XUNICEF News and Views

In this week's feature article , Horst Cerni shares the magic of Protestant Cay - a small island across St. Croix, where Horst and his family have retired to.

A convoy organized by the NGO American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) was hit by an Israeli missile and the lead vehicle was destroyed, killing 5 employees of a local transport company. The Anera convoy was carrying delivering medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah. The convoy and its route had been approved by the IDF in advance. Israeli forces apparently mistakenly concluded that the convoy had been hijacked by 'armed assailants' and was being diverted. Anera described it as a “shocking incident” in a statement on Friday and said that those killed were from a local transportation company. It was urgently seeking more details about the incident. Click here for the article in the Washington Post Click here for the article in the Guardian

Article shared by Gloria Kodzwa Further analysis on the tragedy associated with international agency funding, a case of Save the Children Gloria

Article shared by Gloria Kodzwa Many lessons learnt. Please share with ex unicef retired colleagues. Gloria

We introduced a diverse world-view to Izara (granddaughter) from the day she occupied her cradle and our hearts. We began early––in her infancy she grasped at tiny shreds of compelling reality with a punch of fun-mixed-joy through stories and songs and poems and toys . . . it was the covid-era, we were always home. We had ample time to present her with huddles of options focused on culture, race, faith, compassion, decency, confidence, integrity (and whatnot!!) as she grew by micro-inches each moment, each day . . . we didn't forget important issues like health, climate, the earth . . . (we were/are hopeless, hapless romantics . . .)

Article shared by Kul Gautam This IPS News article contains some of my thoughts on the perpetual funding crisis facing the UN.I hope the forthcoming UN Summit of the Future addresses this critical issue along with other important proposals for the reform of the UN and other multilateral institutions and frameworks.

Article shared by Tom McDermott Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO According to Rik Peeperkorn, WHO's Representative for Palestine, the IDF and Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow for the vaccination campaign to operate. The pause in fighting should begin on Sunday and last each of the 3 days from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The campaign would start in central Gaza, then move to southern Gaza, followed by northern Gaza. Peeperkorn added that there was an agreement to extend the humanitarian pause in each zone to a fourth day if needed. Click here for the article in Reuters

This is not a fairy tale, and the magic may not be that obvious. But like so much in life, it is what we make of it - it is in the eye of the beholder.

The recent polio outbreak in Gaza, which paralyzed a 10-month-old child, is a stark reminder of the challenges and limitations of the global polio eradication campaign. As reported by AP News, the case involved a mutated strain of the poliovirus that was shed by vaccinated individuals, underscoring the risks associated with the 2016 decision to switch vaccine types. Similar outbreaks were reported last year in Egypt and may be linked to the Gaza case. Moreover, the high prevalence of polio detected in Gaza's sewage is directly tied to the region's inadequate sanitation infrastructure and the significant decline in polio vaccination coverage since the outbreak of war. Prior to the conflict, Gaza's children enjoyed near-universal vaccination rates.

It has been an 'on again, off again' week in Gaza. This is nothing new, but given that it is the week before the massive polio vaccination campaign was set to begin, the week has left everyone guessing. A few developments:

After reading Nuzhat's column including the links she shared and a number of articles appeared thereafter with theories of invisible and some not so invisible hands in internal affairs of Bangladesh, it is not unimaginable to think of South Asia, home to one quarter of the world population, as a twilight zone dominated by dynastic rule, elected authoritarians, a full-blown nepotism, political assassinations and corruption. What happened in Bangladesh is the latest episode of these events in the region, which may not be the last. With India, aspiring to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council and China, already a permanent member of UN Security Council while not considered part of South Asia but shares common borders with four of the seven South Asian countries, the interest of major powers in this region with their veiled shadow is unavoidable like twilight in the entire landmass of Asia.

