JERUSALEM — A gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack that came a week after violence flared up between Israel and militants in Gaza, police and medics said.
Two of the victims were in serious condition, according to Israeli hospitals treating them. The shooting occurred as the bus waited in a parking lot near the Western Wall, which is considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.
Israeli police said forces were dispatched to the scene to begin investigations. Israeli security forces also pushed into the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan pursuing the suspected attacker.
The attack in Jerusalem followed a tense week between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Last weekend, Israeli aircraft unleashed an offensive in the Gaza Strip targeting the militant group Islamic Jihad and setting off three days of fierce cross-border fighting. Islamic Jihad fired hundreds of rockets during the flare-up to avenge the airstrikes, which killed two of its commanders and other militants. Israel said the attack was meant to thwart threats from the group to respond to the arrest of one of its officials in the occupied West Bank.
Forty-nine Palestinians, including 17 children and 14 militants, were killed, and several hundred were injured in the fighting, which ended with an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire. No Israeli was killed or seriously injured.
The Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, stayed on the sidelines.
A day after the cease-fire halted the worst round of Gaza fighting in more than a year, Israeli troops killed three Palestinian militants and wounded dozens in a shootout that erupted during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus.
“When the earthquake struck, I had no idea what it was as I had never experienced something so loud and dramatic before. I thought it was an act of God and I was terrified.
My whole house was shaking so I rushed outside with my daughter to see what was going on, and I realized it was a tremor from beneath the earth. Then part of my house collapsed, and large cracks appeared in its cinder block walls.
The community came together
We were lucky, because no-one in my family was injured, but I knew many neighbours who died. The community, which is rural and made up of farmers and people buying and selling goods, came together and we helped each other. We saved many children by digging them from beneath the rubble.
I think the earthquake made us stronger as a community and that helped us when we moved into this temporary camp in Devirel on the edge of the city of Les Cayes, just five days after we fled from our home.
Life here is very tough. We live, in twos and threes, in small shelters made from plastic sheeting. It is hot because there are no trees here and when it rains it is very muddy. There is not much to eat, but we continue to look after each other and share the small amount of food that we have.
UN support
When we arrived, we received a lot of support from the United Nations*. We received a hygiene kit and were able to use a bathroom which had been built for us. I received some cash payments so I could afford to carry on sending my daughter to school and at one point she received free school meals.
My aunt also received some financial assistance as she is disabled and particularly vulnerable. I’m very grateful for this support.
Sometimes, I can earn money by helping to harvest a neighbour’s crops, but it’s difficult to find work, so I have to live on very little. It’s difficult to change one’s life if you don’t have the financial means to do so. I would like to return to my home with my daughter, but I’m too scared to do that before I repair it. So, I will try and save some money to make the repairs.
One year after the earthquake, I am still optimistic for the future; I know I can rely on myself and my community for a better life.”
*A range of UN agencies provided support to Plaisimond Milaure and her neighbours, including cash transfers for vulnerable and disabled people as well as to support the schooling of kids (International Organization for Migration, IOM) hygiene kits (IOM and UNFPA) bathroom facilities (UNICEF) and school meals, World Food Programme, WFP. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinated the UN’s post-earthquake response.
After the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) reviewed the US’ racial justice record, the UN human rights office issued a statement in which CERD Expert and Country Rapporteur Faith Dikeledi Pansy Tlakula recounted her observation that the country’s firearm homicide rate had increased, especially amongst black men and in impoverished communities.
While acknowledging the measures that had been taken to address gun violence, Ms. Tlakula had wondered what was being done to address its “disparate impact” on racial and ethnic minorities as well as indigenous peoples.
UN News/Shirin Yaseen
Anti-racism protesters in Brooklyn, New York, demonstrate demanding justice for the killing of African American, George Floyd.
Lacking federal coordination
Amidst a significant rise in hate crimes against ethnic minorities, the Committee had welcomed recent US legislation, such as the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, but questioned why the country has yet to institutionalize a coordinating mechanism, like a national human rights institution.
