'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
The Shuafat refugee camp can be seen across the separation wall from the Israeli settlement Pisgat Ze’ev. Credit: Jillian Kestler-D’Amours/IPS.
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The Arab-backed resolution condemns the “construction and expansion” of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, calling them a “flagrant violation” of international law and a “major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution.”
23 December 2016 – Highlighting that the number of casualties in the Mediterranean Sea this year has crossed 5,000 with the latest reports of about 100 people feared to have drowned, the United Nations refugee agency has called on countries to increase pathways for admission of refugees.
Risking their lives to reach Europe from North Africa, a boatload of people, some of them likely in need of international protection, are rescued in the Mediterranean Sea by the Italian Navy. Photo: UNHCR/A. D’Amato
The Voices of Displacement in South Sudan
15 December 2016 (IOM)* – “Let peace come,” says John from his small shop in a displacement site in South Sudan’s Malakal town. “Let people go back to their houses and live in harmony.
‘The Arafat family were terrified when they fled their home in Syria. Now they are finding new hope and happiness in a Canadian mountain community.’
Mohammad Arafat and his siblings enjoy their first Halloween in Canada. © UNHCR/Annie Sakkab
From a bay window, the elder Arafat children, along with their parents, watch as a swirl of costumed children crisscross the snowy streets.
With each ring of the doorbell, the family exchange uncertain glances, still not quite sure what to do. Then, one of the older children breaks the impasse, bounding down the stairs and handing out candy.
A United Nations human rights expert on 22 December 2016 called on the Nigerian Government to increase funding for water and sanitation in next year’s budget to address the needs of 21 million residents of Lagos, the country’s largest city, which continues to grow while access to basic services dwindles.
In Lagos, Nigeria, residents navigate the polluted waters of Makoko, a fishing community mostly made up of structures on stilts above Lagos Lagoon, as smog spreads throughout the canals. Photo: UNICEF/Tanya Bindra
22 December 2016 – Due to a lack of funding, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is running a risk of soon needing to halt its aid to 150,000 people in crisis-torn Central African Republic (CAR) who have been displaced by violence.
The World Food Programme (WFP) needs urgent funding to bring vital assistance to 150,000 displaced persons in the Central African Republic (CAR). Photo: WFP West Africa
22 December 2016 – The United Nations Peacebuilding Fund is set to allocate $3 million on a pilot project that will provide peacebuilding and professional skills to Somali refugees volunteering to return from Kenya to Somalia.
Temporary homes are pouring into the overflow area of the Ifo Extension camp in Dadaab, Kenya. Photo: UN OCHA
Announcing the pilot project on Tuesday, the Fund said it will also help refugees settle down, and begin reintegration process into a community.
UN Peacebuilding notes that the project is unique as it reaches across borders and targets the same population, first in asylum in Dadaab, Kenya, and then upon return to Baidoa, Somalia.
Garment workers in Bangladesh. Should Bangladeshis, Malaysians and others worry about their countries’ downward slide in the ‘Doing Business’ ranking? Credit: IPS
Malaysia, too, slipped five places. The Doing Business Report (DBR) 2017 ranked Malaysia at 23, down from 18 in the previous two reports for 2015 and 2016. Incredibly, this had nothing to do with news of the biggest scandal ever in the country’s history.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 