XUNICEF News and Views

Sharing a recent interview at World Forum Early Childhood Conference in China 2019.  Please I do not know how to share it with all ex unicefers list. Feel free to share it. Happy New Year Martha https://youtu.be/-QJSLkTDxVY

Credit: RFA “ As many as a million ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs and others have been sent to internment camps and prisons in Xinjiang over the past three years, an indiscriminate clampdown aimed at weakening the population’s devotion to Islam. Even as these mass detentions have provoked global outrage, though, the Chinese government is pressing ahead with a parallel effort targeting the region’s children. Nearly a half million children have been separated from their families and placed in boarding schools so far, according to a planning document published on a government website, and the ruling Communist Party has set a goal of operating one to two such schools in each of Xinjiang’s 800-plus townships by the end of next year. The long-term strategy is to conquer, to captivate, to win over the young generation from the beginning,” said Adrian Zenz, a researcher at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington who has studied Chinese policies that break up Uighur families".

Here is something I thought would be of interest to our group (for next issue of XUNICEF News).  Best wishes for the New Year. Ramesh  --------------------- We have coalition of the willing We have like minded group But we do not have a coalition for Peace The attached from The Foreign Affairs from October 1948 could be a good start for the New Year as we enter 2020 to celebrate 75 years of the United Nations.  Wishing you all the best for 2020

Click here or see below

Proportion of World's Population Living in Extreme Poverty 1981 42%  2015 10 % The inimitable Nick Kristoff offers some elixir for optimism for the new year and the new decade.   As we exit a seemingly depressing 2019 - tired of Trump, Brexit-Boris, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Rohingya genocide, Syria-Yemen catastrophes, Modi-mania, Xinjiang atrocities, the spectre of Ebola, climate crisis and rising inequality in the world, the inimitable Nick Kristoff offers some elixir for optimism for the new year and the new decade.   In his widely circulated Newsletter, it is gratifying to note of recognition of Sir Fazle Abed of BRAC who passed away last week and Jim Grant of UNICEF who passed away 25 years ago as among the greatest pioneers of human progress in our times. I feel blessed to have had Abed and Grant as my mentors - along with so many others - whom I remember with great gratitude.  Read article below or  click here  for the NY Times article. Opinion | This Has Been the Best

Shahidul Alam is an acclaimed photographer from Bangladesh who often worked with and for UNICEF during the 1990's. " There is a wall in our flat with pictures of friends of ours who have disappeared or been killed,” said Mr. Alam, 64, who was visiting New York from Dhaka recently for the opening of “Truth to Power,” his first retrospective in the United States, at the   Rubin Museum of Art , through May 4. “Every so often we add a picture.” But how does a photographer portray people who have disappeared with hardly a trace? That question, which Mr. Alam addresses creatively in works in this show, ratcheted up to a frightening level last year, when he was arrested and jailed after criticizing the government’s violent response to student demonstrations. “I’ve been photographing the missing and now even the camera was missing,” he said." Read full article in the NY Times

On écrit sur les murs le nom de ceux qu'on aime Des messages pour les jours à venir On écrit sur les murs à l'encre de nos veines On dessine tout ce que l'on voudrait dire Partout autour de nous Y'a des signes d'espoir dans les regards Donnons leurs écrits car dans la nuit tout s'efface Même leur trace On écrit sur les murs le nom de ceux qu'on aime Des messages pour les jours à venir On écrit sur les murs à l'encre de nos veines On dessine tout ce que l'on voudrait dire On écrit sur les murs la force de nos rêves Nos espoirs en forme de graffiti On écrit sur les murs pour que l'amour se lève Un beau jour sur le monde endormi Des mots seulement gravés pour ne pas oublier, pour tout changer Mélangeons demain dans un refrain nos visages Métissages On écrit sur les murs le nom de ceux qu'on aime Des messages pour les jours à venir On écrit sur les murs à l'encre de nos veines On dessine tout ce que l'on voudrait dire On écrit sur les mur

Cela plus d'un an que Hussaini n'a pas mis les pieds dans une salle de classe à cause des violences au Burkina Faso. Grâce à une approche innovante, il peut continuer à apprendre. pic.twitter.com/8jV4TVIyOa — UNICEF (FR) (@UNICEF_FR) December 25, 2019

This year's feature presentation was Les Enfants du Rivage And here is a playlist of 13 short films you may enjoy.