Ms. Tlakula said that the Committee had repeatedly expressed concern over its lack of such a mechanism, and asked what measures had been adopted to create a permanent and effective coordinating mechanism at the federal level.
The Committee had noted that the US was aware of its recommendations on establishing a national human rights institute and that it would take them under consideration to the extent that they could be enforced under the presidency of Joe Biden.
Police reform
The Committee had also pointed out that the country was ensuring accountability surrounding the use of force, noting that the Department of Homeland Security had enforced strict standards of conduct for police officers.
Moreover, a department-wide use of force policy, which stressed respect for human life, was released in 2018, and updated in 2021.
And police training has been provided in de-escalation, use of force, and border fence patrols.
The US Office of Civil Rights and Liberties also investigated cases of excessive use of force and tracked these through an online dashboard, with over 600 such incidents logged so far this year.
Recommendation implementation
In her concluding remarks, Ms. Tlakula had told the Committee that uncomfortable conversations and concrete measures and actions were necessary “to lay the scourge of racism to rest”.
She had also expressed hope that the country would continue to hold consultations with civil society, maintaining that they would lead to progress in implementing the Committee’s recommendations.
US delegation responds
The US Ambassador to the Human Rights Council and head of the delegation, Michèle Taylor, had acknowledged that the US needed to do better on eliminating racial discrimination, and was “deeply committed” to using all levers at its disposal to do so.
The US State Department’s Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice and delegation co-leader, Desirée Cormier Smith, had said that the country shared the Committee’s vision for sustained efforts to eliminate racial discrimination. She also expressed sadness that ethnic and racial minority groups still needed to fight for the freedoms enjoyed by the white population.
Administrative points
The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of the United States after the session concludes on 30 August.
Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, and webcasts here.
Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.
This will be the first shipment of humanitarian food assistance under the Black Sea Grain Initiative signed last month by Ukraine, Russia and Türkiye.
WFP said the development marks “another important step in efforts to reintegrate Ukrainian food into global markets and get it to countries worst affected by the global food crisis through both commercial and humanitarian avenues.”
The MV Brave Commander is expected to berth shortly at Yuzhny, located on the Black Sea.
Supporting drought response
The ship departed the Turkish capital, Istanbul, on Wednesday after clearing inspection by the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC), the mechanism that supports implementation of the UN-brokered agreement on resuming grain exports from Ukraine.
The JCC will monitor the movement of commercial vessels transporting grain, foodstuffs and fertilizer from Yuzhny and two other key Ukrainian ports: Odesa and Chornomorsk.
WFP has purchased the wheat for its operations in Ethiopia, supporting drought response in the Horn of Africa where the threat of famine looms.
The UN agency recently warned of the dire food security situation across the region, following four consecutive failed rainy seasons.
The Horn of Africa is just one of many areas around the world where the near complete halt of Ukrainian grain and food on the global market has made life even harder for the families already struggling with rising hunger.
A record 345 million people in 82 countries are now facing acute food insecurity, WFP said. Up to 50 million in 45 countries are at risk of being pushed into famine without humanitarian support.
UNOCHA/Levent Kulu
The M/V Fulmar S, the first commercial emtpy grain vessel from Istanbul to Ukraine under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, awaits JCC authorized movement, pending inspection.
Off to a good start
The Brave Commander will discharge the wheat in Djibouti after clearing the JCC protocols in Istanbul on the outbound trip.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed on 22 July and so far, 12 vessels have been authorized to depart the Ukrainian ports, the senior UN official at the JCC told journalists this week.
Frederick Kenney, UN Interim Coordinator, said while there is still much work ahead, “we are off with a very good start”.
Food and energy prices have increased to their highest levels in decades. And 62 new food billionaires have been created. Credit: Bigstock.
by Baher Kamal (madrid)
Inter Press Service
MADRID, Aug 12 (IPS) – While often too quickly attributing -quasi exclusively- the world unprecedented hunger tragedy to the current proxy war in Ukraine, other major causes remain hidden in plain sight.
Like the legend of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the modern ones are a mix of combined causes: inequality; speculation; indebtedness, and the crushing impacts of climate emergency.
