By Baher Kamal & The Like
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied
— Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village
A Nepali farmer |
20 Aug 2018 – Small farmers are the key to ending poverty and hunger and promoting sustainable development.
‘Think beyond farm jobs’ to reach sustainable development, UN agriculture chief advises African youth.
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20 August 2018 – With conflict raging in northwest Syria, the United Nations health agency has appealed for $11 million to provide life-saving care to parts of Aleppo, Hama, Idleb and Lattakia governorates.
Tokyo/Geneva, (ICRC)* – Speaking on 20 August 2018 at a meeting of parties to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in Tokyo, Japan, Dr Helen Durham, Head of Law and Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), highlighted ICRC’s concerns with the growing gap between words and actions in the global trade of arms.
Video from ICRC.
“The very purpose of the Treaty is to prioritize humanitarian interests and, in doing so, to reduce human suffering,” said Dr Durham, “Yet we are concerned by the growing gap between States’ absolute commitments to human rights and international humanitarian law – in the Treaty and elsewhere – and how arms are transferred in practice.”
UNICEF Child Alert report shows dangerous journeys and deportations intensify root causes of irregular migration
NEW YORK/PANAMA CITY (UNICEF)* – Extreme violence, poverty and lack of opportunity are not only powerful drivers of irregular child migration from northern Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) and Mexico, but also consequences of deportations from Mexico and the United States – UNICEF on 16 August 2018 said in a new report.
SANLIURFA, Turkey, 17 August 2018 (UNFPA)* – “My husband was very strict,” Gemila*, a 28-year-old Syrian refugee, told UNFPA. “He wanted to crush people.”
Gemila had been married off, despite her protests, at age 17. A few years into her tumultuous marriage, the conflict in Syria forced their family to flee to Iraq.
Eventually, the couple decided to separate. Gemila’s husband promised to give her custody of their son in exchange for all of her savings – but then he disappeared with both.
Most of UNHCR’s staff are based in the field. Meet Eujin Byun, a communications officer in South Sudan, one of the world’s least safe countries for humanitarians.
UNHCR communications officer Eujin Byun holds a refugee baby next to the child’s mother in South Sudan. © UNHCR/James Jamba Charles
Eujin Byun is from Korea and works as a UNHCR communications officer in South Sudan. In 2017, aid workers were the target of 46 major attacks in the country, including shootings, kidnappings and assaults.
Despite the risks, Eujin recently decided to extend her stay. Here she explains why.
For the last two years I have been working in South Sudan, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a humanitarian worker.
Cox’s Bazar, 17 August 2018 (IOM)* – A major environmental project to provide around 250,000 families with liquid petroleum gas (LPG) stoves and gas cylinders has been launched by UN agencies and the government in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to help prevent further deforestation linked to the Rohingya refugee crisis.
UN agencies and Bangladesh government launch alternative fuel project in Cox’s Bazar to help reduce deforestation linked to Rohingya crisis. Photos: Patrick Shepherd FAO/IOM
Eastern DR Congo is also home to an estimated 160,000 to 200,000 gold miners who work in about 1,000 artisanal mining sites. The Butuzi site, located in the Mitumba Mountains, is one of them. It occupies an area that was once dominated by an Afro-montane forest, now almost completely deforested.
DataTempo/CP2 conducted the survey poll for the senate race between August 8 and 11.
Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff leads the senatorial race in Minas Gerais, Brazil. | Photo: EFE | Photo from teleSUR.
18 August 2018 (teleSUR)* – If Brazil’s general elections were held today, former President Dilma Rousseff, now a senatorial candidate in the state of Minas Gerais, would win the race with 26.8 percent of the vote.
The prediction comes after a poll published by DataTempo/CP2 between August 8 and 11.
Rousseff’s nearest rival, journalist Carlos Viana of the Humanist Party of Solidarity, or PHS, is polling in second place with 11.2 percent of the vote.
