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.
Our Travelers of the Week
Into the Midnight Sun: Detlef and Gaby Palm
Our Columnists This Week
Ken Gibbs Babbles from the Balkans - 4
Nuzhat Shahzadi Ubering in D.C & Food Trucks, etc
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Toronto Reunion: Around sixty XUNICEF colleagues and their spouses are attending the XUNICEF Reunion in Toronto, Canada from 24-29 August, a three year gap due to the covid pandemic. The organizing team has drawn up a diverse and interesting programme with opportunities for sightseeing, social evenings and free time for friends and colleagues to catch up and renew friendships. In the meantime, click here to read what our Roaming Rhymer has to say.
Are You Attending the Reunion ? - News and Views looks forward to receiving photographs, anecdotes and fun stuff, so please send your contributions to xunicef.news.views@gmail.com As we have done in previous years, we have opened an album of photos shared by the members each day. Click here to see the photos so far shared with us.
Memoirs: Last week we published Tom McDermott's memoir of the Canal Hotel, the first of what we hope will become a series of memoirs shared by our members. This week Tony Bloomberg shares his memoir of a "Trip to Fizi Territory". We urge our colleagues to share experiences that took place during their careers. Your narrative / story could be about a milestone meeting, a chance impactful encounter, an unexpected path breaker event, a funny anecdote, an embarrassing incident, lessons learned or an interesting field visit. Here is your opportunity to share and regale colleagues with what you have hidden away in your mind, waiting to tell the story. Please send your write up to xunicef.news.views@gmail.com
UN Pension Fund’s optimistic projections: The good news is that the Pension Fund is steadily recovering from its loss of 13 billion last year and is poised to achieve higher returns on its portfolios. At its recent Board meeting, the Fund announced that the 2023 ALM (assets and liabilities) study will consider various scenarios for the future, including those incorporating climate risk to guide its investments. Click on the link to review the Board's Explanatory note for it is readable devoid of jargon and finance related mumbo-jumbo.
SCAM Alert : What'sApp channel in Kenya, Uganda and some fallout in India have advertisements with offers of laptops and subsidies. The messages contain blue banners with UNICEF logo bearing a group photo of staff wearing UNICEF T-shirts. The ‘hidden’ source of the messages seems to have an international base, risky and unsafe.
India’s continued detention of disabled activist ‘shameful’ : Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur expressed concern on the deterioration of the health and condition of GN Saibaba, a human rights defender and a former English professor at Delhi University, serving life imprisonment since 2017 for multiple offences under the country’s Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. His detention was declared arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in an opinion issued in 2021. Mary Lawlor, noting that his detention in high security barracks are highly unsuitable for a person in a wheelchair, she reminded authorities of their obligation to uphold the rights of prisoners to adequate health care and dignity, she advocated his release in view of his deteriorating health.
NGOs accuse military regime of weaponizing humanitarian aid: Following the Myanmar visit of Martin Griffiths, Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a joint statement of the Progressive Voice, the 514 civil society groups acknowledged his call to the military regime for open and free space for delivery of humanitarian assistance but expressed their deep concerns on the existing reality of interference and discrimination by the military. They urged that OCHA and other UN humanitarian agencies “cut ties with the illegal criminal junta which is weaponizing aid and is the root cause of human suffering in Myanmar. Given the situation of ongoing cruelty and suffering of more than one third of the population, Progressive Voice said that the “UN should be engaging with the NUG, ethnic organizations that control many parts of the country and civil society groups to deliver aid” as they have the access, legitimacy, capacity and trust of the people. While this seems a reasonable recommendation, can and will the UN take up the challenge to bypass the military regime?
The two faces of Generative AI and children: UNICEF calls for urgent review and regulatory measures at the World Economic Forum on the present and future implications of Generative AI on the development of children and youth. While AI’s advantage to learning are acknowledged, it is timely and imperative to formulate global commitments to forestall the misuse and negative outreach of AI in endangering growing and vulnerable minds. UNICEF's policy brief
Human Rights Watch alleges mass killings by Saudi Arabia forces at Yemen border: HRW provides digital evidence, videos, geospatial analysis and satellite information to support its findings on the use of explosive weapons, wrongful detentions, rape and torture by the Saudi Arabia guards in halting asylum seekers and migrants at the Yemeni-Saudi border. To quote Nadia Hardman of HRW, “Saudi officials are killing hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers in this remote border area out of view of the rest of the world. Spending billions buying up professional golf, football clubs, and major entertainment events to improve the Saudi image should not deflect attention from these horrendous crimes.” HRW strongly urged for international actions and imposing sanctions. It called for a UN-backed investigation to assess abuses against migrants and whether killings amount to crimes against humanity.
Blockages to humanitarian assistance in Niger : Civil unrest and political instability have impacted more than two million children and are in in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Humanitarian assistance supplies are stuck at the Benin border adversely affecting the delivery of health and nutrition. Stepahno Savi UNICEF Representative warns that 28 million vaccine doses are at risk with the recent electricity shortages since 95% of the cold chain infrastructure is dependent on electricity. He implores, “UNICEF urgently calls on all parties to the crisis to ensure that humanitarian workers and supplies safely reach the most vulnerable children and families where urgently needed. We also ask that critical humanitarian programmes are safeguarded against the impact of sanctions and funding cuts.”
Sree Gururaja
Editor of the Week
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| Gilles Vauclair - Rest in Peace |
To our XUNICEF family, I just got very sad news from Larry Hirt. It is with a heavy heart that I need to inform you that our friend and XUNICEF colleague, Gilles Vauclair passed away on 22 August 2023 in France. We don’t have many details at this time. Oscar.
Our XUNICEF colleague, Bill Hetzer has shared a few memories of Gilles.
Photos of the Week : Luis Oliveros
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| Schwechat river in Baden, Austria (my new home) |
The river flowing through the town, adds to the picturesque charm of the area with its serene waters and surrounding landscapes.
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| Vienna University of Economics & Business |
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| Purple coneflower, from the garden in Vienna University |
Mini Reunion of the Week
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| Breakfast at Niloufer's home, ahead of the Toronto reunion, with Baquer and Nasser a child rights activist & NGO Partner. |
XUNICEF's 25th Annual Reunion in Toronto
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The Toronto Reunion kicked off in a big way at the cocktail party on Friday. Thanks to those attendees who have sent us photos, we already have an album. We hope to add to these each day, and we plan a 'feature' article on the reunion for next week's edition of the Digest. Please keep sharing your photos and writing to us with your stories of the reunion. Click here for the album.
Lighter Stuff of the Week
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.views@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.
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The XUNICEF network is the platform where former and active colleagues come together and share their news and opinions with each other. Members may agree - or disagree - on many issues, but the only way to find out is if you share with us what matters to you.
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