1. Inequality
Further to IPS article: Inequality Kills One Person Every Four Seconds, explaining how deadly inequality is and how it contributes to the deaths of at least 21,300 people each day—or one person every four seconds.
Here are some of the major findings of is May 2022 report Profiting from Pain, elaborated by this global movement of people working together with more than 4,100 partner organisations, allies, and communities in over 90 countries:
Billionaires have seen their fortunes increase as much in 24 months as they did in 23 years. Those in the food and energy sectors have seen their fortunes increase by a billion dollars every two days. Food and energy prices have increased to their highest levels in decades. And 62 new food billionaires have been created.
The combined crises of COVID-19, rising inequality, and rising food prices could push as many as 263 million people into extreme poverty in 2022. This is the equivalent of one million people every 33 hours. At the same time a new billionaire has been minted on average every 30 hours during the pandemic.
2. Speculation
Speculation is the likely engine moving the world’s markets, which is driven by the dominating neoliberal economy.
COVID-19 hit a world that was already deeply unequal, adds Oxfam. Decades of neoliberal economic policies have ripped away public services into private ownership and have encouraged the move toward massive concentration of corporate power and tax avoidance on a huge scale.
“These policies have worked to deliberately erode workers’ rights and reduce tax rates for corporations and the rich. They have also opened up the environment to levels of exploitation far beyond what our planet can bear.”
As COVID-19 spread, Central Banks injected trillions of dollars into economies worldwide, aiming to keep the world economy afloat, the report goes on. This was essential because it prevented a total economic collapse.
“Nevertheless, in turn, it dramatically drove up the price of assets, and with this the net worth of billionaires and the asset-owning classes. An enormous increase in billionaire wealth has been the direct by-product of this cash injection.”
The monopolies of food, energy, pharmaceutical, and technology
On top of soaring billionaire wealth, during the pandemic there has also been a profits bonanza in the food, energy, pharmaceutical, and technology sectors, says Oxfam, adding that corporate monopolies are particularly prevalent in these sectors, and billionaires who own large stakes in companies within them have seen their wealth balloon even more.
“Meanwhile, excessive corporate profit and power are contributing to price rises; in the USA, for instance, it is estimated that expanding corporate profits are responsible for 60% of increases in inflation.”
“While blanket energy subsidies may help in the short term, in the longer term they drive inequality, further exacerbate the climate crisis, and do not soften the immediate blow of the cost-of-living increase as much as targeted cash transfers do,” said the report’s author George Gray Molina.
The report shows that “energy subsidies disproportionately benefit wealthier people, with more than half of the benefits of a universal energy subsidy favouring the richest 20% of the population.”
Record profits: 100 billion dollars in just 3 months
“As the war in Ukraine continues to rage, skyrocketing energy prices are compounding an existential cost-of-living crisis for hundreds of millions of people,” on 3 August 2022 warned the UN Secretary-General’s Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on Food, Energy and Finance.
Despite this alarming situation, major oil and gas companies recently reported record profits, which UN chief António Guterres called “immoral.”
“The combined profits of the largest energy companies in the first quarter of this year are close to $100 billion. I urge governments to tax these excessive profits, and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times,” he said.
An article produced as part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting specifies that low-income countries and households suffer the most from high debt levels, experts warn.
External debt is the portion of a country’s debt that is borrowed from foreign lenders through commercial banks, governments, or international financial institutions, they explain.
4. Climate catastrophe
The world’s dangerous climate emergency did not start with the war in Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
In fact, it began long decades ago and has been the focus of the world’s scientific community, whose strong and loud alerts did not have the required echo in the so many successive, highly expensive summits and meetings.
One of the harsh consequences of the human-made climate catastrophe is drought. In fact, drought is now pervasive in all regions, including the most industrialised ones, leading to a great loss of harvests, thus less food supplies, mounting markets’ speculation.
All this in addition to the dominating profit-making system of intensive farming, industrial mono-cultures, distribution chains, forest depletion for more farming, livestocks for meat business, etc.
At the invitation of the Government, Michelle Bachelet will visit Bangladesh from Sunday, 14 August, in the first-ever official trip by a UN Human Rights chief to the country.
