'Unseen' News and Views
Why are midwives important? What impact have they had on mothers’ and babies’ health? As the United Nations celebrates midwives across the world on Sunday [5 May 2019], here are five things you should know about the critical role they play in communities.
5 May 2019 – The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, is following with “deep concern” the latest developments across the Gaza-Israeli border and urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint.
UN | UN chief António Guterres
Over the weekend, hundreds of rockets were launched from the Occupied Palestinian Territory into southern Israel, and Israel retaliated with hundreds of airstrikes and tank fire.
According to news reports, several women, children and men on both have been killed and injured as a result of the violence.
Deploring the “risk of yet another dangerous escalation and further loss of life on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan,” on Sunday [5 May 2019], the UN chief condemned “in the strongest terms the launching of rockets from Gaza into Israel, particularly the targeting of civilian population centres”.
3 May 2019 (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)* — As diplomats from all over the world meet to discuss nuclear disarmament at the 2019 NPT Preparatory Committee, President Trump and President Putin are reported to have discussed nuclear weapons and a new arms-control agreement that extends to China during a phone call on Friday [3 May 2019].
Image from ICAN
A garbage collector works in the Latin American largest city dump in Brasilia, Brazil, Jan. 18, 2017. | Photo: EFE ” Ohoto from teleSUR.
4 May 2019 (teleSUR)* — President Jair Bolsonaro’s economic policies have increased the quarterly unemployment rate by 10.2 percent, leaving over 13.4 million people out of work. The scarse job supply is associated with low confidence in the future of the country’s economy, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) data released on Thursday [2 may 2019].
And their work can require them to confront attitudes that harm women’s health and demean their status and value.
This courageous work is being celebrated on 5 May, the International Day of the Midwife.
Soghra and Nabila are two such heroes.
With deadly cyclones on the rise, UNICEF raises concern about impact of climate change on children
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NEW YORK, 3 May 2019 (UNICEF)* – The cyclone currently hammering India and the back-to-back cyclones that tore through Mozambique in March and April have caused serious damage to the lives of thousands of children.
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, is “deeply concerned by yet another dangerous escalation in Gaza and the tragic loss of life”. According to news reports, approximately 200 rockets were fired on Saturday [4 May 2019] from the Occupied Palestinian Territory towards Israel, and various Israeli airstrikes and tank fire were carried out in retaliation.
Photo from IPS.
These remittances, primarily from the US, Western Europe and Gulf nations, go largely to low and middle-income countries, “helping to lift millions of families out of poverty,” says UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
More than 10 million North Koreans are suffering “severe food shortages” after the worst harvest in a decade, according to a United Nations food security assessment released on Friday [3 May 2019].
Dry conditions in Unpa County, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Photo from FAO.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 