Article shared by Margherita Amodeo I am more than shocked, flabbergasted, outree at the UN’s lack of decisive remedial action to put a stop to the killings, torture, destruction of Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank. IT HAS TO STOP. HOW ABOUT IF WE WERE TO WRITE AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYING THAT THE UN IS DIVESTING ITSELF OF ITS RAISON D’ETRE, ITS MANDATE, ITS ROLE IF IT DOES NOT ACT. THE UN HAS TO ACT. NOBODY ELSE WILL. THE SG SHOULD GO TO GAZA NOW! AND WHAT ABOUT THE HEADS OF THE DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS GROUPS WHO TAKE THEMSELVES SO SERIOUSLY? WHY ARE THEY SILENT? Let me know what you think. Best, Margherita Click here for the article in PassBlue Excerpts: "A senior UN official confirmed on Monday in a private briefing with journalists that aid operations in Gaza were paused as efforts are underway to relocate over 90 international staff members, along with more than 140 national staff and their dependents. The UN had moved its operations from Rafah, in Gaz...

Article shared by Lou Mendez WFP is investigating two senior officials in Sudan over allegations of fraud and concealing information from donors about its ability to deliver food aid. The officials, Khalid Osman and Mohammed Ali, are suspected of misleading donors about the Sudanese army's role in blocking aid deliveries and the disappearance of 200,000 liters of WFP fuel. Osman, who has been suspended, had high-level army connections and may have used his position to limit access and scrutiny of the army's management of aid. Ali is being investigated in connection with the missing fuel. Both officials have declined to comment. Click here for the article in Reuters Excerpts: "WFP deputy country director Osman allegedly hid from donors that authorities aligned with the army in Port Sudan had refused to give permission for 15 trucks to carry life-saving aid to Nyala in South Darfur, an area that includes communities at risk of famine. The trucks waited for seven weeks before...

Newsletter shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Guardian Goose Imagine, if you will, a young Zimbabwean boy being schooled in ‘the bundu’ about events in ancient Rome. ‘Bundu’, by the way, means ‘bush’ in Zimbabwean vernacular, where the camel thorn tree produces arrow-straight and very sharp thorns often over six inches long, which were fearsome weapons for us children to wield in defence of our imaginary homes. Or to be used as replacement needles for the primitive gramophones we had – to play our favourite recording of ‘Pedro the sailor man’. If you’ve never heard of Pedro Serrano, it probably means that you never encountered the likes of our bush school.

Pedro Guazo, UNJSPF Investment Chief UNJSPF has reduced its allocation to equity (stock allocations) in its $92.5 billion portfolio by 10% due to overvaluation in tech. They are also stepping into new allocations in venture, impact, and private credit as well as fixed income.

I spotted the three men in work-gears and signs at the mouth of my regular trail. The mornings are becoming nicer––suddenly the air of fall has begun to float. Climate is becoming impulsive.

Shared by Baquer Namazi and Moncef Bouhafa In the unlikely event that you have not already seen this article... Baquer .... UNICEF delivered over 1.2 million doses of polio vaccine to Gaza on Monday, the first step in the difficult challenge of vaccinating 640,000 children living there.  UNRWA hopes to begin distributing the vaccines to clinics and mobile teams inside Gaza on Saturday.

With mpox being declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization because of its rapid spread, all eyes have been on the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accounts for nearly all of this year’s recorded cases and more than 450 deaths. Mpox outbreak raises alarm in Eastern and Southern Africa as cases increase among children 

According to this article Israel has been using targetted advertisements in Search, News, and YouTube to undermine support for UNRWA in certain countries.

A study published by American Cancer Society on 1 August 2024 reported that incidence of 17 different types of cancers such as colorectal, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, intestinal cancer, etc. are two to three times higher in people born in the 1990s cohort.

  Our feature - August 19th this year marked the 21st anniversary of the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad. In noting that tragic day Margherita Amodeo offers us a poignant memoir of her own two year assignment at a slightly earlier period of UN history. In Baghdad, Bittersweet Memories Margherita shares both sad and happy memories of those days that preceeded the bombing that killed so many of our colleagues. World Humanitarian Da y this year highlighted the alarming rise in attacks on aid workers. With a record number of casualties in 2023, (280 were killed during 2023, 224 wounded, and 91 were kidnapped). the humanitarian community faces unprecedented risks. Explore the 4 most dangerous countries for humanitarian workers according to the EU. UNICEF  in Armenia - As more and more of our country offices are reaching anniversaries of their founding, we are delighted to see efforts to research and document their pasts. Here is a chance for all of us to help. UN...

