Veronica - Mostly here to make you think

Young girl, aiming to become an humanitarian aid worker on the field. Studyng Communications and minoring in Arabic Language and International Law. Particularly interested in migrants, refugees and Middle East.

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Everything you need to know about EBOLA

1. Where is the recent Ebola outbreak?

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are the most affected countries, but a few cases have popped up in the US, Spain, Nigeria and Senegal. 

2. What’s the background of the virus?

The virus was first discovered by an outbreak in 1976, which up until now has been the worst outbreak on record. There have since been five different strains of the virus.

3. How did humans get it?

It is now thought that the original host of the Ebola virus was bats in west and central Africa. These infected bats bite or cut and infect other species such as duikers and chimpanzees, raising the probabilities of any infectious contact with humans. Still, very little is known about how the virus initially transfers to humans and triggers human-to-human transmission.

4. How does it spread?

As the Center for Disease Control affirms, you cannot be infected with Ebola through the air, water, or through food. The only way to get Ebola is from touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. 

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UNRWA's students achieve better than average results.

According to a new report from the World Bank, students of UNRWA in the Occupied Palestinian territory, Gaza and Jordan perform better than their peers in public schools despite their socioeconomic disadvantages and thestressfull conditions they have to endure.

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Level-3 emergency but has the world forgotten the CAR crisis?

The Ebola crisis in West Africa has distracted international attention from developments in other parts of Africa, notably in the Central African Republic. Since October 7, violence has escalated in C.A.R.’s capital, Bangui,” Thomas Zuber reports. “The most recent renewal of hostilities has already displaced 65,000 people. On Oct. 9, a U.N. convoy was attacked on the outskirts of Bangui. The mission repelled an attack on the interim president’s house on October 11.

The crisis in CAR is called one of the world’s least-understood crises.

Read the FULL ARTICLE HERE

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Emergencies around the world NOW.

The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to four 'L3' emergencies. This is the UN classification for the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises:

IRAQ: The surge in violence between armed groups and government forces had displaced an estimated 1.8 million people across Iraq and left hundrends of thousands of people in need of assistance. 

SYRIA: 10.8 million people, nearly half of the population,are in need of humanitarian assistance. An estimated 6.45 million people had been displaced inside and outside the country.

CAR (Central African Republic): The violence erupted in December 2013 has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and left 2.5 million in urgent need of assistance.

SOUTH SUDAN: About 1.4 million people are internally displaced as a result of the fighting that began in December 2013. 3.8 million people need humanitarian assistance.

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Aida Hadzialic: from refugee from Bosnia to Minister in Sweden

Aida Hadzialic was five years old when her family fled from war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Swedish politician for the Social Democrats is now the Minister for Upper Secondary School and Adult Education Initiative in Sweden. A law graduate from the University of Lund, Hadzialic became the deputy mayor of the Swedish city Halmstad at the age of 23. The 27-year-old is now the youngest person ever to serve as a minister in Sweden.

The minister says she became a social democrat because of the Swedish welfare model that gave her family new opportunities to start afresh after they fled from war. War in Bosnia forced more than 100.000 people to flee from their contries and her nominee is a great victory for refugees like her, who can be motivated to be part of the new country where they have been resettled and to join the democratic process to make a difference there. Most of the times refugees are used to lay on the borders of the community,actually. 

It is also a gret victory for UNHCR and the other organizations who work to ensure security to refugees and to give them a better life, and also for those country who decided to rely on refugees and to accepth them inside their country.

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#MyDRJ: Disaster resilience

Following decades of climate change and a deepening divide between economic and social parities, the effects of elemental catastrophe have intensified. Each year, millions of lives are impacted by disease, dislocation and death. Billions of dollars are spent on responding and rebuilding.

The Disaster Resilience Journal explores how our changing world, and its changing climate, affects our lives now and in the future. Stories come from all over the world, from Haiti to the Solomon Islands, and from Croatia to Peru. Each story tells us something and asks us questions about the globalised world we live in, viewed through the lens of resilience.

