XUNICEF News and Views

Let's be sparked by Brigit's brilliant example. Happy St. Brigit's Day - the beginning of Spring in the Irish traditional calendar, presided over by the wonderful St. Brigit. So glad to be with you here today - for the first time or the fiftieth. Welcome, new friends, and welcome back, dear seasoned friends! Thank you for your presence and for taking an interest in my words, music, and ideas. I'm honored and grateful! She's a champion - a solver of riddles and soother of heartaches, a bringer of peace, and a tireless worker on behalf of life. AND, as I suggest in this poem: she shouldn't have to do it all alone. Brigit is Weary Brigit is weary of walking the world, blessing the cloth hung out in the night, coaxing the babies safe from the wombs, purifying wells whose gift is clear sight. Brigit is weary of laying the fires, baking the oat farls, wetting the tea, sweeping the hearth so the fáilte is ready, singing the hymns to inspire you and me. Brigit, come in

UN says Taliban ban on women aid workers is a potential death blow The U.N. humanitarian chief warned Monday that the Taliban’s ban on women aid workers in Afghanistan is “a potential death blow” to many important humanitarian programs. If the Taliban don’t make exceptions to their edict “this would be catastrophic,” Martin Griffiths said at a news conference. He said a delegation including international aid groups made the case that Afghan women are critical to humanitarian operations during meetings last week with nine Taliban officials, including Afghanistan’s foreign affairs and economy ministers. “We were asked to be patient,” Griffiths said. “We were told that guidelines are being developed by the Taliban authorities which would provide, allegedly, the functioning of women in humanitarian operations.” He said the Taliban’s consistent message “that there will be a place for women working” was “a slightly patronizing message, but it’s an important one.” Griffiths noted that after

"As bleak as it is, the people of Afghanistan haven’t given up. And so, we must not too."  "In addition to [requesting the repeal of] the ban [on female humanitarian workers at national and international NGOs from working across Afghanistan] we have requested and advocated for the full inclusion of girls and women in public life, and especially in public secondary education and tertiary education. "The numbers are alarming. More than 1 million girls who should have been in secondary schools have lost out on learning for 3 years now -- first, due to COVID and then, since September 2021, due to the ban on attending secondary school. With the recent announcement, on 20th December, that bars women from university and educational centres, the hopes of Afghan girls and women to learn and work have, again, been crushed. We are very concerned about girls’ and women’s development, and particularly their mental health. "In 2023, if secondary school education remains c

What is in store for children in the coming year? A message from the Director, UNICEF Innocenti What is in store for children over the coming 12 months? For the past three years, we have asked that question as we develop our Global Outlook series . This year, the answers were dominated by the presence of multiple and near-simultaneous shocks in an interdependent world. Many are calling this a “polycrisis”, and it will have an enormous impact on the prospects for children in the next 12 months and beyond. In our latest edition , we unpack these trends: examining the continuing repercussions of the pandemic, the economic impacts of efforts to tame inflation, food and nutrition insecurity, energy security and the transition to a green future, financing for development, threats to democracy, stresses on multilateralism, and fragmentation of the internet. Children have much to lose. Geopolitical tension could undermine cooperation on issues vital to children. A poor economic outlook augu

 The UK government came under severe criticism this week following reports in the Observer that some 136 unaccompanied children were missing from a hotel in Sussex.  The government's response was that, in fact, some 440 child asylum seekers are missing, but half have later been accounted for.  Most are teenagers, but 13 are under 16 and one is female.    More than 100 charities called for the government to take action on the missing minors, saying that the government had a legal duty to protect them. The chief of the Refugee Council said the children were highly traumatized and vulnerable. “We know from our work that  children  who have experienced unimaginable horror and upheaval coming to our country in search of safety are  highly traumatized and vulnerable,” he said , adding: “This is  a child  protection scandal that councils the police and ministers must urgently address to ensure every single separated  child  matters and is kept safe.” The UK has used hotels to house asylum

Bruce Kennedy who lives in Thailand was visiting his Canadian based son and family in Toronto.  Bruce met up with Niloufar and her husband, Cyrus, and Mahendra Sheth, and his wife, Sheela, who live in Toronto, on 30th of January at Niloufar’s place.   As in all such cases, common interests and sweet UNICEF memories were shared. Bruce will return to Toronto in August for the XUNICEF Reunion. Niloufar

Good laughs! . .  

In case you are worried that I might be suffering! Jim

Dear friends, we look forward to welcoming approximately 100 members of XUNICEF to Toronto on 25-30 August 2023. It is not so far off. And pls join us if you have not decided yet. We have been posting information about Toronto as a teaser in the past few months. Hope you have enjoyed these. Please let us know if there is anything specific you want to read about.   This time, we are sharing some information about three of our favourite museums in Toronto. There are many more of course including the Bata Shoe Museum, the Gardiner Ceramic Museum, the Textile Museum etc. etc. See you soon, we hope. Niloufar, Mahendra and Mahboob The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto , Ontario , Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year, making the ROM the most-visited museum in Canada . The museum is north of Queen's Park , in the University of Tor

