

More than 8,500 children were used as soldiers in 2020, United Nations says – National | Globalnews.ca

19 percent of US households had medical debt in 2017, according to a US Census Bureau report released in April, and the median amount owed was $2,000 for those who were fully insured and $3,000 for those who were not.

9 percent of people with health insurance reported they had declared bankruptcy due to medical bills at some point, with 2 percent doing so in the last year. This equates to some 530,000 people filing for bankruptcy in the US every year.

Infant loss in the US is not uncommon: each year, more than 21,000 children die before their first birthday, and birth defects, preterm birth, maternal pregnancy complications, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and injuries such as suffocation are the main causes, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 24,000 babies are stillborn each year – dying after 20 weeks’ gestation, according to the CDC. People of colour are disproportionately affected by both tragedies – the infant mortality rate and the stillbirth rate for Black Americans is more than double that of white Americans.

In the US, there is no paid leave provision for parents following the death of a child. India has offered women who experience miscarriage or stillbirth up to six weeks of paid leave since 1961.  New Zealand had become the second country to guarantee mothers and their partners three paid days off from work after a miscarriage or stillbirth. 

The cruel financial cost of losing a child in the US | US & Canada | Al Jazeera

 Despite all those seemingly altruistic promises from the wealthier nations to donate vaccines, many nearing their expiry dates, WHO senior adviser Dr Bruce Aylward said this was nowhere near enough to protect populations from a virus still spreading worldwide.

The Covax vaccine sharing programme had delivered 90 million doses to 131 countries. Only 40 million doses have been administered so far in Africa – less than 2% of the population.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for an end to vaccine hoarding by wealthier countries as shortages come as some nations in Africa see the third wave of infections.

 Biden said he was committed to shipping 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses abroad by the end of June but fewer than 10 million doses have been shipped around the world.

  A network of centers run by Libya’s Department for Combating Illegal Immigration, or DCIM,  is supported by the European Union as a bulwark against mainly African migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

Human rights groups and U.N. agencies say abuse also takes place in the official DCIM-run facilities.

“Sexual violence and exploitation are rife in several detention centers (for migrants) across the country,” said Tarik Lamloum, a Libyan activist working with the Belaady Organization for Human Rights. 

The U.N. refugee agency has documented hundreds of cases of women raped while in either DCIM detention or traffickers’ prisons, with some even being impregnated by guards and giving birth during detention, said Vincent Cochetel, the agency’s special envoy for the Central Mediterranean. 

At least two of the girls attempted to kill themselves in late May following alleged beatings and attempted rapes, according to local rights group Libyan Crime Watch and U.N. agencies.

When Libyan security forces rescued her earlier this year, the young Somali woman thought it would be the end of her suffering. For more than two years, she had been imprisoned and sexually abused by human traffickers notorious for extorting, torturing and assaulting migrants like her trying to reach Europe. Instead, the 17-year-old said, the sexual assaults against her have continued, only now by guards atthe Shara al-Zawiya detention center,  the government-run center in the Libyan capital Tripoli where they are being kept. 

“While it is not the first time I suffer from sexual attacks, this is more painful as it was by the people who should protect us,” the 17-year-old said, speaking to The Associated Press by a smuggled mobile phone. “You have to offer something in return to go to the bathroom, to call family or to avoid beating,” she said. “It’s like we are being held by traffickers.” 

Nearly 13,000 men, women and children have been intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and returned to Libyan shores from the start of the year up to June 12, a record number. Most are then placed in DCIM-run centers. At some of the 29 DCIM-run centers around the country, rights groups have documented a lack of basic hygiene, health care, food and water as well as beatings and torture. DCIM receives support, supplies and training, including on human rights, through the EU’s 4.9 billion-euro Trust Fund for Africa.

“The guns are silent, a cease-fire is in place … but human rights violations are continuing unabated,” said Suki Nagra, representative of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Libya.

Libyan guards accused of sexually assaulting minors (apnews.com)

 Patricia Espinosa, who leads the UN on climate policy, told the Observer that progress had not been made on honouring past commitments to find $100bn (£72.5bn) a year to help developing countries invest in green technologies.

“We’re still very far away from being fully confident of having a full success at Cop26,” she said.  Espinosa expressed disappointment, saying: “Regarding finance, I’d have really hoped for a clearer signal on how and when we will be able to see the commitment to mobilise the $100bn fulfilled.”

At the G7, there was a lack of detail about precisely how much money wealthier nations would be willing to give to cut emissions and take costly steps necessary to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

“This is one condition to be able to have a good basis to have a successful Cop26,” Espinosa said. “It is essential. We cannot afford a lack of success. Cop26 should be able to give some sense of hope to the world. There isn’t much time. We are already in the second half of June.”