 

A very colorful 'parterre' near the driveway It was a gorgeous day, after a series of cold and wet ones, and we took a walk around our Nun's Island. The weather was around 22 C, the wind had died down, the sun was bright and warm, the flowers were blooming, and the bees and butterflies abounded. A small, dainty, but very pretty 'parterre' in front of our building This is when we can be thankful for the small things in Nature. Fouad A lush bunch of hortensia flowers Some wild flowers near our artificial lake and a lovely butterfly The entrance to our lobby in the building...it is a one of its kind art work.

According to this article, three years after the last worldwide mpox outbreak, the WHO still has neither officially approved the vaccines — although the United States and Europe have — nor has it issued an emergency use license that would speed access. Bureaucratic approval processes in WHO have kept mpox vaccines from reaching the Democratic Republic of Congo and other affected countries, despite a global health emergency. WHO has not yet approved or issued emergency use licenses for mpox vaccines, which is necessary for UNICEF and Gavi to distribute them in low-income countries. WHO claims it lacked sufficient data for full approval and could only start the emergency license process after declaring a global health emergency. UNICEF, along with Gavi, requires WHO approval or emergency use license to buy and distribute mpox vaccines in low-income countries like Congo. Gavi, which helps facilitate immunizations in developing nations, has been waiting for WHO's emergency authorizat...

E ditor's note: Last week we published "Are We On Mute?" , a survey of youth attitudes to politics conducted by UNICEF USA and the Harris Poll. We asked Victor Karunan, as our expert on youth issues, to review the study, as we felt that the findings could be important not just for readers in the US, but also for other countries.  Many thanks to Victor for his keen insights and expert advice. A Review Prepared by UNICEF USA by the Harris Poll by Victor P. Karunan, Bangkok, Thailand This is a short review of the UNICEF USA sponsored Harris Poll conducted in May 2024. The overall purpose of this research was to poll young people’s views and perspectives on the political process in the USA leading up to the Presidential Elections in November 2024. The survey was conducted between April-May 2024 among 3,194 teens/young adults – including 1,598 aged 14 to 17 years. The online poll covered the following key topic areas: ♣ Issues of greatest importance and concern ♣ Attitudes...

I am pleased to share our latest update on the reunion preparations. Kindly share it with any XUNICEF members who are interested in participating in the reunion. Many thanks Ces Adorna

Article shared by Anis Salem "According to the UN, Gaza, now in its 11th month of war, has not registered a polio case for 25 years, although type 2 poliovirus was detected in samples collected from the territory’s wastewater in June." "UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russel said that the re-emergence of the virus in the strip after 25 years is "another sobering reminder of how chaotic, desperate and dangerous the situation has become". "In order to try to contain the spread, the UN has been pressing for a week-long pause in fighting to carry out a polio vaccination campaign for more than 640,000 children under the age of 10.

UNICEF notes with deep regret the execution of four young people in the Somali state of Puntland this past weekend for offences committed as children when they were under the age of 18 , while they were allegedly associated with Al Shabaab. The convictions and sentences were issued by military courts, which lack specialized child justice procedures and are no place for children. See also :  Amnesty International article Halt Execution Spree of Children in Puntland    UNICEF recalls that the Puntland Age Verification Committee including representatives from Puntland authorities met with the young people and concluded that they were minors at the time of arrest and that they should not face the death penalty. UNICEF requests the Puntland authorities to prevent the imposition of death sentences and calls for the due process to be ensured for all young adults arrested for their association with armed groups when they were below the age of 18 years, in line with the Juvenile L...

If you're following the election in America, you know about the references made regarding the so-called "cat ladies." Just a little "catch-up ketchup" for those who haven't. The conservative (white-men's) Republican Party's nominated macho-weird vice presidential candidate JD Vance demeaned women who are childless as "cat ladies." He mainly targeted the opposition progressive- Democratic party, crowning it as a party led by childless leaders including the party's presidential nominee, Kamala Harris. Let me first address the group on the other side of the gender spectrum of cat ladies––the dog-gentlemen. I find this "species" highly engaging, pleasant and exorbitantly proud of their dogs. I see them walking their dogs with unabashed-upbeat energy. Some canines are big, adorable, good looking––others are medium in size––ugly, friendly . . . some are small, delicate in appearance, sort of mean (bark at me). Izara, my granddaugh...

