Weekly Digest : 13 - 20 August 2023

Welcome to a brief overview of articles that appeared last week on our website. Please don't stop here - be sure to browse the full list of articles that appeared this week. 

xunicefnewsandviews.blogspot.com

Our Feature of the Week 

An Intro To the Palio: Fouad Kronfol

"I bet you have never seen a Palio". We guess that very few of you have, and that most of you would never had hear of the word. This is what happened many years ago to Fouad Kronfol, while travelling towards the beautiful medieval town of Siena. Join Fouad on his trip to what he describes as one of the most spectacular manifestations of Italian culture, and learn more about this captivating traditional festival.

Our Columnists This Week

 Ken Gibbs: How to behave in a Cantonment area

 Nuzhat Shahzadi: Broken Land!

 Ramesh Shrestha: Entitlement: a mind coloniser

Money Talk: Pension payments and taxes are always an interesting topic for UNICEF retirees. The UNJSPF reportedly lost 13 billion USD in 2022. And while the Fund has meanwhile recovered a bit, are you worried about your pension or not? If not - why not? 

Also very interesting this week, the UN has released a plan to stop corporate tax abuse, which the OECD finds disappointing because it allegedly fails to recognize the value of the OECD initiatives already underway. Others say that OECD countries have too much say in the negotiations on global tax rules. Taxation of multinationals and their formal relocation to tax havens have also captured the minds of some of our members in the past; and it is certainly difficult to envision a solution. If tax rates are equal or similar in all countries, companies will stay in those that offer the best service. If tax rates are lower in some countries, the wrong countries may benefit and companies will pay less tax overall. Do you have a view on this issue?

Two years of Taliban rule. The second anniversary of the Taliban has been news in probably all countries where our members live. We picked two articles. Not unexpectedly, the UN Human Rights experts see "continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights". We also have a statement by the UN Women Executive Director. But statements and appeals to the Taliban aside, I heard (on my local and national radio and TV) a lot of discussion about whether and how the international community will continue to provide aid, and what the intended and unintended results of this would be. For humanitarian aid agencies it seems imperative to continue their aid and arrange themselves with the Taliban, but it also seems clear that the Taliban will not have a change of mind very soon.

20 Years later - The Canal Hotel Bombing. Most of us remember devastating bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, 20 years ago. Twenty-two people were killed, 20 of them UN staff. Tom McDermott shares his memoir of the tragic event. We also have a reflection of this event by Laura Dolci, the widow of  a UN aid worker, who died in the attack. World Humanitarian Day has been on 19 August, and the UN reports that 62 UN staff members have already died in the line of duty this year alone.

Climate Change Trial: A few weeks ago we carried an article discussing the court case "Held versus Montana", where young activists are seeking legal remedy to the violation by the State of Montana of their right to a healthy environment. Now a judge has ruled in their favor. I find this significant, not only because the plaintiffs are young.

CRC Committee: The UN Child Rights Committee certainly has its weaknesses - but following the Committee's criticism, the Government of Peru relents over the rape case of an 11 year old child. 

More or less: Is there something of which you like to see more of it in our blog? Or is there anything that you think we can do without? Let us know. Write to xunicef.news.views@gmail.com.

Detlef Palm

Editor of the Week

Bindeshwar Pathak: India's 'Toilet Man'

Photo of the Week

Female tiger playing "Hide and Seek". Nagarahole forest. Kabini. Karnataka India. 4 August 2023

And here a Comment by Sree Gururaja:

She the tigress plays hide and seek
Not pretending to be meek
With tongue out and intimidating
So Regal and splendid
She seems to be saying
I am bold and beautiful!!

Dr Seenappa is a wildlife photographer, a bird watcher, an expert on spiders. Many of his photographs on tigers from his frequent haunt, the Nagarhole forest reserve about 200 kilometers from Bangalore, have featured as the National Geographic: Photography and Photo of the Day.

 

In advance of the XUNICEF Reunion in Toronto later this month, the organisers forwarded a set of documents received from UNICEF Canada to participants. (see below under reports). 

The organizing committee of the Toronto reunion has reached out to the UNICEF Canada NatCom, which has shared the following links for your information and attention.

1. UNICEF Canada’s Supporter Impact Report 2022:

• a. English report: UNICEF_ImpactReport2022.pdf
• b. French report: UNICEF_ImpactReport2022FR.pdf

2. UNICEF Canada’s May 2022 report on the effects of environments on the well-being of children and youth in Canada:

• a. English summary: The Future Is Now: The environment and children’s well-being in Canada (unicef.ca)
• b. English report: The Future Is Now: The environment and children’s well-being in Canada (unicef.ca)
• c. French summary: Le futur, c’est maintenant : L’environnement et le bien-être des enfants au Canada (unicef.ca)
• d. French report: Le futur, c’est maintenant : L’environnement et le bien-être des enfants au Canada (unicef.ca)

3. UNICEF Canada’s Consultations in Advance of the Government of Canada’s 2023 Budget:UNICEF_Canada_Budget_2023_Submission.pdf

4. UNICEF Canada’s podcast (English only at the moment): Podcasts | UNICEF Canada: For Every Child

5. Q&A with UNICEF Canada’s new President and CEO, Sevaun Palvetzian: Q&A with UNICEF Canada President and CEO, Sevaun Palvetzian | UNICEF Canada: For Every Child

6. Please also browse UNICEF Canada’s website for more about “What We Do” (in the top navigation bar).

Dumb Questions by Leo Goulet

English Language by Fouad Kronfol

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