Archive for November 7th, 2018

07/11/2018

“I Had No Idea What Was Happening” – Menstrual Health Needs Surge for Refugees

Human Wrongs Watch

LUNDA NORTE PROVINCE, Angola, 5 November 2018 (UNFPA)* The March 2017 outbreak of violence in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has displaced some 1.4 million people and forced over 35,000 others to flee to Lunda Norte Province, Angola. Roughly 75 per cent of refugees from Kasai in Angola are women and children.

During conflict, the most intimate – and taboo – health needs of women and girls are often overlooked. Marie Anny, 13, is one of 7,000 women and girls of reproductive age in Angola's Lóvua refugee settlement. © UNFPA Angola
During conflict, the most intimate – and taboo – health needs of women and girls are often overlooked. Marie Anny, 13, is one of 7,000 women and girls of reproductive age in Angola’s Lóvua refugee settlement. © UNFPA Angola

Women and girls displaced by conflict face extraordinary hardships. Many endure grave risks, including gender-based violence, which can escalate in humanitarian settings. Most are thrust into poverty – cut off from education and life-saving health services.

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07/11/2018

Pakistan Customs Seize Massive Smuggled Shipment of Ozone-Depleting Gas

7 November 2018 (UN Environment)*Pakistani customs officers trained by UN Environment are responsible for a massive seizure of R-22 (also known as HCFC-22) refrigerant, a powerful ozone-depleting substance and greenhouse gas.

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Photo from UN Environment

In the largest seizure of its kind for Pakistan, customs authorities confiscated 18,000 kilogrammes of the smuggled refrigerant at Karachi Port in mid-October.

The bust came when a customs appraisement officer, Rahmatullah Vistro, received information that an attempt would be made to illegally import huge quantities of the gas.

Vistro is one of a number of customs officers around the world who have received UN Environment training to identify ozone-depleting substances smuggled by misdeclaration and mislabeling, among other methods.

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07/11/2018

Indigenous Crops: Once Neglected, Under-Utilized, Now Getting Their Turn in the Spotlight

7 November 2018 (FAO)*Did you know that not all bananas are yellow or curved like a half moon? Some are straight, some are stumpy, some are even red!  There are actually 1 000 different varieties of bananas, but many of us wouldn’t know that from our markets or stores where Cavendish bananas are the ones primarily featured.
Propiedades-nutricionales300

Originating in the Andes, quinoa is a natural food resource of high nutritive value that is increasingly being recognized as significant in food security, for present and future generations. The indigenous Andean people have maintained, controlled, protected and preserved this food crop using their traditional knowledge and practices.| FAO

Because they bruise less easily in transport and have high yields, these “typical” bananas are the ones most often produced. Despite the huge variety that exist in the world, Cavendish bananas constitute nearly 50% of bananas grown globally. The story is the same for many of our fruits and vegetables.
07/11/2018

Intense Fighting Near a Major Hospital in Yemeni Port City of Hudaydah Has Put Scores of Children at “Imminent Risk of Death” – UNICEF

Human Wrongs Watch

Intense fighting near a major hospital in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah has put scores of children at “imminent risk of death”, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday [6 November 2018], calling on the warring parties to stop hostilities near the medical centre and allow those in need to safely access treatment.

OCHA/Giles Clarke | A file photograph of patients undergoing treatment at the Al Thawra hospital in Hudaydah, Yemen.
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