XUNICEF News and Views

  I just received the sad news that our former colleague Horst Rüttinger has passed away on 28 Nov in Heidelberg, Germany. He is survived by his wife Doris and two daughters. Horst was a wonderful friend and colleague and always helpful. He will be very much missed. Horst Cerni. Condolences may be sent to: Doris Rüttinger (spouse) Sickingenstr. 20 69126 Heidelberg Germany Tel.: 06221 39 35 83 e-mail hd.ruettinger@t-online.de Dear Horst, My mother asked me to send you the sad news that my father passed away on November 28th, 2020. He has struggled with so many illnesses in the past few years and kept getting upset. Now he has lost the fight. We all who knew him know what a great person he was and will miss him infinitely. If you are still in contact with mutual UNICEF friends / acquaintances, then I would be happy if you could convey the sad news to you. We remain with warm regards  the Rüttingers. Above all, my mother Doris Susanne Rüttinger

  From: Deputy Executive Director-Programmes < ded-programmes@unicef.org > Sent: Saturday, November 28, 2020 12:25:33 AM Subject: Activation of UNICEF Corporate Emergency Level 2 Scale-up Procedure for the Cabo Delgado crisis in Mozambique - from 25 November 2020 to 25 February 2021 Dear colleagues, The northern most Province of Mozambique, Cabo Delgado, is witnessing an unprecedented level of violence and sharp increase in needs. Attacks by Non-State Armed Groups and fighting with armed forces are triggering continuous displacements, with more than 350,000 people currently displaced, the majority living in overcrowded host communities with severely limited access to basic services. Many of those affected were previously displaced by Cyclone Kenneth and communities hosting IDPs are already extremely strained and struggling to cope. Of great concern is the scale of protection needs. Child rights violations are increasing at an alarming rate. Reports of killings, abductions, recru

    UN staff unions · TWELVE YEARS AFTER DERIVATIVES BROUGHT DOWN MAJOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS THE UN PENSION FUND WANTS TO INVEST IN THEM. In 2008 poorly judged derivative trades brought down Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Northern Rock and many others. The world economy took a huge hit and millions lost their savings. Now the UN Pension Fund, whose investment policy comes under the responsibility of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has asked permission from the General Assembly to start trading derivatives. It is not clear that Pension Fund staff have the necessary expertise nor that such trading meets the four criteria of safety, profitability, convertibility and liquidity used by the Fund, particularly in today's unpredictable environment. UN staff expect the Pension Fund to act in a conservative manner. For many the Fund is their only source of retirement income. The request was reported by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions ( https:/

  Editor's Note:  We do not yet have an address to which members can send condolences.  While waiting, members can send their messages to missing-you-xunicef@googlegroups.com where we will consolidate them for passing along later.  Today I received an email from one of our Budget Section colleagues and was informed that Katey Byrum has passed away.  Katey was one of those quiet and unassuming individuals that worked behind the scenes in the Budget Section who provided consistently excellent service to UNICEF. She was a college graduate with a degree in French literature.  Katey was extremely loyal to the cause and was a great colleague and friend to us all in the Budget Section.  After her retirement she would continue to organize our section lunch reunions. For the past year she stopped responding to our emails and we were not even able to call her. Something was wrong and no one knew what. Today we learned that she has passed on.  She was loved and respected by all of us and she

Pfizer's Vaccine Candidate Is Effective -- But It Has Issues View Original Note: This is a short excerpt. Please read the full article by clicking the link above. The vaccine candidate -- while a marvelous feat of science -- has some hurdles to overcome if it's going to fulfill the promise of helping end the global pandemic. Beyond regulatory approval, there are manufacturing, logistical, and efficacy questions to deal with.  Approval Pfizer appears to have passed the most difficult technical barrier; the company has developed a vaccine that seems to be 95% effective in preventing COVID-19. However, this is only an interim analysis -- an early look. While there were more than 40,000 participants in the overall trial, this reported efficacy is based on 170 individuals.  Manufacturing Messenger RNA -- the method used by Pfizer's vaccine candidate -- is very unstable, and no mRNA vaccines have yet been approved for human use. Creating mRNA in specially designed stainless st

Leadership of U.N. Human Rights Body Becomes Proxy Battle for World Powers By Nick Cumming-Bruce nytimes.com 4 min View Original Note: This is a short excerpt. Please read the full article by clicking the link above. The Geneva-based council, seen here in 2014, seeks to promote and protect human rights. GENEVA — The annual choice of who will steer the United Nations’ top human rights organization is usually done quietly and by consensus. For months, this year’s selection seemed to follow that script. Until a week ago, that is, when an unexpected contest emerged over the 2021 presidency of the organization, the U.N. Human Rights Council. The position — which holds significant sway over a body that, despite its name, includes some of the world’s worst rights abusers — rotates by region, and is due to be filled next year by a member of the Asia-Pacific bloc of countries. The dispute over the council presidency is pitting some of the U.N.’s most powerful member states against tiny Pacif