The rise and impact of hate speech is being amplified, at an unprecedented scale, by new communications technologies, one of the most common ways of spreading divisive rhetoric on a global scale, threatening peace around the world. According to leading international human rights organization, Minority Rights Group, one analysis records a 400-fold increase in the use of hate terms online in Pakistan between 2011 and 2021. Being able to monitor hate speech makes can provide valuable information for authorities to predict future crimes or to take measures afterwards. The Sentinel Project is a Canadian non-profit organization who’s Hatebase initiative monitors the trigger words that appear on various platforms and risk morphing into real-world violence. Chris Tucker, the executive director of the Sentinel Project, describes it as an “early warning indicator that can help us to identify an increased risk of violence”. It works by monitoring online spaces, especially Twitter, looking for ce

What a sick society - it deserves to implode: Lou A JR-15 model in January 2022. Photo: C4 Defense/YouTube At a gun expo in Las Vegas last January, Eric Schmid, the founder of WEE1 Tactical, demonstrated his company’s first offering: the JR-15, a play on the popular AR-15 assault rifle designed to look just like its deadly cousin, but 20 percent smaller. “It fits the kids really well,” he told a visitor to his booth. “That’ll give them the confidence to hold this thing the way they should have confidence holding it — no drop down in the front trying to manage a weight that’s not right for them. It just fits ’em, fits ’em really well.” Long guns for kids have been around for years, typically shotguns or single-shot rifles scaled down for a child. But what has attracted so much attention to the JR-15 is its semiautomatic action, firing with each pull of the trigger — along with the image of putting a mini assault rifle in the hands of children in a country where a 6-year-old just sho

Very little trickles down by way of news on Myanmar in the mainstream media these days. And those that do, remain alarming.  This recent news coverage on the plight of children in Myanmar calls for concern. 5.6 million children are reported to be in need of humanitarian assistance. Compounded to this, the junta is blamed for deaths of more than 160 children in 2022, according to the exiled National Unity Government. The figure "appears credible" according to a senior consultant of the International Crisis Group.  A UN report released in June'22, put the number of children tortured since the coup at 142 with more than 1,400 arbitrarily detained. Much of diplomatic pressure on the regime through the recent past has yielded negligible results.  The UN Child Rights Committee has previously called for perpetrators to be held accountable and for assistance to be delivered safely to Myanmar’s children. Nothing has been achieved in this regard to date. Diplomatic pressures by the

The world took a dangerous turn in 2022. High-intensity conflict broke out in Europe—something widely considered unimaginable just a few years ago—while tensions continue to escalate between the United States and China over Taiwan. Meanwhile, the potential for conflict on the Korean peninsula and between Iran and Israel remains high. Interstate warfare, and the potential for its escalation, features prominantly in the Council on Foreign Relations’ (CFR) fifteenth annual Preventive Priorities Survey. Conducted by CFR’s Center for Preventive Action (CPA) in November, the survey asks foreign policy experts to evaluate thirty ongoing or potential violent conflicts based on their likelihood of occurring or escalating this year, as well as their possible impact on U.S. interests. Top Conflicts to Watch in 2023 The majority of Tier I contingencies now concern either potential flashpoints involving the major powers (e.g., a crossstrait crisis around Taiwan, escalation of the war in Ukraine, a

UNICEF calls for the protection of all children amidst increase of violence in the State of Palestine and Israel “UNICEF is alarmed by the latest escalation of violence that has left many dead and injured. All children are entitled to special protection under international human rights law, and all their rights including the right to life and protection must be upheld at all times. “Children continue to pay the highest price of violence. Since the start of 2023, 7 Palestinian children and one Israeli child were killed. Many more were injured and are affected by the spiral of violence. As the situation remains very volatile, UNICEF fears that an increasing number of children will suffer. “UNICEF appeals to all parties to de-escalate, exercise the utmost restraint and refrain from using violence, especially against children, in accordance with international law. “Violence is never a solution, and all forms of violence against children are unacceptable. This must end.” ###

Despite the urgency of Myanmar’s complex political, military, human rights crisis, international attention is waning. This article urges renewed international attention for the people of Myanmar after the military coup of February 2021. I. Myanmar’s brief period of democracy During the 2010s, Myanmar saw positive changes including attempts to bring to an end some of the longest standing insurgencies on the planet and increasing levels of democratization. In late 2011 and early 2012, the new civilian government embarked upon ceasefire negotiations with eighteen of the twenty-four ethnic insurgencies. In 2012, democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), also won a series of by-elections which demonstrated the strength of her appeal and the support for the democratic movement. It was only in the elections of 2015 , that the NLD won an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the Burmese Parliament. On 15 March 2016, Htin Kyaw

Officials of the Education Ministry The Taliban on Saturday doubled down on their ban on women’s education, reinforcing in a message to private universities that Afghan women are barred from taking university entry exams, according to a spokesman. The note comes despite weeks of condemnation and lobbying by the international community for a reversal on measures restricting women’s freedoms, including two back-to-back visits this month by several senior U.N. officials. It also bodes ill for hopes that the Taliban could take steps to reverse their edicts anytime soon. The Taliban barred women from private and public universities last month. The higher education minister in the Taliban-run government, Nida Mohammed Nadim, has maintained that the ban is necessary to prevent the mixing of genders in universities — and because he believes some subjects being taught violate Islamic principles. Work was underway to fix these issues and universities would reopen for women once they were resolve