There, she will visit camps housing Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, as well as high-level officials, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and other ministers, and the National Human Rights Commission along with representatives of civil society organizations.
Lives ‘hanging in the balance’
Back in 2017, violent attacks in Myanmar triggered an estimated 745,000 Rohingya, including more than 400,000 children, to flee to Bangladesh.
In June, Ms. Bachelet pointed out that the military continues to “use hostile and derogatory language to threaten and marginalize” the mostly-Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state – hundreds of thousands of whom were forced to flee – “and to implement strict discriminatory limitations on their movement”.
The lives and future of Myanmar’s people are “hanging in the balance,” she said, adding that it was “disappointing” that international efforts to rein in the military’s recklessly violent approach, have been largely ineffective”.
UN expert to visit Cambodia
Meanwhile, on Monday, UN-appointed human rights expert, Vitit Muntarbhorn, will make his first official visit to Cambodia.
Over the course of two weeks, he will assess the human rights situation in the country along with the government’s efforts toward creating an environment for all to enjoy them – including political and civil rights and economic, social and cultural rights following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I look forward to meeting a wide range of stakeholders, including government representatives, human rights defenders and other relevant stakeholders,” he said.
Press freedom increasingly under threat
The UN Special Rapporteur’s visit comes amidst growing restrictions on civic space and press freedoms in the country.
According to a report by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), journalists are being increasingly subjected to various forms of harassment, pressure, and violence.
In it, OHCHR in Cambodia outlined the country’s increasing lack of freedoms, including for the press and of expression by examining the legal framework; the state of media ownership; and specific challenges faced by women media workers.
The independent rights expert’s visit is at the invitation of the government. He will hold meetings with national and local government officials and international and local civil society representatives across the country.
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. Their positions are honorary and the experts are not paid for their work.
“The future is immensely bleak for Afghans if more is not done by the international community to ensure the Taliban changes its modus operandi and complies with its human rights obligations,” they said in a statement.
The experts recalled that following the Taliban takeover last August, they had appealed for the international community to take “stringent actions” to protect Afghans from violations such as arbitrary detention, summary executions, internal displacement, and unlawful restrictions on their human rights.
Failure to deliver
“One year later, we reiterate this call,” they said. “Despite making numerous commitments to uphold human rights, the Taliban have not only failed to deliver on their promises, they have also reversed much of the progress made in the past two decades”.
Moreover, the humanitarian and economic crisis in Afghanistan, which has already caused immeasurable harm to millions, shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it is predicted to worsen, they added, partly due to the interruption of international assistance and the freezing of Afghan assets abroad.
Women receive food rations at a food distribution site in Herat, Afghanistan.
Attack on women and girls
The experts said the Taliban have committed a “plethora” of human rights violations, with the virtual erasure of women and girls from society, as well as their systematic oppression, being particularly egregious.
“Nowhere else in the world has there been as wide-spread, systematic and all-encompassing an attack on the rights of women and girls – every aspect of their lives is being restricted under the guise of morality and through the instrumentalization of religion. Discrimination and violence cannot be justified on any ground”.
Regrettably, there is little indication that the human rights situation is turning a corner, they said.
No confidence
“Indeed, the daily reports of violence – including extra-judicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture, heightened risks of exploitation faced by women and girls including for the purposes of child and forced marriage, and a breakdown in the rule of law – gives us no confidence that the Taliban has any intention of making good on its pledge to respect human rights.”
Citizens now have no means for redress as the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has been abolished, along with other independent oversight mechanism and institutions.
The administration of justice has also been compromised. The applicable law is unclear, and judges and other officials have been replaced, which has especially affected women.
Peace prospects dim
The experts pointed to other violations, such as the curtailing of press freedom, and the rise in attacks on religious and ethnic minorities, some of which were claimed by the ISIL-KP terrorist group. They also and highlighted how journalists, activists, academics and artists have either left the country, quit their work, or gone into hiding.
Furthermore, in the absence of an inclusive and representative government, prospects for long-lasting peace, reconciliation and stability will remain minimal.
