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Photo: On 27 October 2022 in Puntland, Somalia, 1-year-old Aisha Mohamed is held by her mother, Isniino Ali, while being treated for severe acute malnutrition at Garowe General Hospital Stabilization Centre. Credit: UNICEF/UN0750315/Ekpu VII Photo

More Than 20 Million Children Suffering in The Horn of Africa

UNICEF Warns of Funding Shortfall in The Face of Drought

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) — UN Children's Agency UNICEF has urged the international community to "commit to responding now for what might hit the Horn of Africa" in 2023, "and in the years to come".

UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Lieke van de Weil said on December 22: “We need a global effort to mobilize resources urgently to reduce further devastating and irreversible damage to children in the Horn of Africa. We must act now to save children’s lives, preserve their dignity and protect their futures.”

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 25 December 2022

Photo: Sitiveni Rabuka was elected the new Prime Minister. Source: Hindustan Times.

South Pacific: Democracy Prevails in Fiji

Former Coup leaders Change Roles in Parliamentary Vote

By Ravindra Singh Prasad

SUVA (IDN) — In a parliamentary vote on December 24, former coup leader Sitiveni Rabuka was elected the new Prime Minister by a slim majority of one after a hung parliament. He replaces another former coup leader and twice democracy-elected Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama.

: Asia Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 24 December 2022

Photo: (L-R) Assoc. Prof. Mag. Dr. Farsam Salimi; Univ. Prof. Dr. Susanne Reindl-Krauskopf, Hon-Prof (The University of Queensland); Univ. Prof Dr Christian Grafl. Credit: ALES.

Austria: Call for an Independent Law Enforcement Body

A Special Report by Aurora Weiss

VIENNA (IDN) — Austria's capital is home to 20 international United Nations offices and organisations seated at the Vienna International Centre. But law enforcement in this country falls short of the UN's requirements.

The United Nations Convention against Corruption, for example, calls for independent bodies or persons specialized in combating corruption through law enforcement that can “carry out their functions effectively and without any undue influence”.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 24 December 2022

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres briefs journalists at his end-of-year press conference on December 19. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garte

UN Chief to Convene "No Nonsense" Climate Summit to Avert Disaster

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — UN Secretary-General António Guterres has never ceased to warn about the impending hazards of climate change worldwide. “We are on a fast track to climate disaster,” he has predicted rather ominously and pointed out that some of the world’s major cities are under water.

“There are unprecedented heatwaves, terrifying storms and widespread water shortages. And the extinction of a million species of plants and animals.”

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 22 December 2022

Photo: Migrant workers dig into a field in Doha, Qatar (© ILO).

Western Hypocrisy Overshadows the Epic Qatar Match

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — The shenanigans were always there, but until FIFA president Infantino Giovanni called them out in his down-to-earth press conference in Qatar, they remained the elephant in the room.

The hint of displeasure goes back 12 years ago when Qatar won the bid, defeating Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States. That outcome was unexpected.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 December 2022

Photo Credit: Colin Crowley/Save the Children – Flickr

The Age of Intersecting Crises?

Viewpoint by Tobias Ide*

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

PERTH, Australia (IDN) — When following the news over the past three years, one might get the impression that the world is living through a permanent state of crisis. While climate change is arguably the most important challenge of our time, headlines were frequently dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, and more recently skyrocketing energy and food prices.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 December 2022

Photo: Community Health Workers in Kenya. Credit: Brian-Otieno

Advocating for Gender Equality in Universal Health Coverage

By Roopa Dhatt & Samiratou Ouedraogo

Roopa Dhatt is Executive Director and Co-Founder of Women in Global Health. Samiratou Ouedraogo is the Coordinator and Co-Founder of Women in Global Health, Francophone West Africa, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

WASHINGTON DC (IDN) — If there was a Harvey Weinstein in health, we probably wouldn’t know about it. Not because sexual harassment in the health workforce isn’t widespread—we know that it is and not because women don’t want to report their experiences of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) at work—we know that they do; but because across much of the world’s health systems, there are simply no feasible reporting or legal mechanisms in place that women health workers can use with confidence.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 21 December 2022

Photo: National negotiators inked a deal to protect nature in the early hours of 19 December in Montreal. Credit: Julian Haber/UN Biodiversity (CC BY 2.0)

A Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement Achieved

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) — Countries around the world have agreed on a historic package of measures aimed at addressing the dangerous loss of biodiversity and restoring natural ecosystems. The agreement was achieved after a two-week-long 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity on December 19.

Convened under UN auspices, chaired by China, and hosted by Canada in Montreal, COP15 adopted the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” (GBF), including four goals and 23 targets for achievement by 2030.

: J C Suresh; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 21 December 2022

COVID-19 Enables Rise in OECD Development Aid

By Robert Johnson

PARIS (IDN) — Though ODA-official development assistance from members of the OECD’s DAC-Development Assistance Committee rose to a new high last year, it amounted to the equivalent of only 0.33 per cent of their combined GNI-gross national income, thus falling short of a United Nations goal to reach an ODA/GNI ratio of 0.7%.

The biggest ODA givers by volume in 2021 were the United States (USD 47.8 billion), Germany (USD 33.3 billion), Japan (USD 17.6 billion), the United Kingdom (USD 15.7 billion), and France (USD 15.5 billion).

: Robert Johnson; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 20 December 2022

Image: Women hold up half the sky, but men rule the party. Credit: Xinhua News Agency | Hu Peng. Source: Merics.

A Surplus of Men Leads to a Deficit of Peace

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Many of us who watched the parade of new politburo members walking onto the stage at the recent meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress were struck by the total absence of women. Unlike the previous 25 years, not even one.

Women can be found at the top of the arts, sports and in some parts of academia and the professions and occasionally in business but hardly at all in politics. It’s a man’s world.