XUNICEF News and Views

  Kenya Country Office is looking to hire a retired and seasoned Chief of Nutrition at P4/5 level on a Temporary Appointment for a period of 6 months. Kindly circulate the generic JDs to potential candidates. Thanks and warmest regards. Click here for the generic job profiles -  P4     and P5

Governments in North America and Europe have devoted considerable attention lately to the impacts of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other internet services on children.  Children are being influenced, led and molded by global forces outside family, classroom and community.  Moreover, individual children are identified, listed, and categorized for future profit.  Data about individual children is sold and resold as well as stored for future use long before they will become adults. Aside from government hearings and discussions around possible new regulations, it is not clear to me that much has so far been accomplished.   Even when they have happened, these discussions have so far been confined to a few countries in the West.   So it was nice to see a new report by UNICEF on its global consultations on AI and children.   You probably will not have time to read the full document, but in case you do, it is linked below.  The video and the interview will give you an overview.  What is us

The Spokesperson of the Secretary-General announced yesterday that a UNICEF staff member has been detained by Ethiopian authorities. This brings to seven staff and three dependents currently under arrest under Ethiopia's declaration of a state of emergency. Last week the UN announced the evacuation of dependents of international staff in the country. Let us keep in our thoughts and prayers the safety of our colleagues and their families in Ethiopia, as well as the well-being of all the people affected by the conflict.    Seven UN Staffers in Unexplained Detention as Ethiopia Arrests UNICEF Employee Click here for the original article UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The Ethiopian authorities on Monday detained a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) employee, bringing the total of United Nations staff members arrested to seven, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. “We were advised this morning that a UNICEF colleague was detained, which means that seven UN staff remain in unexplained and una

The situation of the elderly -- in this case elder women - is a topic seldom mentioned in UN agencies.  Yet the rights of the elderly need protection just as do the rights of children - especially so in an age when the bonds of family have grown weaker. Tom Action to Protect Older Women's Rights Has Stalled in the UN General Assembly by Barbara Crossette Click here for the original article Frances Zainoeddin of the International Federation on Ageing bemoaned the slow gains made by the United Nations General Assembly to ensure the legal protection of older people’s human rights, especially that of women. Here, Zainoeddin is pictured in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood. JOHN PENNEY The images are stark: In India, Hindu widows who are considered burdens by their families are being abandoned at temples on the banks of sacred rivers. In Ethiopia, homeless older women evicted by their relatives sleep on the steps of a cathedral; many others shelter on the doorsteps of places of

We wish all who are celebrating the 8 day feast of Hanukkah this week a wonderful set of holidays. May this festival bring blessings upon you and your family.  

We often receive emails from our readers that only contain a link to a news-item on a website of a news magazine. It keeps us guessing what the sender wishes us to do. All our articles – we call them blogposts – contain: A title and the author or source Text, perhaps with a picture Sometimes a link to another website Therefore, if you wish to share with our readers a link to a news-item, please send an email to  xunicef.news.views@gmail.com   asking for the article to be posted, and include: Th e Title that should appear in our blogpost A few lines of text telling the readers why you think the link is worth visiting The link itself Your full name Remember that in case you have a paid subscription to a newsmagazine, other readers will not be able to open and read the news article. As always, write to  xunicef.news.views@gmail.com  for any questions. View more tips

It feels like having listened to David Attenborough for my whole life. This is no absurd idea. Sir David Attenborough was born in 1926, and started producing TV shows for the BBC about the he wonders of the natural world in the early fifties.  Our families used to send us VHS tapes with videos of the Life on Earth , even while we were living in Africa and had all kinds of animals at our doorsteps. The tapes kept our children glued to television, and the kids watched the tapes not once but multiple times. As grown ups, they still will imitate " his patented semi-whisper way of narrating " when trying to draw attention to a particularly beautiful and memorable view of nature and wildlife.   Sir David Attenborough, now 95 years old, made a convincing and very moving plea at the COP26 . Baquer draw my attention to the televised presentation. If you haven't closley followed the conference, this is definitely worth having a look.

