Archive for November 27th, 2014

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27/11/2014

Orphans in the Kitchen: Young Refugees Find Comfort in "Mama Ada"

Human Wrongs Watch

Surrounded by trauma and heartbreak, one refugee finds a new calling: cooking and caring for children who have lost their parents in wartime.

UNHCR/Olivier Laban-Mattei

UNHCR/Olivier Laban-Mattei

By Baptiste de Cazenove*, Cameroon, 24 November 2014 (UNHCR) — The mist clears over Gado-Badzere, the largest site in Cameroon for refugees from the Central African Republic. It is 6:30 a.m. when little faces begin to emerge. Big dark eyes open wide, tiny bodies stretch and slowly make their way to a towering hut open to the four winds.

This is the realm of Adama Hamadou. As Gado’s resident cook, she is already busy with her cauldrons. But this 31-year-old refugee will not neglect her other mission: to look after her 10 wards, whose parents died or were separated from them in the course of a brutal war back home. As young as 18 months and as old as 16 years, they have found a new family in Adama, the woman they call “Mama Ada.”

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27/11/2014

Ritual Dancing, Bread-making Among Cultural Practices Added to World's Cultural Heritage

Human Wrongs Watch

Brazil’s martial art of Capoeira, Burundi’s ritual dance of the royal drum and the preparation of Lavash – a popular flatbread integral to Armenian cuisine – are among the eight elements added on 26 November 2014 to the United Nations-endorsed list of the world’s intangible cultural heritage – part of the world body’s ongoing efforts to highlight global diversity and raise awareness of its importance.

The Isukuti dance of Isukha and Idakho communities of Western Kenya has been inscribed in 2014 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Photo: Department of Culture, Kenya | Source: UN News Centre.

The traditions recognized by the UN – which also include the ritual and ceremonies of Sebeïba of Algeria; the traditional art of Azerbaijan‘s Kelaghavi silk headscarves; the Pujillay and Ayarichi music and dances of Bolivia‘s Yampara culture; Bosnia and Herzegovina‘s Zmijanje embroidery and Bulgaria‘s Chiprovski kilimi carpet-making tradition – were inscribed on the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, after being chosen by a UNESCO committee that is meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Paris this week.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East, Mother Earth, Others-USA-Europe-etc., The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

27/11/2014

Obesity-related Cancers on the Rise, Especially in Developed Countries

Human Wrongs Watch

Being overweight or obese have become major risk factors for developing cancer, particularly among women and in more developed countries, the specialized cancer agency of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported on 26 November 2014.

A healthy diet can help to alleviate risk factors for a range of chronic diseases linked to obesity. Photo: World Bank/Maria Fleischmann | Source: UN News Centre

Overweight and obesity are responsible for an estimated 481,000 – or 3.6 per cent – of all new cancer cases in 2012, and reducing such health issues at the population level could have significant health benefits, according to a new study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

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27/11/2014

UN Plans to Create a ‘Technology Bank’ for World’s Poorest Countries

Human Wrongs Watch

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has announced the formation of a High-Level Panel to study the scope and functions of a proposed new “technology bank” and dedicated to helping the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) advance out of poverty, the Organization’s spokesperson confirmed 26 November 2014.

Photo: ITU | Source: UN News Centre

The High-Level Panel – which is to advise on the organizational and operational aspects of the planned “Technology Bank and Science, Technology and Innovation Supporting Mechanism” – will be chaired by Rwanda’s Romain Murenzi, currently Executive Director of the World Academy of Sciences in Trieste, Italy, and includes five women and five men from LDCs and their development partners from the Global North and South.

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27/11/2014

“Young with no land = Land with no future” International Campaign

Human Wrongs Watch

The total number of signatories of the petition to the President of Paraguay demanding a positive solution for farmers reached 37,574, according to the organizers of the campaign “Young with no land = Land with no future”.

**Map: Paraguay: Author: Ssolbergj (source map), Connormah | Wikimedia Commons

**Map: Paraguay: Author: Ssolbergj (source map), Connormah | Wikimedia Commons

By Oxfam*, 26 November 2014 –The “Young with no land = Land with no future” campaign is co-ordinated by Oxfam, the Articulación Curuguaty, Landless Commission and Families and Victims of Curuguaty.

The campaign received more than 37,000 signatures from 60 different countries to a petition demanding that President Horacio Cartes of Paraguay find a positive solution to the situation of landless young people in Curuguaty following a landgrab.

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Posted in Latin America & Caribbean, Market Lords, The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

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