Awareness is the first and biggest step towards making change happen.

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#IBELONG: UNHCR Campaign for Stateless people

UNHCR's Open Letter to End Statelessness

#IBELONG to a world where everyone has the right to a nationality. 

Across the world today more than ten million people are told they don’t belong ANYWHERE.

They are called ‘stateless’. They are denied a nationality. And with it, they are denied their basic rights. Statelessness can mean a life without education, without medical care, or legal employment. It can mean a life without the ability to move freely, without prospects, or hope. Statelessness is inhumane. The main reason people are stateless is because of discrimination. Because of their ethnicity. Because of their religion. Because in some countries women cannot pass their nationality on to their children. We believe it’s time to end this injustice. With enough courage we know it is possible. Governments can change their laws and procedures, and give stateless people their rights and a place to belong. 

Within ten years, we can ensure everyone has a nationality.  Because if we don’t this injustice will only get worse. A child is born stateless every ten minutes.By the time you finish reading this letter another person may have started life without a nationality. We are ready to make our voices heard. We believe that if we take a stand, others will join us. And if enough of us stand up we will end this inhumanity. That is why UNHCR is launching the Campaign to End Statelessness in ten years. 

Sixty years ago, the world agreed to protect stateless people.  Now it’s time to end statelessness itself.

  António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Special Envoy Surin Pitsuwan, former Secretary-General of ASEAN Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu Barbara Hendricks, UNHCR Honorary Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador  Carla Del Ponte, former Chief Prosecutor of two UN international criminal tribunals Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Lakhdar Brahimi, former UN and Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF Helen Clark, Administrator of UNDP Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of Brazil  Hina Jilani, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace laureate Juan E. Méndez, ​UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Adama Dieng, ​Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide  Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Astrid Thors, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Alan Miller, Chair of the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch George Dalaras, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (Greece) Muazzez Ersoy, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (Turkey)  Khaled Hosseini, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (USA) Osvaldo Laport, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (Argentina) Aidos Sagat, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (Kazakhstan) Jesús Vázquez, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (Spain) Alek Wek, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (USA) Ahmed Kathrada, human rights activist Hugh Masekela, musician/composer George Bizos, SC, human rights lawyer

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OXFAM and #BLOGACTIONDAY14: The push to end extreme inequality

Oxfam had partnered with Blog Action Day to start a global discussion about inequality, and ask bloggers to write a post about their experience or opinion about inequality. The best three have been published on their site.

The first winner has been Raymon Foss, a poet, who wrote a wonderful poem about inequality and the global call to be united against it. 

The second winner has been Geneviene Morency, Monitoring and evaluation officer for Oxfam Quebec in Honduras. She explained in her post what she experienced working in a very inequal contry, what are the causes of inequality and how we can help to reduce it.

The third winner has been Juan Tadeo, and indipendent mexican blogger. In his post, he showed three different stories of under-development and inequality in Mexic, a contry in which half of the population lives in poverty.

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BVB supporters in solidarity with refugees

The BVB supportes unveiled several huge tifos during the match against Hannover, attacking racists, Nazis and homophobes in football, making it perfectly clear that discrimination will not be tolerated by these ultras.

The statement is particularly pertinent at a time when far-right parties are on the rise in Europe. Of course Germany's history makes it a particularly sensitive topic for them.

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UNRWA Spokeperson on Fox News goes viral.

A spokesman for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees savaged a pro-Israeli writer and journalist who claimed his organisation had been sheltering weapons for Hamas militants.

Chris Gunness, spokesperson for UNRWA, said he had gone through a film by David Bedein, director of the Centre for Near East Policy Research, in which the claims were made against UNRWA, “frame by frame”.

“This is joke journalism on a Noddy network and it astonishes me that Fox News can give credibility and airtime to a catalogue of falsehoods,” Mr Gunness said of claims that UNRWA had been complicit in Hamas storing rockets in its schools.

