'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
From Germany to India, these campaigners are battling ‘toxic masculinity’ to engage men in fights for gender equality.
FAO Director-General calls for the transformation of production and consumption models to combat hunger, obesity and other forms of malnutrition.
15 January 2019 Santiago de Chile (FAO)* – Hunger, obesity and other forms of malnutrition will continue to increase if there is no deep change in food systems, said FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva.
Acknowledging “a long road ahead” on the United Nations ambitious agenda, Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed on Tuesday [15 January 2019] “the historic leadership of the state of Palestine” as the new Chair of the Group of 77’s (G77).
“Palestine and its citizens have first-hand experience of some of the most challenging and dramatic global issues we face” said Mr. Guterres in his remarks at the annual ceremony for handover of the rotating Chairmanship of the G77.
Some Member States have fallen short of offering a better future to children who continue to die prematurely or fall victim to poverty, trafficking and slavery, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday [14 January 2019].
In her opening address to the 80th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in Geneva – which reviews the records of Member States according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child – the High Commissioner noted that 2019 marked the pact’s 30th anniversary, and that it was “by far the most widely ratified human rights treaty”.
– The world’s developing countries, comprising over two-thirds of the 193 UN member states, are complaining they are not being adequately represented in the higher echelons of the world body –- despite competent candidates with strong professional and academic qualifications vying for these jobs.
António Guterres takes the oath of office for his five-year term as UN Secretary-General. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten
The 134-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing countries, says “persistent imbalances in equitable geographic representation in the UN Secretariat are a major concern.”
1. Because reducing food waste is a good personal resolution
Food loss and waste and the right to adequate food: Every year, one-third of all food produced is lost or wasted across the globe. This is particularly devastating as 821 million people are still going hungry.
This publication makes the connection between food loss and waste and the human right to adequate food. It focuses on the need to develop sustainable global consumption and production systems.
By Fredrik S. Heffermehl | Nobel Peace Prize Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service*
Nobel Peace Prize 2019 – Nomination Deadline: January 31
Nobel Peace Prize Watch is assisting the nomination of qualified candidates and helping a (reticent) Norwegian Nobel Committee refocus on winners that meet Nobel´s intention, to support contemporary ideas of “creating the brotherhood of nations”, a global cooperation on the abolition of arms and military forces.
The Norwegian Nobel awarders need your guidance to be loyal to Nobel´s original idea when this issue was discussed in the Norwegian Parliament last December 167 delegates rejected the idea – only two MPs voted for making knowledge of and respect for Nobel´s peace idea a condition for eligibility to the five-member Nobel peace prize committee.
Please act on the letter from Nobel Peace Prize Watch, share, comment, reprint and spread in newsletter, – and make a nomination and/or encourage others to do so.
17-year-old Rizka Raisa Fatimah Ramli from Indonesia creates new character to win global comic contest.
JAKARTA/NEW YORK, 10 January 2019 (UNICEF)* – Rizka Raisa Fatimah Ramli, a 17-year-old student from Makassar, Indonesia, has won the UNICEF and Comics Uniting Nations’ worldwide comic contest with a character who helps keep children and young people safe from violence in and around schools.
12 January 2019 — Half a capital city destroyed, 220,000 reported dead and 1 million residents displaced. This was the toll of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which struck on 12 January, 9 years ago.
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Staff at the UN Mission in Haiti were also affected, and there were 102 UN casualties, including the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Hédi Annabi and his deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa.
It was the “biggest single loss of life in the history of UN Peacekeeping,” the then-President of the UN Staff Union, Stephen Kisambira, said at the time.
10 January 2019 (Wall Street International)* — In all the discussions and accusations of political parties in the non-United States of America that I have closely followed, I have seen many comments about how the current leaders are too old. Not that they are wiser or have something to teach the new ones or that Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton should be mentoring younger women, but no, comments such as a room full of your grandparents complaining.