A COVID-19 Vaccine For Children May Still Be Many Months Away View Original Note: This is a short excerpt. Please read the full article by clicking the link above. It may only be weeks until a COVID-19 vaccine is approved for use in the U.S. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech asked the Food and Drug Administration to grant an emergency use authorization for their vaccine a week ago, and Moderna is expected to follow suit in coming days. But even when those vaccines hit the market, they will not be available to children. That's because very few children have been part of the clinical trials to date. Pfizer only recently began enrolling children as young as 12. Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics called on researchers to broaden their trials to include more children, warning of a significant delay in access to a vaccine should they not act quickly. "Children are not just small adults," said Dr. Sallie Permar, a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and

Dear colleague, Please find the following article on the blog: "Shifting the Mindset of the UN Pension Board - A Bridge Too Far?" by Lowell Flanders. Excerpt: "The most shocking conclusion of the report is the significant "variance between UNJSPF governance practices and pension fund governance best practices in all the areas we reviewed." To put it in plain language: our Pension Board just doesn't measure up to what is considered best practice among other Pension Boards." Link: http://unpension.blogspot.com/2020/11/shifting-mindset-of-un-pension-board.html For regular updates, visit the blog: http://unpension.blogspot.com Best regards, Loraine Rickard-Martin Shifting the Mindset of the UN Pension Board – A Bridge Too Far? by Lowell Flanders. November 25, 2020 by Lowell Flanders* The Mosaic Report – Comprehensive Review of UNJSPF Governanc The Mosaic review of the governance structures of the

I suggest that this message be sent out to XUNICEF staff. I don’t know how many have any contacts with government officials, but some might also have contacts with groups that would be willing to join the counter call. I see that IBFAN very much appreciate the fact that Kul, Richard, and Peter Greaves joined their call! There’s no mention as to how they’re using the messages besides posting them on their website. Janet IBFAN and partners call for continued reporting of harmful baby food marketing A   Decision  'noted' at the  73rd World Health Assembly  to end reporting on the  International Code  to the World Health Assembly after 2030 is causing alarm amongst the public health community. IBFAN's statement outlining 10 reasons why the Decision should be recalled or amended is   HERE  .  If you agree with our analysis please share with your  government representatives  and request that the decision is recalled or amended.  Member States are invited to submit comments to

Click on the link below to browse all articles xunicefnewsandviews.blogspot.com From Your Editors Don't miss the full video of Kul Gautam's excellent TEDx talk In Defense of Multilateralism and the UN.  You will also enjoy the stimulating and thoughtful HDPI presentation by Cornelius Williams - UNICEF's Chief of Child Protection on Emerging Threats to Children .   Also this week  Agop Kayayan calls for XUNICEF to mount a campaign for equitable distribution of vaccines for COVID-19 - not only between countries but within countries.    Farid Rahman writes to us on the importance to plan early for UN staff, dependents, and retirees to receive vaccinations against COVID-19.  This is perhaps not a major question for those living in more developed parts of the world, but likely a serious problem in many of UNICEF's programme countries.  Also,  Habib Hammam shares an article about the man behind Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine and many readers respond with comments. Columns

   Each week we present the works of one of the XUNICEF artists or photographers whose works appear in our galleries.  This week we feature the works of Samir Sobhy.  Samir is a very accomplished artist, poet and writer.   Samir shared some of his works in our special edition on the Arts and Artists of XUNICEF last September.  Below the slideshow we are republishing Samir's article from that edition A Long Career of Art Through My Travels - well worth reading again .   You can view his full website by clicking here.   You can also see his published works available on Amazon by clicking here .  To watch the slideshow of all the works Samir has contributed to our galleries.  Click on the first image in the slideshow below. Be patient - each slide takes about 10 seconds to load, but the first slide often takes a little longer to load.  Note that if you stop the slideshow, it will not start again on its own. You may need to reload the page.  In that case it may be easier to simply vi

