XUNICEF News and Views

Please share the death announcement of Azmi Sherifdeen who passed away on 25 February in Toronto,Canada.   Azmi joined UNICEF Colombo,Sri Lanka in 1976. He worked in the Supply Division and retired as Supply Officer after 33 years of service. He emigrated to Canada seeking education opportunities for his children.  He was only 66 when he passed away. Azmi will be remembered for his vibrant smile and ever willing attitude to be of service. He had a gentle quiet persona, that attracted good client relationship with suppliers and government counterparts.  He is fondly remembered by his colleagues. Condolence can be sent to his wife Razana’s email noor.s749@gmail.com  Thank you Rohini

Children at Al Hol Camp ©ICRC   UNICEF calls for the safe reintegration and repatriation of all children in al-Hol Camp and across the northeast of Syria Three children killed and 15 injured as fire breaks out in crowded camp From Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa AMMAN, 28 February 2021 -  “At least three children lost their lives and another 15 were injured last night when a fire broke out in al-Hol camp in northeast Syria. “In and around the al-Hol camp in the northeast of Syria, there are more than 22,000 foreign children from at least 60 nationalities who languish in camps and prisons, in addition to many thousands of Syrian children. “Children in al-Hol are faced not only with the stigma they are living with but also with very difficult living conditions where basic service are scarce or in some cases unavailable. “The detention of children is a measure of last resort and should be for the shortest time possible. Children should not be det

                REALLY UNUSUAL AND MOST IMAGINATIVE.....                             Ottawa, Canada                       Philadelphia, USA                Morlaix, France             Targu Mures, Romania            Rio de Janeiro, Brazil             Sicily, Italy             

I was inspired by Ramesh Sheresta’s read on human beings as social animals….or rather anti social to the point of fighting nature. It brought to mind a somewhat half facetious- half serious scenario I painted a while back for a future of artificial intelligence after we destroy nature. Here it is attached ….if of any interest. “The Tunnels” attached. Cheers, Habib. The Tunnels: Movie Fiction Scenario: The year 2084. Earth’s environment is so degraded there are very few animal and plant species left, no forests, air quality is not fit for long term human consumption, fewer people populate the earth. Privileged people live in domed settlements made artificially habitable by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Those on the outside raid the domes to get survival goods. AI defends the domes and carries the fight to the intruders. AI satellites and AI safety units (called Vaders 😀) can easily locate the outsiders (called Arnolds 😀) above ground,but have more difficulty underground. So the Arno

 

    Ramesh Shrestha  commented on  " Insights from Outside the Bubble: Subway Dreams " 5 hours ago    Brilliant! In your next edition you may want to extend a new subway lines to One UN and UNDAF stations! Cheers! Horst Cerni  commented on  " Weekly Update : 14 to 21 February 2021 " Feb 24, 2021    Hello dear editors, I like the Updates very much and only wished I had more time to read it all. Here a couple of comments. 1. The history stories are fascinating and so well written. It really keeps the reader in suspense, even after the lifting of the veil. Hoover and Pate were amazing personalities and it was good to learn about UNICEF history from this very beginning. 2. I was also happy to see the UNICEF web sites. Very well done. 3. Detlef gives a different perspective of our "younger" staff, which was fun. 4. And the funnies are always an important part in taking away gloomy thoughts. 5. I loved the quotes and shared them with a former UN colleague,