The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging governments to increase tobacco subsidies and to produce more sustainable crops that could feed millions of people.
“Tobacco causes 800 million deaths a year, but governments around the world spend millions to support tobacco plantations,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the UN agency.
More than three hundred million people around the world are acutely food insecure, since more than three million hectares of land in more than 120 countries tend to grow the deadly plant, tobacco, even in countries where it is consumed by famine.
The new WHO report, titled Grow Food, Not Tobacco, also accuses the tobacco industry of trapping farmers in a vicious cycle of debt, promoting the crop by increasing economic benefits, and lobbying through frontline agricultural groups.
It is estimated that tobacco disease is growing in farmers themselves exposed to chemical pesticides, smoke and as much nicotine as 50 cigarettes, because more than a million children work in tobacco plantations, depriving them of the opportunity to go to school.
Tobacco culture is a problem that, until now, is located in Asia and South America, but the most recent data shows the expansion of tobacco companies towards Africa. Since 2005, the volume of land devoted to tobacco cultivation has increased by almost 20% across Africa.
WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program support the Tobacco Free Farms initiative, which will help more than 5,000 farmers in Kenya and Zambia to grow sustainable food for tobacco.
Only 10% of schools and universities have training in artificial intelligence
A new global survey by UNESCO of more than 450 schools and universities has revealed that less than 10% have developed institutional policies or formal policies around applications for the use of artificial intelligence.
UNESCO held the first meeting of Ministers of Education on Thursday to explore the immediate and distant opportunities, challenges and dangers, to explore the immediate and distant powerful tools. More than 40 ministers shared their views and political plans.
“First of all, we need to ensure that new AI technologies are integrated into education in our borders. Our duty is to prioritize safety, inclusion, diversity, transparency and quality,” said Stefania Giannini, Deputy Director General of Education at UNESCO.
The organization promotes guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in education and research, as well as the competence structure of students and teachers. These guidelines will be presented at the Digital Week, which will take place at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris from 4 to 7 September 2023.
The verdict on the murder of a journalist in Mexico
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico condemns the murder of journalist Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernández, committed on May 23, 2023, in Tehuacán, Puebla, and calls on the authorities to investigate.
The journalist was attacked by armed men at about 1:45 am when he was inside his vehicle near his house.
Ramírez has worked for more than 30 years as a journalist and correspondent for different media in the Tehuacán area. Now he collaborated in the radio program “Estereo Luz FM”, in which he explained various aspects of public life in Puebla, alleging human rights violations and irregularities in the exercise of public office.
So far in 2023, at least two other Mexican journalists have been killed. During 2022, the human rights office documented 14 deaths of journalists and media activists.
UN aid has brought more than five million Ukrainians
And in Ukraine, the fighting does not stop and the population has an impact on the communities of the eastern and southern regions.
“The progress of the war is taking a heavy toll on civilians living near the front lines, who cannot return to their homes, and who live across the country are under almost daily threats of attack,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
UN aid has helped more than 5.4 million people, but supplies remain difficult for villages and towns near the borders.
“Aid to areas under Russian military control remains very limited. This year, due to the increased security situation and changes in the front lines, humanitarian partners have lost access to nearly 60,000 people in some 40 cities and towns near the frontline fortifications in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions.” said an OCHA spokesperson. Jens Laerke.
