XUNICEF News and Views

UNICEF owes much gratitude to Valerie Harper for her role in promoting its mission of child survival and human development, including her role in mobilizing public and political support for the historic World Summit for Children in 1990 that paved the way for the UN's Millennium Development Goals and SDGs.  We at RESULTS.org are proud of her role as our longstanding Board member. As Chair of RESULTS Board, I join the entire RESULTS family in offering our best wishes for her recovery as she fights valiantly for her life.  https://www.sun-sentinel.com/ opinion/commentary/fl-op-com- valerie-harper-20190731- wimcbs44xndetmne4lbwxf3sqy- story.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/opinions/valerie-harper-hospice-care-drexler/index.html

"It lets you look up statistics on a country-by-country level or by region, through searches, or by checking out a list of topics, such as individual diseases, essential medications and health financing. One of the GHO’s most insightful tools is its Health Equity Monitor, an interactive graph that showcases inequalities across and between countries for different maternal, newborn and child health interventions. For example, you can use the tool to show differences between how women’s family planning needs are met at various educational levels. Thirty-seven percent of women with no education have their family planning needs met through modern methods, while 53 percent of women with a secondary education do. It lets you look up statistics on a country-by-country level or by region, through searches, or by checking out a list of topics, such as individual diseases, essential medications and health financing. One of the GHO’s most insightful tools is its Health Equity Monitor, an inte

There is a good possibility that the Chair of the Foundation will address the Reunion group at the welcome dinner at Radisson Blu, Yerevan on 14 September and I am in the process of working out details. Tanja Radocaj, our UNICEF Representative in Yerevan will also attend and make a presentation on the Country Program of Cooperation. I shall keep you updated once I return to Armenia next month. Warm regards  Gautam  https://auroraprize.com/en/ https://www.facebook.com/1150981888394124/posts/1275556959269949?s=536295295&v=e&sfns=mo

From:  Executive Director Sent:  19 July 2019 16:48 Subject:  Activation of UNICEF’s Corporate Emergency Activation Scale-Up Procedure for Ebola +, Level 3 for the Democratic Republic of Congo and Level 2 for Uganda, South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda, from 19 July until 18 October 2019 Dear Colleagues, With the first imported case in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and recent cases in Uganda, we are at a pivotal juncture in the Ebola response. One year since the Ebola outbreak was declared in northeast DRC on 1 August 2018, 2,512 people have been infected with the disease and more than 1,676 have died. Nearly 30 per cent of cases are children, which is a larger proportion than reported in previous outbreaks of Ebola. This is the country’s tenth and worst Ebola outbreak, the second deadliest outbreak globally on record, and the first in an active conflict zone. The recent importation of cases into Uganda is a stark reminder that the risk of spread to neighboring countries

From:  Executive Director Sent:  25 July 2019 17:34 Subject:  Appointment of DED Field Results and Innovation Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce that the United Nations  Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed  Mr. Fayaz King of Zimbabwe as Assistant Secretary-General to serve as the Deputy Executive Director, Field Results and Innovation, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Fayaz recently served as the Chief Operating Officer at Econet where he was influential in digitally transforming the company. He served on the Boards of Liquid Telecom Zimbabwe, Econet Burundi and Econet Lesotho. He brings to the position over 30 years of experience in innovation, business development, organizational & digital transformation. Prior to heading Econet, Fayaz served as Managing Director at Bharti Airtel International and Celtel International. He has worked in Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Fayaz has prioritized humanitarian work in the aftermath of cy

"Children did not start the war in Yemen, but they are paying the highest price. Throughout the reporting period, children in Yemen suffered the consequences of being exposed to a horrific war. All parties to the conflict have obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law to protect children. Yet, children were exposed to brutal violence in their homes, in schools, in hospitals, at community events and in playgrounds – all of which are places where they should be afforded protection. The United Nations verified 11,779 grave violations against children in Yemen during the reporting period" Read or download the report here: https://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2019/453&Lang=E&Area=UNDOC

Reuters " A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition fighting in Yemen killed or injured 729 children during 2018, accounting for nearly half the total child casualties..."  " The U.N. report said the Houthis killed and injured 398 children and Yemeni government forces were responsible for 58 child casualties." Haeretz ".. 59 Palestinian children had been killed - 56 by Israeli forces - and another 2,756 injured, while six Israeli children were injured. The report found Israeli forces injured some 2,674 children "in the context of demonstrations, clashes and search and arrest operations." " "In Afghanistan, the number of child casualties remained the highest such number in the present report (3,062) and children accounted for 28 per cent of all civilian casualties. In the Syrian Arab Republic, air strikes, barrel bombs and cluster munitions resulted in 1,854 child casualties," the report said. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/year-saud