Mr Gunness, who became a familiar face to viewers during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza earlier this year, said the only reason the world knew about Hamas weapons being stored in UNRWA schools was because UNRWA had discovered them, condemned Hamas and alerted the relevant authorities, including Israel.

“We proactively condemned as a flagrant violation of our neutrality the hiding of these weapons in our schools,” he added.

You can watch the exchange HERE

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OXFAM: SodaStream and Scarlett Johansson

Global charities seek global ambassadors to help them raise the profile of their work. If a celebrity goes among the poor on behalf of the charity, the media flocks to cover the story – or at least the fact that the celebrity is there. 

It is precisely because of this that Oxfam, founded in Oxford in 1942 as Famine Relief, turned to the actor Scarlett Johansson in 2007 to become its global ambassador. She travelled to Oxfam projects, something that provided photo opportunities for herself (as a caring artist) and for Oxfam (to shine a light on the important work that the charity does).

In January, Johansson was appointed the brand ambassador for SodaStream, an Israeli company that produces machines to carbonate beverages. SodaStream's factory is located in the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem.

Israeli settlements (including Maale Adumim) are built on land seized from the Palestinians during the 1967 war. By the standards of the Geneva convention, the Rome Statute and the international court of justice, they have been developed illegally by Israel. Israel has thumbed its nose at international law and continued to build its settlements, including industrial parks such as the one that houses SodaStream.

Johansson's new job posed a serious problem for Oxfam. The charity has over the years taken a strong position against Israel's illegal settlement construction at the same time as it has worked to deliver much-needed goods and services to the encaged population in the occupied Palestinian territories.

"While Oxfam respects the independence of our ambassadors, Ms. Johansson’s role promoting the company SodaStream is incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador. Oxfam believes that businesses, such as SodaStream, that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support. Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law. Ms. Johansson has worked with Oxfam since 2005 and in 2007 became a Global Ambassador, helping to highlight the impact of natural disasters and raise funds to save lives and fight poverty", said their official press realese.

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UNHCR: Omar, that child who stopped to grown, has been resettled in Finland

Omar is precocious, but that’s not the only reason he seems so mature for his size. My best guess would put him at age five, but he is actually seven years old. His parents tell me he suffers from a growth hormone deficiency, the result of a dysfunctional pituitary gland. Also known as the “master gland,” it regulates many bodily activities, including growth.

In Syria, he was receiving regular hormone and vitamin treatment to help him grow. But here in Lebanon, where his family took refugee two years ago to escape deadly bombings near their home in Idlib, the treatment is too expensive even for aid organizations to cover.

Thankfully, there is hope for young Omar. He and his family are now resettled in Finland, where his treatment can be paid for in full. It would mean moving far from home – further, even, than Lebanon – but for this loving, tight-knit family, it is Omar’s only and best chance to continue to grow.

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#EbolaResponse: "I am a Liberian, not a virus" Campaign

Following the numerous reports of harassment and prejudice towards west African travelling abroad due to Ebola outbreak in the region,a group of four women came together to start a Twitter and  Youtube campaign to combat the stigmatisation. The hashtag and video went "viral".

Shoana Clarke Solomon, a Liberian photographer and TV host produced the video and Twitter campaign in response to stereotyping and finger-pointing, especially in the US, as part of the hysteria brought about by this year’s Ebola outbreak.

The hashtag, #IamALiberianNotAVirus, has now seen hundreds of people posting selfies holding placards written ‘I am Liberian. Not a virus’.

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Explain: Millenium Development Goals

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Achieve universal primary school

Promote gender equality and empower women

Reduce child mortality

Improve maternal health

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Ensure environmental sustainability

Global partnership for development

Also people like us can help to reach and make succed these MDGs, so here's some link to help directly:

Quick links to fight hunger, poverty and disease

With only a few years left until the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, every push to accelerate progress counts! Get involved, make your voice heard, and make a difference!

