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Pak activist Asma Jahangir honoured with top UN human rights award

Agencies
December 20, 2018

United Nations, Dec 20: Pakistan's renowned social activist Asma Jahangir was posthumously honoured by the UN with a prestigious human rights award.

Jahangir, an outspoken critic of Pakistan's powerful military establishment, fought against religious extremism and for the rights of oppressed minorities in Pakistan. She died of cardiac arrest at the age of 66 in February.

She was honoured with the 2018 United Nations Human Rights Prize, an award given every five years since 1968.

Jahangir's daughter Munizae Jahangir received the award on her behalf from President of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa at a special ceremony here Tuesday.

Among others who won the award include girls' education rights activist Rebeca Gyumi of Tanzania, Brazil's first indigenous woman lawyer Joenia Batista de Carvalho and Front Line Defenders from Ireland, working to protect human rights defenders at risk.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the work of the honourees and that of other human rights defenders around the world is essential for the collective efforts to sustain peace and ensure inclusive sustainable development and respect for human rights for all.

"Often their work is dangerous. We regularly hear of abuses against human rights defenders — murder, disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment and other attempts to silence them.

"Yet, these courageous individuals and groups remain committed to shining a light on the dark corners of the globe, wherever human rights violations occur," he said in his remarks to the General Assembly's United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights award ceremony.

The event commemorated the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, marked annually on December 10.

Guterres said human rights defenders give voice to the voiceless and shield the powerless against injustice.

"They stand for all rights — economic, civil, political, social and cultural. They support the rule of law or work peacefully to change laws so women and girls, indigenous communities, minorities and other marginalised groups may exercise their rights," he said.

Guterres said they they work to empower people through education, and help to protect other human rights defenders from harassment, intimidation or arrest.

As part of the UN's activities in observance of Human Rights Day, which coincided with the Declaration's anniversary, the champions in the field from across the world, convened at the General Assembly Hall to be recognised for their outstanding contributions.

Every five years, the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights is awarded to organisations and individuals which embody excellent activism in defending human rights.

The four winners join a notable group who have been recognised since the Prize was established by the General Assembly in 1966, including prominent figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, Malala Yusafzai and this year's Nobel Peace Prize winners, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, as well as organisations such as the Amnesty International and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Espinosa said it was one of the most important contributions that the world body has made to mankind, reflecting the collective aspirations of an international order founded on human dignity and with a view to making the world a better place.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said upholding all people's human rights is the only possible path to peace.

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Agencies
May 30,2020

Washington, May 30: US President Donald Trump on Friday said that America is terminating its relationship with the World Health Organization as he blamed it and China for the deaths and destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe.

Stating that the funding of the WHO would now be diverted to other global public health organisations, Trump announced a series of decisions against China including issuing proclamation to deny entry to certain Chinese nationals and tightening of regulations against Chinese investments in America.

"Because they (WHO) have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs, Trump said.

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Agencies
July 29,2020

If everything goes as Russia’s expectation, it will be world’s first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread in the second week of August despite safety and efficacy concerns, according to a report. The adenoviral vector-based vaccine developed by Russian military and government researchers is currently in phase 2 trials.

According to a report from CNN, Russian officials are hoping to get approval for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute on Agust 10 or even before that. The officials told the outlet that the vaccine will be approved for public use with frontline healthcare workers receiving it first.

“It’s a Sputnik moment,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing Russian vaccine research, referring to the successful 1957 launch of the world’s first satellite by the Soviet Union, according to CNN.

“Americans were surprised when they heard Sputnik’s beeping. It’s the same with this vaccine. Russia will have got there first,” he was quoted as saying.

However, Russia is yet to release the scientific data on its coronavirus vaccine trials, hence, questions remain about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, said the report. The vaccine is in the second phase of testing with developers planning to launch the phase 3 trials sometime after August 3.

Earlier, Interfax reported, citing Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, that the vaccine will be widely used in parallel with phase 3 trials. He said the country plans to vaccinate medics who are at high-risk for COVID-19 next month before clinical trials are completed.

Murashko added that individuals at higher risk of getting infected with the coronavirus such as older people or those with health conditions will also be prioritised for the vaccine, although he did not estimate or reveal when that would happen. The minister added 800 people will be recruited for the phase 3 trials.

Meanwhile, health officials were more cautious considering the fact that human testing of the vaccine is incomplete, and the state registration is expected to begin after August 3, reported The Moscow Times.

On Monday, Moderna and Pfizer announced the commencement of the final phase 3 trials of their candidate vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has so far claimed at least 654,477 lives and infected 16,514,500 people worldwide. 

Researchers will recruit up to 30,000 volunteers in separate trials both backed by the US government. India's first indigenous coronavirus vaccine, COVAXIN, is undergoing phase 1 human clinical trials across the country. More than 150 COVID-19 vaccines are being developed all over the world with at least six candidates already in late-stage clinical trials.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Jun 9: The World Health Organization says it still believes the spread of the coronavirus from people without symptoms is “rare,” despite warnings from numerous experts worldwide that such transmission is more frequent and likely explains why the pandemic has been so hard to contain.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO''s technical lead on COVID-19 said at a press briefing on Monday that many countries are reporting cases of spread from people who are asymptomatic, or those with no clinical symptoms.

But when questioned in more detail about these cases, Van Kerkhove said many of them turn out to have mild disease, or unusual symptoms.

Although health officials in countries including Britain, the U.S. and elsewhere have warned that COVID-19 is spreading from people without symptoms, WHO has maintained that this type of spread is not a driver of the pandemic and is probably accounts for about 6 per cent of spread, at most.

Numerous studies have suggested that the virus is spreading from people without symptoms, but many of those are either anecdotal reports or based on modeling.

Van Kerkhove said that based on data from countries, when people with no symptoms of COVID-19 are tracked over a long period to see if they spread the disease, there are very few cases of spread.

“We are constantly looking at this data and we''re trying to get more information from countries to truly answer this question,” she said. “It still appears to be rare that asymptomatic individuals actually transmit onward.”

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