“The de facto authorities seek international recognition and legitimacy. Regrettably, theycontinue to abuse almost all human rights standards while refusing to offer even a modicum of respect for ordinary Afghans, in particular women and girls,” said the experts.
Most recently, the Taliban appeared to have been harbouring the leader of Al Qaeda. Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed last week in a US drone strike, which the experts said also raises concerns of a violation of international law.
“Until it demonstrates significant steps towards respecting human rights, including by immediately reopening girls’ secondary schools and restoring their access to a quality education, they should not be on a path to recognition.”
A family drinks tea at home in Herat, Afghanistan.
Action by the authorities
In addition to honouring their international obligations, the experts have called for the Taliban to fully implement human rights standards, including respecting the rights of women and girls to education, employment and participation in public life.
The de facto authorities should immediately open all secondary schools for girls, and lift restrictions on women’s mobility, attire, employment and participation. The rights of minority communities must also be upheld.
The Taliban are also urged to “respect the general amnesty and immediately stop all reprisals against members of the former government’s security forces, other officials and civil society, especially human rights defenders, including women”.
Furthermore, human rights monitors and humanitarians should be allowed free, unhindered access throughout the country, including to sensitive locations such as detention facilities.
They also called for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, bar associations, and other relevant unions, to immediately be reinstated and allowed to operate freely and independently.
International appeal
The experts also outlined steps the international community should take.
They include insuring civilians have equitable access to humanitarian aid, and supporting ongoing initiatives by Afghan women towards a strategy to promote the rights of women and girls, with clear benchmarks and expectations.
Countries are also urged to maintain and/or adopt sustained and robust humanitarian exemptions within sanctions regimes to ensure compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law.
“Such measures should be fit for purpose, ensure that sanctions measures do not interfere with protected humanitarian action under international law, and function to remediate the current humanitarian crises and to prevent sanctions from continuing to exacerbate the humanitarian human rights crises being faced by the Afghan people,” they said.
Role of UN experts
The 20 experts who issued the statement were all appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
These independent experts receive their mandates from the Council and operate in their individual capacity. They are neither UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
On the island nation of Fiji, young people are working in solidarity with their elders, benefiting from their knowledge and experience to protect the fragile ecosystem.
One such project involves young people conserving and protecting Fiji’s coral reef and the marine environment around the island.
The programme, backed by the UN, seeks to marry the enthusiasm and drive of young people, with the wisdom and experience of older generations.
Youth are learning age-old sustainable fishing techniques, as well as knowledge about living in harmony with the sea and nature, from their elders.
Three inspiring #Youth4EiE Advocates – Nataly Rivas, Angela Abizera, and Jean-Paul Saif. Nataly, Angela, and Jean-Paul are three Global Youth for Education in Emergencies panel members. Credit: ECW
by IPS Correspondent (ecuador, malawi, lebanon)
Inter Press Service
Ecuador, Malawi, Lebanon, Aug 12 (IPS) – On this International Youth Day, ECW interviewed three inspiring #Youth4EiE Advocates – Nataly Rivas, Angela Abizera, and Jean-Paul Saif. Nataly, Angela, and Jean-Paul are three Global Youth for Education in Emergencies panel members.
The (#Youth4EiE) panel brings together youth leaders from across eight countries to work together to put education in emergencies and protracted crises on top of the agenda for world leaders. The #Youth4EiE initiative is made possible through ECW’s partnership with Plan International UK and is supported by the People’s Postcode Lottery.
The #Youth4EiE panel is composed of 16 members representing Ecuador, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malawi, Mali, Zimbabwe, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Each member is a positive force for change in their own communities. They combine their skills, networks, and expertise to help raise awareness of the challenges which crisis-affected girls and boys face in accessing education in emergencies and protracted crises while advocating for increased funding from donors in support of ECW’s #222MillionDreams?? campaign.