Rachel Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Massachusetts, and a former UN climate envoy explained, “The G7 failed to lead when it didn’t agree how to fulfil the $100bn promise. Their apparent strategy of brinkmanship is wrong-headed. Many around the world are already at the brink.” 

 Women in Istanbul took to the streets on Saturday to protest Turkish President Erdogan’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, effective July 1.  Conservatives in Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party)  claim the convention actually encourages violence by undermining Turkey’s traditional family structures. Protesters gathered on the streets of Istanbul on Saturday to voice their anger. Melek Ondas of the Women’s Council association was quoted by AFP as saying that women came from 70 provinces to the rally in Istanbul.

“We believe in the strength of our organizations. And whether the decision is overturned or not, we will continue our struggle in every way possible,” Ondas told AFP.

The convention targets violence against women and domestic violence. The convention requires signatory states to investigate allegations of violence and prosecute those responsible. Additionally, signatories agree to promote gender equality through legislation and education. Turkey was the convention’s first signatory in 2011, lending it the name of its commercial capital. Since then the convention has been signed by 45 countries, along with the European Union.

In Turkey, at least 300 women were murdered in Turkey last year. In May alone, 17 cases of confirmed femicides were reported and another 20 suspected cases were reported.

“These murders often go unpunished,” said Marc Pierini, a visiting scholar from Carnegie Europe. This is why the Istanbul Convention was such a “crucial reassurance” for Turkish women.

Turkey: Women rally ahead of rights treaty official exit | News | DW | 19.06.2021

Covid vaccines will substantially benefit a number of pharmaceutical companies.

 The global market for vaccines is worth $70bn (£50bn) this year. Pfizer and Moderna, which are charging $30-plus per person for the required two shots in Europe and the US, will take the lion’s share.

Pfizer and Moderna stand to make tens of billions of dollars from their Covid-19 vaccines this year and next, given G7 governments’ pledge to vaccinate the entire world by the end of 2022.

Pfizer predicted it would make $26bn from its jab in 2021, a third of annual revenue. This was based on orders received by mid-April, so is likely to be an underestimate. Analysts at Morgan Stanley led by David Risinger raised their estimates for Pfizer to $33bn in 2021 and $32bn in 2022, halving to $16.5bn in 2023 and $8.2bn in 2024. Barclays analyst Carter Gould predicts even higher revenues for Pfizer this year – $38bn, falling to about $17bn in 2022, $8.5bn in 2023 and $6.3bn in 2024.

Moderna expects it to generate revenue of $19.2bn, as it aims to produce 1bn doses this year, and up to 3bn doses next year. Barclays analyst Gena Wang forecast slightly higher sales of $19.6bn, falling to $12.2bn in 2022 and about $11bn in each of the following two years. Morgan Stanley analysts have pencilled in $13.5bn next year, falling to $12.5bn in 2023 and 2024.

Johnson & Johnson, which charges the US government $10 per dose for its single-jab vaccine, is likely to generate $6.6bn in revenue this year, according to calculations made by Barclays in March, followed by $1.2bn in 2022 and $383m in 2023.

For AstraZeneca, which charges between $4.30 and $10 for two doses, Barclays forecasts $5.2bn in sales in 2021, falling to $2.3bn and $475m in the next two years.

Other Covid vaccines that could bring in billions of dollars for their makers include the CoronaVac jab developed by China’s Sinovac and the Russian Sputnik V. Nasdaq-listed Sinovac has built factories capable of producing 2 billion doses a year and reported a fourfold increase in sales to $328m between October and December.

  A Novavax report of 90% efficacy after trials in the US and Mexico sent its shares soaring last week. Its chief executive, Stan Erck, talked of “the potential for several billion dollars in revenue in the next 12 months”. Barclays forecasts $7.7bn revenues for Novavax in 2021, falling to $1.8bn and $538m in the next two years.

Covid jabs for billions of humans will earn their makers billions of dollars | Pharmaceuticals industry | The Guardian

 In ‘The Black Tax: The Cost of Being Black in America’, Shawn Rochester offers a statistical breakdown of the economic figures which shed light on slavery’s legacy and the debilitating laws enacted during the grim Jim Crow era and the wealth gaps that have widened even more in recent decades.

“Around $50 trillion of economic resources and labor has not been paid to Black people since slavery…”

By the end of 2020, the homeownership rate for Black families stood around 44%, compared with 75% for white families.

A typical middle-class Black household a wealth amount of approximately $13,024 compared to a staggering average of $149,703.

In 1968, a typical middle-class black household had $6,674 in wealth compared with $70,786 for the typical middle-class white household, according to data adjusted for inflation. 

In 2016, the typical middle-class black household had $13,024 in wealth versus $149,703 for the median white household, an even larger gap in percentage terms.

Black households had $8,762 in cash or equivalent liquid assets, compared with $49,529 for white households in 2016.

The real reason why Juneteenth is a point of contention for the GOP – Alternet.org