A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Serendipity: “The latest State of the World’s Children report by UNICEF has been released. Below is the press release from last month. (You can find previous years’ reports at here.): “Abused and Neglected, Millions of Children Have Become Virtually Invisible – Hundreds of millions of children are suffering from severe exploitation and discrimination and have become virtually invisible to the world, UNICEF said today in a major report that explores the causes of exclusion and the abuses children experience.”
Brenna: “Take a look at these pictures. Be aware of the graphic nature. When have you personally ever seen this? I have never in my entire life seen the UN Peacekeepers rolling down my street in a tank. This picture is from Haiti as they prepare for an election. The UN is present to stop the violence that is occurring as the election draws near. I have never gone to vote and seen armed Peacekeepers patrolling the area to ensure that the election is kept fair. The Haiti election was postponed three times because the violence was too much. And it is looking at these pictures that I find myself disgusted with the low voter turnout here is Canada, and the people that have told me that they are not voting. These men and women are risking their lives to protect democracy and bring a fair election to the people of Haiti. Many Peacekeepers have been killed in the process.”
ArmsControlWonk: “An Iranian bomb is not, yet, a foregone conclusion. The degree to which Iran’s nuclear program has become an element of the country’s domestic politics suggests that fissures exist within Iranian elites that create space for negotiations. Those fissures might be quite severe, as suggested by a curious incident recently when Iranian delegates didn’t show up for a meeting with IAEA DG ElBaradei. If I had to guess, the Iranians missed the meeting because they were probably riven internally and couldn’t.”Blog Podcast: “WHO Warning About Avian Flu – AlertNet: “Accused of exaggerating the threat of an avian flu pandemic, the World Health Organization again emphasized the importance of and need for finding any early signs of the bird flu virus to prevent its spread. Eighty people in six countries have already died from avian flu virus, and according to the United Nations, a pandemic could kill as many as eight million.”
Coalition for Darfur: “UNICEF Seeks $805 Million – From Reuters: “The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed on Monday for $805 million to provide aid to children and mothers in 29 emergencies worldwide. More than one-third of the total sought from donors for this year, $331 million, is for Sudan, where the survival of 1.4 million children in Darfur alone is threatened, it said.”