  Help fight chronic hunger.

Fill a cup with food for a hungry person.

Support UNICEF's work for children.

Send a malaria-preventing bed net to Africa.

Donate $5 to help a girl with access to school supplies, clean water, or life-saving health services.

Help end fistula, a childbirth injury affecting an estimated 2 million women in developing countries.

Donate $1 to immunize a child against polio.

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Humans of New York travelling the world for UN

Fifty days. 10 countries. 25,000 miles. The numbers attached to photographer Brandon Stanton's recent United Nations-sponsored "world tour" were ambitious, but not any more so than his ultimate goal: to document the human stories so often missing from global headlines.

The global reach of the project was a significant change in scope for Stanton, who on his photoblog Humans of New York pairs street portraits of the city dwellers he encounters with snippets of their stories. He turned the popular site into a New York Times best-selling book in 2013.

  The United Nations partnered with Stanton to raise awareness for the intergovernmental organization's Millennium Development Goals, eight objectives for international development with an intended completion date of 2015. The goals address issues like hunger, gender inequality, and environmental sustainability.

During his world tour, which began in early August, Stanton relied on translators supplied by the U.N. to interview his subjects -- and to keep him safe while navigating war-torn or distressed countries including Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ukraine. Although only 10 countries were on the initial itinerary, he ended up visiting at least two more, making unscheduled stops in both South Sudan and Ethiopia.

“I think the similarities I’ve noticed are the aspirations of people. It seems that everywhere I go, people want the same things – security, education, family. It’s just that so many people have no avenues through which to obtain these things,” he said.

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UNHCR: Melissa Fleming speech at TED!Talk

50 million people in the world today have been forcefully displaced from their home — a level not seen since WWII. Right now, more than 3 million Syrian refugees are seeking shelter in neighboring countries. In Lebanon, half of these refugees are children; only 20% are in school. Melissa Fleming of the UN's refugee agency calls on all of us to make sure that refugee camps are healing places where people can develop the skills they’ll need to rebuild their hometowns.

Melissa Fleming, chief of communications and spokeperson for UNHCR joined TED!Talk to advocate for refugees. 

Here's the link for the video and for the transcription.

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UNESCO: Fighting Ebola by Media

UNESCO is launching a new project “Fighting Ebola by Media,” that will be undertaken throughout Sierra Leone and Liberia. 

The provision of clear and reliable information is essential for a better understanding of the disease at the community level and a bulwark for more effective prevention.

“Fighting Ebola by Media” seeks to bolster the efforts of the Governments of Sierra Leone and Liberia to prevent the spread of the disease, through the dissemination of information about risk factors, methods of prevention and approaches for safe intervention.

“Fighting Ebola by Media” will draw on community radio stations in Sierra Leone and Liberia to promote regular sensitization programmes, working with the Ministries of Health, presented in an interactive manner, in both English and in local languages. Information, Education and Communication materials will be developed (flyers, posters, banners, T-shirts, brochures) and distributed to community centres, youth centres and schools, along with user guides to engage community members in discussions on Ebola prevention and response..

The project is being led from the UNESCO Office in Abuja, a Multi-sectoral Regional Office for West Africa, including Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo. In taking this forward, the Office will work closely with the relevant UN Country Teams, as well as the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response.

This project builds on community radio stations supported by UNESCO -- for instance, Radio Bintumani, a community station in Sierra Leone.

Steven Manasaray, station manager of Radio Bintumani, summed up the importance of this work: "The station has had a huge effect in helping to bring calm to the community and allaying fears. We are at the forefront of the fight in educating people about how the virus is contracted and the relevant symptoms. People from come nearby villages and tell us how much they appreciate the work we are doing including our broadcasting programmes on Ebola in local languages.”

Through this work, UNESCO will increase public awareness about the risk factors for the transmission, prevention, and response to Ebola infections – essential work to help stop a complex crisis.