" Turkey, like many Western countries, has been slow to take back citizens who ran off to join the Islamic State as it extended its violent rule across Syria and Iraq starting in 2014. Now that the movement has lost its territory in Syria and Iraq and thousands of fighters and their families have been captured or dispersed, there are growing fears that the remnants could bring terrorism home with them. More than 12,000 foreign women and children are detained in Syria and Iraq . This poses a difficult quandary for their home countries, most of which have refused to repatriate their citizens." https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/world/middleeast/turkey-children-isis.html

"Andrew Bremberg’s Extreme Views on Women’s Rights Contrary to Human Rights Law" "Bremberg has made clear that he does not support reproductive rights even in instances of rape, when a pregnancy can be especially traumatic,” said Amanda Klasing , acting women’s rights co-director at Human Rights Watch. “The Senate should not send to the United Nations someone holding the dangerous view that women’s rights can be slashed away from fundamental human rights.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/24/us-senate-oppose-nominee-un-mission-geneva

   " The Sustainable Development Goals are in trouble. United Nations officials are concerned and say so publicly. Secretary-General António Guterres  joined in raising an alarm in mid-July when he introduced the most recent official   UN report . “It is abundantly clear that a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response is needed to unleash the social and economic transformation  needed to achieve our 2030 goals,” he wrote. Separately, a mammoth, 478-page  study  by independent experts drove the message home with extensive data to illustrate the crisis." " At UN headquarters, one controversial and much-debated response to the crisis has been to team up in a “strategic partnership” with the   World Economic Forum.   This institution, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a German economist and engineer, is best known for its annual star-studded, invitation-only get-togethers in Davos, a Swiss mountain resort, which attracts government officials, business leaders and celeb

UNICEF delivers cash ‘lifelines’ to millions of desperate Yemeni families The UN children’s Fund,  UNICEF , has made  unconditional cash payments  to nearly nine million Yemenis to meet their urgent needs, as the conflict in the country enters its fifth year. Vulnerable families reached by the Emergency Cash Transfer Project, receive the equivalent of around $30, helping them to cover basics such as food, health supplies, and education costs. UNICEF has run the cash program since 2017, to support the poorest Yemeni families, whose situation has been made worse by the ongoing conflict. In a statement released on Wednesday, UNICEF warned that the needs of Yemenis are “enormous”, and that much more needs to be done to alleviate the suffering of children, starting with an end to the war. https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/07/1043171

LEER, South Sudan, 24 July 2019  - Yesterday, 32 children were released from armed opposition groups in Leer county, in northern South Sudan. This is the first formal release in former Unity State, one of the areas hardest hit by the conflict. The children are all boys aged between 13 and 17.   The children were formally separated from the armed group during a ceremony in Leer, witnessed by parents and community members. Some of the children have been used by the armed groups since the conflict flared up in 2016 and have not seen their parents since.   “Using children in armed groups violates almost every child right that exists,” said UNICEF South Sudan representative Mohamed Ag Ayoya. “These children are deprived of a childhood and have seen things children should never experience. However, it is not too late to give them a future and that future started today.”  After the formal release, the children are enrolled in a three-year-long UNICEF supported reintegration programme. They ar

Karin Sham Poo paved the way for women in senior leadership positions in both the banking sector and UNICEF. She was the first woman to achieve a managerial position at the Christiania Bank in 1970 – and ultimately served as the banks Senior Vice President from 1982 to 1985. She was recruited to UNICEF in 1985 to serve as the comptroller or finance director and in 1987 was promoted to Deputy Executive Director at the Assistant Secretary General level where she served until 2004 when she retired. After retirement she served as Interim Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict at the Under Secretary General level in 2005 and later as UNICEF special Envoy to the Caribbean on a part time basis from 2005-2010. She speaks to us about what it was like to be the first woman at a director level in UNICEF, her experiences working with the legendary Jim Grant, the importance of multilateral cooperation, the qualities of a good leader, and much

Revving The Innovation Engine Maryanne Murray Buechner  Brand Contributor UNICEF USA BRANDVOICE   | Paid Program A new Sprint Support program backed by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has UNICEF working with startup companies in a whole different way, to help their cutting-edge ideas blossom — and, in time, boost results for children. The focus for this first initiative: improving immunization. A baby is vaccinated at a UNICEF-supported health clinic in Brazzaville, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  © UNICEF/UN0283266/DEJONGH In February, 9-year-old Maryana received her first dose of the measles vaccine. She was one of many children to benefit from a  three-week campaign to immunize school-age children in the Lviv region of Ukraine, where coverage had dangerously lapsed , putting tens of thousands of kids at risk. Maryana, 9, from the Lviv region of Ukraine, receiving her measles vaccine during a recent immunization campaign supported by UNICEF.  © UNICEF/UN0284080/DYAC