Iran blasts UN dropping Saudi-Yemen coalition from blacklist By aljazeera.com 2 min View Original UN gives ‘free pass’ to Saudi-led coalition in Yemen despite admitting hundreds of Yemeni children killed, Tehran says. Iran said on Wednesday the UN is giving a “free pass” to the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen by removing it from a list of groups violating children’s rights. A recent report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the coalition would be delisted “for the violation of killing and maiming, following a sustained significant decrease in killing and maiming due to air strikes“. It said the death toll had fallen since an agreement signed in March 2019. The UN report was issued as Houthi rebels reported that an air attack by the Saudi-led coalition had struck a vehicle carrying civilians in northern Yemen on Monday, killing 13 people, including four children. “UN secretariat gives a free pass to Saudi-led coalition in #Yemen, despite admitting 100s of Yemeni chil

Maradona fue incluido en el equipo de leyendas de UNICEF View Original Diego Maradona celebró hoy su inclusión en el equipo de leyendas futbolísticas "World XI" de Unicef (Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia) para una causa benéfica. "Estoy muy feliz de formar parte del equipo World XI de EA Sports FIFA junto a todas estas leyendas, en el Soccer Aid, a beneficio de Unicef", escribió Diego en su cuenta oficial de Instagram. El DT de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata figura ilustrado en su época de jugador, pero con la camiseta del World XI, junto con otros argentinos como Hernán Crespo y Juan Sebastián Verón. El plan inicial de Soccer Aid era la disputa de un amistoso entre el seleccionado inglés y World XI, para el 6 de junio en el estadio Old Trafford de Manchester United, pero fue pospuesto por la pandemia de coronavirus. Maradona es una de las 34 glorias del fútbol que prestó su imagen para el patrocinio de Soccer Aid For Unicef, la campaña que recauda dinero

Dear Readers We editors have never wanted News and Views to be a medium of 'one-way communication'. We hope it will instead be a 'two-way' platform for exchanging the news, views, opinions, and ideas of our readers. We are working on development of a forum on which readers could post their thoughts and reply to the posts of others in 'real-time´, i.e. without having to wait for their post to appear on the website or in the Weekly Update. Meanwhile, some members are already making use of the Comments section that appears below each article. Here you can comment on the article, but you can also reply to someone else's comment. Your comment should appear immediately (although you may need to refresh the page to see it). Here are all the comments we see already. Many were added directly by the person commenting. Others we added from the email threads which followed. Keep in mind that if you want to start a new discussion, pose a question or announce your p

Richard Horton   Read the original “Yes. Yes. Yes.” That was the response of John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, when asked whether we could be confident that life will be returning to normal by spring. He was being interviewed by the BBC shortly after the announcement last week by Pfizer and BioNTech that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate had 90% efficacy in clinical trials. Similar announcements about the Russian Sputnik V and Moderna vaccines followed soon after. The prospect of preventing illness and death, and avoiding the harm and misery of extended restrictions, is a cause for optimism. But although it is right to be hopeful and encouraged, we are far from ending COVID-19 as a public health issue. Unfortunately, the trials' results were announced via press releases, leaving many scientific uncertainties that will dictate how the vaccines will affect the course of the pandemic. Little safety data are available. How well the vaccines work in old

This week there are several articles and email exchanges that I want to bring to your attention. First is the discussion about CRC and BMS between Peter Graves and Ms Gabrielle ‘Gay’ Palmer. Ms Palmer points our attention to a long article of The Guardian —an important article that I invite you to read, as it has worrisome implications. See also the comments added by Janet Nelson and Tewabech Bishaw. The Guardian article reports that Bill Gates, and other billionaires are investing in an enterprise to industrially produce human breastmilk. This is not producing more substitutes for breast milk, but rather a plan to culture actual mammary cells and using them to produce the closest possible product to real human breastmilk. Ms Palmer objects by asking why should corporations make money out of human milk. Should then breastfeeding women be entitled to a salary for their work?   Delivering breastmilk - this most fundamental public health intervention - is an act of high responsibility

 Memories of Diego Maradona, RIP Diego Maradona died yesterday at age 60 of a heart attack. Since he was a UNICEF Sports Ambassador in the eighties, I thought that the excerpt from my book "Journeying to Paradise" may be of interest. Fans all over the world are paying tribute to him, and I heard that Italy will name a stadium after him. I am sure, Argentina will follow. He was, after all, an Argentinian world star who next to Evita Peron achieved the status of a saint. Horst "My new assignment at Headquarters was to be in charge of special events and exhibits, as well as our Goodwill Ambassador program. Because of my work with FIFA for the UNICEF benefit matches, we flew to Mexico City in June of  1986 .  FIFA had organized a major press conference, at which I represented UNICEF and  Sepp Blatter   FIFA, to announce the next UNICEF Benefit Match to take place at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles the following month. Some 200 journalists attended.       FIFA gave us com plimen