UNICEF’s first-ever global report dedicated to early childhood education highlights a lack of investment in pre-primary by the majority of governments worldwide.
UNICEF/Mongolia/2018/Matas | UNICEF funded mobile kindergarten in Janjin Bagh, Erdenetsogt Soum, Mongolia provides quality, complementary early learning for over 23 children from the area’s nomadic, herder community.
Peace Journalism: Our task is to promote inclusion in negotiations held in good faith.
Peace journalism has two primary tasks: to make creative proposals for the settlement of conflicts and to work for broad inclusion of parties for negotiations held in good faith.
Our first task is creativity because those involved in armed conflicts usually focus on narrow possibilities and options.
In practice “all options are not on the table”. There is usually in the minds of the chief protagonists a rather narrow set of options, of which “kill them” is high on the list.
As George Russell writing under the pen name of A.E. wrote in The Peacemakers:
More than 3,400 people have fled fighting near the Libyan capital Tripoli in recent days, the UN warned on Monday [8 April 2019], in a call to warring parties to halt military activities so that emergency services can rescue trapped civilians.
UNOCHA/Giles Clarke | Children are the most vulnerable victims of conflicts. The UN and the Government of National Accord in Libya launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan seeking, $202 million to provide health support and protection for some 550,000 vulnerable Libyans.
The UN chief António Guterres, in a short statement issued to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, by his Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said that he was continuing to follow the situation in Libya “with grave concern”, after urging an end to troop movements last week during a visit to the country.
UNITED NATIONS, Apr 8 2019 (IPS)* – As it paves a destructive path against international institutions and multilateralism, the Trump administration is slowly but steadily undermining the United Nations and its affiliated agencies.
.
The US has already withdrawn both from the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris while, at the same time, it has either cut off, or drastically reduced, funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and for UN peacekeeping operations (by a hefty $500 million).
Pía Figueroa, co-director of Pressenza and member of the organizing team of the Latin American Humanist Forum that will take place in Santiago de Chile from 10 to 12 May, answers our questions about the meaning of the Forum and of the Network on Communication and Nonviolent Media that she coordinates together with other colleagues.| Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Greek
Pía Figueroa
MADRID, 6 April 2019 (Pressenza)* — “We seek to give form -in process- to a social fabric empowered by the strength of the whole,’ according to Figueroa.
In a message to commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, UN chief António Guterres has warned of dangerous trends of rising xenophobia, racism and intolerance in many parts of the world.
UN Photo/Beatrice Mategwa | A Rwandan peacekeeper holds a candle during to pay tribute to those who perished during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
April 7 marks the start of the 1994 genocide, which saw over 800,000 Tutsis, moderate Hutu and others who opposed the genocide, systematically killed in less than three months. Mr. Guterres said that the anniversary is an opportunity to honour those who were murdered, and reflect on the suffering and resilience of those who survived.
Underlining the “enormous” opportunities for sustainable development and investment in the Middle East, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reaffirmed the Organization’s deep engagement in a “surge of diplomacy for peace,” to “untie the Gordian knot of conflict and instability.”*
Photo: UN/ Mohammad Abu Ghoush. | Secretary General António Guterres addresses the World Economic Forum at the Dead Sea, Jordan. 6 April, 2019.
The UN chief’s comments were made on Saturday [6 April 2019], during the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on the Middle East and North Africa, held by the Dead Sea in Jordan on April 05 and 06.
At least half of the world’s population still do not have full coverage of essential health services.
About 100 million people are still being pushed into extreme poverty (defined as living on 1.90 USD or less a day) because they have to pay for health care.
Over 800 million people (almost 12% of the world’s population) spent at least 10% of their household budgets to pay for health care.
All UN Member States have agreed to try to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
What is universal health coverage (UHC)?
7 April 2019 (WHO)* — UHC means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship.
Where women can access health services, maternal deaths decrease, lengthening women’s life expectancy.
In many circumstances, men access health care less than women.
Men are much more likely to die from preventable and treatable noncommunicable diseases and road traffic accidents.
18.1-year gap in life expectancy between poorest and richest countries.
4 April 2019 (WHO)* — Women outlive men everywhere in the world – particularly in wealthy countries. The World Health Statistics 2019 – disaggregated by sex for the first time – explains why.
“Breaking down data by age, sex and income group is vital for understanding who is being left behind and why,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“Behind every number in the World Health Statistics is a person, a family, a community or a nation. Our task is to use these data to make evidence-based policy decisions that move us closer to a healthier, safer, fairer world for everyone.”
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 