XUNICEF News and Views

Shared by Tom McDermott This article by the former USAID communications lead raises a question - how well has any agency for international humanitarian or development aid done in 'selling' the public in donor countries on the importance of the work it does? 

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol Interesting information. This is not Big Brother watching, it is Big Brother and his WholeFamily spying on us. Enjoy Fouad Click here for the article Summary This in-depth investigation reveals how smart home devices — from TVs and thermostats to doorbells and security cameras — quietly collect vast amounts of personal data and feed it into a sprawling, opaque data-broker economy.

Shared by Baquer Namazi   Link: Click here for the article Summary On June 23, 2025, Israel launched an airstrike on Tehran’s Evin Prison during working hours, targeting the front gate and nearby judicial complex.

We post links to news stories relevant to UNICEF, the UN, child rights and so forth each day.  We encourage readers to check these articles each day, either by visiting our website or by subscribing to the daily 'Follow It' emails.  Some readers, however, read News & Views only once a week, so we are experimenting with an AI overview of the stores we linked during the week.  Please let us know if you find this linking useful. Gaza: Starvation, Shootings, and Blockade Renewed Haaretz reported that Israeli forces were ordered to shoot unarmed civilians queuing for food, leading to over 400 deaths. Israel denies the charge but has opened an internal probe. Médecins Sans Frontières called the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation a "slaughter masquerading as aid," while Gaza authorities report finding oxycodone in U.S.-backed flour sacks. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell called Gaza an "absolute hellscape," and UNICEF R...

Back from a photography visit in Havana, I am sharing some photographs of what turned to be a heartwarming encounter with the Cuban people. The photos were made in the famous Prodanza Ballet Center, in a boxing gym, at a Santeria religious ceremony, in a barber shop, and in the streets of diverse neighborhoods of the city. 

 

 

Pope Francis’ Jubilee Commission Calls for a Radical Overhaul of the Global Financial System In June 2024  Pope Francis convened a high-level commission in June 2024 to address the worsening debt, development, and climate crises facing the Global South.

The United Nations this week celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the signing of its Charter in San Francisco on June 26,1945.

How we landed here I preserved this T-shirt as a souvenir, which I bought in Bangkok in 1991 while I was with UNICEF in Vietnam. 

Shared by Kul Gautam Here is a powerful testimony by Bill Gates to the US Senate Appropriations Committee about the importance of foreign aid health programs, and how cutting aid costs can lead to millions of lives being lost and the risk of the spread of deadly diseases that put Americans and the whole world at risk. What a contrast with the despicable statement by RFK suspending US funding for GAVI on trumped-up charges of not following unproven, exaggerated fringe views on vaccine safety.

Shared by Niloufar Pourzand and Gautam Banerji View this email in your browser Dear former UN Colleagues,

Article shared by Robert Cohen and Kul Gautam, Comments by Kul Gautam A must-read column by Nick Kristof. He offers fitting answers to critics of foreign aid who blame it as wasteful & ineffective, and why we must redirect those funds to tackle domestic problems in the US & Europe.

Article shared by John Gilmartin Another bomb launched through Bobby Junior. GAVI is today's target.

                                      (I photographed it from Google-search page)   Saturday morning began in a leisurely style. My son and his family were vacationing in Dhaka. My granddaughters, Izara and Raya, were gone for weeks. Getting out of the house was the best way to manage their absence . . .

Video shared by Robert Cohen How can extraordinary heartbreaking firsthand testimony like James Elder's not break the world's silence and complicity? Robert

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol Here is another excellent article by Subha Reddy - this one about starving children in Gaza.

Article shared by Fouad Kronfol This is an excellent article  by Subha Reddy on the erasure of a people's knowledge system.  Fouad

  Article shared by Tom McDermott Click here for the article Summary Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, has resigned, citing deep frustration with both the U.N. system and the broader geopolitical stalemate surrounding the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Article shared by Tom McDermott The article If Not a Humanitarian Reset, Then What? (The New Humanitarian, 23 June 2025) is a review of five earlier articles in The New Humanitarian that examined the future of humanitarian reform. Some of the internal links in the original piece were not functioning. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.  See below for the corrected links and summary.

  Richard Stanley Reid May 21, 1934 — June 4, 2025 San Diego

Exchange of emails between Kul Gautam and Mukesh Kapila Dear Dr. Kapila, I am not sure if we have met before during our respective careers at the UN. But I have long been an admirer of your leadership, your writings and advocacy, especially on matters concerning global health, human development and humanitarian assistance.

