XUNICEF News and Views

Sorry - We have no feature article this week - Are the  lazy hazy days of summer already here?   - it is still spring in the northern hemisphere, and yet the number of articles we receive from members has already dropped sharply.  In addition, we have totally exhausted our stock of feature articles.   We need your articles, photos, and comments  - else your editors will be tempted to go off and enjoy our own holidays.  

  Neill McKee  commented on  " Interview With Yuiry Dzhygyr, Deputy Minister of Defense, Ukraine and former UNICEF Consultant on Child Protection : Nuzhat Shahzadi " 20 hours ago This is a great interview and I wish it could be disseminated even more widely than this blog. It gives me hope that such people are behind decision-making in Ukraine.

"The escalation of hostilities in Rafah and throughout the Gaza Strip has deepened the suffering of hundreds of thousands of children, who have endured an unrelenting nightmare for the past 218 days. We cannot accept their plight being livestreamed as collateral damage in a conflict they never chose.

Article shared by Tom McDermott "Trapped volunteers call on the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Israel, as the closure of the Rafah border crossing cuts the flow of food and medical supplies." Click here for the article in the Washington Post Excerpts: “Think of the injuries that you see in war, with blood everywhere, with shrapnel that’s supposed to kill soldiers and military personnel and take out tanks and bunkers,” Hamawy said. “Now think about that going through a child’s body.” "Hamawy thinks the decision to halt arms shipments to Israel would be far less fraught if American leaders saw with their own eyes what he has witnessed for more than two weeks. Hamawy said the devastation he has seen undermines any claim by Israel that its attacks on Rafah are in “self-defense.” "Hamawy said he saw a 1-year-old girl with burns across 40 percent of her body, while her 3-year-old brother had burns across his arms, legs and chest; two other siblings with less severe wound

Article shared by Tom McDermott

 Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Robert Cohen

Going through my old records from when I worked for UNICEF as a professional – and even afterwards when I did periodic consultancies for the organisation – which they preferred as it saved them a lot of money, I felt it sometimes useful to create newsletters as a means of keeping people in the sector updated. Well, that was the theory anyway.

Article shared by Baquer Namazi

A new vaccine for dengue received prequalification from the World Health Organization (WHO) on 10 May 2024. TAK-003 is the second dengue vaccine to be prequalified by WHO. Developed by Takeda, it is a live-attenuated vaccine containing weakened versions of the four serotypes of the virus that cause dengue.  

Video shared by Baquer Namazi

Israeli Ambassador shreds copy of the UN charter Article shared by Kul Gautam

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol

The Fabian Society is considered to be the first known Think Tank established in January 1884 to promote socialism in Britain. Some of the best-known British authors who contributed to the works of Fabian Society include George Bernard Shaw, Graham Walls, Sydney Oliver, Sidney Webb and Annie Besant with a view to transforming British society through a non-violent political participation. Some members also favoured rapid decolonisation however there was no unanimity on this idea. Fabian Society also helped in the creation of the Labour Party in 1900.

Article shared by Tom McDermott

MOH Gaza Spokesperson says confusion results from Gaza health ministry’s new way of classifying those not yet fully identified.  A flurry of criticism over the UN's publication of statistics from Gaza's ministry of health then appeared on pro-Israel media, claiming UN pro-Hamas bias.

Dear UNRWA friends,

Article shared by Jim Mohan

Editor's Note: UPGI has taken the initiative to invite the representative of CIGNA in India to their annual general meeting.  They have also invited UPGI members not able to attend the meeting to submit questions in advance.  This initiative is very welcome and could perhaps serve as a model for XUNICEF groups in other countries where CIGNA is represented.   

Editor's Note:  Back in January John Gilmartin sent this message and the attached copy of Newton Bowles address to the Group of 78.  For some unknown reason, we did not post it on the blog at the time. However, it is an important part of our UNICEF history and is worth reading or re-reading now.

Angela Bettoni, a young performer with Down's Syndrome, is a strong advocate for inclusion in the performing arts. She took part in the Welcome Dinner of the XUNICEF REUNION. Margherita Amodeo

Photos shared by members on Toronto and Malta Reunion Whatsapp channels.  Do you have photos of the lovely skies these nights?  Please share.

“Impossibly, again, it will worsen if humanitarian operations are not revived in the next 48 hours,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Senior Emergency Coordinator in the Gaza Strip, Hamish Young."

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Malta Reunion reports -  Margherita Amodeo has written and shared the final report of the 2024 Reunion - 'The Malta Odyssey XUNICEF Reunion' .  Augustine Veliath has shared a detailed travelog on the sites the participants visited and their historical and cultural backgrounds - 'The historical sites and culture of Malta' . India - UPGI has shared the latest edition of LINK. UNICEF India @ 75  - India's staff association have invited UPGI members to participate in the 75th Anniversary of UNICEF in India on May 10th.    Congratulations  to all our colleagues in India and to everyone who has worked for UNICEF in India over the years!  GSA - The initiative by the India staff association serves as a good first step towards strengthening links between former staff and current staff.  The next step should come with Staff Association Week in late June. GSA is asking all country staff associations to include former staff living in their country to participate in their a

Sree  commented on  " XUNICEF Reunion in Malta – the historical sites and culture of Malta by Augustine Veliath " 6 hours ago What an amazing report- thank you Auggie for filling in the details that we had maybe missed when visiting the sites- you made our Malta experience complete and now waiting to see your photos taken with your fancy device . As always, your report is so reader friendly and upbeat. Thanks again Sree     Jenita  commented on  " Affairs of the Heart . . . And the Naked German Man! : Nuzhat Shahzadi " 2 days ago That was a quirky and culturally insightful read :)    Moncef Bouhafa  commented on  " Gaza - Catherine Russell - This Nightmare Must End / Over 10,000 may be buried under the rubble : UN News / Twitter " May 7, 2024 Tragic - and the XUNICEF community has been collectively silent for the past 7 months.    Unknown  commented on  " Ex-UNICEF Rwanda Reunion 15-19 April 2024, Lisbon: Steven Allen " May 7, 2024 Good