May 25, 2019 No comments
Energy of African youth ‘propelling’ new development era as UN ties bear fruit
INTERNATIONAL, 24 May 2019, Economic Development - The “boundless energy and optimism” of young Africans is propelling the continent into a new era of sustainable development, alongside new partnerships between the UN and African Union. That’s according to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his message on Saturday to mark international Africa Day. Earlier this year, the UN chief was in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where he spent time with schoolgirls from 34 different African nations, who were learning to code. “They were not only developing their skills; they were challenging gender stereotypes and embracing the inclusive digital technology that will be critical to take the continent towards a low carbon, climate resilient future”, he said. “The boundless energy and optimism of Africa’s young people are propelling the...
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May 24, 2019 No comments
‘Huge’ stakes, ‘daunting’ job to tackle gender-based violence, UNICEF chief tells ground-breaking conference
INTERNATIONAL, 24 May 2019, Women - One-in-three girls or women will experience physical or sexual violence in her lifetime, and “the risk multiplies” during a conflict or natural disaster, the Executive Director of UNICEF told delegates attending the first-ever “Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Humanitarian Crises Conference” on Friday, in the Norwegian capital, Oslo. In a ground-breaking collaboration, the Governments of Norway, Iraq, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) together with UN agencies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is taking on the global SGBV challenge. The conference yielded a total of $363 million in pledges from 21 countries for 2019, 2020 and beyond, including $226.2 million to be spent on priorities this year alone. The devastating violence is not inevitable and those...
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May 24, 2019 No comments
UN honours peacekeepers who ‘paid the ultimate price’, for the sake of others
INTERNATIONAL, 24 May 2019, Peace and Security - Ever since the UN deployed the first of its 72 peacekeeping missions back in 1948, more than 3,800 peacekeepers have lost their lives, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday, at a wreath laying ceremony in honour of those “brave men and women” who serve. Speaking of “the true cost of peacekeeping”, the UN chief called for a moment of silence for those who “paid the ultimate price” to protect others and “to give war-torn countries a chance for peace and hope”. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned –Secretary-General Hammarskjöld “Today, in 14 missions around the world, our peacekeepers serve heroically to preserve...
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May 24, 2019 No comments
He died so I could live: UN peacekeeper pays tribute to fallen colleague
INTERNATIONAL, 24 May 2019, Peace and Security - But for the selfless bravery of the UN ‘blue helmet’ who dragged him to safety during a firefight against Congolese militiamen, it is unlikely that Corporal Ali Khamis Omary would be alive to tell the tale. The man who saved him, Malawian peacekeeper Chancy Chitete, was not so lucky. On Friday, Private Chitete’s brave and selfless action was commemorated at a ceremony held at UN headquarters in New York, when his family received the “Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage,” the UN’s highest peacekeeping award, on his behalf. Speaking exclusively to UN News’s Stella Vuzo on Friday, Tanzanian UN peacekeeper Corporal Omary recalled the deadly outcome of November 14, 2018. Along with Private Chitete, and...
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May 24, 2019 No comments
Around 600,000 Afghan children face death through malnutrition without emergency funds: UNICEF
INTERNATIONAL, 24 May 2019, Humanitarian Aid - In Afghanistan, children suffering from the most serious form of malnutrition may die, unless $7 million in funding is found within weeks, UNICEF said on Friday. Speaking in Geneva, UN Children’s Fund spokesperson Christophe Boulierac, likened the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country to “one of the worst disasters on earth”. And he warned that increased violence and last year’s severe drought have left hundreds of thousands of under-fives, critically vulnerable in the west and north of the country. “There are two million children in the country which suffer from acute malnutrition, among them 600,000 children that suffer from severe acute malnutrition,” he said. “A child that suffers from acute severe malnutrition is a child that needs urgent...
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