5 March 2016 (UN Women)* – Teachers, farmers, businesswomen, politicians, mothers, law enforcers — women and girls contribute every day in many visible and invisible ways. Here’s a glimpse into their lives.
Photo: UNICEF/Agron Dragaj
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MAURITANIA
In the capital of Brakna in southwest Mauritania mothers gather to attend a session on early childhood development. Providing children with a strong foundation of learning and good health is key to sustainable development and economic growth.
5 March 2016 (UN Women)* – A three-year anti-trafficking programme supported by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women is boosting legal enforcement against the crime in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.
Photo: UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani
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It was a simple job posting in her local newspaper that drew Rosita* to Jordan. Work as a chef for USD $400 in addition to free accommodation and food, it promised.
“I received an invitation from a recruiting agency in Jordan so that I could get my visa,” she recalls. “[The man who interviewed me] told me that I will have a separate room with a television and phone so that I can contact my family.”
Visiting Algeria for the second time as United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon on 6 March 2016 expressed alarm on situation in Libya. “There is alarming information coming from Libya about grave acts that could amount to war crimes,” Ban warned.
**Destroyed tanks outside of Misrata | Author: joepyrek from Richmond, Va, USA | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. | Wikimedia Commons
“All external actors need to use their influence to appease the situation. If things don’t improve on the political front, the humanitarian crisis will worsen and threats to people’s security, including attacks by Daech [ISIL], will multiply and expand.”
In addition to thanking Algeria for hosting UN-led talks on Libya, he also welcomed the country’s engagement towards Mali, for its role as one of the main mediators of the peace process.
4 March 2016 (RT)– A renewed Western military ‘commitment’ to Libya will not be enough to defeat ISIS – but it might be enough to establish the permanent military presence in North Africa the West has been hankering after ever since 1970.
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**United Nations Map of Libya, with cities, roads, and the current twenty-two Districts or Shabiyah of Libya | Wikimedia Commons
4 March 2016 (openDemocracy)– Optimists affirm that the EU-UK agreement has a positive side: London cannot veto the will of other member states pursuing an “ever closer Union”. This is true, but only formally.
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**Relief map of Europe and surrounding regions | Author: San Jose | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. | Wikimedia commons
Time has come to finally identify the common thread connecting the various failures of the European Union: on the question of refugees, on austerity, on democracy and the erosion of the constitutions in the member states, on the narrower and less democratic Europe which could emerge after the agreement negotiated with London.
Calling to alleviate the plight of Sahrawi refugees in Algeria who are dealing with an “unacceptable situation,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 5 March 2016 said the parties to the Western Sahara conflict have not made any real progress in the negotiations towards a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visits MINURSO peacekeepers during his visit to the Western Sahara region. 5 March, 2016. Photo: UN/spokesperson.
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Sahrawi refugee camps in the Southwest Algerian desert, 40 Sahrawi refugees have lent their faces to the 40 FACES 40 YEARS photo exhibition in an attempt to shed a light on an entire generation that never experienced anything other than life as a refugee.
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Fahda Bachir Mohamed, 27 years old, was born in the Laâyoune refugee camp. Today she works there as a nutrition awareness monitor.
4 March 2016 – Something is rotten in the State of Denmark and the world will increasingly see it. It’s an unpleasant combination of Islamophobia, militarism and a peculiar ethical and intellectual self-destructive obedience to US/NATO all wrapped up in a pseudo-humanitarian flag.
It’s important that intellectuals criticise the policies of their native country and not only and politically correctly criticise that of others.
In the case of Danish foreign and security policy it is fairly easy to do so provided you are supported neither by that country’s state nor its corporations.
Denmark to be aggressor in Syria – too
On March 4, 2016 a large majority of Danish political parties agreed to send F16s and special forces to Syria. The decision is likely to soon be confirmed by the Danish parliament.
The most important decision any government can take is the one to go to war. But that sort of thing is now routine in H.C. Andersen’s anything but idyllic rogue state. When the Danish MPs decided that Denmark should bomb in Libya an MP told me that they did so on the basis of 1,5 A4 pages memo drafted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
With a “triple peril” of environmental degradation, poverty and insecurity facing the Sahel, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 4 March 2016 said during a visit to Mauritania that improving the situation in the region is a top priority for the United Nations.
**The Sahel region: a belt up to 1,000 km (620 mi) wide that spans the 5,400 km (3,360 mi) in Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea | Author: Munion | Source: Natural Earth Data –> ArcMap –> Illustrator & Photoshop | Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. | Wikimedia Commons
A FARMER comes to the big town for the first time. He visits the zoo and stands for hours transfixed before the cage of the kangaroo.
Uri Avnery
“There is no such animal!” he keeps exclaiming.
I must confess that I felt the same when I saw Donald Trump on TV for the first time and heard that he was a candidate for president of the US.
“Impossible,” I muttered to myself. “Must be a hoax!”
The Americans are capable of many things. From time to time they indulge in a spell of collective insanity. Take Joe McCarthy. But not this! This is too much.
NOW IT seems that Donald Trump is well on his way to the White House.
Wait, I am told. These are still only the primaries. OK, something odd has happened to the Republican Party. But on election day, faced with the real choice, the vast majority of Americans will return to sanity and vote for his opponent, whoever he or she is.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 