Article shared by Kul Gautam Click here for the article Summary Nicholas Kristof reports from Sierra Leone and Liberia on the catastrophic human cost of the abrupt shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. by the Trump administration.

Dear American  colleagues,  In the face of the decimation of the US foreign aid programs by the Trump administration, many of us feel helpless and despondent. But there are still some things that American citizens can do. 

Article shared by Kul Gautam A gripping blow-by-blow account of how USAID was thrown into the woodchipper, as the world's richest man cheered. Kul

Article shared by Kul Gautam Thank you, Switzerland.  Admire your spirit. Wish other OECD countries would be as enlightened and generous as Switzerland.  Kul

 I woke up with the pleasant surprise that the cyanotype of mine of The Old Textile Mill has made it to the Fifth International Print Biennale 2025 to be held in Yerevan later this year. 

 

 

Tehran, 20 June 2025 The continued escalation of hostilities in Iran poses a grave threat to the lives and well-being of millions of children.

Recent articles in NY real estate and business journals have reported that the UN is expanding its office space at 2 United Nations Plaza and a two-story retail space at 1 United Nations Plaza along with extending an already existing lease at those locations.

Book announcement shared by Niloufar Pourzand Thant Myint-U's book Peacemaker, has been scheduled for release in September 2025.

Article shared by Tom McDermott This is the first time I can recall an article a UNICEF spokesperson appearing in a major newspaper.  Let's hope James' message is heard, not just in Israel and in the countries supporting its war in Gaza, but also by other news media who continue to pass over the story.  

Dear ASHI participant, We hope that you and your family are well. The UN Health and Life Insurance Section (HLIS) is pleased to invite you to an online information session on Tuesday, 24 June, focused on the upcoming changes to the UNHQ-administered US-based health insurance plans: Aetna PPO, Anthem PPO, and Cigna Dental PPO. Detailed information on the upcoming changes can be found in the Information Circular: ST/IC/2025/4 . In addition to plan changes, the session will also cover other important topics, including Medicare Part B. Upcoming online information sessions:Information Session on US-based plans: 9 - 10:30 am on Tuesday 24th June (EST) - ⁠Click here to start the session on the US-based plans on Tuesday We encourage all participants in these plans to join and stay informed. More information:Information Circular on the UNHQ-administered health insurance programme: ST/IC/2025/4 Toolkit for Retirees: www.un.org/insurance/content/retirees 2025 UN Health Insurance Plan Cost Incr...

Article shared by Kul Gautam Bless you, Nicholas Kristof, for touching our heartstrings with many such op-eds. Many problems in the world are complex and intractable, but combating malnutrition is not one of them.

  Brilliant Puns: *      A man who wants a pretty nurse, must be patient.* *      A man who leaps off a cliff, jumps to a conclusion.* *      A man running in front of a car gets tyred; And a man running behind a car, gets exhausted.* *      War does not determine who is right. It determines who is left.* *      A man who drives like hell, is bound to get there.* *      Toilets are a great place to think. No wonder they are called "Sochalayas".* *      Beer rises in the yeast and settles in the waist.*

Earlier this week, our "Photo Memory of the Week" featured a group photo shared by Niloufar Pourzand, capturing members of the joint UNICEF–WHO emergency mission to Iraq.

Give peace a chance – John Lennon There are numerous multilateral organisations, the largest one being the United Nations. There are many such regional organisations focused on specific regions such as ASEAN, GCC, EU and there are others focused on businesses and industries such as OPEC and WTO while some focused on defense such as NATO.

AM I REALLY GOING MAD ? Following the written exchanges between my wife and her Canadian cousin about the cold war and how she wished to teach her grandchildren something about their own history, the latter made a comment about what sounded like a nuclear accident in Canada.  No, you didn’t misread that, it was in Canada.

Shared by Lou Mendez Thought this piece would make us all angry…. Lou

  As of 2023, Africa is home to an estimated 627 million children under the age of 18. By 2050-2055, this number is projected to rise to nearly 1 billion, which means that 40 percent of the world’s children will be in Africa. That translates to 4 out of every 10 children in the world will be African. 

