XUNICEF News and Views

YouTube video shared by Carol Bellamy

 We have begun to receive the first photos from those participating in the 2024 XUNICEF Reunion in Malta.  We will continue to update the album as additional photos arrive.   Do you have photos not yet appearing here?  Add them directly by clicking here or use the web address https://photos.app.goo.gl/XfrzivRU9d1LC1Lf7     Or, send us a link by email to xunicef.news.views@gmail.com View the photos so far received by clicking here  And don't forget that you can see all the photos and videos from past reunions on our website.  Just click the Reunions Albums tab on the right hand sidebar menu or click here.  Here are a few samples:

Article shared by Tom McDermott Click here for the article on UN News UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Friday presented the first update on the OIOS investigation of 12 staff members of UNRWA who Israel alleged were involved in the 7 October Hamas-led attacks. OIOS has closed one of the cases because Israel had not provided any supporting evidence.  OIOS has suspended three other cases “as the information provided by Israel is not sufficient for OIOS to proceed with an investigation”.  UNRWA is now also considering what administrative action to take in those three cases. Eight other staff remain under investigation by OIOS. 

Article shared by Tom McDermott According to UN data at least 600 children have died in attacks since the war resumed in 2022. Over 1,350 children have been injured. Between January and March attacks killed 25 children, including a two-month-old, said the agency. Click here for the article on UN News "As deadly attacks continue, children and their families are forced to endure yet more loss and destruction,” said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, as she concluded a visit to Ukraine this week. “Every attack sets back recovery and rebuilding efforts, prolonging the deterioration in children’s quality of life. I am troubled to see that attacks across the country continue, destroying schools, health facilities and residential buildings. Nowhere is safe for children.”

Who hasn't thought about travelling across the United States? Most visitors get their kicks on Route 66. Back in 2005, we aimed for the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State and took the general direction of the Interstate  I-90. “Route 90” also offers plenty of kicks. According to Google Maps, it is 3150 miles (or just over 5000 kilometers) from New York City to Kalaloch Beach on the Pacific Coast, and it takes 48 hours continuous driving. With the inevitable detours, one will easily clock 4000 miles or 6500 kilometers, one way. 

Article shared by Tom McDermott Click here for the summary in DEVEX Click here for  Debt service payments outpacing aid, investments in developing countries - the ONE Campaign "....the global south paid out tens of billions more in debt repayments than they received in new lending and official development assistance, according to new research from anti-poverty organization ONE Campaign . And this year looks likely to be the same." The figures, unveiled ahead of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings, dissect net financial flows to nations in the global south and draw on data from the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. In 2022, a year marked by economic upheaval, net financial transfers to lower-income countries fell to their lowest since the global financial crisis. From a high of $225 billion in 2014, net inflows dwindled to $51 billion, writes Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth. Further analysis based on World

Article shared by Baquer Namazi Click here for the article in The Guardian Click here to read and download the Global Report on Food Crises Sudan accounted for two-thirds of the additional 13.5m people needing urgent help as displacement drove food insecurity globally Globally, more than 281 million people in 59 countries faced high levels of acute food insecurity according to the Global Report on Food Crises , published today, with economic crises and extreme weather also contributing.

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Robert Cohen

©France24 The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has said he was “horrified” by reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies at two of Gaza’s largest hospitals.

Invitation à la séance publique virtuelle optionnelle : « Les essentiels de la double filière » (en français), le vendredi 26 avril 2024 à 8h00 (heure de New York)   Chèr.e bénéficiaire, chèr.e participant.e à la Caisse,   Venez nous rejoindre pour en savoir plus sur vos pensions !   La prochaine séance se concentrera sur « Les essentiels de la double filière », expliquant le système d'ajustement des pensions de la Caisse et le système à double filière ; elle aura lieu le vendredi  26 avril 2024, de 8h00 à 9h30, heure de New York . Les séances sont utiles à tout.e bénéficiaire ou personne prenant sa retraite prochainement et intéressée par la « double filière ». Pour déterminer si cette session est pertinente pour vous, veuillez lire ici  sur le système à double filière pour comprendre si ce sujet est un sujet sur lequel vous souhaitez en savoir plus.   La séance consistera une présentation en direct, avec un peu de temps à la fin pour

Announcement shared by Niloufar Pourzand Navigating Humanitarian Assistance in Gaza A Fireside Chat with Sigrid Kaag, United Nations Senior Humanitarian Coordinator for Gaza Tune in at at 4:30 pm EDT on Thursday, April 25, for a conversation with Sigrid Kaag, United Nations Senior Humanitarian Coordinator for Gaza Click here to register As the Israel-Hamas war continues to engulf the Gaza Strip, international actors face challenges in delivering and distributing aid that matches Gazans’ needs. An estimated 1.7 million people in Gaza have been displaced by the conflict, creating a grave humanitarian crisis with acute shortages of food, water and medicine. Meanwhile, many of Gaza’s hospitals have stopped working, exacerbating the need to ensure timely delivery of aid.