Nataly Rivas. Credit: ECW
Nataly Rivas, 21, Ecuador
Nataly Rivas is a Sociology and International Relations student from Pichincha, Ecuador. She is an active leader and National Communications Coordinator in the “Por Ser Niña” movement, an Ecuador U-reporter, and a Global #Youth4EiE Panel Member – where she represents Ecuador. Since she was eleven, Nataly has participated in Plan International Ecuador projects, which have shown her the situations of inequality in her country and provoked in her a desire to fight to change that reality. She is passionate about girls’ rights and currently helps manage the “Por Ser Niña” movement’s social media – a civil society group of girls, boys, and young people in Ecuador whose objective is gender equality.
ECW: What does education mean to you? And how can we help realize #222MillionDreams?? for the 222 Million crisis-impacted children and adolescents who urgently need education support?
Nataly: I always say that education is a tool that can save lives, especially for girls and women. It can help prevent gender-based violence as it offers us better opportunities for the future. In a nutshell, education makes it possible to move closer to gender equality. However, in emergency situations, education is not prioritized – even financial resources are subtracted, causing millions of children to see their education and dreams interrupted or ended. We must urgently continue to fight for education so that educational institutions become safe environments with quality education available to everyone, especially in emergency situations. ECW works to meet the educational needs of 222 million children affected by crises and is rallying donor support through the #222MillionDreams?? campaign. This is why I call on all social sectors to mobilize more resources to support ECW, education inclusion and prevent more dreams from being left unfulfilled. Let us remember that, with education, we all win, and therefore, we must fight for it, make our demands and invest in it so that it is guaranteed for all.
ECW: In Ecuador, ECW, UN agencies, and civil society partners in coordination with the Ministry of Education have built an amazing campaign, La Educación es el Camino (Education is the Way), to make education a priority for everyone, especially children fleeing the crisis in Venezuela. How can we build a better world where refugee children are able to access safe and protective learning environments? And why is it important for the people of Ecuador?
Nataly: To build a better world for refugee children, essential rights such as the right to a dignified life, a nutritious diet, equality, and access to quality education must be guaranteed. Through education, other rights can be forged, so it is essential that education inclusion is guaranteed in schools where refugee children can feel safe and have better opportunities to develop.
These spaces must be free of violence and xenophobia. And we can achieve this through fostering a culture of good treatment of others in the family, educational, and community environments. It is also important that assistance and aid programs are generated for families because one of the main barriers for girls and boys to have a quality life, and access to education is economic scarcity. The whole of society can and must contribute to the construction of a better world – not only for refugees but for everyone.
Caring about and fighting collectively for sustainable solutions benefits us all and prevents further deepening levels of inequality in our country.
ECW: How can we activate science, technology, engineering, and math studies for girls and boys in crises to activate social entrepreneurship and provide a pathway out of poverty?
Nataly: Governments need to invest in scholarships for girls and boys to study and finance their projects and ideas. We need an education where students are the leaders of innovation and motivation. For these reasons, society should encourage children to study scientific careers, and adults must ensure more and better opportunities for the new generations and put aside adult centrism. Additionally, work must be done to eliminate the global digital divide and eradicate prejudices and stereotypes that disproportionately punish girls and women.
Angela Abizera. Credit: ECW
Angela Abizera, 23, Malawi
Angela Abizera is a girls’ rights and education activist from Malawi. She is a mentor in the Child Parliament, a poet, and a Global #Youth4EiE Panel Member – representing Malawi. Angela is originally from Rwanda but was raised in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. She has lived there for over 16 years and managed to complete her education at the camp. Since completing her schooling, she has been engaged in community work because she believes in giving back. Through these service efforts across different platforms, she has been able to advocate on various issues concerning the rights of children and young people, particularly girls.
Angela: Education is a basic need and right of every child in the world. There is an urgent need to allocate more funds for education in emergencies and protracted crises (EiEPC). During crises, education is not prioritized – though it is often affected and disrupted. ECW’s #222MillionDreams?? campaign is a call to action: we must all do our part, including donors, to help these crisis-affected children and youth continue their education. As a young leader, I call on world leaders to urgently consider EiEPC and support ECW’s global campaign to help realize the dreams of millions of vulnerable girls and boys!
