| | | Child marriage at heart of today's global day for girls World leaders are joining United Nations agencies today in calling for an end to the practice of child marriage on the first International Day of the Girl. Ideas for action and myriad events -- including several dozen as part of the Girl Up campaign -- are planned worldwide, where one out of seven girls is married before age 15. "While the oppression of girls perpetuates a cycle of poverty, the empowerment of girls has a ripple effect that strengthens families, communities, countries, and ultimately the world," writes Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation. The Huffington Post (10/11), The Telegraph (London) (10/11), NDTV (India)/The Associated Press (10/11), ChicagoNow.com/Tween Us blog (10/11), The Washington Post (10/10), The New Times (Rwanda) (10/11) | | | "International family planning is routinely used as a political football. This is profoundly dangerous and has very real consequences to women around to the world." UN Dispatch | | - UN official: Human rights violators in Mali are singling out women
Radical Islamists are harshly imposing Sharia law -- by way of executions, amputations and floggings -- in the northern territories of Mali, said Ivan Simonovic, United Nations assistant secretary-general for human rights. The extremists are paying especially close attention to women, Simonovic said, restricting their opportunities for work, demanding that they wear head scarves, and compiling a list of those who are not married but are pregnant or have children. ABC News/The Associated Press (10/11), Reuters (10/10) - Whither the international NGOs?
Officials from seven of the largest nongovernmental organizations in the world -- including Save the Children, CARE and Mercy Corps -- discuss the influence of the changing dynamics of donations, whether public or private. Many long-standing NGOs are shelving large-scale projects for "smaller things that have a big impact, such as working with a middle-income country government who has had major crisis -- who can take most things over but needs help with small things," said Carolyn Miller, head of Merlin. Devex.com (10/8) - Food-free Fridays? Poor families are rationing
The rise in global food prices in the wake of poor harvests is prompting many families in the developing world to ration food, declaring "food-free days" at least once a week. "We have not seen this before, where a family systematically schedules days where they do not eat, when they know they can't buy enough every day so they decide at the beginning of the week, this week we won't eat on Wednesday or we won't eat on Saturday," said Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute. The Independent (London) (10/11) - Threats to Guatemalan forest are piling up
The 5.2 million-acre Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, recognized by UNESCO, is under pressure from fires, hunting and "Mexican drug cartels, Salvadoran drug gangs, and Chinese-backed groups illegally logging prime tropical hardwoods," reports William Allen. Yale Environment 360 (10/8) - Sudans eye economic revival
Leaders of Sudan and South Sudan are courting foreign investors after agreeing last month to resume oil production and reopen pipelines. "[W]e are committed, both countries, not to go back to war," said Ali Ahmed Karti, foreign minister of Sudan. "We are committed to talk and talk and talk." AlertNet/Reuters (10/10), The Economist (10/6) | Position Title | Company Name | Location | Global Director, mPowering Frontline Health Workers | United Nations Foundation | Washington, DC | Chief of Party - Serbia | Institute for Sustainable Communities | Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro | Communications Associate, mPowering Frontline Health Workers | United Nations Foundation | Washington, DC | Raiser's Edge Database Coordinator | United Nations Foundation | Washington, DC | Online Database Manager | United Nations Foundation | Washington, DC | Global Health Officer, Global Health | United Nations Foundation | Washington, DC | Administrative Assistant | United Nations Foundation | Washington, DC | | Click here to view more job listings. | | | | Key Sites | | This SmartBrief was created for ELECCION@YAHOOGROUPS.COM Advertise With Us | Amy DiElsi Director for UN Foundation Communications United Nations Foundation 1800 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 (D) 202-419-3230 (C) 202-492-3078 (F) 202-887-9021 www.unfoundation.org | | | About UN WIRE | UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the United Nations Foundation which is dedicated to supporting the United Nations' efforts to address the most pressing humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing the world today. | | | | | Recent UN Wire Issues: - Wednesday, October 10, 2012
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