A protester wears a face mask picturing deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (EPA / Kimimasa Mayama)

🔒 Myanmar’s fatal deadlock. Since the military coup of February 1 brought Myanmar’s 10-year democratic hiatus to an abrupt end, each day has led the country closer to bankruptcy and civil war. More than 800 civilians have been killed and over 5,000 detained by security forces, but people continue to take to the streets in protest. Meanwhile, countries around the world are imposing stricter sanctions on the military junta and the UN has called for a total arms embargo on the regime. We ask diplomats and humanitarians what the future has in store.

Demonstrators gather in New York following the death of George Floyd, June 2020. (KEYSTONE / EPA / Justin Lane)

🇺🇳 'Stop denying racism, start dismantling it.’ In a long-awaited report into systemic racism sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called for countries to start “dismantling racism” and prosecute law enforcement officials for unlawful killings. The report found that racial profiling and the use of excessive force is entrenched in much of North America, Europe and Latin America, and investigated structural racism in jobs, healthcare, housing and education. At least 190 people have been killed by law enforcement officials over the past decade, with the majority in the US.

Image credit: EPA / Yuri Gripas / Pool

US Vice President Kamala Harris visited El Paso in Texas on Friday as the White House faced growing pressure over the escalating migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border. A record number of undocumented migrants have arrived at the border since the beginning of this year, fleeing poverty, corruption and gang violence in Latin America. Harris’ visit came amid rising concerns for the welfare of migrant children in US detention centres following reports of squalid conditions and sexual abuse.

📍29 June | Screening of A Thousand Cuts. Organised by Ciné-ONU, the screening of a documentary about investigative journalism and social media disinformation in the Philippines will be followed by a discussion with journalist Maria Ressa, the film’s main protagonist.

📍6 July | The right to seeds and intellectual property rights. After the signing of the 2018 UN declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, which recognises peasants’ right to seeds, this online conference will discuss the implications of intellectual property on the newly created right.