We must work to establish coordination structures in education to immediately address challenges faced during and after emergencies, ensuring that learning does not stop. Additionally, we should ensure that safe, protective spaces are inclusive and provide support to all – especially those most vulnerable and affected, such as children living with disabilities, teen mothers who fail to go back to school due to stigma, and other minority groups. There is also a need to review laws that affect refugee children who, at times, face restrictions in their countries of asylum that can shatter their hopes of continuing their education. Such policies must be revised, and the needs of young refugees must be prioritized in EiEPC budgeting.
Angela: We cannot deny the fact that climate change is continuously affecting the world and disrupting education systems. Recently, Malawi was affected by Cyclone Ana which damaged a lot of infrastructure – causing people to flee their homes and shelter in classrooms, temporarily disrupting classes. Climate change should be integrated into the school syllabus because we need young people to be aware of the climate and environment around them. This would help sensitize and teach preparatory skills that they can use during emergencies. Learning about climate change and how to combat it empowers young people to make informed decisions and take action. Additionally, introducing disaster risk reduction clubs in schools can help build the capacity of innovative/creative youth, encouraging them to explore new skills to help spread this crucial information beyond the school to help foster more responsible communities. Lastly, governments should consider building resilient structures that can withstand any calamities.
ECW: You are a poet. Have you written anything about the power of an education? Could you share it with us?
LISTEN by Angela Abizera
(excerpts from her poem below)
Listen!
Don’t just listen but act!
As we speak we lose what we lose, but we spread the fact
Do what you intend to do but make sure you keep me intact,
with education
Listen,
With education
I am not just a girl child
I am a woman with a voice
A voice that speaks, a need that seeks
I am the world’s empowerment,
The world’s champion of change!
Listen,
I don’t want
These pauses in between
The disruptions over and over
I want my education not to cease
Transforming the world to goodness
We are the equality of highest quality
We are exclusively inclusive
We are Education!
Jean-Paul Saif. Credit: ECW
Jean-Paul Saif, 23, Lebanon
Jean-Paul Saif is an electronics student, entrepreneur, and Global #Youth4EiE Panel Member, representing Lebanon. Jean-Paul was born and currently lives in Zahle, Lebanon, where he has set up a plastic recycling factory. He is a leader in the Scouts movement, where he supports young people to share his love of hiking and camping. He is also a stand-up comedian and theater actor.
ECW: What does education mean to you? And how can we help realize #222MillionDreams?? for the millions of crisis-impacted children and adolescents who need educational support?
Jean-Paul: Education means everything to me because education is the start of everything. Your journey of learning begins at school, goes through university, and also continues outside of these places – at work, with family, and within your daily life. Education is important because it empowers you and it sets you up for success in life. Without a proper education, you cannot get a proper job or adequate salary. We can help achieve the aim of ECW’s #222MillionDreams?? campaign by raising awareness and lobbying on the importance of donor funding for education in emergencies and protracted crises with governments and global leaders. We must advocate for governments to prioritize education planning and funding in their aid programs. In crisis-affected countries, we should build schools in remote, hard-to-access areas where they’re currently unavailable. I also believe in continuing our push for peace and to end wars and attacks on schools that happen during conflict. Finally, in countries that are more prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, we should support the creation of stronger infrastructure.
ECW: Lebanon has faced several shocks over the past decade, including the refugee influx from Syria, the 2020 Beirut port blast, the economic crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. How can education help us build back better?
Jean-Paul: I believe the most impactful starting point is to adapt and include civic education and active citizenship courses in schools that are free from religious and political affiliation – and support students to learn about active citizenship and not blindly follow leaders from a young age. Additionally, orienting students to the right professions early on, including ones that will be needed in the future, to create a new wave of graduates equipped with the skills necessary for the next generation would help support building back better in Lebanon. Finally, opening and expanding educational opportunities, such as trainings in social media, would also support entrepreneurship and job creation in the country.
ECW: How can we activate science, technology, engineering, and math studies for girls and boys in crisis-impacted contexts like Lebanon, Syria, and beyond to activate social entrepreneurship and provide a pathway out of poverty?
