If the thought of a man armed with a rifle and driving with whips a group of African men, women, and children to sell them at a slave market makes you marvel at what kind of greed motivated such revolting barbarity centuries ago, the shocking truth is that we are witnessing a 21st century repeat of that abhorrent practice on African soil.
Source: UN News Center
The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) – a pool of funding which supports critical relief operations in crises around the world – has allocated $11 million to help meet the life-saving needs of some 147,000 people in southern Chad, where aid operations are faltering in want of resources.
The Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development of the Federal Government of Somalia took a major step forward in strengthening the rights of children today by launching the drafting process of its Child Rights Bill, a gesture that the Ministry strongly believes will guarantee a better future for Somali children.
Adverse climatic conditions, a sluggish global economy and conflicts are key factors driving food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations agriculture agency said on Thursday.
Experts say confusion over the rights of local healthcare workers to provide the service while receiving US funds only benefits Trump administration.
The armed groups in Darfur have largely been defeated and the ferocity of intercommunal violence has declined, but anxiety over safety continues to keep many people from returning to their homes, a senior United Nations peacekeeping official told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Windhoek-Veteran journalist and gender activist, Sarry Xoagus-Eises who died on Monday was a ‘warrior for women’s rights. This is according to gender activist, Ngamane Karuaihe-Upi who also said it would be hard to replace her.
Source: IPS
“Five years ago, when we first started talking about including gender in the negotiations, the parties asked us, ‘Why gender?’ Today, they are asking, ‘How do we include gender?’ That’s the progress we have seen since Doha,” said Kalyani Raj.
Source: UN News
With the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23), in Bonn, Germany, entering its final week of negotiations, the Fiji Presidency today announced an agreement on a Gender Action Plan, highlighting the role of women in climate action.
Source: UN Women
More than 2 million people across Mozambique, especially in the southern and central regions, have been affected by severe drought since 2015. The prolonged crisis has exhausted household food stock, disrupted lives and livelihood. For Mozambican women and girls, who are primarily responsible for managing food and water for their families, the drought has also meant increased work burden and earlier marriages, leading to lost childhood, education and opportunities.
Despite efforts to stem malnutrition, children across Africa remain deeply impacted, says the Global Nutrition Report launched this week in Abidjan.
The report says Africa is the only region where absolute numbers are rising, due to population growth.
At least 10 million children in Africa are now classified as overweight, out of 41 million world over.
Up to 59 million children on the continent are stunted-too short for their age due to lack of nutrients and suffering irreversible damage to brain capacity.
African economies lose between 1.9 and 16.5% of gross domestic product annually to undernutrition, due to increased mortality, absenteeism, and chronic illnesses and associated costs, and lost productivity.
Some 14 million children are wasted-too thin for their height.
Almost every country in the world now faces a serious nutrition-related challenge, whether stemming from undernutrition, obesity, or non-communicable diseases.
The gathering brings together high-profile global leaders, 60 countries and 700 participants to discuss how to tackle malnutrition
"The problem of malnutrition, be it undernutrition or obesity, is an alarming public health problem and real global concern. Malnutrition is at the heart of the problem of fighting extreme poverty, and an important dimension of social and human development," said Daniel Kablan Duncan, Vice-President of Côte d'Ivoire.
At least 46 children, some as young as 18 months, were raped near the village of Kavumu between 2013 and 2016.
Big foreign companies growing crops in Africa often promise jobs and development to local communities then leave them in even greater poverty when their projects falter, a campaign group said on Wednesday.
Promised economic and educational opportunities her parents thought too good to refuse, Rose left home for Zanzibar. But a life of fear and exploitation awaited the 13-year-old – a fate that has become all too familiar to kids in the region.
Thanks to the recent expansion of HIV/AIDS services conducted by the United Nations migration agency, some 171,000 civilians and their host communities have gained benefit from these health facilities in South Sudan.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
"I stay because I don't have a choice. I'll put up with it until I can't take it anymore."
Source: World Economic Forum
Gender parity is fundamental to whether and how economies and societies thrive. Ensuring the full development and appropriate deployment of half of the world’s total talent pool has a vast bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide. The Global Gender Gap Report benchmarks 144 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. In addition, this year’s edition also analyses the dynamics of gender gaps across industry talent pools and occupations.
Link to download PDF file: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf
Source: UN News
Briefing the press at United Nations Headquarters in New York for the first time, the first-ever UN advocate for the rights of victims of sexual exploitation and abuse on Friday highlighted her role to give those who have suffered “visibility” and amplify their voices.
When we hear about irregular migration from Africa to Europe, migrants are frequently portrayed as victims of human traffickers who exploit vulnerable people on the move. Migrants have even been called ‘modern-day slaves’ in need of humanitarian protection. But is this an accurate assessment? Are irregular migrants today really enslaved, or are they simply trying to make their way through borders that have become progressively securitised?
As 2017 comes to a close, so does the African Union’s (AU) Year of the Youth. It was crucial for the AU Commission to mainstream young people in its policies and structures for good governance, peace and security. The task now is for the commission, regional economic communities (RECs) and African states to match policy commitments with investments in implementation.