Happy Holidays. I hope your day is filled with joy! pic.twitter.com/0QPdKefE38 — Henrietta H. Fore (@unicefchief) December 25, 2019

Credit: WISE Here is what I hope is an honest, personal recount of my relationship with Abed Bhai– the circumstances we lived in and how he inspired me. I cried a lot while drafting it. There was much more but already it's long enough. He was a father figure in my life, for sure. Warm wishes, Nuzhat Our Abed Bhai Up Close and Personal with Sir Fazle Hasan Abed Nuzhat Shahzadi Brac house in Mohakhai, Dhaka stands solemn– the big, impassive, grand skyscraper… The everyday sun hits its magnificent glass walls creating an aura of wonder, as always. Its brilliance can never be the same– Abed Bhai has left the building! The fearless soul is now braving an endless new adventure. I began working with grass roots organizations in my twenties. In my girlhood, I lived through an impossible war (of liberation); tried to cope with family separation and personal losses; struggled with mindless social, political chaos of a newly born nation, and was pulled headlong into the encompassing harsh re

“A decision to sponsor the UNICEF project ‘Reduction of Child Morbidity and Mortality through Preventive and Curative Health Intervention in DPR Korea’” was reportedly handed to DPRK Ambassador-at-Large Ri Hung Sik by Russian Ambassador Alexander Matsegora. The text of the decree, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, stated that it is to ensure Moscow’s “participation in international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance” to North Korea through UNICEF – to the tune of $4,795,122 USD. This brings the total of indirect Russian donations through UN organizations in 2019 to just over $9.7 million, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) Financial Tracking Service (FTS) website. Even with the latest donation, however, only around 30% has been raised of the UN’s goal of $120 million for the “DPR Korea Needs and Priorities 2019,” to address what it deems to be humanitarian shortfalls in nutrition, healthcare, disaster prevention, etc. These t

Read this article on PassBlue.com NEW FROM PASSBLUE: My Unlikely Christmas in Kabul By Fiona Shukri on Dec 24, 2019 07:15 pm A street scene in Kabul, taken by the author, who is originally from Boston but worked for many years in Afghanistan. A Christmas she spent in the capital one year, she writes, was the most touching and surprising she had ever experienced. The Christmas spirit finally found me drinking whisky on a rooftop in Kabul. Given my multinational background — I'm from Boston but my father came from Iraq and my mother from London — it's not surprising that I chose a career in foreign affairs. When people learn I spent nearly a decade in Afghanistan, they almost always ask 1) Did you wear a headscarf? 2) Were you ever in danger? 3) What is it like there? Anyone who's spent time overseas knows that nobody is terribly interested in

At least eight people, including five children, were killed Tuesday in Russian air strikes in northwest Syria, as the UN warned youngsters were bearing the brunt of the violence. The strikes targeted the village of Jubass near the town of Saraqeb in southern Idlib province, killing civilians sheltering in a school and nearby, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “Children are bearing the brunt of intensifying violence in northwest Syria,” the United Nations children’s organisation UNICEF said Tuesday. “Nine years into the war, children in Syria continue to experience unspeakable violence, trauma and distress.” Read full France24 story Read UNICEF Press Release “Children are bearing the brunt of intensifying violence in northwest Syria. More than 500 children were injured or killed in the first nine months of 2019, and at least 65 children have been killed or injured in the month of December alone. “Recent intensified violence in densely populated areas of Ma’arat An-Nu’man,

Credit: Wikipedia Read the full NY Times article  At least 10,000 Haitians died in the cholera outbreak , but it took six years for the United Nations to admit it had anything to do with the catastrophe. A fund set up by the secretary general to collect $400 million to battle cholera garnered only a few million in contributions, and victims are still battling through American courts to hold the United Nations accountable. In the annals of sexual abuse cases, one of the worst involved more than 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers who ran a sex ring that exploited nine Haitian children between 2004 and 2007. The authors of The Conversation’s report made three recommendations: first, that United Nations personnel be trained in understanding the power they hold over the vulnerable populations they are sent to assist; second, that offenders not be sent back to their native countries, but be made to face prosecution and provide child support where they’re serving; and three, that a new victims’ rig

Credit: AFP From Anadolu Agency The UN humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Antonio Jose Canhandula said in a statement that the murder of four and kidnapping of two aid workers by the terror group on the northeastern Borno and Yobe state highway over the weekend further exacerbated violence that has gone on for over a decade in the West African country. "It is urgent for the Nigerian authorities to do their utmost to prevent further violence and brutality, and to protect the civilian population, including aid workers," the UN special envoy said. Four aid workers were killed and two others kidnapped by Boko Haram on Sunday on the Maiduguri-Monguno highway in Borno state. Also, about seven people including humanitarian workers and civilians were killed on Damaturu-Biu road in Yobe State by the terrorists. From Minneapolis Star Tribune Armed groups in northern Nigeria reportedly executed many civilians and abducted many others in a state where Boko Haram is active, the United N

What a difference a year makes! For a baby, the first year is an amazing time of growth and discovery. Meet four babies, from four countries, who thrived this past year. By Ilvy Njiokiktjien and Anush Babanjanyan A lot can happen in a year. In their first year, babies learn to roll over, eat their first solid foods, speak their first words and may even take their first steps. But every year, the lives of 2.5 million newborns are cut short. They do not survive their first month of life, nor do they get the chance to grow and thrive. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Every mother and baby should be cared for by a health worker who is trained and equipped to keep them healthy through pregnancy and the first month of life. With access to affordable quality health care, all families can have the chance to see what a difference a year makes. Mongolia Sugarmaa, whose name means 'Friday' in Tibetan, was born in a health centre near her family’s ger (a traditional style dwelling) in M