by Paula Claycomb The below was published in my town’s weekly newspaper on 9 Dec. I adapted it slightly for the xUNICEF News and Views.  Wednesday, December 15, will be four months since horrific photos and videos dominated the media, showing chaos in Kabul, Afghanistan, as the US withdrew its forces and closed its embassy, thus ending our country’s longest war. That was the day former Afghani President Ashraf Ghani fled to the United Arab Emirates, allowing the Taliban to take over – for the second time -- in a country-wide blitz for which they had long been preparing. I served with UNICEF’s Afghanistan Country Office, in Islamabad, Pakistan, from 1998 to 2001. The UN system had evacuated from Kabul to Peshawar, then to Islamabad. I returned to Kabul in 2013, 12 years into the US-led war that continued until this past August. Today, I cannot forget the millions of Afghan refugees and displaced persons, forced from their homes before and during an emergency of our own making. Some Afgh

Marie-Pierre Poirier More than 21,000 children recruited by government forces and armed groups in conflict-hit region during past five years, UNICEF says. West and Central Africa is the region with the highest number of child soldiers in the world, as well as the most underage victims of sexual violence, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Since 2016, the region has been hit by growing conflict in which more than 21,000 children have been recruited by government forces and armed groups, the report said on Tuesday. In addition, more than 2,200 children have been verified as victims of sexual violence during the past five years, it added. Meanwhile, some 3,500 children have been abducted, making it the region with the second-highest abductions in the world, while there have been at least 1,500 attacks on schools and hospitals. Overall, the UN’s children agency said more than 57 million children in the region are in need of humanitarian assista

As part of the 27th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), the first episode of Vaillante, a mini-series produced by UNICEF, was screened in front of an audience composed of children and young people, representatives of technical and financial partners, civil society organisations, government authorities, artists and personalities from the world of culture and art. Vaillante tells the story of the painful past of a young woman who campaigns against child marriage and whose fate intertwines with the uncertain fate of a soon-to-be-married girl. Both protagonists must overcome family and social adversity in order for their rights to be respected. "The mini-series rightly highlights that youth are a large part of the solution to the challenges that societies are facing, including ending child marriage. Young people, and specifically girls and young women, have a key role to play in changing the world and realizing their aspirations,&quo

  Please browse our website to read all of the articles that appeared on our website during this and previous weeks. We post new articles nearly every day, so there is no need to wait all week for the Digest to read what is new. Bookmark our page and visit often.   xunicefnewsandviews.blogspot.com A  Viper Called Lucy: A Photo Series by Luis Oliveros The above image is not a viper, but a vulture, Buitres Leonados (Gyps fulvus) . The vulture is part of Louis Olivero's story, when he ventured into the El Cañon del Rio Lobos in Spain. It can be a long hike into the canyon. Perhaps, when you try it, you may even find Lucy, the viper. Click here for Louis' photographs of this enchanted place. Poverty has emerged this week as a theme in several posts. Not only one but several colleagues were intrigued by the Article " Africa Faces A “Perfect Storm” Due to Under-Investment in Children "; and Paula Clayomb was fascinated - as were we - by a call to " Make extreme weal

   Sree Gururaja  commented on  " Insights from Outside the Bubble: Good Bye, Baby Blue /Detlef Palm " 5 hours ago Read your article and am confused about next steps in Unicef programming …I remember we did mid- term review- another time consuming bureaucratic process , so that gets eliminated? What would be the benchmarks for for the 7-8 goals set by the Board for country support- government’s indicators? Will the Situation analysis stay or go? Sree     Sree Gururaja  commented on  " Soliloquy of a Postage Stamp #36: Celebrating Children...Continued/ Fouad Kronfol " 8 hours ago thank you Fouad A real good narrative and collection .. was especially pleased that you ended with the stamp on the girl child.. the situation for girls has changed little since 1990. honoured and humbled by your dedication Sree    Sree Gururaja  commented on  " A Viper Called Lucy: A Photo Series by Luis Oliveros " 9 hours ago quite an adventure! nature at its best. thanks