Jean-Paul: Teaching kids about the newest technology can help them improve their knowledge about what the world is going through as almost everything is becoming digital. Children will have access to the largest field of opportunities to choose from and to learn by using the internet. For example, there are various websites that teach about coding and creating different kinds of artificial intelligence. Through these websites and online resources, children can start by learning things like building small devices and, in the long term, develop skills to help companies with larger projects.
IPS UN Bureau Report
NEW YORK, Aug 12 (IPS) – Today marks International Youth Day, a global celebration of the transformative power of young people. Introduced by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999, the event was inaugurated not only to observe the power of the youth voice, but to serve as a promise from those in power to activate the power of youth across the development sector.
Yasmine Sherif
Since then, the United Nations appointed a Youth Envoy, dedicated to the diffusion of the day’s promise, and many aid organizations have followed suit by including the voices of young people in social media campaigns, high-level events, and stakeholder forums.
In 2021, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, took a further, concrete step to democratically include youth in its governance structure and decision-making processes. Scores of youth-led NGOs applied to join a newly created youth constituency, and after only a few weeks, the sub-group had become one of the largest, most active, and most diverse constituencies within the fund.
On the Executive Committee and High-Level Steering Group of ECW, young people were represented for the first time alongside government ministers, heads of UN agencies and civil society organizations, and private sector leaders — a refreshing example of intergenerational collaboration at the highest levels of humanitarian aid.
Another significant step in the race for youth inclusion occurred when ECW partnered with Plan International to support a group of youth activists through the ‘Youth for Education in Emergencies Project,’ a campaign by youth panelists aiming to demonstrate the value of youth participation.
As ECW builds momentum towards its High-Level Financing Conference in February 2023 with the #222MillionDreams Campaign, we call on strategic partners to include the youth voice as we come together to mobilize funding resources for the 222 Million crisis-impacted children and adolescents worldwide that require urgent educational support.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of exceptional young people ready to lead the charge. The Global Student Forum, for example, has brought together more than one hundred national student unions, composed of millions of youth activists, and successfully lobbied governments around the world with its democratic force.
H.D. Wright
The success of Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s 100 Million Campaign, a global, youth-led effort to end child exploitation, further illustrates the immense value of grassroots organizing. And at a local level, youth-led NGOs have brought change to their communities in ways equally substantial.
Aid organizations and professionals have changed the lives of countless young people around the world. By including them, aid organizations can tap into their extraordinary resilience and strength, and actually learn from them. Using their reach on social media, young people excel at spreading awareness and engagement around the world. Just as unknown singers become famous because of the young people who promote them, previously unknown issues have reached national prominence overnight and created substantive change.
With regard to fundraising, each young person is surrounded by a community, offering a network ready to lend a hand. In terms of policy, young people affected by crises can identify their needs with an ease unmatched by any humanitarian policy professional, for they are experts in their own lives, challenges and opportunities. Young people are intelligent and capable of shaping their own futures. They have an idealism and a courage that the world so desperately needs today. Their unflinching optimism, powerful energy, and uncompromising commitment to change will ensure that those futures are not only safe, but better than the present they inherited.
ECW can attest to the enlightening and inspiring vitality of young people. Since its creation, the youth constituency has worked energetically on behalf of this breakthrough global fund, providing valuable input and guidance on multi-year programs and first emergency responses in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Haiti, Iraq and Mali. When schools shut down due to the pandemic, the youth constituency persisted, working together to inform aid programmes dispersed across crisis-affected countries.
The youth constituency even responded in real time to developing crises, including the earthquake in Haiti, the deteriorating crisis in Afghanistan, and most recently, the war in Ukraine. Their contributions played a role in meaningful projects: since its inception in 2016, ECW’s programs have reached over 5 million children and adolescents, providing them with quality support, including educational materials, school meals, mental health programs, and other basic necessities.
On this day, it is important to observe the power of young people, and the impactful work that aid organizations have conducted across the sector. Yet celebration and transformation must go hand in hand, ensuring that next year, when International Youth Day returns, we are one step closer to fulfilling its original promise to unleash the power of the youth.
Yasmine Sherif is the Director of Education Cannot Wait. H.D. Wright is Youth Representative at Education Cannot Wait
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