NAYAPARA CAMP, COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, 29 June 2018 (UNFPA)* — The maternity centre in Nayapara Refugee camp was crowded with women and children Wednesday morning when an older woman burst into the facility with her pregnant daughter. Salima Khatum, 20, was in labour with her second child, and very close to giving birth..
Rondi Anderson, a UNFPA midwifery specialist, swung into action along with a team of paramedics and midwives. Ms. Khatum was cradled in her mother’s arms as the health workers gathered around, taking vital signs and listening to the fetal heartbeat.
No NGO rescue ship carrying migrants will be allowed to dock in an Italian port, the country’s interior minister Matteo Salvini has said, following a unanimous decision by EU leaders to review migration policy.
“NGO rescue ships will only see Italy on postcards,” the interior minister told Radio Capital on Friday [28 June 2018], reaffirming that Italy would not yield when it comes to migration.
Dubbed “the Sheriff” in the Italian press, Salvini insisted that whatever was decided during the EU summit would not alter the fact that Italian “ports will remain closed throughout the summer”to all NGO rescue ships that try to dock.
June 2018 (UN Women)* — Today, 50 per cent of refugees uprooted from their homes from conflict, persecution or natural disasters are women and girls. This translates to more than 11 million refugee women and girls.
During times of crisis, their specific needs and voices are often neglected. Below are just some of the objects that give women and girls agency and secure their health, dignity and rights.
ROME (FAO)* – Fall Armyworm keeps spreading to larger areas within countries in sub-Saharan Africa and becomes more destructive as it feeds on more crops and different parts of crops, increasingly growing an appetite for sorghum and millet, in addition to maize.
The pest could spread to Northern Africa, Southern Europe and the Near East, warned the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 28 June 2018.
A “global care crisis” is looming which could affect 2.3 billion people by 2030, United Nations work experts on 28 June 2018 warned, highlighting the potential for greater inequality in a sector where women already perform “more than three-quarters” of all unpaid work.
World Bank/Dominic Chavez | A mother helps her children get ready for bed in Bangladesh. October 2016. | Photo from UN News Centre
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In a call for sweeping policy changes regarding the care of children and the elderly, the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) says that 269 million jobs could be created in the next 12 years, if Member States doubled current investment in education, health and social work.
The potential impact could be huge, with 16.4 billion hours per day already spent in unpaid care work, according to the report, which cites data from 64 countries, representing two-thirds of all workers.
29 June 2018 (RT)* — Following nearly ten hours of tense deliberation, the leaders of the 28 European Union member states have reached an agreement on the migration issue.
Pressed by Italy’s concerns, eventually the 28 leaders agreed to reform the asylum system by consensus and to include a clause on hosting migrants across EU countries on a voluntary basis.
Part of the agreement gives Italy and Greece options to set up migrant centers on their soil if they so choose.
28 June 2018 — “Events on the battlefield” are the main spoiler to the peace process in Yemen, but political negotiations are the top overall priority for resolving the conflict, according to the UN’s envoy for the country.
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UN OCHA/Giles Clarke | Cars and trucks wait in line to pass over a bridge that was hit by an airstrike in 2016. This road is one of four roads linking Hodeida (Al Hudayda) with the rest of the country.
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As Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths had sought to avoid a military confrontation in the port city of Hodeida in the past few weeks, which has been racked by fighting between Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 