Click here to download the report or see below : See also: Report says Israel has not presented evidence - Washington Post The purpose of the Group The Group was formed to evaluate UNRWA's efforts in maintaining neutrality and addressing allegations of serious neutrality violations, particularly in Gaza. This came after Israel's government claimed in January 2024 that some UNRWA staff may have been involved in the terror attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. The UN Secretary-General also initiated a separate investigation by the UN's OIOS to verify these allegations, which, if proven true, would be both horrifying and a severe breach of their duties to the Organization. The report's main conclusions and recommendations Based on the provided excerpt from the UN independent panel's report on UNRWA, the main recommendations are: 1. Improve engagement and transparency with donors through regular financial updates and briefings on neutrality issues. 2. Strengt

Former French FM Catherine Colonna headed the review Article shared by Tom McDermott "Former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, who led the review group, called the agency “indispensable and irreplaceable” in a news conference Monday. “As we speak, at this critical time, UNRWA has a vital role in the humanitarian response in Gaza,” she added." "Colonna and a trio of Scandinavian research institutions did not examine the Oct. 7 accusations; those claims are being probed separately by investigators from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, which is expected to release its own report later this year." Click here for the article in the Washington Post

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF welcome the news that a new oral cholera vaccine (OCV), Euvichol-S, has now received WHO prequalification and can be made available to countries around the world. The prequalification of this new product will help EuBiologics, the manufacturer, produce more volumes of vaccine, faster, and at a lower cost – a key step to expanding supply amidst the on-going acute global upsurge of cholera outbreaks. Today’s approval will help increase the overall supply of oral cholera vaccines available in 2024, with approximately 50 million doses now forecasted to be available to the global stockpile this year, compared to 38 million in 2023. Euvichol-S is an important product innovation: a simplified formulation of Euvichol-Plus that reduces the number of vaccine components – delivering a vaccine that studies have shown remains equally effective against key cholera serogroups while lowering production cost and complexity – thus allowing for larger volumes to b

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Noor now at age 19 Article shared by Tom McDermott

This week Gautam Banerji describes his artistic journey .  As Gautam so aptly says, he is guiding us along his path to the infinite, and I would add into creativity's infinite possibilities.

 

Children lining up for food in Karenni State Video shared by John Gilmartin

 Whatsapp post shared from the Toronto Reunion Whatsapp Channel Congratulations to Prameet and to his proud parents. Prameet's presentation was on infections of C. Diff ( Clostridioides difficile) and prevention and control of the disease.

Article shared by Tom McDermott

  In the State of Palestine, I met children near Ramallah who face violence, barriers & checkpoints daily. I heard heartbreaking accounts of children being detained, and war in Gaza separating mothers from their babies. All violence against children must stop now. pic.twitter.com/QjuRXdGXcd — Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) April 18, 2024

Article and video shared by Carina Prakke 

Article shared by Tom McDermott

17 April 2024 Mr. President, Members of the Council, This is a time of seismic change in the Middle East. At the heart of this region, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees – UNRWA – is a stabilizing force. In Gaza, the Agency is the backbone of the humanitarian operation, coordinating and providing lifesaving assistance. Beyond Gaza, it has championed human development for Palestine Refugees for decades across the region. Today, an insidious campaign to end UNRWA’s operations is underway, with serious implications for international peace and security. It is in this context that the Council is asked to consider the existential challenges confronting the Agency. Mr. President, Six months of relentless bombardment and a merciless siege have transformed Gaza beyond recognition. Homes, schools, and hospitals have been reduced to rubble, under which countless bodies lie. Children are bearing the brunt of this war. More than 17,000 are separated from their families, left to face