Photo by Adrian Lobo Have you ever wondered about that expression, once in a blue moon or perhaps used it yourself ? According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the term blue moon originated from the 16th-century expression “the Moon is blue,” meaning something that was impossible. For two years following the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia in 1883, people around the world reported seeing strangely coloured sunsets and a Moon that appeared blue. With this possible, but uncommon, occurrence, “once in a blue moon” came to mean rare rather than impossible. Doreen Lobo Super Blue Moon image captured on 20 August 2024 by Adrian Lobo outside our home in CT, USA. Click here for the NASA article, The Next Full Moon is a Super Blue Moon

In our daily conversation poverty directly translates to lack of money. But in reality, poverty has a complicated relationship with human civilisation since time immemorial - have and have not. It has a direct link with a country's governance and by default is linked to democracy, human rights, equality & equity and economic policy, all the issues that politicians lament about. Poverty is not associated with fate which many people believed in ancient times. Poverty is a political choice.

Our winter was mild. So far this summer, the temperature rose up to 80 degrees––some days in the 90s, not so often. Towards midnight it begins sliding to lower 60s.

Instagram post shared by Niloufar Pourzand Palestine and South Sudan are among the most dangerous places to work as a humanitarian.⁣ ⁣ 

 The Beast of Bodmin Moor Today, Friday (5-7-2024) is Election Day in the United Kingdom. Unlike in previous General Elections, we are obliged to bring photographic identification to the Polling Station as an additional check against voter fraud. Luckily, we live in a sleepy village where nearly everyone knows everyone else, so it’s a time to catch up on the local gossip as well as voting.

The Olympic flame in Paris 2024 has been doused and Tom Cruise showed us all what was in store for 2028 at the 34th Olympiad in Los Angeles, USA. Last week I shared a story about my 1957 exploits at the University in various track and field events. But, that was not the end of the story as I discovered more items on the subject in old albums. After ten years as a national staffer in UNICEF Beirut, I was offered an international post in Cairo in 1969. However I instead asked for a year's study leave prior to that appointment. It was approved and I enrolled at my Alma Mater, the AUB, for a Master's programm in "development planning & public administration". A few days before the academic year started in September Nadia and I got married and after the briefest honeymoon I began my courses and planning for my thesis.  Although the condensed one-year course was demanding, I still enjoyed some sports activities and decided to participate i...

The world saw a record number of aid workers killed in 2023 - 280 aid workers from 33 countries. This was more than double the previous year’s figure of 118, according to OCHA on World Humanitarian Day. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted that honoring the humanitarians killed in the deadliest year on record is not enough.The Principals of the Inter-agency Standing Committee sent the following open letter to the member states on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day. Open Letter to the Member States of the UN General Assembly, on behalf of the IASC PrincipalsSigned by 413 humanitarian organizations around the world who are calling for the protection of civilians, including their staff Excellencies, This World Humanitarian Day, our staff and volunteers around the world will stand in solidarity to spotlight the horrifying toll of armed conflicts on their colleagues and on all civilians, particularly children. The brutal hostilities we are seeing in multiple conflicts around ...

Jamie McGoldrick Martin Griffiths Article shared by Niloufar Pourzand "They may sound at first like a couple of thoughtful guys settled into comfy chairs, talking about the war in Gaza. But in a rare instance of candid public conversation, two former United Nations officials who know the territory well reveal their frustrations over the siege by Israel and the failure of diplomacy to end the war."

UNICEF Armenia is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year.  The Representative, Christine Weigand, is asking for help by XUNICEF members in tracing the UNICEF staff who built the country programme and office over those years.  

By the end of 2024, an estimated 609,808 children will be acutely malnourished, with 118,570 projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition—a 34 percent increase from 2023 levels. Additionally, around 222,918 pregnant and breastfeeding women are expected to be malnourished.

Podcast shared by Kul Gautam Thant Myint-U A fascinating counterfactual discussion between Professor David Runciman and historian Thant Myint-U about his grandfather U Thant, UN Secretary-General for most of the 1960s and the man who might have ended the Vietnam War before it really got started. How close did U Thant get to bringing LBJ and the Vietcong to the negotiating table in 1964? What ultimately scuppered his chances? And how differently might the Cold War have turned out if he had succeeded?  Kul