From Your Editors
A week of terror, a week of loss, but at its end, a ray of hope! The ceasefire in Gaza was welcome news, but only at the cost of countless deaths and injuries to children and their families, lasting trauma, destruction, and a humanitarian catastrophe. In India, Brazil and elsewhere the pandemic continued to take a terrible toll. COVAX announced that it is short of over 100 million doses of vaccine, while calls go unheeded for donations of ‘extra’ doses from rich countries to poorer ones. Meanwhile, Innocenti warns of an impending debt crisis which threatens continuation of basic services once the pandemic eases.We know that there is good news ‘out there’, and we hope you will help by sharing with us your own good news. We all need a bit of joy. Meanwhile, let us just enjoy the glimmer of hope offered by the ceasefire in Gaza.
Our Artist of the Week - Peter Delahaye
The lockdown brought on by COVID-19 triggered a new opportunity for Peter Delahaye who took a new and unexpected path into portraiture. This week Peter walks us through his foray into this new direction for his work and offers us 12 new works to add to his gallery of wonderful art. Click here.
We hope that Peter's paintings may arouse your own hidden talents. It is never too late !
Colleagues
We are saddened to note the loss of:
Mrs. Grace Cecilia Veliath, wife of Mr. Augustine Veliath - click here to see the heartfelt memorial Augustine has penned to Grace.
Mrs. Rajni Malhotra, wife of the late Mr. S.K. Malhotra- click here for the UPGI notice
UNICEF@75
Gandhi - the same young volunteer who later became UNICEF's first Representative in India. Click here.
Our Columns and Our Columnists
Fouad Kronfol - Soliloquy on a Stamp - From Drinking Milk to Drinking Water
Detlef Palm - Insights from Outside the Bubble - Get Real !
Ramesh Shrestha - Today and Tomrrow - Tea - a Global Drink?
Editors' Picks
COVID on the RunThe Pandemic Has Split in Two
COVID-19 and the Looming Debt Crisis
Clusters
Gender Cluster - met on May 19th. The report of the meeting is available here. For more information or to join the cluster, contact Niloufar Pourzand.Academics Cluster - the cluster will meet again on Wednesday, June 9th at 9 a.m. EDT. Mary Racelis will give a presentation on the subject "Doing Field Research Online Amid COVID-19 Lockdowns". To join the cluster or for more information, contact Mary Racelis.
Violence against Children Cluster - last met on April 14tth. For more information or to join the cluster contact Raana Syed.
Climate Cluster - met on April 29th. To join the cluster or for more information contact Ramesh Shrestha.
The Week Ahead
Do you have an event or meeting you would like to add to the calendar? Let us know by writing to us at xunicef.news.view@gmail.com. Don't forget that we learn of many events after our Weekly Digest has gone out, so please check the calendar during the week to learn of last minute notices.
Comments from Our Readers
It is easy to add your comments under any article. At the bottom of the article just click on 'Comments', add your name and email address, and enter your comment. If you want to comment or reply to someone else's comment, click on 'Reply'. In either case when you have entered your comment, click on 'Publish'. There is no need to email us. Click here for the comments we received this week.Finally
Help us find new members. Don't forget to invite any former colleagues who are not yet aware of our XUNICEF network.The Daily Digest - Google has informed us that they plan in July to remove the service which powers the daily version of the digest to which many of us subscribe. We are looking for alternatives, and will let you know as soon as possible.
Here is an extract of what I wrote to the UNJSPF bureaucracy:
ReplyDeleteThank you for your bureaucratic response of a typical socialist regime.
Covid-19 Pandemic, declared by WHO as early as 2020, has been killing millions around the world for the past 18+ months. Consequences of personal and family suffering and economic hardships do not need any explanation or proof or justification. Again the hardships faced by those with pension below USD 1000, with no other social safety net available, cannot be overstated.
IF the organization established by UN and in the spirit of UN Charter and values of UHRD, cannot see the reality in front of our eyes, I can only say they have no sensitivity and can only enjoy fiddling while the low pension earners' houses on fire.
Does it not behove an UN outfit to assess the real life situation in the countries with UN pensioners with minimum level pension live. You have precedence in the past: based on UN pensioners associations appeals you have compensated pensioners who made self declaration/certification of loss/hardships sustained during natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, cyclonic storms, flooding, etc.
Following such humanitarian gesture, why don't you take the initiative to declare emergency thru your official website and offer of help for minimum/low level pensioners facing Pandemic hardships?
Your humanitarian gesture will atleast mitigate the CURRENT not so wholesome image of the UN.
Best regards.
ReplyDeleteJust a comment:
The network of former UNICEF staff has turned out to be rather boring and not at all mind-bugling since the censorship and editorial filtering by the editors under the leadership of Tom.
Kristian
With regard to 'censorship' and 'filtering' -it is true that we recently declined to republish an article you had earlier published elsewhere in which you criticize the actions of particular staff members. We believe that News and Views is not an appropriate forum for airing old grievances.
DeleteOur guidelines are stated in the FAQs on this website: "Conditions of use: As a network of former international civil servants, we assume that members who add comments or engage in discussions will use a tone and etiquette similar to that used in professional communications. Inappropriate discussions of character or performance of individuals will be removed.."
ReplyDeleteSeems similar to the principle of fundamental rights of the Indian Government vs WhatsApp 's idea of privacy.
The fundamental issue seems to be our believe that right to privacy and right to free expression is inextricably linked. Right now, the Pandamic has taught us that no one is safe until and unless everyone is safe. Apply the same natural logic to the sacredness of privacy and right to free speech insulting/casting unfounded aspersions/hitting or hating other view points etc. with criminal intent.