Some glimpses of a wasted culinary education: You’d think that working for UNICEF, you’d become familiar with matters nutritional, but this may only apply to a small minority of those males employed by the organisation. For some obscure reason, females – generally speaking – are hardwired to feed families. First attempts included learning that – when at university – even if you were not interested in food, it was essential to eat something from time to time. Accordingly, one had either to live in a varsity residence which never seemed to encourage budding Michelin chefs to try their hands, or to live in ‘digs’ and cater for oneself. So it was that I found myself in digs with minimalist furniture as befitted a penniless student, finding that self catering came less expensive than periodic forays to the local MacDonalds or the equivalent. Investing in cheap pots and pans might have encouraged me to try my hand – but the best I could do was a ‘spag-bol’ as it was known because none of

A gradual evolution Artificial intelligence (AI) has been with us for decades such as CCTV cameras in streets since the 1960s (which has been refined in 70s, 80s, and 90s for accuracy), Google map since 2005, Siri since 2011, Apple navigation map since 2012, Alexa since 2014, Google assistant since 2016, etc. Self-driving cars were successfully tested in 1995 and Tesla has been in the streets since 2008. Many software has been used in health, medicine, engineering and other fields for a long time; it just did not attract people’s attention. Here is a tiny example of AI application in radiology. The Clinical Cancer Imaging Center at King’s college, London trained an AI based x-Raydar medical imaging system by using 2.8 million x-rays from 1.5 million patients collected over a 13-year period from 3 hospitals to read x-rays, with 94% accuracy for 37 conditions. The programme also uses a language model based on historical reports of the above x-rays and can generate text reports in real-ti

 Instagram posts shared by Niloufar Pourzand

It was like any other morning. Calm. I could see the ocean –-sunlight trapped on tip of the waves. The salty-sea breeze was warm. I drove to the office. The ocean ran parallel with me.

Article shared by Tom McDermott

“You must understand that you will please no one” Emile Zola (1866)

 Instagram post shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Article shared by Baquer Namazi

 Article shared by Mehr Khan Williams

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Meeting Israeli Officials 16 April 2024 "Today I completed a two-day visit to the Middle East, where escalating violence continues to take an unconscionable toll on the lives of children. "On the first day in Israel, I met with some of the many Israeli families who experienced unspeakable violence on 7 October, including children taken hostage, the killing of loved ones, and the loss of homes and communities. "A relative of the two remaining Israeli children held hostage in Gaza, 4-year-old Ariel and his one-year-old brother, Kfir, told me that he just wants them back, along with their mother and father. 'We love them so much.' "Family members of released child hostages told me of the horror of being held captive, not knowing what tomorrow would bring. Six months later, families of Israeli hostages do not know the fate of their loved ones still in Gaza -- making healing or recovery impossible. "The staff at the Schneider Children's Medical Center

Press Release - April 15, 2024 One year since violence exploded in Sudan, and as the ensuing crisis continues to deepen, the lives, educations and futures of a generation of Sudanese children hang in the balance.

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Viviane Sakkal

Left to Right : Ms.Devika Kapur, Mr. Kazou Inoue, Ms.Girija Devi, Ms.Renu Ghosh, Dr.Eimi Watanabe, Mr. Yoshiro, Mr. Augustine Veliath, Ms. Shikha Wadhwa and Ms.Pallavi Chaturvedi ( daughter of Renu Ghosh).

I thought it would be nice to wish our readers on Pohela Baishakh or Bangla New year (Shuvo Noboborsho) celebrated on 14th April in Bangladesh. 

Shared by Anonymous

Shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

Article shared by Tom McDermott

This Week's Feature  The softer side of life by Thrity Cawasji Travel narratives often focus on touristy locations with pictures of monuments, natural wonders and the like. Thrity Cawasji this week shares a very different narrative, one that describes a visit to Australia's Swan Hills and her encounter with 92 year old Lucey Dacey. Read on to learn about Lucey Dacey’s hobby and her collection. Click  here . From the Editors The big news this week was the how millions watched the total solar eclipse in North America with some traveling distances to locations in the direct path of the sun.  Eid Mubarak    In another part of the world, the children in Gaza had to make do with meager food supplies while observing Eid Al Fitr amidst the rubble and destruction bereft of their homes and loved ones. Adele Khodr   The continued blockade of humanitarian supplies and restricted access of UNWRA staff has escalated the malnutrition of children. Gaza is a moral issue,  says  Adele Khodr, Reg