 In mid 1980 I had the good fortune to join the UNICEF country office in the Philippines. What I did not fully realize at the outset, was that I was joining one of the best of UNICEF teams anywhere. Twenty of us worked along a narrow corridor with tiny offices on the fifth floor of the government of the Philippines office of the National Economic Development Authority. While a number of UNICEF offices were struggling for gender balance, our Manila team was composed of five men and about 15 ladies.

15 June 2025 – “This weekend’s surge in violence across the Middle East signals a dangerous escalation. Children are once again paying the ultimate price. “Since Friday, an intense military escalation in the region has seen strikes on Iran and Israel hit residential areas, killing and injuring civilians – including children – and causing damage to civilian infrastructure. “Beyond the death toll, this alarming escalation creates widespread fear and trauma among children in all communities.

 

 

Hiromu Shimizu Article shared by Lou Mendez I ran into this article about one of the students of Mary Racelis who is Japanese and a known anthropologist back in the homeland.

Greetings! I'm writing to request your help in publishing an invitation for my first solo exhibition “Metropolis”. It will take place from 24 June to 12 July 2025 in NOHO M55 Gallery located in Chelsea at 548 West 28th Street, St. #634, New York, NY 10001. The opening reception is on 26 June from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. I will be happy if my colleagues from UNICEF could visit the show. Vassilina

 

 

 

Press Release: Statement on UNICEF Board Decisions The United States regrets today’s decision at the 2025 Annual Session of the UNICEF executive board, and feels compelled to clarify our position. The United States is compelled to register serious concerns with the framing, programming, and underlying considerations contained in the decisions and reports provided by UNICEF. We do not accept the framing, programming and work as outlined in the background materials on the following issues: As we have previously stressed, the United States cannot accept an unnecessary and distracting focus on climate in this body’s work, including in its background documents. UNICEF, among all UN organizations, should re-focus on its core mandate of assisting children, including those impacted by environmental events such as natural disasters, without using the rigid casting of climate as a root cause or defining factor in this assistance. Similarly, many of the underlying texts to these decisions include...

Articles shared by Lou Mendez Editor's Note: Earlier this week we posted UNFPA's World Population Report, 2025. Cory Ohlendorf writing in The Daily Valet gave some interesting comments on the report and linked David Bloom's IMF article. Both are worth reading. Click the links for the full articles.

(c) UNICEF / Nicole Toutounji A tribute I wrote to the life and work of Sebastião Salgado has just been published in PassBlue. I am also including Nicole Toutounji's portrait of Salgado. Ellen Tolmie

It is generally thought that the business of development agencies is to add value to donor money by garnishing the funds with policy advice, because allegedly countries do not know what is good for them, and by micro-managing or implementing the funds, because countries do not know how to handle money.

It started late but started well Civilians have suffered throughout human history during the reign of all empires, colonialism, slavery, World Wars and countless local & regional conflicts.

Shared by Robert Cohen Click here for the article Summary UNICEF staff are mounting strong opposition to major budget cuts, warning that the reductions threaten services for children in wealthy countries and may severely hamper UNICEF’s fundraising capacity in Europe.

ENTRANCE TO THE DIEFENBUNKER My wife comes of Irish stock so, inevitably, has cousins all over the world.  One of those cousins has become addicted to ‘Ancestry.com’ so we are often provided snippets of her family’s history that probably should have remained hidden.

Mukesh now has a regular podcast series, which readers may want to check out.

 

Shared by Lou Mendez UN Broadcast Message 10 June 2025 | New York | DMSPC/OHR US Presidential proclamation on “Restricting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats” The President of the United States signed a proclamation on 4 June 2025 restricting the entry into the United States of nationals of several countries. Please see: “ Restricting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats ”. Please note that the proclamation still permits nationals of these countries with a valid G-1, G-2, G-3 or G-4 visa to enter the United States (see section 4 (b) (iii) of the proclamation). As mentioned in the previous broadcast messages, should you require immediate support, please contact the UN Security & Safety Service Control Center at (212) 963-6666 (available 24/7). Note: The restriction currently appl...

  Pour la version française, voir ci-dessous  For the French version, please see below

It's the big, buzzy, touristy Grand Central Oyster Bar, the iconic NYC restaurant located in the lower cavernous space of bustling Grand Central Station. Locals go too! ...like Sylvia (xUnicef Budget Officer-Africa region) and myself, to enjoy good gab, a glass of wine and seafood! Myra

Shared by Tom McDermott "But the real crisis is that the most consequential reproductive decision a human being can make – when, whether and with whom to have a child – is being undermined."